U.N. rights boss urges Sri Lanka to probe secret jails, missing people| Reuters
GENEVA(Reuters) - Sri Lanka must investigate reports of secret places of detention and set up a "credible and independent" body to clarify the fate of people missing since the long war that ended in 2009, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
Some Tamils allege that the military maintains detention centers and tortures former Tamil rebels who surrendered after defeat. The military rejects the charge. Tamils who went missing in the war's final phase are alleged to range from many thousands to a few hundred.
"Reports have continued to suggest the existence of secret and unacknowledged places of detention. These require urgent investigation," Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a speech.
The presidential commission to investigate missing persons should be "disbanded and its pending cases transferred to a credible and independent institution", he said.