A/HRC/25/23 Chief Minister of the Eastern Province, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (alias Pillaiyan), all of whom are linked to numerous allegations of serious crimes during the armed conflict.25 Both Karuna and Pillaiyan were former LTTE commanders who subsequently formed the breakaway Karuna faction named in the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission as well as successive reports of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict as being responsible for child recruitment, a war crime.26 V. Progress in accountability issues A. Domestic initiatives 36. In its resolution 22/1, the Human Rights Council called upon the Government to conduct an independent and credible investigation into allegations of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law and to take all necessary additional steps to fulfil its relevant legal obligations and commitment to initiate credible and independent actions to ensure justice, equity, accountability and reconciliation for all Sri Lankans. A number of the recommendations made by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission also called for further investigation into specific cases and issues, in particular allegations of the indiscriminate killing of civilians and the summary execution of prisoners. To date, the Government has taken limited and piecemeal steps towards investigating serious allegations of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and none of these have had the independence or credibility required. 37. The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission recommended further investigations into, inter alia, the circumstances under which specific instances of death or injury to civilians could have occurred, and, that, if such investigations disclosed wrongful conduct, that perpetrators be prosecuted and punished, as well as into the Channel 4 video recordings to establish the truth of the allegations arising from them. The Commander of the Army convened a military court of inquiry in February 2012 to investigate and submit a report on the observations made by the Commission. Little, however, is known about the proceedings, as the court has been closed to the public and it has not issued any report. 38. In its update of the national plan of action of January 2014, the Government reported that the court of inquiry of the Sri Lanka Army completed in February 2013 its investigation into the allegation of killings of civilians, and concluded that instances of shelling referred to in the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission had not been caused by the Army, and that civilian causalities might have been due to unlawful acts by the LTTE. The Government reported that the second part of the investigation into allegations made in the Channel 4 video was under way. 39. The High Commissioner has observed that military courts of inquiry do not have the necessary impartiality and independence to inspire confidence. The Commander of the Army who established the courts was also the commander of the security forces in the main battle zone of the conflict, and was actively engaged in the overall military planning and 25 26 10 See Human Rights Watch, “Sri Lanka: Probe into LTTE Crimes Should Start with Karuna”, 28 March 2013 (www.hrw.org/news/2013/03/28/sri-lanka-probe-ltte-crimes-should-start-karuna), and Amnesty International, Sri Lanka report, available from www.amnesty.org/en/region/sri-lanka/report2010. S/AC.51/2007/9. See also Human Rights Watch, “Sri Lanka: Karuna Group Abducts Children for Combat”, 25 January 2007, available from www.hrw.org/news/2007/01/23/sri-lanka-karuna-groupabducts-children-combat.