Page 73 - KDU Law Journal Volume 4 Issue 2

KDU Law Journal Volume 04 Issue II
September, 2024
Accordingly, the aim of the study is to examine the following
aspects;
a. Historical development of the concept of wartime humanitarian
assistance.
b. Whether the provision of humanitarian assistance to the affected
parties during war times is a mandatory legal obligation of the
belligerent parties under International Humanitarian Law (IHL)?
c. Whether denial or blocking humanitarian aid in time of war
amounts to war crime under IHL?
d. As alleged in the OISL Report, has Sri Lanka denied humanitarian
assistance to the civilians trapped in the conflict zone in 2009? 7

Literature Review
On perusal of the existing literature relating to the areas referred to
in (a) to (d) above, it is observed that there are substantial amount of
literature dealing with those aspects except the point in (d). There is
only one major work which exclusively deals with a critical analysis
of charges in the OISL Report. Although in this work the allegations
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of OISL Report have been critically analyzed in the light of credible
evidence, certain gaps and missing points can be identified in relation
to the analysis of the allegation of denial of humanitarian assistance.
So, my intention in this article is to address that gap. Accordingly, I
used certain specific data and statements in the nature of admissions
contained in the OISL Report itself to support my arguments which
are further corroborated by the primary and secondary evidentiary
sources.

In a series of UN Secretary General’s reports, the provision of
humanitarian assistance to civilian has been recognized as one of the

7 I verbally presented a research paper on broader perspectives including this matter as
well under the title ‘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).
8 Dharshana Weerasekera, A Factual Appraisal of the OISL Report (Sarasavi Publishers
2023).
law.faculty@kdu.ac.lk
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