Credible evidence uncovered by a United Nations panel and featured in The New York Times proves that the Sri Lankan Army targeted civilians, shelled hospitals, and attacked aid workers in the final months of the country’s 26 year-long civil war. According to the report, the "government shelled on a large scale in three consecutive no-fire zones, where it had encouraged the civilian population to concentrate, even after indicating that it would cease the use of heavy weapons."
The Sri Lankan government long claimed it had a zero-tolerance policy on civilian casualties, despite reports of mass casualties and indiscriminate shelling of rebel strongholds.
PHR called for an international Commission of Inquiry in May 2009 to investigate possible war crimes in Sri Lanka. PHR sources on the ground revealed that only 25,000 out of a total 125,000 internally displaced Tamil persons in Sri Lanka received any sort of government protection prior to a deadly government offensive in Tamil territory. New UN documentation proves that fears for the safety of these Tamil IPDs were well-founded.