By Easwaran Rutnam On 4 August 2006, Action Against Hunger, better known by its French name Action Contre la Faim (ACF), lost contact with its mission in Muttur. The LTTE had then infiltrated Muttur and a major battle was underway as the military looked to regain control of the area. As the situation died down a few days later, 17 local staff members of ACF were found dead near ACF’s Muttur office. Investigations revealed that they had been forced to kneel and were shot dead at close range. The LTTE and the military blamed each other for the massacre. However, no party has been held accountable. The fight for justice continues. This year marks 13 years since the incident; yet, the investigations into the incident have seen little to no progress. The ACF massacre is among the high-profile killings in Sri Lanka which drew international attention, but has yet to be properly investigated. The deliberate, targeted killing of the 17 ACF aid workers in Muttur has been described as “one of the most serious recent crimes against humanitarian workers worldwide”. In 2017, ACF said evidence indicated that the aid workers were likely killed by security forces – the same party obligated under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and humanitarian workers during times of conflict. International humanitarian law considers attacks against aid workers – and civilians – a war crime. Such attacks are not inevitable consequences of armed conflict, but emerge when parties disregard the laws of war. "In 2006, 17 Action Against Hunger humanitarian workers – whose sole objective was to support the people of Sri Lanka – were assassinated. This tragedy reminds us that humanitarian workers are still threatened in conflict areas, as are civilians. Action Against Hunger stands with the international community in advocating stronger protection for people in need. We also demand accountability and justice for violations of international humanitarian law," Action Against Hunger, USA Chief Executive Officer Dr. Charles Owubah told The Sunday Morning. Amnesty International is among the leading human rights groups who have been pushing for justice for the ACF massacre victims. Amnesty International South Asia Researcher Thyagi Ruwanpathirana said the lack of progress in the case of the 17 victims of the ACF killing is a testament to and is emblematic of the faith placed in the Sri Lankan State to provide adequate witness and victim protection and effectively and impartially mete out justice. “Thirteen years later, the Government of Sri Lanka is still claiming to pursue justice for what is historically one of the worst massacres of humanitarian workers. Fifteen men and women were discovered lying face down in the ACF compound in Muttur, Trincomalee, with bullet wounds to the head and neck; the victims had been shot at close range. Two more ACF staff members were found murdered in a vehicle nearby, possibly killed while trying to escape,” she told The Sunday Morning. Ruwanpathirana said that affected persons are compelled to look outside domestic structures to get credible accountability and justice for such serious human rights violations. In 2014, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) explicitly called for the creation of a special court with an international dimension to investigate the Muttur massacre, so that justice could be served after years of impunity. However, the request was disregarded by the Sri Lankan Government. ACF said that the prevailing impunity in the case of the Muttur massacre is not isolated, and is a grim testament to the fact that no humanitarian – nor any civilian – is completely protected. Justice not served New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that the ACF incident is another example of why the Government should seek international assistance to prosecute this and also other killings. “More than a decade later, despite numerous promises, the authorities are yet to bring to justice those responsible for the summary execution of 17 aid workers. This is yet another example of why the Government should seek international assistance to prosecute this and also other killings. Political leaders insist that there is no need for international oversight despite agreeing to a Human Rights Council resolution to ensure justice, and yet, even in the most egregious of cases, it is obvious that there is little progress on accountability,” HRW, South Asia Director Meenakshi Ganguly told The Sunday Morning. According to the University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR) in Jaffna, the ACF field staff who were sent from Trincomalee to Muttur on Monday, 31 July 2006 were stuck in Muttur when the town was cut off, following the LTTE’s takeover of the town by the morning of 2 August 2006. The 17 ACF workers, including four women, were told by their Trincomalee office to stay in their Muttur office until they were rescued. Despite locals’ advice to move to either a Methodist or Roman Catholic church or a mosque, they decided to follow their superiors’ instructions. Questionable rescue team The UTHR revealed that on the morning of 2 August 2006, a certain home guard’s elder brother was killed by the LTTE. The home guard had then told officers at the Muttur Police station that he would kill all the Tamils in Muttur, accusing them all of being LTTE. The same evening, the Police station was subjected to a massive attack by the LTTE. Many of the policemen and home guards had run away. On 4 August 2006, civilians who had been subject to heavy shelling decided to flee Muttur on foot. By midday, most of them had walked out en masse. According to the UTHR, the said home guard was part of a team sent to Muttur to rescue the ACF staff and others. Meanwhile, the Police had received information that some LTTE cadres may be in the ACF office in Muttur. No one knows what exactly happened during the operation to rescue the ACF staff, but the UTHR said that sending the home guard as part of the team to rescue Tamils appeared highly questionable since he had sworn to kill all the Tamils in Muttur. Following the incident, the families of the victims and the ACF staff who went to collect the bodies of the victims faced harassment and had to leave their homes and even the country. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) noted after the incident that the SLMM Head had confidential conversations with highly reliable sources regarding the party who is most likely responsible for the act. They stated the views have not proved contradictory, and the security forces of Sri Lanka are widely and consistently deemed to be responsible for the incident. The current Government promised to conduct a proper and independent investigation into the killing, but with elections due, that investigation is now likely dead and buried.