Six months ago the Government of Sri Lanka announced that war in Sri Lanka was finally over. Victory seemed sweet to ordinary Sri Lankans in the south. The deliberate killing of civilians by Tamil Tiger suicide bombers polarized communities and bred real fear that conflict could leak into ordinary life and affect anyone at any time.

Triumphalism about the elimination of the Tamil Tiger leadership led to dancing in the streets of Colombo. What was forgotten in the moment of victory was the suffering of tens of thousands of Tamil civilians displaced by the conflict and now unlawfully detained in camps in the north east.

6 months on, conditions in the camps remain appalling.

Over the last year the South Asia team closely monitored the impact of the war on ordinary civilians in Sri Lanka. Massive displacement was a key feature of the conflict. I remember meeting an aid worker in November last year who showed me shocking photos of families on the move, dozens piled onto trucks clutching a few belongings, pots for cooking rice or a lone chair. They fled from aerial bombardment often losing loved ones as they travelled, unable to stop if cross-fighting was severe.

Over the final months of the war I spoke with doctors in the war zone and learnt of terrible human suffering. They described medical supplies running out, how their hospitals had to move and in the end how they treated patients under trees sometimes performing operations without anaesthetic. Photos show the horror of war – small children without limbs, flies buzzing over open wounds, relatives crying over bodies ripped open by shells, unable to bury loved ones with ceremony.

Spiralling civilian casualties put Sri Lanka on the world media map for a short time but with restrictions imposed on media and humanitarian workers this was a war without witness.

It is our responsibility now that fighting is over to care for those still traumatised by war. This week I am in Canada sharing concerns with the diaspora here about what is happening in Sri Lanka and joining hands with AI Canada to demand that the Government of Sri Lanka “Unlock the Camps”.

Displaced people in camps should not be detained, they need to move freely and have access to aid workers and services. It is time for Sri Lanka to turn a page on the culture of violence and put human rights at the heart of a new Sri Lanka.