Sri Lanka, Jan. 15 -- A new United Nations report about sexual violence related to Sri Lanka's civil war is another step forward in the struggle for accountability for crimes under international law that were committed in Sri Lanka, Human Rights Watch said today.

The UN report, issued on January 13, 2025, finds that sexual violence was "part of a deliberate, widespread, and systemic pattern of violations" by state security forces, and "may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity."

The findings, based on survivors' accounts of crimes committed against both women and men, underline the urgent need for the Sri Lankan government to provide relief and justice to survivors and to hold those responsible to account. Foreign governments...