While welcoming the High Commissioner’s update on Sri Lanka, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says it regrets that senior officials in the Sri Lankan government have rejected the 2014 UN Human Rights Council resolution calling for a probe into allegations of human rights violations during the war.

“We regret that senior officials in the Sri Lankan government have rejected the 2014 Human Rights Council resolution asking the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to independently investigate allegations of serious violations of human rights and the laws of war by both sides during Sri Lanka’s civil war, in light of Sri Lanka’s failure to do so,” the international watchdog said.

The resolution also reiterated calls for domestic investigations and accountability mechanisms to be put in place.

As noted in the High Commissioner’s report, the Sri Lankan government has said that it will deny visas to OHCHR investigators. “This does a great disservice to the many civilians and their families who were victims of abuses by both sides during the civil war and puts the government’s own credibility on these matters in a poor light,” HRW said in a statement at the 27th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The rights group further said that particularly concerning are government efforts to “prevent victims and human rights advocates from providing information to the investigation.”

“Pro-government media has deemed such witnesses to be traitors who want to betray their country, creating a climate of fear and intimidation.”

“The repression of rights activists and journalists has continued. Several prominent human rights lawyers have reported threats. Harassment on journalists is particularly intense in the ethnic Tamil-dominated north and east. The government has also ordered a ban on several overseas Tamil groups and individuals. Pledges to address the concerns of the Tamil population to protect minority rights remain largely unfulfilled. The government has continued to prohibit simple gestures, such as allowing Tamil communities to hold commemorative services for their dead, or to sing the national anthem in Tamil.”

“We are concerned about recent incitement and attacks against religious minorities in which the government has been slow to intervene. An attack on Muslims led by an ultra-nationalist Buddhist group in the town of Aluthgama caused at least 4 deaths, nearly 80 injured, and numerous damage to Muslim properties.”

“It is very important for OHCHR to continue to monitor and report on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka and the government’s failure to acknowledge, let alone address, the country’s serious rights issues. Member states and the Human Rights Council should scrutinize and act on any case of reprisal against those who cooperate with the OHCHR investigation. We urge the government of Sri Lanka to rethink its approach and cooperate fully with the OHCHR investigation, the best hope for justice for Sri Lanka’s war victims.”