Human Rights
Sri Lanka War Crimes film to be screened in Geneva, June 3
A film featuring an extended version of the Channel 4 video showing evidence of alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka will be screened at the Palais de Nations, Geneva this Friday (3) on the margins of the Human Rights Council sessions.
Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields will be shown at 11:00 in Room 22 of the building at a side event hosted by Amnesty International.
The documentary which shows shocking footage of brutality during the last stages of Sri Lanka’s war comes hot on the heels of a hard hitting statement by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay who in a her opening remarks at the Human Rights Council Sessions on May 30th (Monday) reiterated her full support for the recommendations set out in the UN Secretary General’s Panel of Experts report on accountability in Sri Lanka. She also urged the Human Rights Council to take into consideration new information contained in the report.
The film is a special one-hour investigation featuring devastating new video evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed by Sri Lankan government forces and the Tamil Tigers.
Featured in the film will be a video first aired by Channel 4 News in December 2010 which shows government troops executing Tamil prisoners – described by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heynes, as reflecting “definitive war crimes.”
Heyns told the Council this week he reviewed the footage with technical and forensic experts and that, “the overall conclusion reached by the experts is that the video is authentic and the events reflected in the video footage occurred as depicted.”
Sri Lanka’s government has vigorously denied the authenticity of the video.
The film is presented by Channel 4 News journalist Jon Snow, and is said to feature footage captured on mobile phones, both by Tamil civilians under attack and government soldiers as war trophies. According to Channel 4 it shows the extra-judicial executions of prisoners; the aftermath of targeted shelling of civilian camps and dead female Tamil Tiger fighters who appear to have been raped or sexually assaulted, abused and murdered.
Also examined in the film are some of the terrible crimes carried out by the Tamil Tigers, including the use of Tamil civilians as human shields. Channel 4 states the film provides powerful evidence – including photographic stills, official Sri Lankan army video footage and satellite imagery – which contradicts the Sri Lankan government’s claims of a policy of ‘Zero Civilian Casualties’. The film raises serious questions about the failures of the international community to intervene and prevent the deaths of up to forty thousand people and lends new urgency to the UN-appointed panel of expert’s call for an international inquiry to be mounted.
The film is directed by Callum Macrae who said in a statement, “The Sri Lankan government wanted a war without witness – deporting journalists and pressurising UN representatives to leave – but it didn’t allow for the extraordinary power of mobile phone and satellite technology. We have trawled through hours of painfully raw recordings of the some of the most awful events I have ever seen in many years of war reporting. Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields raises serious questions about the consequences if the UN fails to act – not only for Sri Lanka but for future violations of international law.”
Photo: Courtesy Channel 4