The Obama administration is urging Sri Lanka to address evidence of the mass killings of civilians by the Sri Lankan military in 2009. The United Nations said this week it would refer evidence of war crimes to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. Thousands of civilians are believed to have died when the Sri Lankan government launched a massive assault on Tamil separatists in the final stages of their longtime conflict. In a visit to Sri Lanka, Robert Blake, the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, backed the U.N. probe.

Robert Blake: “The announcement that the U.N. Secretary-General will transmit the panel of experts report to the U.N. Human Rights Council and to the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights underlines the need for a comprehensive national reconciliation process that includes a full, credible and independent accounting and accountability for those who violated international humanitarian law. We hope that the lessons learned and reconciliation commission report will address the allegations that have been raised in the Secretary-General’s panel of experts report.”