Sri Lanka's Killing Fields is an investigatory documentary about the war crimes during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War, broadcast by the British TV station Channel 4 on 14 June 2011. Described as one of the most graphic documentaries in British TV history, it featured amateur video from the conflict zone filmed by civilians and Sri Lankan soldiers which depicted "horrific war crimes".
The video filmed by civilians included scenes during and after intense shelling of civilian targets, including hospitals, by the Sri Lankan military. The "trophy video" filmed by Sri Lankan soldiers showed scenes of blindfolded victims being executed and dead bodies of naked women being dragged onto trucks by soldiers as they made lewd remarks about the victims.
The documentary also included interviews with civilians who managed to survive the conflict, United Nations staff based in Sri Lanka during the conflict, human rights organisations, and an international law expert. The documentary was made by ITN Productions and presented by Jon Snow, of Channel 4 News.
The Sri Lankan government has denounced the documentary as a fake and the Defence Ministry produced a documentary named Lies Agreed Upon, countering allegations made in the movie.
Sri Lanka's Killing Fields elicited reactions from foreign governments, international human rights groups, and various public figures. The film was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for Best Current Affairs documentary and won the Current Affairs – International category of the Royal Television Society's Television Journalism Awards 2010–2011. Furthermore, the documentary won two One World Media Awards in 2012 in the categories "Television" and "Documentary". In November 2011 Channel 4 announced that it had commissioned a follow-up film Sri Lanka's Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished from ITN Productions with new evidence concerning the final days of the conflict, broadcast in March 2012.
Background
During the final months of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009 and after its end in May 2009 evidence in the form of video, photographs, etc. started emerging showing what appeared to gross violations of international and humanitarian law by both the Sri Lankan military and the rebel group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). British broadcaster Channel 4 was one of a number of foreign media organisations who publicised this evidence. In August 2009 Channel 4 News broadcast video showing naked and blindfolded victims being executed by Sri Lankan soldiers. The Sri Lankan government denounced the video as fake, but forensic analysis by independent experts and the United Nations have confirmed that the video is genuine. In November 2010 Channel 4 News broadcast additional video of the same incident.
Broadcast details On 3 June 2011 Channel 4 premièred a special hour-long investigation into the final weeks of the civil war titled Sri Lanka's Killing Fields at the 17th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. Channel 4 broadcast the documentary to UK audiences on 14 June 2011 at 11:05pm. The documentary was watched by an estimated 700,000 to 1 million viewers and drew a lot of international publicity. In an unusual move Channel 4 waived its international copyright, allowing viewers from outside the UK to view the documentary on its on-demand service and via YouTube.
International broadcasts The documentary was broadcast in Australia on 4 July 2011 at 8:30pm on ABC1's Four Corners programme. It was repeated on 5 July 2011 at 11:35pm on ABC1 and on 9 July 2011 at 8:00pm on ABC News 24.
The documentary was broadcast in India on 8 July 2011 at 8:00pm on Headlines Today. It was repeated on 9 July 2011 at 10:00pm.
The documentary was broadcast in Norway on 27 September 2011 at 10:30pm on NRK2.
Special screenings Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Crisis Group, Open Society Foundations and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission jointly screened the documentary at the Congressional Auditorium, Washington, D.C., on 15 July 2011 to an audience of senators, congressmen, officials, and diplomats.
Three cross-party New Zealand MPs (Jackie Blue, Keith Locke and Maryan Street) jointly screened the documentary at the Beehive Theatrette in Wellington on 16 August 2011 to an audience of parliamentarians and political activists.
Human Rights Watch and three cross-party Canadian MPs (Patrick Brown, John McKay and Rathika Sitsabaiesan) jointly screened the documentary at the La Promenade Building, Ottawa on 28 September 2011.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Crisis Group jointly screened the documentary at the European Parliament, Brussels on 12 October 2011.
Content
Interviews The documentary featured interviews with Benjamin Dix, a British UN worker based in Kilinochchi; Gordon Weiss, the UN's official spokesman in Sri Lanka during the final stages of the civil war; William Schabas, international human rights lawyer and academic; Vany Kumar, a British Tamil who had been trapped in the conflict zone; Steve Crawshaw of Amnesty International; a number of civilians who had been trapped in the conflict zone; and Sinhalese critics of the government.
According to Dix from September 2008 there were a number of air raids (by the Sri Lankan Air Force) each day on Kilinochchi, often at night. The Sri Lankan government told the UN that they could no longer guarantee their safety and that they must leave Kilinochchi and other Tamil Tiger-held areas. According to Gordon Weiss the Sri Lankan government regarded the UN as an "impediment" to their defeat of the Tamil Tigers.
By removing the aid agency from the Tamil Tiger areas, there were no longer any international witnesses to the Sri Lankan military's actions, charged Weiss. When the UN announced it was evacuating all its staff from Kilinochchi, hundreds of local civilians, fearing an all-out onslaught on the town by the Sri Lankan military, went to the UN office on 15 September 2008 and pleaded with the UN staff not to leave.
Dix filmed the scene on his camcorder: "They were pleading with us...'please don't leave'...There was one girl..she wasn't shouting and she wasn't chanting, she was just still but she had real sadness in her face...Her face just really captured this 'have compassion...stay and watch'". A Hindu priest pleaded with Dix stay, not to provide food and shelter but to be witnesses: "We are begging you to stay and witness our suffering. If we allow you to leave the truth is that everyone here will die. The knife is at our throat." The UN, accepting the Sri Lankan governments warning and ignoring the pleas of the local civilians, left Kilinochchi.
"It was their greatest hour of need. They had an army sitting on the doorstep...and we drove out. That was ...a real sense of abandonment of these people" stated Dix. Weiss believes the UN's decision to leave Kilinochchi to be a mistake. The removal of the UN staff from Kilinochchi left virtually no international witnesses in the area. After the UN had withdrawn, the Sri Lankan military launched a massive offensive into the Tamil Tiger-held areas and captured Kilinochchi in January 2009. Hundreds of thousands of civilians fled the onslaught. Over the following four months they were trapped in an ever-decreasing area and constantly bombed by the Sri Lankan military. Tens of thousands died as result of deliberate Sri Lankan military fire. The harrowing ordeal suffered by the civilians was filmed.
International human rights lawyer and academic William Schabas believes that mass executions of prisoners were possible evidence of systematic abuse, and this could therefore implicate Sri Lanka's political and military leadership in the war crimes of summary executions, killings, and torture.
The documentary featured an interview with a Sinhalese critic of the government who claimed to have a collection of photographs of summary executions and killings of those who surrendered by the Sri Lankan military. He claimed the photos were taken by a high-ranking army officer on his personal camera. In one photo there are dozens of dead bodies laid out in rows, many of whom appeared to have been executed. Soldiers are standing around the bodies, some taking video clips using mobile phones.
Other photos show the dead, naked bodies of B. Nadesan and S. Pulidevan, two Tamil Tiger leaders who had tried to surrender. Numerous other photos were shown and all the photos were analysed by a forensic pathologist. The pathologist found that "there is very high incidence of lethal gunshot wounds to the head, raising the strong suspicion of executions at the time of surrender with aimed head shots to stationary, highly visible targets" and that there is "compelling evidence of systematic executions and likely sexual assault of female prisoners prior to execution".
Civilian video The documentary showed numerous clips from the conflict zone recording the harrowing ordeal endured by civilians.
One of the video clips shows the hospital at Puthukkudiyiruppu with government shells firing in the background. Patients are seen lying on the floor with debris all around them. A woman patient laments, "I was wounded so I came to hospital, and the situation in hospital is like this". Another woman cries, "My legs have been wounded in the shelling. I can't move. I can't get up". The shelling intensified and eventually the doctors were forced to abandon the hospital.
A number of video clips are shown of civilian camps being shelled and the ensuing terror. In one clip civilians are seen sheltering in a shallow bunker as the area is bombed. "Don't take the video," a distraught woman in the bunker pleads with the cameraman. "Please get in the bunker. What are you going to do with the video? They are killing everyone. Please God save all of these children. Can you hear us?"
Soldiers' video The documentary showed a number of video clips filmed by Sri Lankan soldiers on mobile phones, most of which were previously unaired.
In the first clip, which was originally broadcast on Channel 4 News on 25 August 2009, armed soldiers are seen abusing naked, blindfolded men (believed to be Tamil Tiger prisoners) with hands tied behind their backs. "Straighten up. Fuck you!" a soldier shouts as he kicks one of the naked men on his back. Another soldier then shoots the naked man in the head, killing him. "It's like he saw. He looked, then he looked away," a soldier is heard saying in the background. All the soldiers are speaking Sinhala.
Another shot is heard in the background as the cameraman pans around to show other dead naked bodies, all with blindfolds and hands tied behind their backs. A live naked, blindfolded man with his hands tied behind his back is brought to the area by a soldier and sat down on the ground. The soldier takes a few steps back before shooting the naked man in the head, killing him. "Shoot! Shoot! I've shot as well. Shoot!", a soldier is heard shouting in the background as more shots are heard in the background. "These are our state property. Let's shoot!" the soldier laughs. Another soldier is shown shooting a prisoner. This video was authenticated by the UN, but the Sri Lankan government maintains it is a fake.