Editing Human shield (section)

==== Sri Lankan Civil War ====
{{Main|Sri Lankan Civil War}}
According to a Human Rights Watch report published on 19 February 2009, the [[LTTE]] had been preventing [[Tamil people]] civilians from fleeing out of rebel held area and using them as human shields against the [[2008–2009 Sri Lankan Army Northern offensive#LTTE's last stand|Sri Lankan Army offensive]].<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2009-02-19 |title=War on the Displaced |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2009/02/19/war-displaced/sri-lankan-army-and-ltte-abuses-against-civilians-vanni |journal=Human Rights Watch |language=en}}</ref> The report outlines that according to the NGO's own findings, the human rights violations "include deliberate, indiscriminate, and disproportionate attacks on civilians, hostage taking, and use of human shields". This is concluded in the report's own recommendations to the LTTE, stating that the use of human shields as well as the placing of military targets near civilian populations being a war crime as per the International Humanitarian Law found in IHL.<ref>{{cite web|title=Customary IHL - Rule 5. Definition of Civilians|url=https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule5|access-date=2021-06-27|website=ihl-databases.icrc.org |df=mdy-all}}</ref> Sri Lankan government's Maxwell Paranagama Commission stated that the LTTE was principally responsible for the loss of civilian life during the [[Eelam War IV|final phase]] of the armed conflict through their action to use fleeing Tamil civilians as Human Shields clearly differing with the [[Report of the Secretary-General's Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka|Darusman Report]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://srilankabrief.org/2015/10/sri-lanka-civilian-deaths-in-war-due-to-ltte-human-shields-pm/|title=Sri Lanka: Civilian Deaths in War Due to LTTE Human Shields – PM |work=Sri Lanka Brief|access-date=2017-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180519032610/http://srilankabrief.org/2015/10/sri-lanka-civilian-deaths-in-war-due-to-ltte-human-shields-pm/|archive-date=2018-05-19|url-status=live |df=mdy-all}}</ref>