Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 26 March 2014

[Jefferson23]

In today's Brief: Sri Lanka showdown over the past & evidence of fresh crimes against humanity today; counting the votes at the UN Human Rights Council; ending Assad's "barrel bombs" in Syria; CAR crisis at the EU; migrant rights in Greece; attacks on schools in India; and abortion in Zimbabwe.

Sri Lanka is heading for a "showdown" at the UN Human Rights Council amid intensifying calls for an international inquiry into war crimes and other serious abuses committed during the country's civil war. Meanwhile, a new report documents fresh abuses. "An Unfinished War: Torture and Sexual Violence in Sri Lanka 2009—2014" (by Yasmin Sooka, The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales and The International Truth & Justice Project, Sri Lanka) says that though the government declared the conflict over nearly five years ago, crimes against humanity by the security forces - in particular, torture and rape and sexual violence - are continuing, and "in a manner that indicates a coordinated, systematic plan approved by the highest levels of government".

Speaking of the UN Human Rights Council... a new website, “Votes Count,” will shed much needed light on how that key body's member countries respond to serious violations of human rights across the globe.

http://www.hrw.org/the-day-in-human-rights