WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2010

• Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, May 19 commemorates the one-year anniversary of the end of the war and the remembrance of the many lives lost during the civil war in Sri Lanka. I call on the international community to pursue independent investigations into the alleged war crimes that occurred. The U.S. would not be alone in calling for these investigations. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the European Union have already called for independent investigations. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other NGOs have called for similar investigations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and human rights violations. The alleged crimes include:

• Extrajudicial abuse and detention of unarmed civilians and former combatants;

• use of child soldiers;

• harm to civilians and civilian objects;

• the killing of captives or combatants seeking to surrender;

• individual disappearances; and

• inhumane conditions.

All parties complicit in violating human rights must be held accountable. Only then can the Sri Lankan people really move forward in trying to achieve peace and stability on the island.