Sri Lankan civilians urgently need protection: ICJ calls on government and LTTE to publicly state commitment to international humanitarian law
The ICJ today called on the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to abide by international human rights and humanitarian law.
The LTTE must cease any indiscriminate or targeted attacks against civilians and immediately guarantee access for independent human rights investigators, the ICJ further said.
“Civilians have borne the brunt of the recent escalation of fighting. Yet international human rights law guarantees the right to life and the fundamental rule of international humanitarian law is that those fighting must distinguish between civilian and military targets, between civilians and combatants”, said Nicholas Howen, ICJ Secretary-General.
Sri Lanka-civilian protection international humanitarian law-Press releases-2006 (full text, PDF)
