Page 71 - KDU Law Journal Volume 4 Issue 2

Volume 04 Issue II
September, 2024
KDU Law Journal ISSN 2783 - 8870
General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Sri Lanka

A Study of the Allegation of Denial of
Humanitarian Assistance - An Analysis of the
Charge against Sri Lanka in the OISL Report 1

Raja Goonaratne *

Abstract
In 2009, Government of Sri Lanka militarily defeated the three decades old
separatist armed conflict spearheaded by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
In 2015, Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights conducted an
investigation as requested by the Council of Human Rights. High Commissioner
for Human Rights made 11 allegations in its final report and one of them is
the denial of humanitarian assistance to civilians. The objective of this paper
is to analyze this allegation. The research question is; did the Government of
Sri Lanka deny humanitarian assistance to civilians during the last phase of
operations in 2009? The qualitative methodology combined with doctrinal
legal research methods were used for this purpose. Accordingly, the OISL
Report, local and international sources such as local Acts, government reports,
international treaties, resolutions of the relevant international bodies were
used as primary and secondary sources. The main finding shows that parties to
armed conflicts are legally bound to provide unhindered access to humanitarian
assistance to civilians. The allegation against the Government of Sri Lanka is

∗ Ph.D. (Kelaniya), LL.M. (Monash) LL.B.(Hons) Colombo, PgDip in Forensic Medicine,
Attorney-at-Law, Senior Lecturer, Open University of Sri Lanka.
1 This article analyzes one of the eleven allegations made against the Government of Sri
Lanka in the OISL Report. I verbally presented a research paper dealing with boarder
perspectives of this theme under title of ‘The Legality of the Provision of Humanitarian Aid
in Times of Armed Conflict under International Humanitarian Law- A Lesson from the Sri
Lankan Experience’ at the Asia- Pacific Peace Research Association Conference (APPRAC
2024) held at Vauniya University in 2024. In that conference paper, this particular OISL
allegation too was discussed. It is only a verbal conference presentation and the full paper
remains unpublished up-to-date here or overseas. Also, I was an editor of a Report entitled
‘A Factual Appraisal of the OISL Report: A Rebuttal to the Allegations against the Armed
Forces’ (n 36). This Report deals with those allegations. However, this article analyzes
the allegation on ‘the denial of humanitarian assistance’ from a totally different approach
addressing the gaps in the above report.
law.faculty@kdu.ac.lk
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