[ Toronto Star ][ Jun 12 11:23 GMT ]
The seeds of a decision to bar Bob Rae's entry to Sri Lanka may have been planted with the pen of a Sri Lankan expatriate from London, Ont., with advance knowledge of the trip and a grudge against the federal Liberal party. Days before Rae was turned away at Colombo's main airport late Tuesday night, allegedly for his sympathies toward the Tamil Tiger separatists, Irangani de Silva had one of the many articles and letters she has written targeting politicians and officials around the world [ full story ]
Saturday, June 13, 2009
“I am no threat to Sri Lanka’s national security”
Bob Rae, MP
Following his deportation from Sri Lanka last week, Bob Rae spoke exclusively to The Sunday Leader. The Canadian government condemned Sri Lanka for expelling Liberal MP Bob Rae on the pretext that he was a security risk, calling the move “unacceptable.” Politicians of all parties called the incident an insult to Canada, and Rae said the notion that he was a threat to the country “is absolutely absurd.” The Canadian government also did not mince words. “It is absurd to suggest that Mr. Rae represents a threat to Sri Lankan national security, or is a supporter of the (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam),” Foreign Affairs Spokeswoman Emma Welford said in an e-mail. “We have registered to the Sri Lankan government our dismay and displeasure concerning this unacceptable treatment of a Canadian parliamentarian.”
By Brian Turner Our Correspondent in Toronto
Q: It’s been alleged that you only had a one way ticket for your visit – which is why your trip was deemed suspicious — was this the case?
A: No, of course not. I had a round trip ticket, and was hoping to stay for three full days.
Q: Were you able to speak to anyone from the government about the decision to revoke your visa?
A: I spoke to no one directly at the airport who was in a position to discuss the decision to disregard my visa and not allow me in.
Q: When did you become involved in the Sri Lanka issue and how do you personally plan to continue your work / campaign now that you have been denied entry to the country?
A: I was first invited to Sri Lanka by then Minister G.L. Peiris. He was invited by the Forum of Federations to attend a major conference in 1999 and as chairman he asked me and others at the Forum to work with the government. This work intensified after the Ceasefire Agreement of 2001. I attended the negotiation sessions throughout 2002 and 2003, and also did work with a number of civil society groups, the army, and others, on governance and devolution issues.
I last visited the country in 2005 after the tsunami, for a number of meetings and a very widespread trip. This visit I asked permission to visit the Manik Farm camp which was refused at the airport.
In terms of what now? I had hoped to talk to both the government and the international community — including UNHCR and the Red Cross — about the conditions in the camps, as well as discuss with the government some of the longer term issues. I care about Sri Lanka and all its people. It’s that simple and will continue to be involved.
I have received many e-mails and phone calls from Sri Lankan friends, and I know eventually a more reasoned view will prevail. I do, however, worry about what refusing to let me in represents, because to me it shows a reluctance to be open and engage. I am disappointed in this, and of course hoping it will change.
Nothing that has happened changes my feelings of goodwill to all Sri Lankans and my strong wishes for a positive future for the country and all its citizens.
Q: What of allegations that you are an LTTE sympathiser?
A: They are simply untrue. I am not an LTTE supporter or sympathiser. That is a ridiculous suggestion. I have often criticised the group for its extremism, its violence, its tactics, its recruitment of children. I have lost personal friends to their terrible violence, and have deplored their cultish behaviour.
I have been urging reconciliation and respect for pluralism in everything I do. I have personally helped victims of the LTTE’s tactics leave the country in search of safety. I spoke at memorial services for Lakshman Kadirgamar and Keteesh Loganathan in Toronto and London.
Q: Do you think the time has come for the international community to take a stand on Sri Lanka?
A: Sri Lanka is a sovereign country and will make its own decisions, within a framework of international law. And the rest of us are free to speak our minds whenever we see abuses of human rights. It would be preferable to be able to talk directly about these issues, but that’s not possible if dissent is shut down internally, or outsiders are locked out.
Following his deportation from Sri Lanka last week, Bob Rae spoke exclusively to The Sunday Leader. The Canadian government condemned Sri Lanka for expelling Liberal MP Bob Rae on the pretext that he was a security risk, calling the move “unacceptable.” Politicians of all parties called the incident an insult to Canada, and Rae said the notion that he was a threat to the country “is absolutely absurd.” The Canadian government also did not mince words. “It is absurd to suggest that Mr. Rae represents a threat to Sri Lankan national security, or is a supporter of the (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam),” Foreign Affairs Spokeswoman Emma Welford said in an e-mail. “We have registered to the Sri Lankan government our dismay and displeasure concerning this unacceptable treatment of a Canadian parliamentarian.”
By Brian Turner Our Correspondent in Toronto
Q: It’s been alleged that you only had a one way ticket for your visit – which is why your trip was deemed suspicious — was this the case?
A: No, of course not. I had a round trip ticket, and was hoping to stay for three full days.
Q: Were you able to speak to anyone from the government about the decision to revoke your visa?
A: I spoke to no one directly at the airport who was in a position to discuss the decision to disregard my visa and not allow me in.
Q: When did you become involved in the Sri Lanka issue and how do you personally plan to continue your work / campaign now that you have been denied entry to the country?
A: I was first invited to Sri Lanka by then Minister G.L. Peiris. He was invited by the Forum of Federations to attend a major conference in 1999 and as chairman he asked me and others at the Forum to work with the government. This work intensified after the Ceasefire Agreement of 2001. I attended the negotiation sessions throughout 2002 and 2003, and also did work with a number of civil society groups, the army, and others, on governance and devolution issues.
I last visited the country in 2005 after the tsunami, for a number of meetings and a very widespread trip. This visit I asked permission to visit the Manik Farm camp which was refused at the airport.
In terms of what now? I had hoped to talk to both the government and the international community — including UNHCR and the Red Cross — about the conditions in the camps, as well as discuss with the government some of the longer term issues. I care about Sri Lanka and all its people. It’s that simple and will continue to be involved.
I have received many e-mails and phone calls from Sri Lankan friends, and I know eventually a more reasoned view will prevail. I do, however, worry about what refusing to let me in represents, because to me it shows a reluctance to be open and engage. I am disappointed in this, and of course hoping it will change.
Nothing that has happened changes my feelings of goodwill to all Sri Lankans and my strong wishes for a positive future for the country and all its citizens.
Q: What of allegations that you are an LTTE sympathiser?
A: They are simply untrue. I am not an LTTE supporter or sympathiser. That is a ridiculous suggestion. I have often criticised the group for its extremism, its violence, its tactics, its recruitment of children. I have lost personal friends to their terrible violence, and have deplored their cultish behaviour.
I have been urging reconciliation and respect for pluralism in everything I do. I have personally helped victims of the LTTE’s tactics leave the country in search of safety. I spoke at memorial services for Lakshman Kadirgamar and Keteesh Loganathan in Toronto and London.
Q: Do you think the time has come for the international community to take a stand on Sri Lanka?
A: Sri Lanka is a sovereign country and will make its own decisions, within a framework of international law. And the rest of us are free to speak our minds whenever we see abuses of human rights. It would be preferable to be able to talk directly about these issues, but that’s not possible if dissent is shut down internally, or outsiders are locked out.
NGO briefings in UN highlight Sri Lanka rights violations, Impunity
International Non-Governmental Organisations - NGOs participating in the 11th session of the UN Human Rights Council had two different briefings, as parallel events to the main plenary, focusing mainly on Sri Lanka, one organized by Switzerland-based ECOSOC NGO, Interfaith International, and co-sponsored by the Foundation France Liberty – Danielle Mitterrand and International Education Development - IED, and the other briefing organized by Amnesty International and co-sponsored by Human rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists.
Both meetings were well attended by several NGOs and government delegates, including members of the Sri Lankan delegation.
The Amnesty meeting had a witness who was speaking on the cold-blooded killing of his son in Sri Lanka, and how he has been refused justice. The participants were shocked to hear his testimony, which was also heard by members of the Sri Lankan delegation.
While the above meeting was on "Impunity on Sri Lanka," attendees observed that the participating NGOs avoided using the word "Tamil," and the speculation among attendees was if this was another condition imposed by the Sri Lankan delegation on the participating NGOs.
NGO UN Human Rights Council briefing in GenevaThe meeting organised by Interfaith International was presided over by its Secretary General Dr. Charles Graves. The speakers were Mr Biro Diawara, Ms Deirdre McConnell, Ms Oretta Bandettini di Poggio and Mr. S. V. Kirubaharan.
The Paris-based Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR) circulated latest information to the participants of the 11th session of the Human Rights Council.
Topics including Tamils struggle for right to self-determination, genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity figured prominently in this briefings, according to TCHR officials.
Both meetings were well attended by several NGOs and government delegates, including members of the Sri Lankan delegation.
The Amnesty meeting had a witness who was speaking on the cold-blooded killing of his son in Sri Lanka, and how he has been refused justice. The participants were shocked to hear his testimony, which was also heard by members of the Sri Lankan delegation.
While the above meeting was on "Impunity on Sri Lanka," attendees observed that the participating NGOs avoided using the word "Tamil," and the speculation among attendees was if this was another condition imposed by the Sri Lankan delegation on the participating NGOs.
NGO UN Human Rights Council briefing in GenevaThe meeting organised by Interfaith International was presided over by its Secretary General Dr. Charles Graves. The speakers were Mr Biro Diawara, Ms Deirdre McConnell, Ms Oretta Bandettini di Poggio and Mr. S. V. Kirubaharan.
The Paris-based Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR) circulated latest information to the participants of the 11th session of the Human Rights Council.
Topics including Tamils struggle for right to self-determination, genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity figured prominently in this briefings, according to TCHR officials.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Sri Lanka won't beg for aid: central bank chief
[ AFP ][ Jun 12 10:11 GMT ]
War ravaged Sri Lanka will not beg for foreign aid even as a 1.9 billion dollar bailout from the IMF has been delayed, the island's central bank chief said on Friday. "We will never go after donors or lending agencies with a begging bowl. We are capable of standing on our own and raise funds through capital markets," Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor, Nivard Cabraal, told AFP. Sri Lanka tapped the International Monetary Fund in March in a bid to stave off its first balance of payment deficit in four years after the island's foreign currency reserves fell to around six weeks worth of imports. [ full story]
War ravaged Sri Lanka will not beg for foreign aid even as a 1.9 billion dollar bailout from the IMF has been delayed, the island's central bank chief said on Friday. "We will never go after donors or lending agencies with a begging bowl. We are capable of standing on our own and raise funds through capital markets," Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor, Nivard Cabraal, told AFP. Sri Lanka tapped the International Monetary Fund in March in a bid to stave off its first balance of payment deficit in four years after the island's foreign currency reserves fell to around six weeks worth of imports. [ full story]
Sri Lanka: End Illegal Detention of Displaced Population
[ HRW ][ Jun 12 02:33 GMT ]
The Sri Lankan government should end the illegal detention of nearly 300,000 ethnic Tamils displaced by the recently ended conflict in Sri Lanka, Human Rights Watch said today. For more than a year, the Sri Lankan government has detained virtually everyone - including entire families - displaced by the fighting in the north in military-run camps, in violation of international law. While the government has said that most would be able to return home by the end of the year, past government practice and the absence of any concrete plans for their release raises serious concerns about indefinite confinement, said Human Rights Watch. [ full story
The Sri Lankan government should end the illegal detention of nearly 300,000 ethnic Tamils displaced by the recently ended conflict in Sri Lanka, Human Rights Watch said today. For more than a year, the Sri Lankan government has detained virtually everyone - including entire families - displaced by the fighting in the north in military-run camps, in violation of international law. While the government has said that most would be able to return home by the end of the year, past government practice and the absence of any concrete plans for their release raises serious concerns about indefinite confinement, said Human Rights Watch. [ full story
Humanity failed in Sri Lanka
[ The Guardian ][ Jun 12 12:14 GMT ]
Sri Lanka is a country where abductions, disappearances, killings and general human rights violations happen with impunity. Law and order is applied selectively. Racists are promoted to higher ranks and government allegedly colludes with armed paramilitary in abductions and disappearances. In recent times, Sri Lanka has taken a step further in breaching international law, Geneva conventions and UN charters that it is signed up to. In the name of "war on terror", Sri Lanka conducted mass murder in broad daylight. What are we going to tell our own kids when they ask us what we did to save those children? We know from the UN secretary general that more than 50,000 children are living under "appalling conditions" in barbed-wire open prisons. [ full story
Sri Lanka is a country where abductions, disappearances, killings and general human rights violations happen with impunity. Law and order is applied selectively. Racists are promoted to higher ranks and government allegedly colludes with armed paramilitary in abductions and disappearances. In recent times, Sri Lanka has taken a step further in breaching international law, Geneva conventions and UN charters that it is signed up to. In the name of "war on terror", Sri Lanka conducted mass murder in broad daylight. What are we going to tell our own kids when they ask us what we did to save those children? We know from the UN secretary general that more than 50,000 children are living under "appalling conditions" in barbed-wire open prisons. [ full story
On Sri Lanka, UN Has No Comment on Prison Labor, New GA President Will Not Explain
[ Inner City Press ][ Jun 12 22:01 GMT ]
The UN at all levels demonstrates blindness with respect to Sri Lanka, from the use of prison labor in the now emptied out north to even recognizing the name of the country. Incoming General Assembly president Ali Abdussalam Treki of Libya on Friday took questions from the Press. Inner City Press asked him about two countries, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. To the latter, Libya agreed to a $500 million loan, to make up for the $1.9 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund delayed by reports of mistreatment of civilians. Inner City Press asked Treki, since Libya was among those blocking Security Council action, if he could imagine Sri Lanka being taken up in the General Assembly, as Myanmar has been. [ full story]
The UN at all levels demonstrates blindness with respect to Sri Lanka, from the use of prison labor in the now emptied out north to even recognizing the name of the country. Incoming General Assembly president Ali Abdussalam Treki of Libya on Friday took questions from the Press. Inner City Press asked him about two countries, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. To the latter, Libya agreed to a $500 million loan, to make up for the $1.9 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund delayed by reports of mistreatment of civilians. Inner City Press asked Treki, since Libya was among those blocking Security Council action, if he could imagine Sri Lanka being taken up in the General Assembly, as Myanmar has been. [ full story]
UN's Ban Questioned on Record, on Sri Lanka, Half Time Pep Talk
[ Inner City Press ][ Jun 12 12:13 GMT ]
Half way into the five year term as UN Secretary General he was awarded in 2006, Ban Ki-moon on June11 tried to defend low grades he has received for his management of the UN and not "speaking truth to power." At Mr. Ban's press conference for June, his spokesperson Michele Montas pointedly did not call on Inner City Press. Only a week before she had said the UN should be able to regulate the Press, after a memo revealed her attendance at a May 8 meeting at which legal threats and "complaining to Google News" about Inner City Press was discussed. On June 11, she looked elsewhere to award the right to question. But CNN's longtime correspondent, characteristically classy, yielded his question to Inner City Press. [ full story
Half way into the five year term as UN Secretary General he was awarded in 2006, Ban Ki-moon on June11 tried to defend low grades he has received for his management of the UN and not "speaking truth to power." At Mr. Ban's press conference for June, his spokesperson Michele Montas pointedly did not call on Inner City Press. Only a week before she had said the UN should be able to regulate the Press, after a memo revealed her attendance at a May 8 meeting at which legal threats and "complaining to Google News" about Inner City Press was discussed. On June 11, she looked elsewhere to award the right to question. But CNN's longtime correspondent, characteristically classy, yielded his question to Inner City Press. [ full story
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Amnesty says Sri Lanka fails to probe war abuses
Fri, 12 Jun 2009 1:51p.m.
The Sri Lankan government never seriously investigated reports of human rights abuses during 25 years of civil war and needs to rapidly overhaul its justice system to bring peace to the country, Amnesty International said.
The London-based rights group said the problem is even more urgent in the wake of the government's defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels last month in a bloody offensive that the United Nations says left more than 7,000 civilians dead.
Human rights groups and diplomats accused the government of shelling heavily populated civilian areas and said the rebels held thousands of civilians as human shields, shooting those who tried to flee. Both sides denied the accusations.
"If communities that have been torn apart by decades of violence and impunity are to be reconciled, the Sri Lankan government should initiate internal reforms and seek international assistance to prevent ongoing violations and ensure real accountability for past abuses," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director.
In a report, the group called for the establishment of an international commission to investigate those allegations because past government probes into abuses have gone nowhere.
The government has repeatedly brushed off such calls, saying an international probe would interfere with the country's sovereignty.
Rajiva Wijesinha, secretary at the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights, said the government's own commission of inquiry into a series of recent allegations of human rights abuses was proceeding, albeit slowly.
"These things take time, and we can't allow any possibility of injustice to happen," he said.
Last March, an international panel of experts established to advise the latest commission of inquiry resigned, saying the government lacked the political will to properly investigate alleged abuses, including the 2006 execution-style slaying of 17 aid workers for the French organisation Action Against Hunger.
The Amnesty International report accuses the government of interfering with past investigations, by using bribes, threats and even murder to eliminate witnesses.
It said the vast majority of human rights violations are never investigated and those that are rarely end in convictions because hearings drag on, witnesses refuse to testify and in some cases even the prosecution does not show up.
At the same time, the country's human rights commission has been stripped of its authority, local rights activists have been threatened, the UN has been obstructed and the press has been stifled, the group said.
Meanwhile, a Japanese mediator said President Mahinda Rajapaksa promised to work for political and democratic reform in the country following the victory over the separatist rebels.
Yasushi Akashi said the president also told him Thursday that he would push for a political compromise with the country's Tamil minority to resolve the ethnic conflict.
Diplomats and aid workers have pushed for the government, dominated by the Sinhalese majority, to be magnanimous in victory or risk re-igniting the conflict. They have also called for the swift resettling of nearly 300,000 ethnic Tamil civilians displaced by the fighting who are living in military-run camps in the north.
The aid group World Vision warned that the camps do not have adequate sanitation and the impending monsoon season could put tens of thousands at risk of diarrhoea, cholera and mosquito-borne illnesses. The group said at least 11,500 more latrines were needed to bring the camps up to international standards.
"When the rains come in two weeks or so, I can't imagine what conditions will be like due to the lack of any proper drainage and toilet system," said Suresh Bartlett, World Vision's country director.
Akashi said the camps were badly congested, had urgent sanitation problems and needed international assistance.
The Sri Lankan government never seriously investigated reports of human rights abuses during 25 years of civil war and needs to rapidly overhaul its justice system to bring peace to the country, Amnesty International said.
The London-based rights group said the problem is even more urgent in the wake of the government's defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels last month in a bloody offensive that the United Nations says left more than 7,000 civilians dead.
Human rights groups and diplomats accused the government of shelling heavily populated civilian areas and said the rebels held thousands of civilians as human shields, shooting those who tried to flee. Both sides denied the accusations.
"If communities that have been torn apart by decades of violence and impunity are to be reconciled, the Sri Lankan government should initiate internal reforms and seek international assistance to prevent ongoing violations and ensure real accountability for past abuses," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director.
In a report, the group called for the establishment of an international commission to investigate those allegations because past government probes into abuses have gone nowhere.
The government has repeatedly brushed off such calls, saying an international probe would interfere with the country's sovereignty.
Rajiva Wijesinha, secretary at the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights, said the government's own commission of inquiry into a series of recent allegations of human rights abuses was proceeding, albeit slowly.
"These things take time, and we can't allow any possibility of injustice to happen," he said.
Last March, an international panel of experts established to advise the latest commission of inquiry resigned, saying the government lacked the political will to properly investigate alleged abuses, including the 2006 execution-style slaying of 17 aid workers for the French organisation Action Against Hunger.
The Amnesty International report accuses the government of interfering with past investigations, by using bribes, threats and even murder to eliminate witnesses.
It said the vast majority of human rights violations are never investigated and those that are rarely end in convictions because hearings drag on, witnesses refuse to testify and in some cases even the prosecution does not show up.
At the same time, the country's human rights commission has been stripped of its authority, local rights activists have been threatened, the UN has been obstructed and the press has been stifled, the group said.
Meanwhile, a Japanese mediator said President Mahinda Rajapaksa promised to work for political and democratic reform in the country following the victory over the separatist rebels.
Yasushi Akashi said the president also told him Thursday that he would push for a political compromise with the country's Tamil minority to resolve the ethnic conflict.
Diplomats and aid workers have pushed for the government, dominated by the Sinhalese majority, to be magnanimous in victory or risk re-igniting the conflict. They have also called for the swift resettling of nearly 300,000 ethnic Tamil civilians displaced by the fighting who are living in military-run camps in the north.
The aid group World Vision warned that the camps do not have adequate sanitation and the impending monsoon season could put tens of thousands at risk of diarrhoea, cholera and mosquito-borne illnesses. The group said at least 11,500 more latrines were needed to bring the camps up to international standards.
"When the rains come in two weeks or so, I can't imagine what conditions will be like due to the lack of any proper drainage and toilet system," said Suresh Bartlett, World Vision's country director.
Akashi said the camps were badly congested, had urgent sanitation problems and needed international assistance.
Sri Lanka: End illegal detention of displaced population
Source: Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Date: 11 Jun 2009
Nearly 300,000 Tamils Enduring Poor Conditions in Camps
(New York) - The Sri Lankan government should end the illegal detention of nearly 300,000 ethnic Tamils displaced by the recently ended conflict in Sri Lanka, Human Rights Watch said today.
For more than a year, the Sri Lankan government has detained virtually everyone - including entire families - displaced by the fighting in the north in military-run camps, in violation of international law. While the government has said that most would be able to return home by the end of the year, past government practice and the absence of any concrete plans for their release raises serious concerns about indefinite confinement, said Human Rights Watch.
"Treating all these men, women, and children as if they were Tamil Tiger fighters is a national disgrace," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Displaced Tamil civilians have the same rights to liberty and freedom of movement as other Sri Lankans."
While the Sri Lankan authorities are expected to screen persons leaving the war zone to identify Tamil Tiger combatants, international law prohibits arbitrary detention and unnecessary restrictions on freedom of movement. This means that anyone taken into custody must be promptly brought before a judge and charged with a criminal offense or released. Although human rights law permits restrictions on freedom of movement for security reasons, the restrictions must have a clear legal basis, be limited to what is necessary, and be proportionate to the threat.
Since March 2008, the government of Sri Lanka has detained virtually all civilians fleeing areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam at so-called "welfare centers" and "transitional relief villages." A small number of camp residents, mainly the elderly, have been released to host families and institutions for the elderly. The vast majority, however, remain in detention. As of June 5, the United Nations reported that the authorities were keeping 278,263 people in detention in 40 camps in the four northern districts of Vavuniya, Mannar, Jaffna, and Trincomalee.
A significant number of the detainees have close relatives in the region, with whom they could stay if they were allowed to leave.
"Many people are in the camps not because they have no other place to go," said Adams. "They are in the camps because the government does not allow them to leave."
Before the recent massive influx of displaced persons, the government proposed holding the displaced in camps for up to three years. According to the plan, those with relatives inside would be allowed to come and go after initial screening, but young or single people would not be allowed to leave. After international protests, the government said that it would resettle 80 percent of the displaced by the end of 2009. But the government's history of restricting the rights of displaced persons through rigid pass systems and strict restrictions on leaving the camps heightens concerns that they will be confined in camps much longer, possibly for years.
More than 2,000 people displaced from their homes in northwestern Mannar district by the fighting two years ago were released from the camps only in May, when the government said they could return to their homes.
Conditions in the camps are inadequate. Virtually all camps are overcrowded, some holding twice the number recommended by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Food distribution is chaotic, there are shortages of water, and sanitation facilities are inadequate. Camp residents do not have access to proper medical services and communicable diseases have broken out in the camps.
Since May 16, the military camp administration has imposed numerous restrictions on humanitarian organizations working in the camps, such as limiting the number of vehicles and staff members that can enter the camps, which has delayed the provision of much-needed aid. The military does not allow organizations into the camps to conduct protection activities, and a ban on talking to the camp residents leaves them further isolated. The military has also barred journalists from entering the camps except on organized and supervised tours.
"The poor conditions in the camps may worsen with the monsoon rains," said Adams. "Holding civilians who wish to move in with relatives and friends is irresponsible as well as unlawful."
© Copyright, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA
Date: 11 Jun 2009
Nearly 300,000 Tamils Enduring Poor Conditions in Camps
(New York) - The Sri Lankan government should end the illegal detention of nearly 300,000 ethnic Tamils displaced by the recently ended conflict in Sri Lanka, Human Rights Watch said today.
For more than a year, the Sri Lankan government has detained virtually everyone - including entire families - displaced by the fighting in the north in military-run camps, in violation of international law. While the government has said that most would be able to return home by the end of the year, past government practice and the absence of any concrete plans for their release raises serious concerns about indefinite confinement, said Human Rights Watch.
"Treating all these men, women, and children as if they were Tamil Tiger fighters is a national disgrace," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Displaced Tamil civilians have the same rights to liberty and freedom of movement as other Sri Lankans."
While the Sri Lankan authorities are expected to screen persons leaving the war zone to identify Tamil Tiger combatants, international law prohibits arbitrary detention and unnecessary restrictions on freedom of movement. This means that anyone taken into custody must be promptly brought before a judge and charged with a criminal offense or released. Although human rights law permits restrictions on freedom of movement for security reasons, the restrictions must have a clear legal basis, be limited to what is necessary, and be proportionate to the threat.
Since March 2008, the government of Sri Lanka has detained virtually all civilians fleeing areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam at so-called "welfare centers" and "transitional relief villages." A small number of camp residents, mainly the elderly, have been released to host families and institutions for the elderly. The vast majority, however, remain in detention. As of June 5, the United Nations reported that the authorities were keeping 278,263 people in detention in 40 camps in the four northern districts of Vavuniya, Mannar, Jaffna, and Trincomalee.
A significant number of the detainees have close relatives in the region, with whom they could stay if they were allowed to leave.
"Many people are in the camps not because they have no other place to go," said Adams. "They are in the camps because the government does not allow them to leave."
Before the recent massive influx of displaced persons, the government proposed holding the displaced in camps for up to three years. According to the plan, those with relatives inside would be allowed to come and go after initial screening, but young or single people would not be allowed to leave. After international protests, the government said that it would resettle 80 percent of the displaced by the end of 2009. But the government's history of restricting the rights of displaced persons through rigid pass systems and strict restrictions on leaving the camps heightens concerns that they will be confined in camps much longer, possibly for years.
More than 2,000 people displaced from their homes in northwestern Mannar district by the fighting two years ago were released from the camps only in May, when the government said they could return to their homes.
Conditions in the camps are inadequate. Virtually all camps are overcrowded, some holding twice the number recommended by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Food distribution is chaotic, there are shortages of water, and sanitation facilities are inadequate. Camp residents do not have access to proper medical services and communicable diseases have broken out in the camps.
Since May 16, the military camp administration has imposed numerous restrictions on humanitarian organizations working in the camps, such as limiting the number of vehicles and staff members that can enter the camps, which has delayed the provision of much-needed aid. The military does not allow organizations into the camps to conduct protection activities, and a ban on talking to the camp residents leaves them further isolated. The military has also barred journalists from entering the camps except on organized and supervised tours.
"The poor conditions in the camps may worsen with the monsoon rains," said Adams. "Holding civilians who wish to move in with relatives and friends is irresponsible as well as unlawful."
© Copyright, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA
New Amnesty report reveals inability of Sri Lankan government to deliver justice
[ Amnesty International ][ Jun 11 11:51 GMT ]
The Sri Lankan government's failure to deliver justice for serious human rights violations over the past 20 years has trapped the country in a vicious cycle of abuse and impunity, according to a new report published by Amnesty International today. The report, 'Twenty Years of Make-Believe: Sri Lanka's Commissions of Inquiry', documents the failure of successive Sri Lankan governments to provide accountability for serious human rights violations, including enforced disappearances, killings, and torture. [ full story ]
The Sri Lankan government's failure to deliver justice for serious human rights violations over the past 20 years has trapped the country in a vicious cycle of abuse and impunity, according to a new report published by Amnesty International today. The report, 'Twenty Years of Make-Believe: Sri Lanka's Commissions of Inquiry', documents the failure of successive Sri Lankan governments to provide accountability for serious human rights violations, including enforced disappearances, killings, and torture. [ full story ]
The trouble with guns: Sri Lanka, South Africa, Ireland
[ Australia ][ Jun 11 02:47 GMT ]
Sri Lanka's Tamils are only one group that continues to suffer as a result of this embrace of violence as a tool of radical change. In South Africa, Jacob Zuma's celebration of the "machine-gun" may be symbolic, but points to a residual problem in the political and social culture. Northern Ireland's season of armed killings and sectarian murder expose another unresolved legacy. There is a lesson here too for elements of the global left that still romanticise or indulge the "armed struggle" of (usually) far-away others. The politics of violence are a path to failure and regression. The trouble with guns is that they make the road to real progress so much longer and more painful. [ full story]
Sri Lanka's Tamils are only one group that continues to suffer as a result of this embrace of violence as a tool of radical change. In South Africa, Jacob Zuma's celebration of the "machine-gun" may be symbolic, but points to a residual problem in the political and social culture. Northern Ireland's season of armed killings and sectarian murder expose another unresolved legacy. There is a lesson here too for elements of the global left that still romanticise or indulge the "armed struggle" of (usually) far-away others. The politics of violence are a path to failure and regression. The trouble with guns is that they make the road to real progress so much longer and more painful. [ full story]
Crimes, dengue fever, attacks on journalists, problems of toilets and food and euphoric celebrations
[ AHRC ][ Jun 11 02:58 GMT ]
The constitution of Sri Lanka is based on the premise of the sovereignty of the people. All state authority is derived from the sovereignty of the people. But the sovereign people have no right to have the crimes done to them investigated or have journalists inform them of what is happening or even for people to complain about their toilet facilities and conditions of their food and clothing. All that the sovereign people are allowed to do is to stay in a state of euphoria and when the next elections come to not participate in it in any meaningful manner. [ full story
The constitution of Sri Lanka is based on the premise of the sovereignty of the people. All state authority is derived from the sovereignty of the people. But the sovereign people have no right to have the crimes done to them investigated or have journalists inform them of what is happening or even for people to complain about their toilet facilities and conditions of their food and clothing. All that the sovereign people are allowed to do is to stay in a state of euphoria and when the next elections come to not participate in it in any meaningful manner. [ full story
SRI LANKA: "Too many people" at huge IDP camp - UN
[ IRIN ][ Jun 11 15:07 GMT ]
Conditions at a huge government-run camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka are still unsatisfactory, the UN’s top official in the country told IRIN, despite some improvements. “The fundamental issue is that there are too many people in too small a place,” said Neil Buhne, the UN resident coordinator in Sri Lanka, adding: “We think it is the largest IDP camp in the world.” [ full story
Conditions at a huge government-run camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka are still unsatisfactory, the UN’s top official in the country told IRIN, despite some improvements. “The fundamental issue is that there are too many people in too small a place,” said Neil Buhne, the UN resident coordinator in Sri Lanka, adding: “We think it is the largest IDP camp in the world.” [ full story
On Sri Lanka, UN's Holmes Contradicts His Colleague's Caution, Sudan Double Standard?
[ InnerCity Press ][ Jun 11 17:00 GMT ]
During the bloody conflict and humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka this year, most often UN Headquarters, personified by humanitarian chief John Holmes, has sounded more cautionary notes about government conduct than has UN staff in Colombo, who face deportation or denial of visa renewals. On Thursday, however, Holmes was decidedly more pro-government than the UN's local spokespeople, at least Mark Cutts, who expressed concern that now people will be kept in the UN-funded internment camps for up to a year. [ full story
During the bloody conflict and humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka this year, most often UN Headquarters, personified by humanitarian chief John Holmes, has sounded more cautionary notes about government conduct than has UN staff in Colombo, who face deportation or denial of visa renewals. On Thursday, however, Holmes was decidedly more pro-government than the UN's local spokespeople, at least Mark Cutts, who expressed concern that now people will be kept in the UN-funded internment camps for up to a year. [ full story
Sri Lanka urged to allow international probe of human rights abuses
CBC ][ Jun 11 17:09 GMT ]
The Sri Lankan government's failure to seriously address reports of human rights abuses during 25 years of civil war is even more glaring in the aftermath of its victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels last month, Amnesty International said Thursday. "If communities that have been torn apart by decades of violence and impunity are to be reconciled, the Sri Lankan government should initiate internal reforms and seek international assistance to prevent ongoing violations and ensure real accountability for past abuses," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director. [ full story
The Sri Lankan government's failure to seriously address reports of human rights abuses during 25 years of civil war is even more glaring in the aftermath of its victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels last month, Amnesty International said Thursday. "If communities that have been torn apart by decades of violence and impunity are to be reconciled, the Sri Lankan government should initiate internal reforms and seek international assistance to prevent ongoing violations and ensure real accountability for past abuses," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director. [ full story
Japan urges Sri Lanka to engage international community
AFP ][ Jun 11 17:11 GMT ]
Japan on Thursday urged Sri Lanka to develop closer ties with the international community as Colombo tries to rebuild the war-battered north of the island after decades of bloody ethnic conflict. Yasushi Akashi, a peace envoy for Tokyo, Sri Lanka's largest aid donor, said the government in Colombo needed to engage in a "continuous dialogue with the international community". "Sri Lanka needs and deserves more fruitful two-way dialogue with the international community with as many countries as possible as well as with the UN and other organisations," he said. [ full story
Japan on Thursday urged Sri Lanka to develop closer ties with the international community as Colombo tries to rebuild the war-battered north of the island after decades of bloody ethnic conflict. Yasushi Akashi, a peace envoy for Tokyo, Sri Lanka's largest aid donor, said the government in Colombo needed to engage in a "continuous dialogue with the international community". "Sri Lanka needs and deserves more fruitful two-way dialogue with the international community with as many countries as possible as well as with the UN and other organisations," he said. [ full story
A Letter from German Professor Dr.John P.Neelsen to Kumar Rupesinghe on Aid
Dear Mr.Rupesinghe,
Allow me to reply to your appeal for financial contributions for the construction of 1000 latrins, and (earlier for) educational materials for Tamil youngsters in the camps in the Vanni. To state my position clearly at the outset: I am totally opposed to your proposal and hope to convince at least some of the other recipients of your appeal!
Only in passing, I like to remind you of the high sounding speeches, including yours, on peace, negotiations, and reconciliation at the April 2006 conference in Zurich/Switzerland ("Envisioning New Trajectories for Peace in SL") or your similarly titled volumes. With the armed resistance defeated, the LTTE decapitated, today these sentiments and arguments appear light-years away. I wonder how you (and the other, particularly Singhalese, participants) read -and defend - your respective contributions now...
Anyhow, today you are seemingly assuming a purely humanitarian viewpoint and, indeed, the door has been thrown wide open for all manifestly similarly minded people in NGOs and governments all over the world.
But, the plight of the Tamils is not due to a natural disaster, not another tsunami, but the result of the conscious policy of a government that had no calms of bombarding people that it claims as its own citizens with heavy artillery, according to some reports even illegal chemical weapons.
When even the then supporters of the GoSL in Berlin, Paris or London have demanded an enquiry into war crimes and violations of human and humanitarian law in view of the estimated 20.000 mostly dead civilians during the last few weeks, when even the established media question the internment of 300.000 Tamil IDP, there is no way for any self-respecting intellectual or the critical public in general in the country concerned to pretend that the only problem left to be tackled is "humanitarian".
Just the contrary! You speak -echoing the official government line - of '300.000 temporarily displaced Tamils being 'sheltered in welfare centres'. This is but typical Orwellian language trying to turn reality upside down in light of the razor sharp barbed wires surrounding these camps, of the military controlling all access to and exits from them, of the prevention of independent outside observers, journalists and NGOs from entering them, of official announcements that a new prolonged phase of "counter-insurgency".
The'welfare centres' are but internment camps, the 'rehabilitation in the camps' is but a racist policy of collective suspicion, intimidation, witchhunt, and impoverishment. When you talk of the "fear and anxiety of the people undoubtedly brainwashed by the LTTE" you seem to forget Bindunuwewa or Chemmani or the numerous reports by UN agencies and Human Rights organizations that have castigated the massive human rights violations, such as disappearances, extra-judicial killings, and torture committed for decades by the security forces especially against the SLT.
Apart from their own experiences, these terrified people may also have heard of the situation on the ground following the 'liberation' of the Eastern province in mid-July 2007. What the government euphemistically describes as a "Nagenahira Navodaya or Eastern Awakening" programme, has nothing to do with "post-conflict reconstruction" but is a nightmare of violence, political instability, repression, and land expropiration according to the International Crisis Group (Asia report No 165 of April 16, 2009 entitled "Development Assistance and Conflict in Sri Lanka - Lessons from the Eastern Province").
And this is only the tip of the iceberg when viewed against the appropriation of the state by the majority coupled with the systemic oppression, including pogroms, of the Tamil people and the minorities in language, education, public employment or land colonisation.
Against this background, your appeal is anything but well-minded and humanitarian, it is highly political, in fact legitimizing the racist policies of the GoSL. Instead of rising against the root causes, mobilizing the Singhalese public to fight against chauvinism, the security state, the dictatorship maskerading as democracy, for the rule of law and against the "culture of impunity", for a democratic, inclusive, participatory polity and society, you call for hand-outs, for charity implicitely justifying the present state of affairs.
As a former Dy.Director of SIPRI, Oslo and coordinator of the UN Programme on Conflict Resolution, you know that in a conflict each and every action can not be viewed in isolation, but has to be seen in its socio-political context. In the concrete situation: A camp is a camp, to put a whole people behind barbed wire is racism.
The unambigous struggle for the immediate dissolution of the camps and the return of the IDP to their homes must be the absolute priority, and not to make life somewhat easier for the inmates...
Such a political commitment is, by the way, also in the best long-term interest of the Singhalese and all the other people living on the island.
Sincerely,Prof. Dr.John P.NeelsenInstitute of SociologyTuebingen UniversityD - 72074 Tuebingen/Germany
Allow me to reply to your appeal for financial contributions for the construction of 1000 latrins, and (earlier for) educational materials for Tamil youngsters in the camps in the Vanni. To state my position clearly at the outset: I am totally opposed to your proposal and hope to convince at least some of the other recipients of your appeal!
Only in passing, I like to remind you of the high sounding speeches, including yours, on peace, negotiations, and reconciliation at the April 2006 conference in Zurich/Switzerland ("Envisioning New Trajectories for Peace in SL") or your similarly titled volumes. With the armed resistance defeated, the LTTE decapitated, today these sentiments and arguments appear light-years away. I wonder how you (and the other, particularly Singhalese, participants) read -and defend - your respective contributions now...
Anyhow, today you are seemingly assuming a purely humanitarian viewpoint and, indeed, the door has been thrown wide open for all manifestly similarly minded people in NGOs and governments all over the world.
But, the plight of the Tamils is not due to a natural disaster, not another tsunami, but the result of the conscious policy of a government that had no calms of bombarding people that it claims as its own citizens with heavy artillery, according to some reports even illegal chemical weapons.
When even the then supporters of the GoSL in Berlin, Paris or London have demanded an enquiry into war crimes and violations of human and humanitarian law in view of the estimated 20.000 mostly dead civilians during the last few weeks, when even the established media question the internment of 300.000 Tamil IDP, there is no way for any self-respecting intellectual or the critical public in general in the country concerned to pretend that the only problem left to be tackled is "humanitarian".
Just the contrary! You speak -echoing the official government line - of '300.000 temporarily displaced Tamils being 'sheltered in welfare centres'. This is but typical Orwellian language trying to turn reality upside down in light of the razor sharp barbed wires surrounding these camps, of the military controlling all access to and exits from them, of the prevention of independent outside observers, journalists and NGOs from entering them, of official announcements that a new prolonged phase of "counter-insurgency".
The'welfare centres' are but internment camps, the 'rehabilitation in the camps' is but a racist policy of collective suspicion, intimidation, witchhunt, and impoverishment. When you talk of the "fear and anxiety of the people undoubtedly brainwashed by the LTTE" you seem to forget Bindunuwewa or Chemmani or the numerous reports by UN agencies and Human Rights organizations that have castigated the massive human rights violations, such as disappearances, extra-judicial killings, and torture committed for decades by the security forces especially against the SLT.
Apart from their own experiences, these terrified people may also have heard of the situation on the ground following the 'liberation' of the Eastern province in mid-July 2007. What the government euphemistically describes as a "Nagenahira Navodaya or Eastern Awakening" programme, has nothing to do with "post-conflict reconstruction" but is a nightmare of violence, political instability, repression, and land expropiration according to the International Crisis Group (Asia report No 165 of April 16, 2009 entitled "Development Assistance and Conflict in Sri Lanka - Lessons from the Eastern Province").
And this is only the tip of the iceberg when viewed against the appropriation of the state by the majority coupled with the systemic oppression, including pogroms, of the Tamil people and the minorities in language, education, public employment or land colonisation.
Against this background, your appeal is anything but well-minded and humanitarian, it is highly political, in fact legitimizing the racist policies of the GoSL. Instead of rising against the root causes, mobilizing the Singhalese public to fight against chauvinism, the security state, the dictatorship maskerading as democracy, for the rule of law and against the "culture of impunity", for a democratic, inclusive, participatory polity and society, you call for hand-outs, for charity implicitely justifying the present state of affairs.
As a former Dy.Director of SIPRI, Oslo and coordinator of the UN Programme on Conflict Resolution, you know that in a conflict each and every action can not be viewed in isolation, but has to be seen in its socio-political context. In the concrete situation: A camp is a camp, to put a whole people behind barbed wire is racism.
The unambigous struggle for the immediate dissolution of the camps and the return of the IDP to their homes must be the absolute priority, and not to make life somewhat easier for the inmates...
Such a political commitment is, by the way, also in the best long-term interest of the Singhalese and all the other people living on the island.
Sincerely,Prof. Dr.John P.NeelsenInstitute of SociologyTuebingen UniversityD - 72074 Tuebingen/Germany
UN concern over Sri Lanka camps
[ BBC ][ Jun 11 11:49 GMT ]
Most of Sri Lanka's displaced people could still be kept in government-run camps in one year's time, a UN official has told the BBC quoting army sources. But the government rejected the suggestion, saying that it aimed to resettle most by the end of this year. About 250,000 people fled the final bloody phase of the civil war between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. Meanwhile, a human rights group accused the government of failing to probe rights abuses during the conflict. [ full story
Most of Sri Lanka's displaced people could still be kept in government-run camps in one year's time, a UN official has told the BBC quoting army sources. But the government rejected the suggestion, saying that it aimed to resettle most by the end of this year. About 250,000 people fled the final bloody phase of the civil war between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. Meanwhile, a human rights group accused the government of failing to probe rights abuses during the conflict. [ full story
UN concern over Sri Lanka camps
Most of Sri Lanka's displaced people could still be kept in government-run camps in one year's time, a UN official has told the BBC quoting army sources. But the government rejected the suggestion, saying that it aimed to resettle most by the end of this year. About 250,000 people fled the final bloody phase of the civil war between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels. Meanwhile, a human rights group accused the government of failing to probe rights abuses during the conflict. [ full story
New Amnesty report reveals inability of Sri Lankan government to deliver justice
The Sri Lankan government's failure to deliver justice for serious human rights violations over the past 20 years has trapped the country in a vicious cycle of abuse and impunity, according to a new report published by Amnesty International today. The report, 'Twenty Years of Make-Believe: Sri Lanka's Commissions of Inquiry', documents the failure of successive Sri Lankan governments to provide accountability for serious human rights violations, including enforced disappearances, killings, and torture. [ full story
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
22 elderly IDPs die in Cheddikul’am internment camp
Twenty-two elderly internally displaced persons from Vanni detained in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa and Cheddikul'am died in two days. Fourteen died on Sunday and eight on Monday and all those dead were above seventy years of age, medical sources said. Magisterial inquests into the deaths were held in Vavuniyaa general hospital and verdicts of natural death were recorded. However, medical sources in the hospital said they died due to lack of proper care and attention in the camps.
57,293 children held in Vavuniyaa SLA internment camps
57,293 children from Vanni are presently detained in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa, U. L. M. Haldeen, Secretary to the Ministry of Disaster Relief said to the media. 1,034 children among the above are orphans or separated from their parents while there are 7,894 widows and 3,100 pregnant mothers in Vavuniyaa internment camps.There are 11,873 detainees injured in the war and 3,968 maimed persons held in the above camps.Meanwhile, there are 3,689 government officers among those detained, the Secretary said.
SLA refuses to release 6 Catholic priests detained in Vavuniyaa SLA camps
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Command rejected a request made by Jaffna Bishop, Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam, to release the six Catholic priests from Vanni held in one of the SLA detention centres in Vavuniyaa as they are suffering from illness, Jaffna Bishop House sources said. The Bishop had made the request to Defence Secretary to allow the six priests to get back to their parishes, the sources added. Rev. Fr. Francis Gnanarasa Cruz from Mannaar district and Rev. Frs. Edward Selvarajah Mariyarasa, Alfred Vijayakamalan, Anthonipillai Anton Amalraj, Anton Seevan and Edmond Reginald from Jaffna districts are the six Catholic priests detained in the internment camp.The above priests are in a poor condition of health due to lack of basic facilities and medical treatment.The priests, who had remained in Puthumaaththa’lan in Vanni with the people until the last, have expressed their desire to remain with the rest of the Vanni civilians despite the hardships, Jaffna Bishop House sources said.SLA authorities had turned down a similar request to release the Saiva priests held in the SLA detention centres in Jaffna.
Boyle, Fein charge Sri Lanka of Genocide in Chennai seminar
Francis Boyle, Professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, and Bruce Fein, a Washington D.C. Attorney, speaking at a seminar in Chennai organized by the International Tamil Center Monday, reiterated charges of Genocide against the Sri Lanka Government alleging massacre of more than 50,000 Tamil civilians, sources attending the event said. While Prof. Boyle urged India to file charges in International Court against Sri Lanka for violating Geneva conventions, and to stop Colombo "to cease and desist from all acts of genocide against Tamils," Fein stressed the urgent need for the Tamils to reach a "consensus on their political aspirations." The event was organized by Dr Panchadcharam, a consultant physician from New York.
Video: Boyle, Fein speechesFull text of draft of Prof. Boyle's talk at the seminar follows:
THE RIGHTS OF THE TAMILS LIVING ON THE ISLAND OF SRI LANKA UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW AND PRACTICEIntroductionThere are two basic points I want to make: First, the Tamils living on Sri Lanka have been the victims of genocide. Second, the Tamils living on Sri Lanka have the right to self-determination under international law and practice, including the right to establish their own independent state if they so desire. And the fact that the Tamils living on Sri Lanka have been victims of genocide only strengthens and reinforces their right to self-determination, including establishing their own independent State if that is their desire.GenocideArticle I of the 1948 Genocide Convention requires all 140 states parties to immediately act in order “to prevent” the ongoing GOSL genocide against the Tamils. One of the most important steps the 140 contracting states parties to the Genocide Convention must take in order to fulfill their obligation under Article I is to sue Sri Lanka at the International Court of Justice in The Hague (the so-called World Court) for violating the 1948 Genocide Convention on the basis of Article IX thereto: “Disputes between the Contracting Parties relating to the interpretation, application or fulfillment of the present Convention, including those relating to the responsibility of a State for genocide or for any of the other acts enumerated in Article III, shall be submitted to the International Court of Justice at the request of any of the parties to the dispute.”Any one or more of the 140 states parties to the Genocide Convention (1) must immediately sue Sri Lanka at the International Court of Justice in The Hague; (2) must demand an Emergency Hearing by the World Court; and (3) must request an Order indicating provisional measures of protection against Sri Lanka to cease and desist from committing all acts of genocide against the 300,000 Tamils in Vanni. Such a World Court Order is the international equivalent to a domestic temporary restraining order and permanent injunction. Once issued by the World Court, this Order would be immediately transmitted to the United Nations Security Council for enforcement under U.N. Charter article 94(2). So far the member states of the United Nations Security Council have failed and refused to act in order to do anything to stop the GOSL’s genocide against the Tamils (1) despite the fact that the situation in Vanni constitutes a “threat to the peace” that requires Security Council action under article 39 of the United Nations Charter and (2) despite the fact that they are all obligated “to prevent” Sri Lanka’s genocide against the Tamils under article I of the Genocide Convention. This World Court Order will put the matter on the Agenda of the Security Council and force the Security Council to take action in order “to prevent” the ongoing genocide against the Tamils by Sri Lanka. Article II of the Genocide Convention defines the international crime of genocide in relevant part as follows:In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group such as:(a) Killing members of the group;(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;….Certainly the Sinhala-Buddhist Sri Lanka and its legal predecessor Ceylon have committed genocide against the Hindu/Christian Tamils that actually started on or about 1948 and has continued apace until today and is now accelerating in Vanni in violation of Genocide Convention Articles II(a), (b), and (c). For the past six decades, the Sinhala-Buddhist Ceylon/Sri Lanka has implemented a systematic and comprehensive military, political, and economic campaign with the intent to destroy in substantial part the different national, ethnical, racial, and religious group constituting the Hindu/Christian Tamils. This Sinhala-Buddhist Ceylon/Sri Lanka campaign has consisted of killing members of the Hindu/Christian Tamils in violation of Genocide Convention Article II(a). This Sinhala-Buddhist Ceylon/Sri Lanka campaign has also caused serious bodily and mental harm to the Hindu/Christian Tamils in violation of Genocide Convention Article II(b). This Sinhala-Buddhist Ceylon/Sri Lanka campaign has also deliberately inflicted on the Hindu/Christian Tamils conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction in substantial part in violation of Article II(c) of the Genocide Convention. Since 1983 the Sinhala-Buddhist Sri Lanka have exterminated approximately 100,000 Hindu/Christian Tamils. The Sinhala-Buddhist Sri Lanka have now added another 300,000 Hindu/Christian Tamils in Vanni to their genocidal death list. Humanity needs one state party to the Genocide Convention to fulfill its obligation under article I thereof to immediately sue Sri Lanka at the World Court in order to save the 300,000 Tamils in Vanni from further extermination. Time is of the essence!Self-determinationThis gets into the second point that I want to make concerning the Tamils as a group of people living on the Island of Sri Lanka – their right to self-determination under international law and practice. And here I wanted to quote from an international treaty to which the government of Sri Lanka is a party, thus explicitly recognizing that the Tamils living on the Island of Sri Lanka have a right of self-determination. This is from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the government of Sri Lanka is a party. They are bound by their own treaty, which says quite clearly in Article One: “All peoples have the right of self-determination.” And clearly, the Tamils living on the Island of Sri Lanka are a “people.” The Tamils on Sri Lanka have a separate language, race, ethnicity, and religions, from the GOSL. The Tamils see themselves as a separate group of “people” and they are perceived to be such by the GOSL. For that precise reason the GOSL has attempted to exterminate the Tamils and ethnically cleanse their Homeland. So no better proof is needed than that. Both the objective criteria and the subjective criteria for establishing a “people” with a right of self-determination under international law and practice have been fulfilled by the Tamils living on Sri Lanka.Let me continue enumerating a few more of the most basic self-determination rights of the Tamils living on Sri Lanka under international law that are recognized by this International Covenant that the GOSL is a party to: “By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.” Those are rights that the Tamils living on Sri Lanka have today even as recognized by the government of Sri Lanka. Those are group rights and not just individual rights. And those are group rights that must be protected because the government of Sri Lanka has attacked the Tamils as a group, not just as individuals. So, since Tamils have been victims as a group, they must be protected as a group. And one of the most basic rights of all that the Tamils have to protect themselves is this right of self-determination including determining their political status and pursuing their own economic, social and cultural development, as well as the establishment of an independent state of their own if that is what the Tamils decide is required for them to accomplish these objectives. Another component of this right of self-determination for the Tamils living on Sri Lanka is set forth in paragraph (2) of this Article One of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the government of Sri Lanka is a party. Notice here I am only using the treaties the GOSL itself is a party to, including the Genocide Convention. I am not citing any principles of international law that the GOSL has not already recognized and indeed violated grievously with respect to the Tamils living on Sri Lanka: “All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic cooperation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may the people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.”Yet we all know for a fact that the GOSL has done everything humanly possible to deprive the Tamil people of their own means of subsistence to a level that now constitutes genocide, in violation of that provision I quoted before from the Genocide Convention prohibiting inflicting on a group conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction in whole or in part. Notice these economic and political rights are related to each other. Both elements of the right to self-determination must protect the Tamils since they have been victims of genocide. We must protect their political rights as well as their economic rights, to freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources. The Tamil people, not the GOSL, must control their traditional Homeland in the North and the East of the Island, their farms, their mines, their plantations, their forests, their waters, their beaches etc. This is critical. Yet today we know that the GOSL is currently in the process of stealing, destroying and negating all these economic and political rights of the Tamils in their traditional Homeland in the North and the East of the Island of Sri Lanka. The GOSL is currently inflicting ethnic cleansing on the Tamils living there. I have already established that the Tamil people living on Sri Lanka have a right of self-determination, even in accordance with the GOSL’s own treaties themselves. What are some of the other political consequences of their right of self-determination? These are set forth in what is known as the Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation Among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Nations (1971). The government of Sri Lanka approved this Declaration in the United Nations General Assembly -- so I am not quoting here any provision of law that the GOSL has not already approved. And from the Declaration let me state what are the political alternatives that are open to the Tamil people, and they are set forth as follows: “[1] The establishment of a sovereign and independent State, [2] the free association or integration with an independent State, or [3] the emergence into any other political status freely determined by a people constitute the modes of implementing the right of self-determination by that people.”So again, it is not for the GOSL to determine what might be the ultimate political outcome here. It is for the Tamil people living on Sri Lanka to determine which of those three options they desire. I also want to make it clear that it is not for me to tell the Tamils on Sri Lanka which of these three options they should choose. Moreover, it is not for the Tamils of India to tell the Tamils on Sri Lanka which of these three options they should choose. This is for them to decide pursuant to their right of self-determination under international law and practice. However I do want to note that historically the only way a people that has been subjected to genocide like the Tamils on Sri Lanka have been able to protect themselves from further extermination has been the creation of an independent state of their own. Indeed as the world saw for the last several months the government of Sri Lanka wantonly, openly, shamelessly, and gratuitously exterminated over 50,000 Tamils in Vanni; yet not one state in the entire world rose to protect them or defend them or help them as required by Article I of the 1948 Genocide Convention. Hence the need for the Tamils on Sri Lanka to have their own independent state in order to protect themselves from further annihilation by the GOSL. International law and practice establish that an independent state of their own is the only effective remedy as well as the only appropriate reparation for a people who have been the victims of genocide.Now the Indian government has basically argued that if it were to recognize the right of the Tamils on Sri Lanka to self-determination and an independent state of their own, then the 60 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu would also assert that same right and proceed to secede from India. I submit this is a false dichotomy under international law and practice. It must not be used as an excuse for inaction by the government of India when it comes to protecting the Tamils living on Sri Lanka.In this regard, let me return to the Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation Among States that was approved by both India and Sri Lanka and sets forth rules of customary international law interpreting the terms of the United Nations Charter itself as determined by the International Court of Justice in the Nicaragua case (1986). In particular let me draw to your attention the following language: “Nothing in the foregoing paragraphs shall be construed as authorizing or encouraging any action which would dismember or impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and independent States conducting themselves in compliance with the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples as described above and thus possessed of a government representing the whole people belonging to the territory without distinction as to race, creed or colour.”This paragraph of the Declaration sets forth the rules of customary international law when it comes to the right of a people to secede from another state by means of exercising their right of self-determination. As you can see from the above language secession is permitted only when a government does not conduct itself “in compliance with the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples” and thus does not represent “the whole people belonging to the territory without distinction as to race, creed or colour.” From its very foundation in 1948 the government of Ceylon/Sri Lanka has never conducted itself “in compliance with the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples” with respect to the Tamils. Furthermore, the government of Ceylon/Sri Lanka has never represented “the whole people belonging to the territory without distinction as to race, creed or colour” with respect to the Tamils. In fact the government of Ceylon/Sri Lanka has always discriminated against and persecuted the Tamils on grounds of race, creed, colour, and language. This endemic pattern of criminal behavior by the Sinhala has now culminated in wholesale acts of genocide against the Tamils being inflicted by the government of Sri Lanka. So of course the Tamils have the right to secede from Sri Lanka under international law and practice and especially under the terms of this Declaration. Conversely, the government of India does conduct itself “in compliance with the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples” with respect to the Tamils in Tamil Nadu and is thus “possessed of a government representing the whole people belonging to the territory without distinction as to race, creed or colour.” India just had elections where the Tamils in Tamil Nadu participated on a basis of full equality with everyone else. The Tamils in India have full legal equality with all other peoples in India and indeed have their own state here in Tamil Nadu. Therefore in my opinion, the 60 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu do not have a right of secession under international law and practice according to this Declaration, which sets forth the basic rules of customary international law on this subject. Conversely, however, the Tamils living on Sri Lanka do have a right of secession under international law and practice including this Declaration for which both India and Sri Lanka voted. So with all due respect to the position of the Indian government, it is a false dichotomy for it to assert that recognition of the right of self-determination with an independent state of their own for the Tamils living on Sri Lanka would lead to the same for the Tamils in Tamil Nadu. There is no basis in international law for this conclusion. Indeed, basic principles of international law including this Declaration would fully support the territorial integrity of India in the event the government of India were to recognize the right of the Tamils living on the Island of Sri Lanka to self-determination including an independent state of their own.ConclusionBe that as it may, even if out of an excess of caution the government of India is not prepared to go that far at this time, nevertheless at a minimum, since it is the original homeland for the Tamils, the government of India has the right, the obligation, and the standing under international law and practice to act as parens patriae for the Tamils living on Sri Lanka. Therefore, India must immediately sue the GOSL for genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, demand an Emergency Hearing of the Court, and request that the World Court issue a Temporary Restraining Order against the GOSL to cease and desist from committing all acts of genocide against the Tamils living on Sri Lanka. The ghosts of Dachau, Auschwitz, Cambodia, Sabra and Shatilla, Srebrenica, Rwanda, Kosovo, and now Vanni demand no less!
Video: Boyle, Fein speechesFull text of draft of Prof. Boyle's talk at the seminar follows:
THE RIGHTS OF THE TAMILS LIVING ON THE ISLAND OF SRI LANKA UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW AND PRACTICEIntroductionThere are two basic points I want to make: First, the Tamils living on Sri Lanka have been the victims of genocide. Second, the Tamils living on Sri Lanka have the right to self-determination under international law and practice, including the right to establish their own independent state if they so desire. And the fact that the Tamils living on Sri Lanka have been victims of genocide only strengthens and reinforces their right to self-determination, including establishing their own independent State if that is their desire.GenocideArticle I of the 1948 Genocide Convention requires all 140 states parties to immediately act in order “to prevent” the ongoing GOSL genocide against the Tamils. One of the most important steps the 140 contracting states parties to the Genocide Convention must take in order to fulfill their obligation under Article I is to sue Sri Lanka at the International Court of Justice in The Hague (the so-called World Court) for violating the 1948 Genocide Convention on the basis of Article IX thereto: “Disputes between the Contracting Parties relating to the interpretation, application or fulfillment of the present Convention, including those relating to the responsibility of a State for genocide or for any of the other acts enumerated in Article III, shall be submitted to the International Court of Justice at the request of any of the parties to the dispute.”Any one or more of the 140 states parties to the Genocide Convention (1) must immediately sue Sri Lanka at the International Court of Justice in The Hague; (2) must demand an Emergency Hearing by the World Court; and (3) must request an Order indicating provisional measures of protection against Sri Lanka to cease and desist from committing all acts of genocide against the 300,000 Tamils in Vanni. Such a World Court Order is the international equivalent to a domestic temporary restraining order and permanent injunction. Once issued by the World Court, this Order would be immediately transmitted to the United Nations Security Council for enforcement under U.N. Charter article 94(2). So far the member states of the United Nations Security Council have failed and refused to act in order to do anything to stop the GOSL’s genocide against the Tamils (1) despite the fact that the situation in Vanni constitutes a “threat to the peace” that requires Security Council action under article 39 of the United Nations Charter and (2) despite the fact that they are all obligated “to prevent” Sri Lanka’s genocide against the Tamils under article I of the Genocide Convention. This World Court Order will put the matter on the Agenda of the Security Council and force the Security Council to take action in order “to prevent” the ongoing genocide against the Tamils by Sri Lanka. Article II of the Genocide Convention defines the international crime of genocide in relevant part as follows:In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group such as:(a) Killing members of the group;(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;….Certainly the Sinhala-Buddhist Sri Lanka and its legal predecessor Ceylon have committed genocide against the Hindu/Christian Tamils that actually started on or about 1948 and has continued apace until today and is now accelerating in Vanni in violation of Genocide Convention Articles II(a), (b), and (c). For the past six decades, the Sinhala-Buddhist Ceylon/Sri Lanka has implemented a systematic and comprehensive military, political, and economic campaign with the intent to destroy in substantial part the different national, ethnical, racial, and religious group constituting the Hindu/Christian Tamils. This Sinhala-Buddhist Ceylon/Sri Lanka campaign has consisted of killing members of the Hindu/Christian Tamils in violation of Genocide Convention Article II(a). This Sinhala-Buddhist Ceylon/Sri Lanka campaign has also caused serious bodily and mental harm to the Hindu/Christian Tamils in violation of Genocide Convention Article II(b). This Sinhala-Buddhist Ceylon/Sri Lanka campaign has also deliberately inflicted on the Hindu/Christian Tamils conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction in substantial part in violation of Article II(c) of the Genocide Convention. Since 1983 the Sinhala-Buddhist Sri Lanka have exterminated approximately 100,000 Hindu/Christian Tamils. The Sinhala-Buddhist Sri Lanka have now added another 300,000 Hindu/Christian Tamils in Vanni to their genocidal death list. Humanity needs one state party to the Genocide Convention to fulfill its obligation under article I thereof to immediately sue Sri Lanka at the World Court in order to save the 300,000 Tamils in Vanni from further extermination. Time is of the essence!Self-determinationThis gets into the second point that I want to make concerning the Tamils as a group of people living on the Island of Sri Lanka – their right to self-determination under international law and practice. And here I wanted to quote from an international treaty to which the government of Sri Lanka is a party, thus explicitly recognizing that the Tamils living on the Island of Sri Lanka have a right of self-determination. This is from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the government of Sri Lanka is a party. They are bound by their own treaty, which says quite clearly in Article One: “All peoples have the right of self-determination.” And clearly, the Tamils living on the Island of Sri Lanka are a “people.” The Tamils on Sri Lanka have a separate language, race, ethnicity, and religions, from the GOSL. The Tamils see themselves as a separate group of “people” and they are perceived to be such by the GOSL. For that precise reason the GOSL has attempted to exterminate the Tamils and ethnically cleanse their Homeland. So no better proof is needed than that. Both the objective criteria and the subjective criteria for establishing a “people” with a right of self-determination under international law and practice have been fulfilled by the Tamils living on Sri Lanka.Let me continue enumerating a few more of the most basic self-determination rights of the Tamils living on Sri Lanka under international law that are recognized by this International Covenant that the GOSL is a party to: “By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.” Those are rights that the Tamils living on Sri Lanka have today even as recognized by the government of Sri Lanka. Those are group rights and not just individual rights. And those are group rights that must be protected because the government of Sri Lanka has attacked the Tamils as a group, not just as individuals. So, since Tamils have been victims as a group, they must be protected as a group. And one of the most basic rights of all that the Tamils have to protect themselves is this right of self-determination including determining their political status and pursuing their own economic, social and cultural development, as well as the establishment of an independent state of their own if that is what the Tamils decide is required for them to accomplish these objectives. Another component of this right of self-determination for the Tamils living on Sri Lanka is set forth in paragraph (2) of this Article One of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the government of Sri Lanka is a party. Notice here I am only using the treaties the GOSL itself is a party to, including the Genocide Convention. I am not citing any principles of international law that the GOSL has not already recognized and indeed violated grievously with respect to the Tamils living on Sri Lanka: “All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic cooperation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may the people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.”Yet we all know for a fact that the GOSL has done everything humanly possible to deprive the Tamil people of their own means of subsistence to a level that now constitutes genocide, in violation of that provision I quoted before from the Genocide Convention prohibiting inflicting on a group conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction in whole or in part. Notice these economic and political rights are related to each other. Both elements of the right to self-determination must protect the Tamils since they have been victims of genocide. We must protect their political rights as well as their economic rights, to freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources. The Tamil people, not the GOSL, must control their traditional Homeland in the North and the East of the Island, their farms, their mines, their plantations, their forests, their waters, their beaches etc. This is critical. Yet today we know that the GOSL is currently in the process of stealing, destroying and negating all these economic and political rights of the Tamils in their traditional Homeland in the North and the East of the Island of Sri Lanka. The GOSL is currently inflicting ethnic cleansing on the Tamils living there. I have already established that the Tamil people living on Sri Lanka have a right of self-determination, even in accordance with the GOSL’s own treaties themselves. What are some of the other political consequences of their right of self-determination? These are set forth in what is known as the Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation Among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Nations (1971). The government of Sri Lanka approved this Declaration in the United Nations General Assembly -- so I am not quoting here any provision of law that the GOSL has not already approved. And from the Declaration let me state what are the political alternatives that are open to the Tamil people, and they are set forth as follows: “[1] The establishment of a sovereign and independent State, [2] the free association or integration with an independent State, or [3] the emergence into any other political status freely determined by a people constitute the modes of implementing the right of self-determination by that people.”So again, it is not for the GOSL to determine what might be the ultimate political outcome here. It is for the Tamil people living on Sri Lanka to determine which of those three options they desire. I also want to make it clear that it is not for me to tell the Tamils on Sri Lanka which of these three options they should choose. Moreover, it is not for the Tamils of India to tell the Tamils on Sri Lanka which of these three options they should choose. This is for them to decide pursuant to their right of self-determination under international law and practice. However I do want to note that historically the only way a people that has been subjected to genocide like the Tamils on Sri Lanka have been able to protect themselves from further extermination has been the creation of an independent state of their own. Indeed as the world saw for the last several months the government of Sri Lanka wantonly, openly, shamelessly, and gratuitously exterminated over 50,000 Tamils in Vanni; yet not one state in the entire world rose to protect them or defend them or help them as required by Article I of the 1948 Genocide Convention. Hence the need for the Tamils on Sri Lanka to have their own independent state in order to protect themselves from further annihilation by the GOSL. International law and practice establish that an independent state of their own is the only effective remedy as well as the only appropriate reparation for a people who have been the victims of genocide.Now the Indian government has basically argued that if it were to recognize the right of the Tamils on Sri Lanka to self-determination and an independent state of their own, then the 60 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu would also assert that same right and proceed to secede from India. I submit this is a false dichotomy under international law and practice. It must not be used as an excuse for inaction by the government of India when it comes to protecting the Tamils living on Sri Lanka.In this regard, let me return to the Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation Among States that was approved by both India and Sri Lanka and sets forth rules of customary international law interpreting the terms of the United Nations Charter itself as determined by the International Court of Justice in the Nicaragua case (1986). In particular let me draw to your attention the following language: “Nothing in the foregoing paragraphs shall be construed as authorizing or encouraging any action which would dismember or impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and independent States conducting themselves in compliance with the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples as described above and thus possessed of a government representing the whole people belonging to the territory without distinction as to race, creed or colour.”This paragraph of the Declaration sets forth the rules of customary international law when it comes to the right of a people to secede from another state by means of exercising their right of self-determination. As you can see from the above language secession is permitted only when a government does not conduct itself “in compliance with the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples” and thus does not represent “the whole people belonging to the territory without distinction as to race, creed or colour.” From its very foundation in 1948 the government of Ceylon/Sri Lanka has never conducted itself “in compliance with the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples” with respect to the Tamils. Furthermore, the government of Ceylon/Sri Lanka has never represented “the whole people belonging to the territory without distinction as to race, creed or colour” with respect to the Tamils. In fact the government of Ceylon/Sri Lanka has always discriminated against and persecuted the Tamils on grounds of race, creed, colour, and language. This endemic pattern of criminal behavior by the Sinhala has now culminated in wholesale acts of genocide against the Tamils being inflicted by the government of Sri Lanka. So of course the Tamils have the right to secede from Sri Lanka under international law and practice and especially under the terms of this Declaration. Conversely, the government of India does conduct itself “in compliance with the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples” with respect to the Tamils in Tamil Nadu and is thus “possessed of a government representing the whole people belonging to the territory without distinction as to race, creed or colour.” India just had elections where the Tamils in Tamil Nadu participated on a basis of full equality with everyone else. The Tamils in India have full legal equality with all other peoples in India and indeed have their own state here in Tamil Nadu. Therefore in my opinion, the 60 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu do not have a right of secession under international law and practice according to this Declaration, which sets forth the basic rules of customary international law on this subject. Conversely, however, the Tamils living on Sri Lanka do have a right of secession under international law and practice including this Declaration for which both India and Sri Lanka voted. So with all due respect to the position of the Indian government, it is a false dichotomy for it to assert that recognition of the right of self-determination with an independent state of their own for the Tamils living on Sri Lanka would lead to the same for the Tamils in Tamil Nadu. There is no basis in international law for this conclusion. Indeed, basic principles of international law including this Declaration would fully support the territorial integrity of India in the event the government of India were to recognize the right of the Tamils living on the Island of Sri Lanka to self-determination including an independent state of their own.ConclusionBe that as it may, even if out of an excess of caution the government of India is not prepared to go that far at this time, nevertheless at a minimum, since it is the original homeland for the Tamils, the government of India has the right, the obligation, and the standing under international law and practice to act as parens patriae for the Tamils living on Sri Lanka. Therefore, India must immediately sue the GOSL for genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, demand an Emergency Hearing of the Court, and request that the World Court issue a Temporary Restraining Order against the GOSL to cease and desist from committing all acts of genocide against the Tamils living on Sri Lanka. The ghosts of Dachau, Auschwitz, Cambodia, Sabra and Shatilla, Srebrenica, Rwanda, Kosovo, and now Vanni demand no less!
Bob Rae denied entry to Sri Lanka - report
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 June 2009]Sri Lanka Wednesday denied entry to Bob Rae, a prominent Canadian politician outspoken in his criticism of Colombo’s military campaign and then Chair of the Forum of Federations, the constitutional NGO advising the Norwegian peace process during 2002 and 2003. Sri Lanka’s Immigration Commissioner P. B. Abeykoon said “intelligence reports” meant Mr. Rae should not to be admitted and was therefore detained when he arrived at Colombo airport and put on a leaving flight.
Former Ontario Premier Bob Rae
"We got some intelligence reports on this gentleman and the instructions were not to allow him into the country, so he is detained at the airport and he will be deported by the next available flight," Mr. Abeykoon told Reuters.Sri Lanka's intelligence services deemed Mr. Rae's visit "not suitable" and former Ontario premier was forced to leave on another flight, AP said.Mr. Rae said he was stopped on Tuesday night when he reached the immigration counter in the company of two Canadian High Commission officials."The government of Sri Lanka knew my views, and granted me a visa," he said in an emailed statement. "I have flown a very long way only to be told the door is firmly shut."In April, Mr. Rae had called on Canada to be more outspoken in its criticism of Sri Lanka's recent offensive against the Tamil Tigers that left 20,000 Tamil civilians dead.“The world can't just sit back and let this death and destruction happen,” he said in April as Sri Lankan artillery continued to kill and wound hundreds of Tamil civilians every day.“This is a humanitarian disaster and must be met with a concerted response.”Mr. Rae said in April Canada should be working with a group of like-minded countries to press for a complete ceasefire and a return to full-scale negotiations on the constitutional future of the country.According to his office, his recommendations included that the LTTE had to abandon terrorism and that the government of Sri Lanka had to accept the need for a political response to the crisis rather than a simple military one.Mr. Rae has advised and worked on federalism and constitutional matters in Sri Lanka, Sudan and Iraq.
Former Ontario Premier Bob Rae
"We got some intelligence reports on this gentleman and the instructions were not to allow him into the country, so he is detained at the airport and he will be deported by the next available flight," Mr. Abeykoon told Reuters.Sri Lanka's intelligence services deemed Mr. Rae's visit "not suitable" and former Ontario premier was forced to leave on another flight, AP said.Mr. Rae said he was stopped on Tuesday night when he reached the immigration counter in the company of two Canadian High Commission officials."The government of Sri Lanka knew my views, and granted me a visa," he said in an emailed statement. "I have flown a very long way only to be told the door is firmly shut."In April, Mr. Rae had called on Canada to be more outspoken in its criticism of Sri Lanka's recent offensive against the Tamil Tigers that left 20,000 Tamil civilians dead.“The world can't just sit back and let this death and destruction happen,” he said in April as Sri Lankan artillery continued to kill and wound hundreds of Tamil civilians every day.“This is a humanitarian disaster and must be met with a concerted response.”Mr. Rae said in April Canada should be working with a group of like-minded countries to press for a complete ceasefire and a return to full-scale negotiations on the constitutional future of the country.According to his office, his recommendations included that the LTTE had to abandon terrorism and that the government of Sri Lanka had to accept the need for a political response to the crisis rather than a simple military one.Mr. Rae has advised and worked on federalism and constitutional matters in Sri Lanka, Sudan and Iraq.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
On Sri Lanka, UN Has No Comment on Anti-Terror Law, Ban's Freetown Rep Not Worried By Protest
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, June 9 -- As UN money supports internment camps in northern Sri Lanka, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said that he is closely monitoring compliance with the Joint Statement he signed with President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
But on June 9, in a UN noon briefing with no real time pressure and only three journalists in the room, Ban's Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe first tried to shift directly from a twelve minute read out of press releases to a guest about Sierra Leone, then begrudgingly agreed to take Inner City Press' "daily two questions."
Inner City Press asked if Sri Lanka's extension of its anti-terrorism laws, which allow detention with out charge and are directly disproportionately against the Tamil minority, are consistent with Ban's understanding of the Commitment, and with his call against triumphalism and for reconciliation.
Ms. Okabe called this a mere "press report" on which the UN has no comment. For the sake of time, she said, let's turn it over to the guest. Video here, from Minute 12:39.
First, the extension of the anti-terrorism laws was extensively reported, and is a legislative fact. Any office closely monitoring developments in Sri Lanka would be aware of it, and should be prepared to comment hours later on it -- particularly since the detained doctors who remained in the "No Fire" zone offering treatment and casualty figures, about whom Ban has expressed concern, are being held under these laws.
Second, there was no rush to get the guest, the representative in Sierra Leone, on. The noon briefing had been reduced to a less than 15 minutes, more than 12 minutes of which consisted of Ms. Okabe reading out loud UN press releases.
It appeared clear that Ms. Okabe simply didn't want to answer questions. To be so dismissive of Sri Lanka, a topic the Secretary General is ostensibly monitoring closely, appears to be inconsistent.
UN's Ban and troops during Africa trip, SLPP and doctors not shown
The Sierra Leone UN representative, Michael Schulenburg, is also accused of being too close to the country's president. Inner City Press asked Schulenburg to respond to a quote from the US representative of the opposition SLPP, that Schulenburg's and Ban's report "reads more like an eulogy to President Koroma than an objective, professional, and balanced report on the fair implementation of the very communique."
Schulenburg said that the criticism of his approach is only from "one journalist." Even Ban's high officials point the finger at three media organizations -- click here and here for that.
Inner City Press asked Schulenburg about reports that SLPP supporters may stage protests. I don't that, Schulenburg said. "I'm not worried about this at all." Video here, from Minute 32:51.
Schulenburg said he did not recognize the name of the US representative of the opposition SLPP. Outreach seems in order.
Footnote: In fact, with Ban Ki-moon slated to get another award, this time on June 17 at 630 p.m. at the St Regis Hotel in Manhattan, there is talk about a protest by people concerned with the UN's action and lack of action in Sri Lanka. Again, outreach -- and action, follow through -- seem in order. Watch this site.
* * *
In Sri Lanka, UN Pays for Camps But No Legal Protections, Nor for NGOs, Will Council Hear?
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, June 8 -- The outgoing chief justice of Sri Lanka, Sarath Nanda Silva, said before he left that those interred in the camps in Menik Farm have no legal protections, cannot get justice for their claims before the courts that he oversaw.
On June 8 in New York, Inner City Press asked UN Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq if this is the UN's understanding, given that the UN is largely paying for, and had just bragged about, the camps. Haq replied that the UN is pushing for freedom of movement, telling the government to speed up its "screening and registration."
The screening is, in essence, political screening, to gauge whether people support not only the LTTE but also the cause of Tamil rights. Since the UN is pay for this, it seems fair to ask what legal protections are in place.
Inner City Press asked again, in response to which Haq said, "I am not aware of the jurisdiction of the court system. I think that’s a national issue." Transcript here and below; video here, from Minute 16:38.
But if the UN pays to lock people up, the non-existence of safeguards cannot be considered only a national issue.
Inner City Press asked for the UN's response to the visas denied to international staff of CARE, Save the Children, NRC and others. Haq said, we continue to stress the need for humanitarian access. With whom? When NGOs were barred from Sudan, the UN Secretariat shouted. And now?
UN's Ban in Manik Farm, legal protections for IDPs not shown
While some reported that Ban Ki-moon on June 5 called for an investigation, his actual words were far more wishy -washy: if there were violations, they should be investigated. This allows the Sri Lankan government to claim there were no violations, just as they insist against all evidence that not a single civilians was killed by their assault on the "No Fire" Zone.
Nevertheless, when Inner City Press asked Rosemary DiCarlo of the U.S. Mission what may happen next at the UN about Sri Lanka, she said that she and the U.S. expect Ban to continue to brief the Council, on compliance with the Joint Statement he signed with President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
More skeptical observers opine that absent publicized event which shame the UN and Council into action, the agenda will continue to include Haiti and Burundi, and even Myanmar, but not Sri Lanka. We'll see.
From the June 8 UN transcript:
Inner City Press: on Sri Lanka, the Chief Justice there has been quoted as saying that the people that are in the camps, including the 280,000 people on the Menik Farm camps were outside of the protection of the law, that the Sri Lankan justice system has no jurisdiction over them or their claims. Is that the UN’s understanding, given that it’s paying in large part for the camps? And also, the NGOs -- CARE, Save the Children, NRC -- all have had international staff refused visas, and I wondered what OCHA is doing about that.
Associate Spokesperson Haq: Well, first of all, regarding the Chief Justice’s comments, the UN at the highest levels has been insisting on the need for freedom of movement for the people in these camps since the end of the conflict. Freedom of movement for people in the IDP camps is essential. The Government is trying to expedite the screening and registration of IDPs but this needs to be done faster. The Government must allow family reunification and the issuance of ID cards and facilitate freer movement in and out of the camps. The Government needs to facilitate early return and resettlement of IDPs, while ensuring the voluntary nature of such movements.
Inner City Press: [inaudible] does the court system have jurisdiction over their claims? Is that the UN’s understanding?
Associate Spokesperson Haq: I am not aware of the jurisdiction of the court system. I think that’s a national issue.
Again, if the UN pays to lock people up, the non-existence of safeguards should not be considered only a national issue.
At UN, "Last" Sri Lanka Meeting Is Closed, "Just a Briefing," Will Ban Finally Speak?
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, June 5, updated live blog -- As the UN Security Council assembled in the basement for what they say will probably be their last meeting on Sri Lanka, three representatives of the Sri Lankan mission slipped into Conference Room 6. Inner City Press asked U.S. Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo if there is any chance of an outcome to the meeting, even a statement to the Press by the Council president, as April's president Claude Heller of Mexico did. No, Amb. DiCarlo indicted, "this is just a briefing."
Initially, Amb. DiCarlo asked the Press, "Is this about North Korea?" On that topic, considered upstairs in the Council chamber, Inner City Press was first to obtain and publish the new draft resolution, here.
Ban Ki-moon arrived at 3:15 p.m., flanked by his advisors Vijay Nambair, Kim Won-soo and his spokesperson Michele Montas. At Friday's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked if Ban would speak to the Press after his briefing. The question was not answered.
UN's Ban on "victory tour" in Sri Lanka
European Council sources told Inner City Press is was hard even getting this "unofficial" briefing. "The conflict is over," one said. But other say, the dirty war continues, now funded by the UN. Watch this site.
Update of 4:02 p.m. -- Russian Ambassador Churkin left the meeting, a crowd of Japanese media chasing him up the stairs to ask about... the North Korea resolution. Chinese Deputy Lui left, jaunty as ever, but had no comment. Mexican Ambassador Heller left, we're sad to say, to attend a movie in the conference room next door, "Between Fire and Water." The Mission of Mexico was the sponsor, so ...
Update of 4:32 p.m. -- France's Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert left the meeting, heading straight upstairs as a reporter -- from Japnese media this time -- called after him, "On Sri Lanka?" Ripert did not stop. Some surmised that the Sri Lanka question was meant to lure Ripert in, to answer questions about North Korea....
Update of 5:04 p.m. -- one after the other, Ban Ki-moon, Japan's Ambassador Takasu and Sri Lanka's Ambassador came to the stakeout microphone. Mr. Ban said that he will push fro compliance with the Joint Statement he and President Rajapaksa signed. Inner City Press asked, what about reports of people being disappeared from the IDP camps (which are UN-funded), and about the three doctors who remained in the conflict zone offering treatment and casualty figures? Mr. Ban said he had raised the issue of the doctors to President Rajapaksa, and separately to Sri Lanka's foreign minister. Minutes later, Sri Lanka's ambassador said that while the ICRC has been allowed to visit the doctors, they will be subject to judicial process.
Sri Lanka's Ambassador said he didn't know the specifics of the expulsion of the head of Norway-based NGO Forut. When Inner City Press asked about the status of the Mememordum of Understanding with NGOs, about which John Holmes in a closed door meeting (the script for which Inner City Press obtained and put on line) said was a matter of concern and would set a bad precedent, Sri Lanka's Ambassador disagreed, saying Holmes had never said that, that the only concern is that NGOs which sign may have difficulty raising money.
Clarification should be given by Holmes. At the time, he declined to speak about the MOU, saying it had been put to the side. Apparently not anymore, according to Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the UN.
Japan's Ambassador said he would speak about North Korea, and proceeded to tell the press not to mis-report that agreement has been reached among the P-5 plus 2. For Inner City Press, which put online the P-5's most recent draft, not a problem: the draft was sent to capitals of the P-5 plus 2.
Inner City Press asked Amb. Takasu, "A question on Sri Lanka?" No, he indicated, he did not want to leave the Sri Lankan Ambassador waiting. And so the question would have been, why did Japan abstain on the Human Rights Council's resolution -- does Japan favor in inquiry into possible war crimes in Sri Lanka or not?
Watch this site.
Channel 4 in the UK with allegations of rape and disappearance
Click here for an Inner City Press YouTube channel video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian deaths in Sri Lanka.
Click here for Inner City Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City Press March 12 UN (and AIG bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click here for Feb. 12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan. 16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press' review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press' December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on Security Council and Obama and the UN
UNITED NATIONS, June 9 -- As UN money supports internment camps in northern Sri Lanka, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said that he is closely monitoring compliance with the Joint Statement he signed with President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
But on June 9, in a UN noon briefing with no real time pressure and only three journalists in the room, Ban's Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe first tried to shift directly from a twelve minute read out of press releases to a guest about Sierra Leone, then begrudgingly agreed to take Inner City Press' "daily two questions."
Inner City Press asked if Sri Lanka's extension of its anti-terrorism laws, which allow detention with out charge and are directly disproportionately against the Tamil minority, are consistent with Ban's understanding of the Commitment, and with his call against triumphalism and for reconciliation.
Ms. Okabe called this a mere "press report" on which the UN has no comment. For the sake of time, she said, let's turn it over to the guest. Video here, from Minute 12:39.
First, the extension of the anti-terrorism laws was extensively reported, and is a legislative fact. Any office closely monitoring developments in Sri Lanka would be aware of it, and should be prepared to comment hours later on it -- particularly since the detained doctors who remained in the "No Fire" zone offering treatment and casualty figures, about whom Ban has expressed concern, are being held under these laws.
Second, there was no rush to get the guest, the representative in Sierra Leone, on. The noon briefing had been reduced to a less than 15 minutes, more than 12 minutes of which consisted of Ms. Okabe reading out loud UN press releases.
It appeared clear that Ms. Okabe simply didn't want to answer questions. To be so dismissive of Sri Lanka, a topic the Secretary General is ostensibly monitoring closely, appears to be inconsistent.
UN's Ban and troops during Africa trip, SLPP and doctors not shown
The Sierra Leone UN representative, Michael Schulenburg, is also accused of being too close to the country's president. Inner City Press asked Schulenburg to respond to a quote from the US representative of the opposition SLPP, that Schulenburg's and Ban's report "reads more like an eulogy to President Koroma than an objective, professional, and balanced report on the fair implementation of the very communique."
Schulenburg said that the criticism of his approach is only from "one journalist." Even Ban's high officials point the finger at three media organizations -- click here and here for that.
Inner City Press asked Schulenburg about reports that SLPP supporters may stage protests. I don't that, Schulenburg said. "I'm not worried about this at all." Video here, from Minute 32:51.
Schulenburg said he did not recognize the name of the US representative of the opposition SLPP. Outreach seems in order.
Footnote: In fact, with Ban Ki-moon slated to get another award, this time on June 17 at 630 p.m. at the St Regis Hotel in Manhattan, there is talk about a protest by people concerned with the UN's action and lack of action in Sri Lanka. Again, outreach -- and action, follow through -- seem in order. Watch this site.
* * *
In Sri Lanka, UN Pays for Camps But No Legal Protections, Nor for NGOs, Will Council Hear?
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, June 8 -- The outgoing chief justice of Sri Lanka, Sarath Nanda Silva, said before he left that those interred in the camps in Menik Farm have no legal protections, cannot get justice for their claims before the courts that he oversaw.
On June 8 in New York, Inner City Press asked UN Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq if this is the UN's understanding, given that the UN is largely paying for, and had just bragged about, the camps. Haq replied that the UN is pushing for freedom of movement, telling the government to speed up its "screening and registration."
The screening is, in essence, political screening, to gauge whether people support not only the LTTE but also the cause of Tamil rights. Since the UN is pay for this, it seems fair to ask what legal protections are in place.
Inner City Press asked again, in response to which Haq said, "I am not aware of the jurisdiction of the court system. I think that’s a national issue." Transcript here and below; video here, from Minute 16:38.
But if the UN pays to lock people up, the non-existence of safeguards cannot be considered only a national issue.
Inner City Press asked for the UN's response to the visas denied to international staff of CARE, Save the Children, NRC and others. Haq said, we continue to stress the need for humanitarian access. With whom? When NGOs were barred from Sudan, the UN Secretariat shouted. And now?
UN's Ban in Manik Farm, legal protections for IDPs not shown
While some reported that Ban Ki-moon on June 5 called for an investigation, his actual words were far more wishy -washy: if there were violations, they should be investigated. This allows the Sri Lankan government to claim there were no violations, just as they insist against all evidence that not a single civilians was killed by their assault on the "No Fire" Zone.
Nevertheless, when Inner City Press asked Rosemary DiCarlo of the U.S. Mission what may happen next at the UN about Sri Lanka, she said that she and the U.S. expect Ban to continue to brief the Council, on compliance with the Joint Statement he signed with President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
More skeptical observers opine that absent publicized event which shame the UN and Council into action, the agenda will continue to include Haiti and Burundi, and even Myanmar, but not Sri Lanka. We'll see.
From the June 8 UN transcript:
Inner City Press: on Sri Lanka, the Chief Justice there has been quoted as saying that the people that are in the camps, including the 280,000 people on the Menik Farm camps were outside of the protection of the law, that the Sri Lankan justice system has no jurisdiction over them or their claims. Is that the UN’s understanding, given that it’s paying in large part for the camps? And also, the NGOs -- CARE, Save the Children, NRC -- all have had international staff refused visas, and I wondered what OCHA is doing about that.
Associate Spokesperson Haq: Well, first of all, regarding the Chief Justice’s comments, the UN at the highest levels has been insisting on the need for freedom of movement for the people in these camps since the end of the conflict. Freedom of movement for people in the IDP camps is essential. The Government is trying to expedite the screening and registration of IDPs but this needs to be done faster. The Government must allow family reunification and the issuance of ID cards and facilitate freer movement in and out of the camps. The Government needs to facilitate early return and resettlement of IDPs, while ensuring the voluntary nature of such movements.
Inner City Press: [inaudible] does the court system have jurisdiction over their claims? Is that the UN’s understanding?
Associate Spokesperson Haq: I am not aware of the jurisdiction of the court system. I think that’s a national issue.
Again, if the UN pays to lock people up, the non-existence of safeguards should not be considered only a national issue.
At UN, "Last" Sri Lanka Meeting Is Closed, "Just a Briefing," Will Ban Finally Speak?
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, June 5, updated live blog -- As the UN Security Council assembled in the basement for what they say will probably be their last meeting on Sri Lanka, three representatives of the Sri Lankan mission slipped into Conference Room 6. Inner City Press asked U.S. Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo if there is any chance of an outcome to the meeting, even a statement to the Press by the Council president, as April's president Claude Heller of Mexico did. No, Amb. DiCarlo indicted, "this is just a briefing."
Initially, Amb. DiCarlo asked the Press, "Is this about North Korea?" On that topic, considered upstairs in the Council chamber, Inner City Press was first to obtain and publish the new draft resolution, here.
Ban Ki-moon arrived at 3:15 p.m., flanked by his advisors Vijay Nambair, Kim Won-soo and his spokesperson Michele Montas. At Friday's noon briefing, Inner City Press asked if Ban would speak to the Press after his briefing. The question was not answered.
UN's Ban on "victory tour" in Sri Lanka
European Council sources told Inner City Press is was hard even getting this "unofficial" briefing. "The conflict is over," one said. But other say, the dirty war continues, now funded by the UN. Watch this site.
Update of 4:02 p.m. -- Russian Ambassador Churkin left the meeting, a crowd of Japanese media chasing him up the stairs to ask about... the North Korea resolution. Chinese Deputy Lui left, jaunty as ever, but had no comment. Mexican Ambassador Heller left, we're sad to say, to attend a movie in the conference room next door, "Between Fire and Water." The Mission of Mexico was the sponsor, so ...
Update of 4:32 p.m. -- France's Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert left the meeting, heading straight upstairs as a reporter -- from Japnese media this time -- called after him, "On Sri Lanka?" Ripert did not stop. Some surmised that the Sri Lanka question was meant to lure Ripert in, to answer questions about North Korea....
Update of 5:04 p.m. -- one after the other, Ban Ki-moon, Japan's Ambassador Takasu and Sri Lanka's Ambassador came to the stakeout microphone. Mr. Ban said that he will push fro compliance with the Joint Statement he and President Rajapaksa signed. Inner City Press asked, what about reports of people being disappeared from the IDP camps (which are UN-funded), and about the three doctors who remained in the conflict zone offering treatment and casualty figures? Mr. Ban said he had raised the issue of the doctors to President Rajapaksa, and separately to Sri Lanka's foreign minister. Minutes later, Sri Lanka's ambassador said that while the ICRC has been allowed to visit the doctors, they will be subject to judicial process.
Sri Lanka's Ambassador said he didn't know the specifics of the expulsion of the head of Norway-based NGO Forut. When Inner City Press asked about the status of the Mememordum of Understanding with NGOs, about which John Holmes in a closed door meeting (the script for which Inner City Press obtained and put on line) said was a matter of concern and would set a bad precedent, Sri Lanka's Ambassador disagreed, saying Holmes had never said that, that the only concern is that NGOs which sign may have difficulty raising money.
Clarification should be given by Holmes. At the time, he declined to speak about the MOU, saying it had been put to the side. Apparently not anymore, according to Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the UN.
Japan's Ambassador said he would speak about North Korea, and proceeded to tell the press not to mis-report that agreement has been reached among the P-5 plus 2. For Inner City Press, which put online the P-5's most recent draft, not a problem: the draft was sent to capitals of the P-5 plus 2.
Inner City Press asked Amb. Takasu, "A question on Sri Lanka?" No, he indicated, he did not want to leave the Sri Lankan Ambassador waiting. And so the question would have been, why did Japan abstain on the Human Rights Council's resolution -- does Japan favor in inquiry into possible war crimes in Sri Lanka or not?
Watch this site.
Channel 4 in the UK with allegations of rape and disappearance
Click here for an Inner City Press YouTube channel video, mostly UN Headquarters footage, about civilian deaths in Sri Lanka.
Click here for Inner City Press' March 27 UN debate
Click here for Inner City Press March 12 UN (and AIG bailout) debate
Click here for Inner City Press' Feb 26 UN debate
Click here for Feb. 12 debate on Sri Lanka http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/17772?in=11:33&out=32:56
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan. 16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press' review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press' December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
and this October 17 debate, on Security Council and Obama and the UN
'Our hands are tainted with blood,' admits Suryanarayan
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 June 2009, 07:36 GMT]“Our hands are tainted with blood”, admitted professor V. Suryanarayan, a member of India’s national security advisory panel during Vanni war, in a conference organised by International Tamil Centre, Chennai, on Monday. He also implied the connivance of the Tamil Nadu government when he said in this context that “during the last two three years New Delhi will not take any action without consulting Tamil Nadu”. However, Tamil circles found his criticism of India’s Sri Lanka policy leading nowhere to justice but was harping only on Indian aid conditioning Sri Lanka so that “a Tamil can be a Tamil but at the same time a loyal Sri Lankan”. A diplomatic failure of India according to Suryanarayan was that the fear that India can intervene has been removed.
V Suryanarayan
“And the consequence of it took place in the human rights council when we were in the illustrious company of Pakistan and China. As an Indian I feel ashamed the voting behaviour of New Delhi. We should have abstained from voting”, he said.In the opinion of international observers it was India that orchestrated votes in favour of Sri Lanka in the human rights council.Many viewed it as an academic post mortem when Suryanarayan said, “I also express my feeling with a great sense of sorrow that there is no transparency in India’s policy towards Sri Lanka”. For many years now, people outside of India have been pointing out the handling of India’s Sri Lanka policy by a few, biased, extra parliamentary elements.Coming hard on Sri Lanka, Suryanarayan said, “Sri Lanka has the unique distinction of one of those countries, which bombs its own citizens. Not just bombing but savage bombing”.“And the bell tolls not only for Mahinda Rajapaksa, the bell tolls for all those who directly or indirectly helped in the most atrocious deeds that were happening in Sri Lanka for the last three months”, Suryanarayan said.A few days ago in an interview to The Week Magazine, Mahinda Rajapaksa said that he had fought ‘India’s war’.While observing that the military dimension of the conflict is over, Suryanarayan was harping on India using aid as leverage for the devolution of powers to Tamil areas. He criticized M K Narayanan and Shiv Shankar Menon offering 500 crores to Sri Lanka without conditions. The 20-member committee appointed by Colombo to spend the money has 19 Sinhalese, one Muslim and no Tamil, he pointed out.Suryanarayan also condemned further militarization of Sri Lanka and Tamil lands being brought under the control of the armed forces. What disappointed the Tamil circles was the professor with many years of Sri Lanka-watching still pinning hopes on the inclusiveness of the Sri Lankan state. Sincere implementation of 13th Amendment can lead to ethnic reconciliation and substantial devolution of powers, he said.However, later he expressed his own doubt about its implementation and said Sri Lanka should be asked to consider the constitutional proposals of 2000.How does he expect acceptance from Eezham Tamils for blood stained hands imposing a hated identity and further subjugation, asked a former Tamil militant.Meanwhile, Francis Boyle, an American expert on international law, addressing the same conference on Monday, asked India not to oppose the statehood claim of Tamils in Sri Lanka.It was a false assumption that if Tamils in Sri Lanka exercise their right to self-determination, including the right to establish a separate state, Tamils in India would also follow suit, he said.
V Suryanarayan
“And the consequence of it took place in the human rights council when we were in the illustrious company of Pakistan and China. As an Indian I feel ashamed the voting behaviour of New Delhi. We should have abstained from voting”, he said.In the opinion of international observers it was India that orchestrated votes in favour of Sri Lanka in the human rights council.Many viewed it as an academic post mortem when Suryanarayan said, “I also express my feeling with a great sense of sorrow that there is no transparency in India’s policy towards Sri Lanka”. For many years now, people outside of India have been pointing out the handling of India’s Sri Lanka policy by a few, biased, extra parliamentary elements.Coming hard on Sri Lanka, Suryanarayan said, “Sri Lanka has the unique distinction of one of those countries, which bombs its own citizens. Not just bombing but savage bombing”.“And the bell tolls not only for Mahinda Rajapaksa, the bell tolls for all those who directly or indirectly helped in the most atrocious deeds that were happening in Sri Lanka for the last three months”, Suryanarayan said.A few days ago in an interview to The Week Magazine, Mahinda Rajapaksa said that he had fought ‘India’s war’.While observing that the military dimension of the conflict is over, Suryanarayan was harping on India using aid as leverage for the devolution of powers to Tamil areas. He criticized M K Narayanan and Shiv Shankar Menon offering 500 crores to Sri Lanka without conditions. The 20-member committee appointed by Colombo to spend the money has 19 Sinhalese, one Muslim and no Tamil, he pointed out.Suryanarayan also condemned further militarization of Sri Lanka and Tamil lands being brought under the control of the armed forces. What disappointed the Tamil circles was the professor with many years of Sri Lanka-watching still pinning hopes on the inclusiveness of the Sri Lankan state. Sincere implementation of 13th Amendment can lead to ethnic reconciliation and substantial devolution of powers, he said.However, later he expressed his own doubt about its implementation and said Sri Lanka should be asked to consider the constitutional proposals of 2000.How does he expect acceptance from Eezham Tamils for blood stained hands imposing a hated identity and further subjugation, asked a former Tamil militant.Meanwhile, Francis Boyle, an American expert on international law, addressing the same conference on Monday, asked India not to oppose the statehood claim of Tamils in Sri Lanka.It was a false assumption that if Tamils in Sri Lanka exercise their right to self-determination, including the right to establish a separate state, Tamils in India would also follow suit, he said.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Up to 30,000 'disabled' by Sri Lankan shells
Dean Nelson The Daily Telegraph
Up to 30,000 Tamil civilians have been left severely disabled by Sri Lankan army shelling in the so-called 'no-fire zone', it has been revealed.
Aid workers said one in ten of the 280,000 civilian refugees who fled the Sri Lankan army's final onslaught against the Tamil Tiger rebels had either lost limbs or been so badly injured they urgently needed prosthetic limbs or wheelchairs to regain their mobility.
The scale of civilian casualties who have been maimed in the war was disclosed by the award-winning French charity Handicap International, which works with the victims of war throughout the world.
The charity, which has a small factory producing artificial limbs in Batticaloa in Sri Lanka's eastern province, has opened an emergency unit at one of the centres for people who fled the fighting, and is working with
other suppliers to meet what it described a "huge demand".
Aid workers said nearly all of the people had been the victims of relentless Sri Lankan shelling of the civilian safe zone, where the last of the Tamil Tiger leadership made its last stand before it was wiped out last week.
The disclosure of thousands of severely maimed and disabled civilian victims contradicts the claims of Sri Lanka's president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has said his army rescued 280,000 "hostages" without any civilian casualties.
The injured are being held in hospitals throughout the country and camps in the north which are off-limits to journalists and open only to a small number of specialist aid workers.
Handicap International's Sri Lanka director Satish Misra said the number of maimed could be "about 25,000 to 30,000 people".
He said he had established an emergency centre at Vavuniya last year in anticipation of the demand, and that a team of specialist physiotherapists and occupational therapists were now working with the victims.
Their work has been hampered by a government ban on refugees leaving the camp which means the wounded cannot be taken to his factory in Batticaloa, on the eastern coast, where new artificial limbs are fitted and the patients are trained in their use.
"We can't start fitting the prosthetic yet because it's difficult while the people are not allowed out of the camps. The limbs must be fitting and people must be trained how to use them," he said.
One aid worker who has visited the refugee camps told the Daily Telegraph he had been shocked by the number of displaced civilians who had lost limbs in the recent fighting.
"We know of one person who lost his leg and his wife lost both her legs. They have an eight month old baby. They left the baby in the bunker to get food and were shelled when they came out. They are in Vavuniya camp," he said.
The conditions there and at other restricted camps in the north were the worst he had seen in a 20 year career of helping refugees in war zones around the world, he said.
Old people had died because they had lost their families and could not fend for themselves in the camps, while many children were alone without relatives to care for them. Many children were emaciated, he said, and skin diseases were widespread.
"There are 6,000 people in Polmoddai Camp. They're destitute, arrive in just the clothes they're wearing and put in tents which are excruciatingly hot. The camp is in the jungle, and there have been five people bitten by snakes. The camps at Vavuniya have open sewers, and have become a marshy mass of excrement.
"There are seriously injured people sent to camp in these unhygienic crowded conditions," he said
Up to 30,000 Tamil civilians have been left severely disabled by Sri Lankan army shelling in the so-called 'no-fire zone', it has been revealed.
Aid workers said one in ten of the 280,000 civilian refugees who fled the Sri Lankan army's final onslaught against the Tamil Tiger rebels had either lost limbs or been so badly injured they urgently needed prosthetic limbs or wheelchairs to regain their mobility.
The scale of civilian casualties who have been maimed in the war was disclosed by the award-winning French charity Handicap International, which works with the victims of war throughout the world.
The charity, which has a small factory producing artificial limbs in Batticaloa in Sri Lanka's eastern province, has opened an emergency unit at one of the centres for people who fled the fighting, and is working with
other suppliers to meet what it described a "huge demand".
Aid workers said nearly all of the people had been the victims of relentless Sri Lankan shelling of the civilian safe zone, where the last of the Tamil Tiger leadership made its last stand before it was wiped out last week.
The disclosure of thousands of severely maimed and disabled civilian victims contradicts the claims of Sri Lanka's president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has said his army rescued 280,000 "hostages" without any civilian casualties.
The injured are being held in hospitals throughout the country and camps in the north which are off-limits to journalists and open only to a small number of specialist aid workers.
Handicap International's Sri Lanka director Satish Misra said the number of maimed could be "about 25,000 to 30,000 people".
He said he had established an emergency centre at Vavuniya last year in anticipation of the demand, and that a team of specialist physiotherapists and occupational therapists were now working with the victims.
Their work has been hampered by a government ban on refugees leaving the camp which means the wounded cannot be taken to his factory in Batticaloa, on the eastern coast, where new artificial limbs are fitted and the patients are trained in their use.
"We can't start fitting the prosthetic yet because it's difficult while the people are not allowed out of the camps. The limbs must be fitting and people must be trained how to use them," he said.
One aid worker who has visited the refugee camps told the Daily Telegraph he had been shocked by the number of displaced civilians who had lost limbs in the recent fighting.
"We know of one person who lost his leg and his wife lost both her legs. They have an eight month old baby. They left the baby in the bunker to get food and were shelled when they came out. They are in Vavuniya camp," he said.
The conditions there and at other restricted camps in the north were the worst he had seen in a 20 year career of helping refugees in war zones around the world, he said.
Old people had died because they had lost their families and could not fend for themselves in the camps, while many children were alone without relatives to care for them. Many children were emaciated, he said, and skin diseases were widespread.
"There are 6,000 people in Polmoddai Camp. They're destitute, arrive in just the clothes they're wearing and put in tents which are excruciatingly hot. The camp is in the jungle, and there have been five people bitten by snakes. The camps at Vavuniya have open sewers, and have become a marshy mass of excrement.
"There are seriously injured people sent to camp in these unhygienic crowded conditions," he said
National Sovereignty and UN baloney?!
By Janaka Perera
"A Gallup Poll conducted from February 9-12 of this year, found that 65% of Americans believe that the UN is doing a poor job. Under his tenure as Secretary-General, Kofi Annan was blamed for many of the UN's problems and failures. Unfortunately, under the leadership of Ban Ki-moon, nothing has changed. He did promise reforms with a new era of transparency, accountability and better governance. The UN cannot be truly reformed as it is rotten to its very core. It is a bureaucratic nightmare, a cesspool of waste, mismanagement and corruption. More importantly is the danger it poses to American sovereignty." - OpEdNews.com
What about Sri Lanka’s sovereignty? This is what really concerns us. A thug has no sense of shame because he is a thug. However much you insult him citing his past and present global criminal records he does cares not a hoot.
"What I do in any part of the world is my business. But when it comes to you, I am the arbiter. You have no right to challenge me. This is the message that Western governments and their bootlicking Asians have been conveying to us mostly through the UN since the last days of the LTTE."
Despite Sri Lankan Government repeatedly rejecting calls for probing alleged human rights violations and war crimes in the process of crushing the Tiger terrorists the suave, neat dressed thugs keep on coming back to us like bouncing rubber balls – all the while turning a blind eye to the endless human rights violations being committed in Afghanistan, the Afghan-Pakistan border and in Iraq.
Assisting these international hoodlums are Sri Lanka's spineless cowards and traitors to whom what matters is garment export quotas given to us by Europe not the nation’s dignity or sovereignty. The many countries that backed us on the UN human rights issue and militarily helped us to win the war against the LTTE is not their concern. Their political mentors worshipped the former colonial powers even years after 1948. Their latter-day political heirs are now repeating the same in a different form – not recognizable at a first glance. They will continue to repeat it for another 50 years if possible. To them the 'international community' is only USA, Canada and Europe. Please note it is this kind of shameless mentality that led the J.R. Jayewardene Government to support Britain in the Falklands (Malvinas) issue in 1982 involving Argentina when virtually all other Asian countries, the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe treated the British action as a crude imperial military adventure. The reason for Sri Lanka's support was British aid to Mahaweli Development Scheme and the Victoria Dam.
Regardless of the antics of the so-called international community Sri Lanka’s Environment and Natural Resources Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka told the country’s national broadcasting corporation (SLBC) last week that the island’s military victory over LTTE had inspired South Asian countries in dealing with terrorism.
"Today Pakistan is fearlessly waging successful campaign against the Taliban terrorists," he said an interview with the SLBC’s Subharathi programme.
According to press reports it was Pakistan which warned Sri Lanka that UN member states – especially the Afro-Asian countries - were being pressured to vote against Sri Lanka’s proposal at last month’s special session of the United Nation’s Human Rights Council.
This recalls that it was only the Pakistani Defence Attaché in Sri Lanka who had the guts and honesty out of the seven Defence Attaches who visited the Wanni battle front on December 15, 2008 to boldly congratulate Sri Lankan troops and, wish them all success in defeating the LTTE. The others, especially the Attaches from the United Kingdom, the USA and Japan had remained largely 'neutral' and focused mainly on humanitarian issues and internally displaced people (IDP).
Why they were deafeningly silent over the velour of armed forces is revealed in the West’s condemnation of the Sri Lankan Government after its military victory. It may be summed up thus.
"You did not stop the war when we told you to do so. You ignored our requests to allow the Tiger leaders to surrender to a third party (so they can live to fight another day). Now you have to pay a heavy price for disobeying us."
Responding to a question on arm twisting by these sanctimonious hypocrites over alleged human rights violations during the anti-LTTE offensive, Minister Ranawaka asked why should Sri Lanka having sacrificed the lives of thousands of her soldiers, sailors and airmen to free the country of Tiger terrorism, should listen to the dictates of Western Embassies and Tamil Nadu politicians.
Sri Lanka’s military victory confirms the myths and half-truths about successful insurgencies and terrorist movements in the world that people have been clinging to for decades. One myth is that overwhelming public support alone was their springboard to victory.
The Tigers and their sympathizers had been assiduously fostering this fiction for over 25 years to justify LTTE‘s claim of being the Tamils’ sole representatives, whereas in fact they were intimidating many ordinary Sri Lankan Tamils and holding them hostage.
The other myth is that the emergence of terrorism and separatist violence everywhere was always the result of socio-economic injustices and/or failure to devolve power.
It is therefore necessary to examine fact and fiction in the context of global events in order to have a proper perspective of the Sri Lankan situation.
In former Malaya (now Malaysia) the British were able to crush within 12 years a communist guerilla movement comprising mainly ethnic Chinese, who had virtually no assistance from any foreign government, except perhaps moral support. They were never able to terrorize the government, despite having killed thousands of civilians, police and military personnel.
The same fate befell Sri Lanka’s two JVP uprisings of 1971 and 1987-89, although the issues were not linked to ethnicity. In both instances, the JVP had neither strong material nor moral support from any foreign government or a Sinhala Diaspora. The North Korean connection with the uprising had little impact. The only arms these Sinhala guerillas had were some crude homemade bombs, shotguns, pistols and (especially in 1988-90) stolen automatic weapons.
No NGO or foreign power urged the then Sri Lankan governments to stop fighting the JVP, come to the negotiating table and conclude ceasefire agreements. There were no calls for foreign peace facilitators and ceasefire monitors. No one urged peace talks in Colombo, Thimpu, Geneva or elsewhere. Instead in 1971, India even sent warships and an Army (Gurkha) unit to help the Sirima Bandaranaike Government if the need arose.
So it was only a matter of time before the Sri Lankan State crushed the two Southern insurgencies. Few foreign governments (if any) or organizations raised a hue and cry over the human rights violations that occurred in the process. It was mostly local rights groups that took up the issue.
Contrast this with the endless allegations of human rights violations made against Sri Lanka every time she used military force against the LTTE. The global media paid little or no attention to the atrocities that the Tigers committed in the course of their so-called liberation war, no matter that among their victims were many Tamils.
In Afghanistan and Pakistan, Washington and London wants military solutions to terrorism. In Sri Lanka they wanted the government to go for a ‘political solution’ despite the Tigers being hell-bent on a military solution. Why this duplicity? The only plausible answer is that all this is part of an international double game.
In Pakistan we do not hear UK and US governments expressing concern over the plight of civilians caught in the West's war on terror in Afghanistan – a war that has spilled over to Pakistan. The reason, according to Peter Hopkirk, author of The Great Game, Washington sees the (Central-South Asia) region as an extension of the Middle-East.
These antics repeatedly remind us that in contrast to the 'insignificant' Sinhalas the Tamils are a convenient political tool for the dubious `peace’ makers to impose their will on a small nation like Sri Lanka. The covert military assistance and training that India gave the LTTE to become the world’s most dreaded terrorist organization clearly proves it. Delhi had no other reason to intervene and prevent the Sri Lankan Army from giving a military solution to the LTTE terrorist problem at Vadamarachchi in 1987 when the Tigers were mere cubs.
However when Sri Lanka twice found military solutions to the Southern rebellion in the short term, the world was least concerned since the insurgents and their sympathizers were belonged to community that mattered little to the big powers and had virtually no political clout in the international sphere. It is only when the rebels became Tamil Tigers the call for military solutions really perturbed some big powers and their NGO lackeys. They were desperate to project the LTTE as politically superior to the JVP. Yet it is the latter that entered the political mainstream and faced several elections. Obviously Prabhakaran and his thugs had neither confidence nor courage to do so. They imagined that the bullet and not the ballot would be their only means of survival.
Tiger sympathizers often defended LTTE actions with the hackneyed praise "one man’s terrorist is another’s hero" or "there’s no clear definition of the term terrorism." Whether or not a terrorist is somebody’s hero, the fact is that the deliberate and well-calculated killing of non-combatants, civilians and even military personnel (in non-military situations), holding such persons hostage and intentionally depriving a population of their basic needs are without question terrorism. It always thrives on foreign funding and international arms smuggling networks. (The Provisional IRA’s terrorism in Northern Ireland was considerably weakened when funds from Irish-Americans dried up).
It is for this very reason that the LTTE leadership was desperately trying to get into the good books of India and the West, even during their last hours on this earth.
Since independence India has devolved administrative power in fair measure while safeguarding its territorial integrity. Yet this devolution did not prevent a section of the Sikh community from trying to create a Khalistan out of the Punjab - one of India’s most prosperous states. But Sikh separatist terrorism received no foreign backing. So, not surprisingly the Indian armed forces were able to quell the rebellion in a few years, although it cost Prime Minister Indira Gandhi her life. It also proved to the world that federalism based on ethnicity does not necessarily prevent separatist terrorism.
The worst example of this is former Yugoslavia.
After 1945 the Federal Republic of Germany built a model democracy that bestowed political freedom and economic well being upon its people. Their standards of living nearly surpassed even that of the United States. Yet it did not prevent the creation of anti-establishment terrorist cells such as the Baader-Meinhof gang though their life span was short.
In Japan, post-World War II economic miracles and prosperity could not stop the formation of the Sekigun or the Japanese Red Army, which served as hired guns for several Middle-Eastern terrorist gangs. However Japan’s healthy balance of payments, smoothly humming industries and bountiful life style helped to virtually isolate this group of fanatics, who are no longer active. Italy’s Red Brigade terrorists too ended up the same way. It was easy for governments to seal their fate since they had no NGO 'peace' humbugs to inject lifeblood to them.
Such groups, like the LTTE, can never be pacified with a solution that may sound very reasonable to everyone else. Peace will always have to be on their own terms since they can no longer be part of civilized society.
"A Gallup Poll conducted from February 9-12 of this year, found that 65% of Americans believe that the UN is doing a poor job. Under his tenure as Secretary-General, Kofi Annan was blamed for many of the UN's problems and failures. Unfortunately, under the leadership of Ban Ki-moon, nothing has changed. He did promise reforms with a new era of transparency, accountability and better governance. The UN cannot be truly reformed as it is rotten to its very core. It is a bureaucratic nightmare, a cesspool of waste, mismanagement and corruption. More importantly is the danger it poses to American sovereignty." - OpEdNews.com
What about Sri Lanka’s sovereignty? This is what really concerns us. A thug has no sense of shame because he is a thug. However much you insult him citing his past and present global criminal records he does cares not a hoot.
"What I do in any part of the world is my business. But when it comes to you, I am the arbiter. You have no right to challenge me. This is the message that Western governments and their bootlicking Asians have been conveying to us mostly through the UN since the last days of the LTTE."
Despite Sri Lankan Government repeatedly rejecting calls for probing alleged human rights violations and war crimes in the process of crushing the Tiger terrorists the suave, neat dressed thugs keep on coming back to us like bouncing rubber balls – all the while turning a blind eye to the endless human rights violations being committed in Afghanistan, the Afghan-Pakistan border and in Iraq.
Assisting these international hoodlums are Sri Lanka's spineless cowards and traitors to whom what matters is garment export quotas given to us by Europe not the nation’s dignity or sovereignty. The many countries that backed us on the UN human rights issue and militarily helped us to win the war against the LTTE is not their concern. Their political mentors worshipped the former colonial powers even years after 1948. Their latter-day political heirs are now repeating the same in a different form – not recognizable at a first glance. They will continue to repeat it for another 50 years if possible. To them the 'international community' is only USA, Canada and Europe. Please note it is this kind of shameless mentality that led the J.R. Jayewardene Government to support Britain in the Falklands (Malvinas) issue in 1982 involving Argentina when virtually all other Asian countries, the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe treated the British action as a crude imperial military adventure. The reason for Sri Lanka's support was British aid to Mahaweli Development Scheme and the Victoria Dam.
Regardless of the antics of the so-called international community Sri Lanka’s Environment and Natural Resources Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka told the country’s national broadcasting corporation (SLBC) last week that the island’s military victory over LTTE had inspired South Asian countries in dealing with terrorism.
"Today Pakistan is fearlessly waging successful campaign against the Taliban terrorists," he said an interview with the SLBC’s Subharathi programme.
According to press reports it was Pakistan which warned Sri Lanka that UN member states – especially the Afro-Asian countries - were being pressured to vote against Sri Lanka’s proposal at last month’s special session of the United Nation’s Human Rights Council.
This recalls that it was only the Pakistani Defence Attaché in Sri Lanka who had the guts and honesty out of the seven Defence Attaches who visited the Wanni battle front on December 15, 2008 to boldly congratulate Sri Lankan troops and, wish them all success in defeating the LTTE. The others, especially the Attaches from the United Kingdom, the USA and Japan had remained largely 'neutral' and focused mainly on humanitarian issues and internally displaced people (IDP).
Why they were deafeningly silent over the velour of armed forces is revealed in the West’s condemnation of the Sri Lankan Government after its military victory. It may be summed up thus.
"You did not stop the war when we told you to do so. You ignored our requests to allow the Tiger leaders to surrender to a third party (so they can live to fight another day). Now you have to pay a heavy price for disobeying us."
Responding to a question on arm twisting by these sanctimonious hypocrites over alleged human rights violations during the anti-LTTE offensive, Minister Ranawaka asked why should Sri Lanka having sacrificed the lives of thousands of her soldiers, sailors and airmen to free the country of Tiger terrorism, should listen to the dictates of Western Embassies and Tamil Nadu politicians.
Sri Lanka’s military victory confirms the myths and half-truths about successful insurgencies and terrorist movements in the world that people have been clinging to for decades. One myth is that overwhelming public support alone was their springboard to victory.
The Tigers and their sympathizers had been assiduously fostering this fiction for over 25 years to justify LTTE‘s claim of being the Tamils’ sole representatives, whereas in fact they were intimidating many ordinary Sri Lankan Tamils and holding them hostage.
The other myth is that the emergence of terrorism and separatist violence everywhere was always the result of socio-economic injustices and/or failure to devolve power.
It is therefore necessary to examine fact and fiction in the context of global events in order to have a proper perspective of the Sri Lankan situation.
In former Malaya (now Malaysia) the British were able to crush within 12 years a communist guerilla movement comprising mainly ethnic Chinese, who had virtually no assistance from any foreign government, except perhaps moral support. They were never able to terrorize the government, despite having killed thousands of civilians, police and military personnel.
The same fate befell Sri Lanka’s two JVP uprisings of 1971 and 1987-89, although the issues were not linked to ethnicity. In both instances, the JVP had neither strong material nor moral support from any foreign government or a Sinhala Diaspora. The North Korean connection with the uprising had little impact. The only arms these Sinhala guerillas had were some crude homemade bombs, shotguns, pistols and (especially in 1988-90) stolen automatic weapons.
No NGO or foreign power urged the then Sri Lankan governments to stop fighting the JVP, come to the negotiating table and conclude ceasefire agreements. There were no calls for foreign peace facilitators and ceasefire monitors. No one urged peace talks in Colombo, Thimpu, Geneva or elsewhere. Instead in 1971, India even sent warships and an Army (Gurkha) unit to help the Sirima Bandaranaike Government if the need arose.
So it was only a matter of time before the Sri Lankan State crushed the two Southern insurgencies. Few foreign governments (if any) or organizations raised a hue and cry over the human rights violations that occurred in the process. It was mostly local rights groups that took up the issue.
Contrast this with the endless allegations of human rights violations made against Sri Lanka every time she used military force against the LTTE. The global media paid little or no attention to the atrocities that the Tigers committed in the course of their so-called liberation war, no matter that among their victims were many Tamils.
In Afghanistan and Pakistan, Washington and London wants military solutions to terrorism. In Sri Lanka they wanted the government to go for a ‘political solution’ despite the Tigers being hell-bent on a military solution. Why this duplicity? The only plausible answer is that all this is part of an international double game.
In Pakistan we do not hear UK and US governments expressing concern over the plight of civilians caught in the West's war on terror in Afghanistan – a war that has spilled over to Pakistan. The reason, according to Peter Hopkirk, author of The Great Game, Washington sees the (Central-South Asia) region as an extension of the Middle-East.
These antics repeatedly remind us that in contrast to the 'insignificant' Sinhalas the Tamils are a convenient political tool for the dubious `peace’ makers to impose their will on a small nation like Sri Lanka. The covert military assistance and training that India gave the LTTE to become the world’s most dreaded terrorist organization clearly proves it. Delhi had no other reason to intervene and prevent the Sri Lankan Army from giving a military solution to the LTTE terrorist problem at Vadamarachchi in 1987 when the Tigers were mere cubs.
However when Sri Lanka twice found military solutions to the Southern rebellion in the short term, the world was least concerned since the insurgents and their sympathizers were belonged to community that mattered little to the big powers and had virtually no political clout in the international sphere. It is only when the rebels became Tamil Tigers the call for military solutions really perturbed some big powers and their NGO lackeys. They were desperate to project the LTTE as politically superior to the JVP. Yet it is the latter that entered the political mainstream and faced several elections. Obviously Prabhakaran and his thugs had neither confidence nor courage to do so. They imagined that the bullet and not the ballot would be their only means of survival.
Tiger sympathizers often defended LTTE actions with the hackneyed praise "one man’s terrorist is another’s hero" or "there’s no clear definition of the term terrorism." Whether or not a terrorist is somebody’s hero, the fact is that the deliberate and well-calculated killing of non-combatants, civilians and even military personnel (in non-military situations), holding such persons hostage and intentionally depriving a population of their basic needs are without question terrorism. It always thrives on foreign funding and international arms smuggling networks. (The Provisional IRA’s terrorism in Northern Ireland was considerably weakened when funds from Irish-Americans dried up).
It is for this very reason that the LTTE leadership was desperately trying to get into the good books of India and the West, even during their last hours on this earth.
Since independence India has devolved administrative power in fair measure while safeguarding its territorial integrity. Yet this devolution did not prevent a section of the Sikh community from trying to create a Khalistan out of the Punjab - one of India’s most prosperous states. But Sikh separatist terrorism received no foreign backing. So, not surprisingly the Indian armed forces were able to quell the rebellion in a few years, although it cost Prime Minister Indira Gandhi her life. It also proved to the world that federalism based on ethnicity does not necessarily prevent separatist terrorism.
The worst example of this is former Yugoslavia.
After 1945 the Federal Republic of Germany built a model democracy that bestowed political freedom and economic well being upon its people. Their standards of living nearly surpassed even that of the United States. Yet it did not prevent the creation of anti-establishment terrorist cells such as the Baader-Meinhof gang though their life span was short.
In Japan, post-World War II economic miracles and prosperity could not stop the formation of the Sekigun or the Japanese Red Army, which served as hired guns for several Middle-Eastern terrorist gangs. However Japan’s healthy balance of payments, smoothly humming industries and bountiful life style helped to virtually isolate this group of fanatics, who are no longer active. Italy’s Red Brigade terrorists too ended up the same way. It was easy for governments to seal their fate since they had no NGO 'peace' humbugs to inject lifeblood to them.
Such groups, like the LTTE, can never be pacified with a solution that may sound very reasonable to everyone else. Peace will always have to be on their own terms since they can no longer be part of civilized society.
S Lanka turns away Tamil aid ship
Sri Lanka has turned away a ship which came from Europe carrying aid for Tamil civilians displaced in the final months of the civil war, officials say.
Late last week the Sri Lankan navy intercepted the vessel, which was sent by Tamil expatriate groups.
But a navy spokesman told the BBC that the vessel, the Captain Ali, had been ordered to clear Sri Lankan waters.
A UK-based spokesman for the group which sent the ship, described the move as "disheartening".
The navy spokesman said the vessel had been ordered to clear Sri Lankan territorial waters and not come to Colombo harbour or unload anything.
Asked whether this was not a waste of the hundreds of tonnes of food and medical aid on board, the navy spokesman said he could not comment as the decision had been made by the defence ministry.
No defence official was immediately available for comment.
The spokesman for the Tamil expatriate group said the government could have used the ship to engage with the Tamil diaspora as a move towards reconciliation.
He said the emergency aid on board was desperately needed by refugees in the north.
The defence ministry here earlier described the Captain Ali as a Tamil Tiger vessel, but the defence secretary said on Sunday that the ship "did not have any dangerous intentions".
Late last week the Sri Lankan navy intercepted the vessel, which was sent by Tamil expatriate groups.
But a navy spokesman told the BBC that the vessel, the Captain Ali, had been ordered to clear Sri Lankan waters.
A UK-based spokesman for the group which sent the ship, described the move as "disheartening".
The navy spokesman said the vessel had been ordered to clear Sri Lankan territorial waters and not come to Colombo harbour or unload anything.
Asked whether this was not a waste of the hundreds of tonnes of food and medical aid on board, the navy spokesman said he could not comment as the decision had been made by the defence ministry.
No defence official was immediately available for comment.
The spokesman for the Tamil expatriate group said the government could have used the ship to engage with the Tamil diaspora as a move towards reconciliation.
He said the emergency aid on board was desperately needed by refugees in the north.
The defence ministry here earlier described the Captain Ali as a Tamil Tiger vessel, but the defence secretary said on Sunday that the ship "did not have any dangerous intentions".
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Foreigners too held in IDP camps
By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema
Several foreign nationals are trapped amongst thousands of war displaced in the IDP camps in Vavuniya and are being screened for links with the LTTE.
The foreign nationals of Tamil origin are from Britain, Norway, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Australia. These foreign nationals have entered the government controlled areas from the war zone in the last few months.
A Foreign Ministry official told The Sunday Leader that the judicial process was on track with regard to the foreign nationals in the IDP camps.
The official also said the Foreign Ministry had not received any formal requests from the missions (in Colombo) concerned even by Friday.
Foreign Secretary Dr. Palitha Kohona has been quoted by the Australian media saying the Australian nationals in the IDP camps would undergo screening, along with an estimated 280,000 Tamils in the camps. "We can't start a two-track process that gives preference to foreign nationals," Dr. Kohona has said.
Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe meanwhile has reportedly said the foreign nationals of Sri Lankan origin will be screened for links with the LTTE. The government has also said the registration and security screening of IDPs would be completed in 180 days.
Human Rights Ministry Secretary Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha told The Sunday Leader that he was informed of a New Zealand national trapped in the IDP camp in April by the New Zealand High Commission in New Delhi. He said the Australian High Commission has also informed him of two Australian nationals in the IDP camps.
"The New Zealand national was located and was about to leave the camp when there was an influx of civilians to the camp last month," he said.
According to Prof. Wijesinha, he has not been informed of other foreign nationals trapped in the IDP camps. Due to the influx of civilians the return of the New Zealand national was delayed.
"When the government asked all aid agencies and foreign citizens to leave, these people have stayed back. Whether they were being forcibly held we do not know," he said.
Military Spokesperson Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara when queried on the latest reports on the foreign nationals in the Wanni IDP camps said he only knew about the British national in the camp and not of any others. He said an inquiry is being conducted on the British national.
Representatives from the British, Norwegian and Dutch missions in Colombo have however confirmed to The Sunday Leader that citizens from their respective countries were trapped in the IDP camps in the north.
Spokesperson for the British High Commission in Sri Lanka, Dominic Williams told The Sunday Leader they were working with Government to get the British citizen (Damilvany Gnanakumar) back to the UK, but refrained to comment on the matter further.
Spokesperson for the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo, Rannveig Skofteland said embassy officials were working with the government and the ICRC to get the Norwegian released from the camp.
Meanwhile, an official from the Netherlands Embassy in Colombo said they too were in the process of working out a method to get the Dutch national back to their country.
Attempts by The Sunday Leader to get a confirmation on the three Australian citizens in the IDP camps failed
Several foreign nationals are trapped amongst thousands of war displaced in the IDP camps in Vavuniya and are being screened for links with the LTTE.
The foreign nationals of Tamil origin are from Britain, Norway, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Australia. These foreign nationals have entered the government controlled areas from the war zone in the last few months.
A Foreign Ministry official told The Sunday Leader that the judicial process was on track with regard to the foreign nationals in the IDP camps.
The official also said the Foreign Ministry had not received any formal requests from the missions (in Colombo) concerned even by Friday.
Foreign Secretary Dr. Palitha Kohona has been quoted by the Australian media saying the Australian nationals in the IDP camps would undergo screening, along with an estimated 280,000 Tamils in the camps. "We can't start a two-track process that gives preference to foreign nationals," Dr. Kohona has said.
Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe meanwhile has reportedly said the foreign nationals of Sri Lankan origin will be screened for links with the LTTE. The government has also said the registration and security screening of IDPs would be completed in 180 days.
Human Rights Ministry Secretary Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha told The Sunday Leader that he was informed of a New Zealand national trapped in the IDP camp in April by the New Zealand High Commission in New Delhi. He said the Australian High Commission has also informed him of two Australian nationals in the IDP camps.
"The New Zealand national was located and was about to leave the camp when there was an influx of civilians to the camp last month," he said.
According to Prof. Wijesinha, he has not been informed of other foreign nationals trapped in the IDP camps. Due to the influx of civilians the return of the New Zealand national was delayed.
"When the government asked all aid agencies and foreign citizens to leave, these people have stayed back. Whether they were being forcibly held we do not know," he said.
Military Spokesperson Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara when queried on the latest reports on the foreign nationals in the Wanni IDP camps said he only knew about the British national in the camp and not of any others. He said an inquiry is being conducted on the British national.
Representatives from the British, Norwegian and Dutch missions in Colombo have however confirmed to The Sunday Leader that citizens from their respective countries were trapped in the IDP camps in the north.
Spokesperson for the British High Commission in Sri Lanka, Dominic Williams told The Sunday Leader they were working with Government to get the British citizen (Damilvany Gnanakumar) back to the UK, but refrained to comment on the matter further.
Spokesperson for the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo, Rannveig Skofteland said embassy officials were working with the government and the ICRC to get the Norwegian released from the camp.
Meanwhile, an official from the Netherlands Embassy in Colombo said they too were in the process of working out a method to get the Dutch national back to their country.
Attempts by The Sunday Leader to get a confirmation on the three Australian citizens in the IDP camps failed
Ban calls for probe: Lanka says no way
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday called to probe “any credible accusations of human rights violations” -- war crimes -- committed during the final phase of the war against separatist Tiger guerrillas, but Sri Lanka yesterday rejected the call.
“The Government of Sri Lanka firmly stands by its earlier position that no such probe will be initiated, both local and otherwise,” Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona said. The use of the words “any credible accusation” suggests that even the head of the UN is negative, he told the Sunday Times.
Mr. Ban’s remarks in New York came after he briefed members of the UN Security Council on his May visit to Sri Lanka. His near 36 hour itinerary included a tour of the one-time No-Fire Zone in the Mullaitivu district.
Ban Ki-moon
Dr. Kohona’s remarks appeared at variance with those made to the Reuters news agency by H.M.G.S. Palihakkara, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative at the UN. He was quoted as saying in a news report dealing with the UN Secretary General’s remarks that the Government had “initiated a process of reconciliation and fact finding.”
Asked for his comments, Dr. Kohona said “we stand by that quote.” Foreign Ministry officials explained that the assertion only meant there would be fact finding if and when the situation arose.
Mr. Ban told a news conference after he briefed the Security Council: “I would like to ask the Sri Lankan Government to recognize the international call for accountability and full transparency. And whenever and wherever there are credible allegations of violations of humanitarian law, there should be a proper investigation.”
He added: “Any inquiry, to be meaningful, should be supported by the members of the United Nations, and also should be very impartial and objective. I have been urging the Sri Lankan President on this matter. He assured me that he will institute the necessary procedures to ensure the transparency and accountability of this [process].”
Mr. Ban said he had three objectives during his Sri Lanka visit. First was to urge the Sri Lankan Government to allow “unimpeded access” by international humanitarian workers, including UN agencies to help more than 300,000 displaced people. Second was to help the displaced people and the Government to re-settle them in their original home provinces. Third was to help Sri Lankan Government to reach out to the minorities, including Tamils and Muslims.
The UN Chief cautioned that “It is very important at this time to unite and heal the wounds, rather than enjoy all this triumphalism in the wake of the end of conflict.”
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa also strongly articulated the Government’s position. In an interview with The Sunday Times (before the UN Secretary General briefed the Security Council), he said “I am not worried because we will not allow such a thing. It was proven at an international forum (the UNHCR), when the international community said in one voice that Sri Lanka had defeated the worst terrorist organization in the world and we must commend them on that and not punish them. The majority of the IC accepted the fact that the Sri Lankan government did the correct thing.”
“The Government of Sri Lanka firmly stands by its earlier position that no such probe will be initiated, both local and otherwise,” Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona said. The use of the words “any credible accusation” suggests that even the head of the UN is negative, he told the Sunday Times.
Mr. Ban’s remarks in New York came after he briefed members of the UN Security Council on his May visit to Sri Lanka. His near 36 hour itinerary included a tour of the one-time No-Fire Zone in the Mullaitivu district.
Ban Ki-moon
Dr. Kohona’s remarks appeared at variance with those made to the Reuters news agency by H.M.G.S. Palihakkara, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative at the UN. He was quoted as saying in a news report dealing with the UN Secretary General’s remarks that the Government had “initiated a process of reconciliation and fact finding.”
Asked for his comments, Dr. Kohona said “we stand by that quote.” Foreign Ministry officials explained that the assertion only meant there would be fact finding if and when the situation arose.
Mr. Ban told a news conference after he briefed the Security Council: “I would like to ask the Sri Lankan Government to recognize the international call for accountability and full transparency. And whenever and wherever there are credible allegations of violations of humanitarian law, there should be a proper investigation.”
He added: “Any inquiry, to be meaningful, should be supported by the members of the United Nations, and also should be very impartial and objective. I have been urging the Sri Lankan President on this matter. He assured me that he will institute the necessary procedures to ensure the transparency and accountability of this [process].”
Mr. Ban said he had three objectives during his Sri Lanka visit. First was to urge the Sri Lankan Government to allow “unimpeded access” by international humanitarian workers, including UN agencies to help more than 300,000 displaced people. Second was to help the displaced people and the Government to re-settle them in their original home provinces. Third was to help Sri Lankan Government to reach out to the minorities, including Tamils and Muslims.
The UN Chief cautioned that “It is very important at this time to unite and heal the wounds, rather than enjoy all this triumphalism in the wake of the end of conflict.”
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa also strongly articulated the Government’s position. In an interview with The Sunday Times (before the UN Secretary General briefed the Security Council), he said “I am not worried because we will not allow such a thing. It was proven at an international forum (the UNHCR), when the international community said in one voice that Sri Lanka had defeated the worst terrorist organization in the world and we must commend them on that and not punish them. The majority of the IC accepted the fact that the Sri Lankan government did the correct thing.”
Sri Lanka: Avoid a Postwar Witch Hunt
Source: Human Rights Watch
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
(New York) - The Sri Lankan government should ensure that military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam does not result in new "disappearances," unlawful killings or the jailing of government critics, Human Rights Watch said today. The Sri Lankan government appears from its statements to be preparing to take action against individuals and organizations that criticized it during the war, Human Rights Watch said. On June 3, 2009, the media minister, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardana, said the Defense Ministry was preparing to bring charges against journalists, politicians, armed forces personnel and businessmen who have assisted the LTTE."The last thing Sri Lankans need right now is a witch hunt," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The country desperately needs healing. The government should make clear to everyone, especially Tamils, that it will respect their rights."In addition to the media minister's statement, in late May, the Army commander, Gen. Sarath Fonseka, said in a televised interview that the government would take action against journalists whose reporting benefited the LTTE, saying that they would be prevented from leaving the country and prosecuted for treason. Inspector General of Police Jayantha Wickremeratne accused unnamed Sinhalese media-freedom activists of being paid by the LTTE to generate false reporting intended to implicate the army in war crimes.Sri Lankan security forces have long been implicated in enforced disappearances and unlawful killings following the capture of LTTE strongholds. In the 12 months after government forces captured the northern town of Jaffna from the LTTE in December 1995, more than 600 people, mostly young men suspected of having LTTE links, "disappeared." Although several mass graves have since been uncovered, the fate of most of them has never been determined, and successful prosecutions of security forces personnel have been few.Enforced disappearances and killings of people suspected of being LTTE supporters also occurred in association with the government's taking of LTTE-controlled territory in eastern Sri Lanka in late 2006 and early 2007. Government security forces were implicated in the mafia-style killing of 17 humanitarian aid workers shortly after government forces retook the northeastern town of Mutur from the LTTE in August 2006. Human Rights Watch reported on numerous serious human rights violations in the east in late 2008."Disappearances" of ethnic Tamils in the north and east and in the capital, Colombo, allegedly by members of the security forces or Tamil armed groups remain a serious problem."The Sri Lankan government needs to ensure that the abuses that occurred when LTTE strongholds fell in the past don't recur," said Adams. "This is crucial for building trust between communities."The government announced victory over the LTTE on May 18 after a devastating 25-year conflict. The last months of fighting came at a terrible cost in civilian lives, estimated at more than 7,000 civilian dead and 14,000 wounded. Human Rights Watch reported on serious violations of international humanitarian law by both sides. However, a full accounting of abuses is not yet possible because of government restrictions on access to the conflict zone by the media and human rights organizations.Since 2008, virtually all civilians who managed to flee the fighting to government-controlled areas have been sent to government detention camps in northern Sri Lanka. Almost 300,000 persons, including entire families, are currently in these camps, where they are denied their liberty and freedom of movement, either for work or to move in with other families. In recent months, the government has also detained more than 9,000 alleged LTTE fighters and persons with suspected LTTE connections. The United Nations and other international agencies have had little or no access to the screening process, and the government has in many cases failed to provide families of the detained with any information. Many families still do not know the fate and whereabouts of their relatives.Human Rights Watch urged the Sri Lankan government to take steps to ensure the safety of both civilians and LTTE fighters taken into custody. This includes registering and providing public information about all persons who have been in LTTE-controlled areas, and allowing international humanitarian agencies to participate in processing them. Those detained should have prompt access to family members and legal counsel.The Sri Lankan government has rejected calls from opposition politicians to end Sri Lanka's state of emergency and to repeal the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act, which has been used to arrest and indefinitely detain suspected LTTE supporters and government critics. Human Rights Watch called upon the Sri Lankan government to treat internally displaced persons in accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and respect their basic human rights. "The government should recognize that respecting the rights of all its citizens, including political opponents and critics, displaced civilians and captured combatants, will have important long-term implications for Sri Lanka's future," Adams said
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
(New York) - The Sri Lankan government should ensure that military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam does not result in new "disappearances," unlawful killings or the jailing of government critics, Human Rights Watch said today. The Sri Lankan government appears from its statements to be preparing to take action against individuals and organizations that criticized it during the war, Human Rights Watch said. On June 3, 2009, the media minister, Lakshman Yapa Abeywardana, said the Defense Ministry was preparing to bring charges against journalists, politicians, armed forces personnel and businessmen who have assisted the LTTE."The last thing Sri Lankans need right now is a witch hunt," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The country desperately needs healing. The government should make clear to everyone, especially Tamils, that it will respect their rights."In addition to the media minister's statement, in late May, the Army commander, Gen. Sarath Fonseka, said in a televised interview that the government would take action against journalists whose reporting benefited the LTTE, saying that they would be prevented from leaving the country and prosecuted for treason. Inspector General of Police Jayantha Wickremeratne accused unnamed Sinhalese media-freedom activists of being paid by the LTTE to generate false reporting intended to implicate the army in war crimes.Sri Lankan security forces have long been implicated in enforced disappearances and unlawful killings following the capture of LTTE strongholds. In the 12 months after government forces captured the northern town of Jaffna from the LTTE in December 1995, more than 600 people, mostly young men suspected of having LTTE links, "disappeared." Although several mass graves have since been uncovered, the fate of most of them has never been determined, and successful prosecutions of security forces personnel have been few.Enforced disappearances and killings of people suspected of being LTTE supporters also occurred in association with the government's taking of LTTE-controlled territory in eastern Sri Lanka in late 2006 and early 2007. Government security forces were implicated in the mafia-style killing of 17 humanitarian aid workers shortly after government forces retook the northeastern town of Mutur from the LTTE in August 2006. Human Rights Watch reported on numerous serious human rights violations in the east in late 2008."Disappearances" of ethnic Tamils in the north and east and in the capital, Colombo, allegedly by members of the security forces or Tamil armed groups remain a serious problem."The Sri Lankan government needs to ensure that the abuses that occurred when LTTE strongholds fell in the past don't recur," said Adams. "This is crucial for building trust between communities."The government announced victory over the LTTE on May 18 after a devastating 25-year conflict. The last months of fighting came at a terrible cost in civilian lives, estimated at more than 7,000 civilian dead and 14,000 wounded. Human Rights Watch reported on serious violations of international humanitarian law by both sides. However, a full accounting of abuses is not yet possible because of government restrictions on access to the conflict zone by the media and human rights organizations.Since 2008, virtually all civilians who managed to flee the fighting to government-controlled areas have been sent to government detention camps in northern Sri Lanka. Almost 300,000 persons, including entire families, are currently in these camps, where they are denied their liberty and freedom of movement, either for work or to move in with other families. In recent months, the government has also detained more than 9,000 alleged LTTE fighters and persons with suspected LTTE connections. The United Nations and other international agencies have had little or no access to the screening process, and the government has in many cases failed to provide families of the detained with any information. Many families still do not know the fate and whereabouts of their relatives.Human Rights Watch urged the Sri Lankan government to take steps to ensure the safety of both civilians and LTTE fighters taken into custody. This includes registering and providing public information about all persons who have been in LTTE-controlled areas, and allowing international humanitarian agencies to participate in processing them. Those detained should have prompt access to family members and legal counsel.The Sri Lankan government has rejected calls from opposition politicians to end Sri Lanka's state of emergency and to repeal the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act, which has been used to arrest and indefinitely detain suspected LTTE supporters and government critics. Human Rights Watch called upon the Sri Lankan government to treat internally displaced persons in accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and respect their basic human rights. "The government should recognize that respecting the rights of all its citizens, including political opponents and critics, displaced civilians and captured combatants, will have important long-term implications for Sri Lanka's future," Adams said
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
