HRW: Germany-SL Summit should address rights, accountability

Under President Dissanayake, abuses continue, reforms languish

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Both Sri Lanka and Germany have newly elected leaders, but key human rights concerns that Chancellor Friedrich Merz should raise with visiting President Anura Kumar Dissanayake in Berlin on June 11 have lingered for decades, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.

The Sri Lankan government and the separatist LTTE fought a brutal civil war from 1983 to 2009 in which both sides committed widespread abuses, including killings, torture, and sexual violence. During the conflict’s final months in particular, government forces attacked civilians and forcibly disappeared suspected combatants.