SRI LANKA

 

 

Facts to the United Nations

Human Rights Council

 

 

Information Nations Unies

Conseil des droits de l'homme 

 

 

 

Informativos a Naciones Unidas

Consejo de Derechos Humanos

 

 

Website : www.tchr.net

   

 

Second session / Deuxime session / 2 perodo de sesiones

18/09/2006 -- 06/10/2006

  

 

LOGO

 

 

 

 

Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR

Centre Tamoul pour les droits de l'Homme - CTDH

Centro Tamil para los Derechos Humanos

(Established in 1990)

 

 

Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR

Centre Tamoul pour les droits de l'Homme - CTDH

Centro Tamil para los Derechos Humanos

(Established in 1990)

 

Website : www.tchr.net

    

TCHR participation in United Nations World conferences and other meetings

 

*       A meeting was held on 7 March 2006, in the European Parliament – titled "EU contribution to the peace process in Sri Lanka". This was jointly organised by the Tamil Centre for Human Rights       (TCHR) and Mr. Robert Evans, a member of European Parliament of Labour Party in UK.

 

*       The Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR) officially accredited to participate in the United     Nations World Summit on the Information Society – WSIS in Tunisia, 16 – 18 November 2005.

 

*       The Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR), officially participated in the NGO forum of the UN            World    Conference Against Racism – WCAR in Durban, South Africa, from 28 August to 1 September 2001. TCHR held an information stall including an exhibition at the forum. The TCHR representatives also attended the main WCAR conference held in Durban, 31 August to 7 September 2001.

        (http://www.tchr.net/reports_wcar_detail.htm)

 

*       A meeting was held on 14 October 1998, in the European Parliament – titled "Press censorship in Sri Lanka". This was jointly organised by the Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR) and Ms. Anita Pollack, a member of European Parliament of Labour Party in UK.

 

*       In 1993, the TCHR held an information stall and a photo exhibition on human rights violations, in        the United Nations 2nd World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna, Austria, from 14-25 June.

 

*       TCHR participates in meetings of Treaty bodies and submits reports to the same.

 

 

Fact finding missions to the North East of the Island of Sri Lanka

 

*       May 2003                                             (http://www.tchr.net/report_studymission_2003.htm)

*       December 2003 – addendum report         (http://www.tchr.net/report_studymission_2003add.htm)

*       July-August 2004                                  (http://www.tchr.net/reports_visite_2004.htm)

  

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Contents

                                                                                            

 

U.N. Independent experts express concern in Sri Lanka                                02

 

11 August 2006                                                                                           03

5 September 2006                                                                                       05

 

 

SLMM chief slams European Union                                                                   06

 

Intervention in the UN Sub Commission – August 2006

                       

Interfaith International                                                                                  07

                        International Education Development                                                          09

 

 

            President Rajapakse follows the same approach                                            10

 

President suspected of Links with an Assassination                                 11

 

 

Killings and disappearances continue in Sri Lanka

                      

States of Emergency in Sri Lanka                                                               12

Salient periods of emergency rule in Sri Lanka                                          13

 

Fr. Jim Brown - Amnesty International                                                                  

51 schoolgirls killed, 60 wounded in an airstrike                                         14

40 civilians feared killed, 100 wounded in Army shelling                           

Sri Lanka Army blocks 2000 families fleeing                                              15

17 NGO workers massacred in Muttur                                                          

Aid agency probes Sri Lanka massacre as monitor slams shelling                     

Sri Lanka obstructing slain aid staff probe – SLMM                                               16

ICRC condemns killing aid workers in Muttur                                             17

SLMM Chief narrowly escaped artillery attack                                          

The `missing' Tamils of Sri Lanka - Toronto Star                                       

 

Interviews

Confused statement by Sri Lankas Defence Spokesman             19

In reality, there is no cease-fire agreement – SLMM Chief          20

Sri Lanka truce dead in all but name - Chief monitor                     

Sri Lanka President saying one thing to media and ..........            

 

 

Resolution on Sri Lanka in Malaysian Parliament                                       22

Tamileelam is the Only Feasible Solution Left for Tamils                           23

Sri Lankan government rejects LTTE proposal to end fighting                  24

                       Economic embargo on Sri Lanka should be enforced                                26

 

 

 

 

01

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

18 September 2006

The Chairperson                                                                             

Members of the Human Rights Council

2nd Session,

United Nations

1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

 

 

Distinguished Sirs / Mesdames,

 

The Memorandum of Understanding and Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) signed between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in February 2002 has created normalcy in the seven Southern provinces, but normalcy does not exist for the people in the North East.

 

The Norwegian mediated cease-fire and peace talks are facing intense challenges. Important clauses (1.8, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 and many others) in the Ceasefire Agreement were not implemented. It has been reported, including by the State department that the paramilitary groups operating in the North East are linked to the government and security forces. With the aid of the government, paramilitary groups carry out targeted killings of political opponents and abductions and killings of civilians in the North East.

 

During the Tsunami natural disaster in December 2004, the people in the worst affected North East faced massive discrimination by the Sri Lankan government. This is well documented by international agencies. The Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure P-TOMS, agreement signed by the LTTE and the government remains blocked by the Supreme Court. In brief, whatever is good for the Tamil people is blocked - in this case, by the legally binding actions of the Sri Lankan courts. Whatever is against the Tamils is taken up well and smooth proceedings follow with ease.

 

As far as the right to self-determination of the Tamils is concerned, the Sri Lanka government continues to refuse to accept the democratic mandate of the people in 1977 and also in 2004. This is a real disaster in the islands history.

 

Even after the signing of the ceasefire agreement (CFA), the situation of IDPs remains critical. The government is preventing the IDPs from resettling in their own homes due to the militarised zones which have taken over their land.

 

Fishermen in the North East are still severely restricted in pursuing their livelihood. They are constantly harassed and intimidated by Sri Lanka Navy and armed forces.

 

The attitude of the Government of Sri Lanka and its security forces in recent weeks, in Muttur in Trincomalee district is proving that the Sri Lanka government has declared war against the LTTE. Within the last two months – more than 200,000 people have been displaced and hundreds of civilians had been killed in aerial bombing and the artillery shelling fired by the Sri Lanka army. Also, 17 NGO workers of Action Contre La Faim – ACF (Action Against Hunger) a French organisation - have been killed by the Sri Lankan army in Muttur. The attached report gives more details concerning this brutal massacre.

 

On 14 August 2006, 51 schoolgirls were killed and more than 100 wounded when Sri Lankan Kfir jets bombed a children's home compound in Mullaitivu district in North of Sri Lanka while they were attending a two-day residential course on first aid.

 

On top of all the aforementioned atrocities and more, a draconian Economic embargo has once again been enforced by the Sri Lankan government on various areas in the North East.

 

What is happening presently in the North East is based on the political ambitions of the Sri Lanka government. Firstly, the government is trying to create political turmoil between the Muslim and the Tamil people, who have lived together in harmony for centuries. Secondly, the government which has always had the ethnic cleansing of Tamils from the East, as a hidden agenda, is making use of this opportunity. Thirdly, as usual new Singhala settlements are being established in Trincomalee district.

 

The aerial bombing which started five months ago is a clear breach of the ceasefire (CFA) and an obvious indication that the Government of Sri Lanka has declared war and is seeking a military solution to the islands bloody ethnic conflict. In the meantime, disappearances, rapes and sexual assaults on Tamil women and arbitrary killings by the Sri Lankan armed forces have increased at an alarming rate in the North East.

 

Distinguished Sirs / Mesdames, we kindly appeal to you to monitor this serious situation closely and to strongly urge the government - to stop the deliberate aerial and artillery attacks on the civilian population and to respect the human rights of all in the island. Also to bring to book the culprits who are responsible for the horrendous killings and human rights violations that are taking place in the island.

 

We earnestly appeal to you to take immediate action on the attached facts.

 

Thank you,

 

Yours sincerely

S. V. Kirubaharan

General Secretary

02

 

United Nations – Press release

 

UN EXPERT WELCOMES PROPOSED
SRI LANKA COMMISSION

5 September 2006

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Philip Alston, today welcomed the announcement by Sri Lanka's President Mahenda Rajapakse of his intention to invite an international commission to inquire into recent killings, disappearances and abductions in Sri Lanka.


"This is a potentially very important initiative" said Alston. "A truly independent international inquiry holds out the prospect of resolving some of the horrendous events of recent weeks and months and bringing the country back from the abyss".


The challenge now, according to Alston, is to ensure that the commission is independent, credible, effective, and empowered to make a difference. "If the commission does not meet these requirements the initiative will fail and set back the cause of peace. If the requirements are taken seriously the move will prove to be courageous and could break the vicious circle that currently grips the country". Various other countries have opted for a similar approach according to Alston and he suggested that the ideal way forward would be for the Government to seek the advice of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in establishing the commission to ensure its independence and effectiveness.


The Special Rapporteur, who visited Sri Lanka less than a year ago, indicated that his forthcoming report to the UN General Assembly would also urge the creation of an international human rights monitoring mission.


Mr. Alston observed that the month of August had seen a series of tragedies, all serving to undermine respect for human rights as well as the prospects for peace. In addition to deploring the various military and naval engagements in recent weeks he made particular reference to several incidents of major human rights concern including the killing of a leading Tamil intellectual, the disappearance in Jaffna of a highly respected priest, Father Jim Brown, and the shooting of 17 aid workers, all in the space of a couple of weeks.


"I deplore the assassination of the Deputy Secretary-General of the Government Peace Secretariat Mr. Ketheshwaran (Kethesh) Loganathan, with whom I had met in Colombo. He was a man of great vision, insight and courage and his killing, in an incident that apparently bore all the hallmarks of the LTTE's systematic elimination of Tamils who hold independent views, is a tragedy", said Mr. Alston. Similarly, he noted that "the recent ruling by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission that the killing of the 17 civilian aid workers employed by Action contre le faim in Muttur on 4 August 2006 seems most likely attributable to the Government security forces, highlights the urgency of the Government ensuring adequate accountability on the part of those forces."


The Special Rapporteur indicated that he plans to make specific proposals in relation to the situation in his forthcoming report to the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly. In that regard he also released the following statement intended to give a preview of some of the more general analysis contained in his report:


"The situation in Sri Lanka has deteriorated significantly since I visited Sri Lanka and met with Government officials, members of civil society, and representatives of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at the end of 2005. Recent events have confirmed the dynamics of human rights abuse identified in my report (E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.5) and demonstrate the urgent need for an international human rights monitoring mission.


International human rights monitoring is not, of course, an invariably effective response even to situations involving widespread human rights abuse, but there are specific factors indicating that such an approach would be extremely valuable in Sri Lanka. One of these is that civilians are not simply "caught in the crossfire" of the conflict: Rather, civilians are intentionally targeted for strategic reasons. Such killings are quintessentially human rights violations demanding a human rights response.


Another factor suggesting the value of international monitoring is that the conflict between the Government and the LTTE is ultimately a struggle for legitimacy, not territory. The conflict has no military solution, and mere adjustment of the facts on the ground will not fundamentally change either party's position in future negotiations. The LTTE's hopes for autonomy or independence rest on persuading the domestic and international communities that this would be the best solution in human rights terms. However, the LTTE has

03

 

a record of using killings to deter civilians from exercising freedoms of expression, movement, association, and participation in public affairs. "As it stands, no outside observer could wish rule by the LTTE on the entire Tamil community, much less on the Sinhalese and the Muslims of the North and East.


The Government should not, however, interpret the widespread proscription of the LTTE as a terrorist organization as an endorsement of its own record. Indeed, it is an enduring scandal that convictions of government officials for killing Tamils are virtually non-existent, and many Tamils doubt that the rule of law will protect their lives.


A resolution of this conflict that would merit the international community's endorsement will require the Government, the LTTE, or both, to demonstrate genuine respect for human rights. The strategic importance of achieving and maintaining international legitimacy grounded in respect for human rights is not completely lost on either the Government or the LTTE. Indeed, the discourse of human rights is central to the parties' own understandings of the conflict's origins and conduct. However, by using proxies, the subversion of accountability mechanisms, and disinformation, both parties have been able to commit deniable human rights abuses. Effective monitoring would foreclose the possibility of employing a strategy of deniability, pressuring the Government and the LTTE to seek legitimacy through actual rather than simulated respect for human rights.


When I visited Sri Lanka, my conclusion was that the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), which was established to monitor the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) of 2002, could be strengthened in ways that would permit it to provide relatively effective human rights monitoring. Indeed, the SLMM has played a commendable and increasingly assertive role with respect to extrajudicial killings. However, as I observed in my report, "For pragmatic reasons [strengthening the SLMM] seems to be the best interim measure, but before long significantly more will be needed.


If the ceasefire fails, and that now appears to be an all too real possibility, the SLMM's role will be in question and there will be an urgent and pressing need to establish a full-fledged international human rights monitoring mission." (E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.5, para. 47). Since then, the SLMM has been severely weakened by the LTTE's decision to insist on the withdrawal of monitors who are nationals of EU member states, and either party could elect to unilaterally terminate the CFA at any time, thus withdrawing the SLMM's mandate. It is time for an international human rights monitoring mission in Sri Lanka.


It is thus appropriate to reiterate some of the requirements for effective monitoring in the particular situation of Sri Lanka today:


* The details of alleged incidents, the results of investigation, and the basis for the monitoring mission's determination of responsibility should be made public (even if information is redacted to protect individuals).


* The investigative process should be designed to prioritize the protection of witnesses against intimidation and violence.


* The mandate of the monitoring mission should not be geographically-limited, inasmuch as conflict-related human rights violations occur throughout the country.

 

* Because a key purpose of monitoring is to limit the possibility of conducting deniable human rights abuses, the monitoring mission should command a high level of investigative and forensic capacity. This requires, inter alia, persons with police training, persons with medical training, and Sinhala and Tamil interpreters.


* The monitoring mission should be independent of any peace process. Two implications of this are that:


* Regardless whether the CFA remains in force, the monitoring mission should not be called upon to investigate violations of the CFA. The distinction between violations of human rights and humanitarian law, on the one hand, and of violations of a ceasefire agreement, on the other, must be preserved.


* The monitoring mission should report to a neutral body.


This list should not be considered comprehensive. It is intended simply to highlight certain requirements for effective monitoring that are specific to Sri Lanka in light of the dynamics and logic of human rights abuse in that country. The United Nations would be well-situated to establish a mission fulfilling these requirements.

 

 

 

04

 

 

 

 

 

U.N. INDEPENDENT EXPERTS EXPRESS SERIOUS CONCERN

OVER THE ESCALATION OF VIOLENCE IN SRI LANKA

 

United Nations press release, 11 August 2006 - The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders, Hina Jilani; the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary executions, Philip Alston, and the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, issued the following statement today:


We are shocked and alarmed by the recent escalation of violence in Sri Lanka which has culminated in the brutal killing of 17 humanitarian workers of the NGO Action Contre la Faim on Sunday, 6 August, and the car bomb blast in Colombo on 8 August killing two civilians, including a three-year old child.


The deliberate targeting of humanitarian workers is a serious violation of the basic principles of international human rights and humanitarian law and the Declaration of Human Rights Defenders. Humanitarian workers serve every day as implementing partners for UN agencies. They deliver and distribute food, water, medicine, clothing and other material assistance. They provide medical care and psychological support for victims of sexual violence and other trauma. They help transport people when they are ready to return home. Humanitarian workers are, without question, human rights defenders who help people stay alive during times of conflict. Without them, especially in times of conflict, many more civilians would be vulnerable to violations of their civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights such as their right to life, physical integrity, liberty, food, health and adequate housing. In the face of that reality, the responsibility of the Government to extend effective protection to humanitarian workers is heightened.


We urge the Government to ensure immediate and independent investigations are carried out into these killings and that the perpetrators of these despicable acts are brought to justice. We therefore welcome the Government's strong condemnation of the murders, its promise to conduct such an investigation expeditiously and its request to the Government of Australia to send a forensic expert who will assist the Sri Lankan special investigations team, a request the Australian Government has agreed to. The vigorous independent investigation into the killings of the 17 humanitarian workers is vital not only to bring the perpetrators to justice, but to restore confidence to humanitarian workers and the populations they serve. We also urge the Government to render the findings of its investigation public as soon as it is completed. An investigation, however independent, impartial and professional, whose results remain covered by secrecy is of little use.


The on-going wave of fighting between Sri Lankan Government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) has only served to strain an already precarious ceasefire agreement.


The recent spike in fighting is also related to the closing of sluice gates of a water reservoir south of the eastern Muslim-dominated town of Muttur, halting the water supply to vast areas of farm land in government controlled territory, and thus threatening the livelihoods of the farmers in the area. We welcome the recent reopening of the sluice gates.


The Independent Experts further express concern over the disproportionate effects the current fighting has had on the Muslim population in Muttur town and surrounding region. It is reported that this latest escalation has created a climate of fear making life intolerable for the affected communities. According to the most recent reports, more than 50,000 out of the 63,690 inhabitants of the district have fled their homes and villages. A large proportion of those displaced are part of the Muslim community. The Independent Experts appeal to those involved in the fighting to ensure that all civilians are granted immediate protection and that humanitarian agencies are granted access to the conflict-affected areas to deliver assistance to the civilian population. Civilians and humanitarian workers need guarantees of security and access as well as a meaningful commitment by both the Government and the LTTE.


We strongly urge the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to immediately halt the violence, the deliberate targeting of civilians and promptly return to negotiations to solve this current impasse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

05

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Departing ceasefire monitor chief slams

European Union in gloomy Sri Lanka outlook

 

by Paul Peachey Thu Aug 24, 2006-08-24

 

COLOMBO (AFP) - The outgoing chief monitor of Sri Lanka's crumbling ceasefire criticised the EU for banning the Tamil Tiger rebels and said his warnings of a violent "worst case scenario" had come true.

 

Brigadier General Ulf Henricsson wrote a memo to the European Union more than a month before May's ban was imposed warning of a rise in violence and attacks in the capital Colombo if the EU carried out its threat.

 

He said the seven-point memo was "not read very carefully" and the decision was finally made in the "cafes of Brussels" to ban the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a terrorist organisation despite a troubled ceasefire in place.

 

Fighting has surged since December that has left at least 1,500 dead culminating in fierce battles in the northern Jaffna peninsula this month between government forces and the rebels.

 

"We had (seven) bullets in that memo which was some kind of worst case scenario," Henricsson, a Swede, told AFP on Thursday. "All of the bullets were fulfilled."

 

"They can't say they didn't know or at least have any signal about what could happen. "I think it was not read very carefully. It was a more high-level decision made in the cafes of Brussels."

 

The ban was imposed to hit overseas fundraising efforts of the LTTE and force it to mediate after a three-decade battle for a homeland in the island's northeast that has left at least 60,000 dead.

 

But the memo is understood to have warned of a rise in violence, a ban on EU monitors being part of a ceasefire monitoring team in Sri Lanka and of resumed attacks in Colombo.

 

The former head of Norway's army will take over Henricsson's job before the end of the month after the rebels demanded that members from EU-nations Sweden, Denmark and Finland quit the Nordic team after the EU Tiger ban.

 

The team will be cut by nearly half to just 30 members amid continued complaints by both sides of breaches of the 2002 ceasefire, which exists only on paper, and complaints of rights abuses.

 

"I would say it's a mistake, it was a wrong decision because... the LTTE and the government have signed the ceasefire agreement as equal partners," said Henriccson. "If one is suddenly on a terrorist list it's not very difficult to see we're going to run into difficulties -- which we have done."

 

He said the ruling meant the government thought it had "carte blanche" to take on the rebels. "I think the EU thought that the government of Sri Lanka was a responsible government who could take the appropriate decision and work for peace instead of war," he said without elaborating.

 

Since the ceasefire, attacks in Colombo included the shooting dead of a pro-government Tamil politician and a bombing that left seven dead but narrowly missed Pakistan's top envoy to the island.

 

Sri Lanka's military said nearly 650 people had been killed this month during 11 days of fighting between government forces and rebels in the disputed Jaffna peninsula, seen as a symbolic heartland of any Tamil homeland.

 

Henriccson, speaking from the headquarters of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Colombo, said he had become "more convinced than other" that there would be no military solution to the crisis with the frontlines barely moving during the latest fighting.

 

Rebels ran the Jaffna peninsula as a de facto separate state for five years until they were driven out in 1995. It is considered the centre of Tamil nationalism and is symbolically vital to both sides.

 

Both sides say they are engaged in a defensive operation and that their ceasefire still holds. But they have come under pressure from foreign donors and aid agencies to return to the negotiating table.

 

The EU ban followed those including by India, in 1992, Washington six years later and Britain in 2001.

 

06

 

Interfaith International

Geneva, Switzerland - 18 August 2006

 

UN General Assembly

Human Rights Council

Sub-Commission on the Promotion and

Protection of Human Rights

Fifty-eighth session

 

Agenda item 5(a) Racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia

 

Intervention by Deirdre McConnell

 

Mr Chairperson,

 

Interfaith International is happy to note that the Sub Commission has prevention of discrimination as one of its agenda items, especially at a crucial time of this august forum.

 

In todays world various types of discrimination have paved the way towards Civil war, Ethnic Conflict, Armed conflict, and so on. Many of these conflicts, fought in exercise of the Right to self-determination, have as their ultimate goal, a durable solution to the political problems which are based on discrimination and xenophobia.

 

In the past, this august forum has heard much about the discriminatory application of law and practise of the Sri Lanka government against the Tamil people, therefore we do not need to go into much detail.

 

Since Independence, Sinhala dominated governments brought much systematic discriminative legislation against Tamil people.

 

As soon as Sinhala leaders obtained power in 1948, the Tamils working on the tea plantations were disfranchised and their citizenship was denied. A one language Act (Sinhala only) was forcefully introduced by the Sinhala politicians and nine (1956, 1958, 1961, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1982 and 1983) state sponsored anti-Tamil pogroms destroyed the economy and the cultural heritage of the Tamil people. In the meantime, the Tamil politicians of the day protested - against these denials of political rights, Sinhala colonisation in the Tamil regions and destruction of Tamils properties, demanding justice, by non-violent methods, for nearly thirty-five years.

 

However these struggles in and outside of the parliament were continuously suppressed by the Sri Lankan security forces made up of 95% Singhalese. In 1972, discrimination in the education system (standardisation) where Tamil students had to gain more marks than the Singhalese students for University entrance, gave birth to the Tamils militancy in the island.

 

During this period, in the 1977 general elections, the Tamil people in the North East overwhelmingly voted to exercise their right to self-determination. As the Singhala dominated government ignored this democratic mandate and continued to implement their racist policies, an armed conflict was born in the island in 1983.

 

After a long struggle and massive civilian casualties, a defacto government covering 70% of the Tamil hereditary land has been in existence, that is, for the last 15 years. Since 2002, this has been well acknowledged by many foreign dignitaries and diplomats who have visited the NorthEast.

 

The Tsunami natural disaster which struck mostly the Tamils areas, caused severe casualties to the Tamil people. Again the people in the North East received discriminatory treatment by the Sri Lankan government. The aid which was sent by the international community was never distributed equally and even the P-TOMS Post-Tsunami agreement for reconstruction of the Tsunami affected areas was blocked by the Sinhala judges in the South.

 

Mr Chairperson,

 

It is now four and a half years since the Ceasefire Agreement was signed between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - LTTE and the government of Sri Lanka. There are still 800,000 internally displaced people who are prevented from resettling due to the Sri Lankan military occupation of their land.

 

 

07

 

 

The current situation in the island is alarming, human rights violations over the last 10 months have increased disturbingly. A further 60,000 displaced people in the Trincomalee area are being denied food and aid in an embargo imposed by the government. More than 700 Tamil civilians have been killed by the security forces and the paramilitaries working with them since November 2005. In the last week it appears that once again the government has declared war on the Tamil people. The ceasefire agreement has been violated several times, especially since last April with the beginning of Aerial bombardment of Tamil areas by the Sri Lankan air force.

 

On Monday 14 August 2006, sixty-one school girls were killed and 129 seriously injured in the brutal and callous deliberate bombing of a childrens home in Mullaitivu in broad daylight, by the Sri Lanka Air Force. Soon after this bombing the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), and UNICEF personnel, visited the spot and confirmed that it is a childrens home known as Sencholai and not a military installation as claimed by the Sri Lanka Government.

 

The shelling and bombings from land, air and sea by the Sri Lankan security forces in the Tamil regions have caused severe destruction to Tamil homes and lives, property, public buildings, and cultural places. These and many other actions of the Sri Lanka government are persistently in serious breach of the Geneva Conventions.

 

On Saturday 5th August, 17 Tamil humanitarian workers, from the French International Non-Governmental Organisation Action Contre la Faim, were massacred at point blank range by government security forces. UN VIPs in the field of human rights, the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders, Hina Jilani; the Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, arbitrary and summary executions, Prof Philip Alston and the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, jointly made a statement on 11 August, expressing serious concerns and calling for a vigorous independent investigation to be held and the perpetrators to be brought to justice. They urged the government to render the findings public.

 

Attacks on Tamil journalists, parliamentarians and human rights defenders have escalated. Journalists following up human rights violations have been killed with impunity, by the security forces. Those defending Civil and Political rights and those defending Economic, Social and cultural Rights are also being killed by the Sri Lanka armed forces.

 

In a stark incident on 06 August 2006 the SLMM was nearly bombed by the government Air Force which attacked, despite an agreement being in progress concerning the irrigation issue in Trincomalee. This shows how the international monitors are being treated.

 

When speaking from Colombo about the killing of the 17 humanitarian workers, the SLMM Head, Maj. Gen. Ulf Henricsson, told Reuters on 11 August:

 

"I have experienced this in the Balkans before. When you're not let in, it's a sign that there's something they want to hide. You have a lot of time to clear it up".."They are denying us access to the whole area, so we cannot monitor. There were journalist trips arranged to Muttur last Saturday and Sunday. That was possible, but we had no access. Why? For security reasons? Of course not. There are other reasons. I have recommended to the facilitator -(Norway) to at least consider a withdrawal."

 

SLMMs monitors say there is evidence that Sri Lankan troops have been involved in extrajudicial killings of Tamils in the North and East. According to information coming out of the latest fighting in Jaffna, the Tamil people are being prevented from fleeing to safety, by the Sri Lanka security forces.

 

Mr. Chairperson,

The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka started because of the Sri Lankan governments discriminatory policies and refusal to accept the Tamils as equal citizens of the island.

 

The present attitude of the Sri Lanka government clearly indicates that this is a war of aggression with destructive and genocidal intent against the Tamil people in the island.

 

We appeal to the dignitaries and members of civil society internationally to monitor and pressurise the Sri Lankan government not to carry out genocidal attacks on the Tamil people.

 

Thank you                                                                                                               18.08.2006

(Ms Deirdre McConnell, Director International Programme of the Tamil Centre for Human Rights – TCHR)

 

 

 

08

 

 

International Educational Development

Intervention by Karen Parker, Geneva – 14 August 2006

 

 

General Assembly

Human Rights Council

Sub-Commission on the Promotion

and Protection of Human Rights

Fifty-eighth session

Agenda item 2

 

Statement of International Educational Development, Inc.,

A non-governmental organization on the Roster

(Secretary-Generals list)

 

International Educational Development is pleased by the attention by the Sub-Commission to military operations directed at medical facilities, transport and personnel entitled to protection as expressed in its resolution 2005/2. We are also pleased by the attention to other persons entitled to protection from military operations as expressed in its resolution 2005/12.

 

The widespread attacks on medical facilities in Falluja Iraq in November 2004 invoked strong condemnation by the High Commissioner and prompted the head of the British Red Cross to comment on the potential demise of the Geneva Conventions and humanitarian law. Due to the utter contempt of the Geneva Conventions and human rights law shown by these attacks, our organization joined the Association of Humanitarian Lawyers in submitting a Petition against the United States to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States. Unfortunately, the United States does not seem to be deterred by international condemnation of these attacks and continues to target protected medical facilities and personnel in Iraq. This needs to be condemned by the Sub-Commission.

 

While we welcome the action undertaken by the Human Rights Council in regards to attacks on protected facilities and persons under the Geneva Conventions and humanitarian law as a whole in Lebanon, the Council has not called for action regarding several other conflicts in which targeting of protected facilities and persons is equally serious. One of these is the conflict in Sri Lanka, where since the elections in November there has been the worst levels of fighting since the 2002 Cease Fire Agreement. In the past few weeks, the level of fighting has increased dramatically, as have the numbers of military operations of the government armed forces flagrantly targeting protected facilities and persons. For example, on 6 August 2006 17 humanitarian aid workers from the French NGO Action Contre le Faim were brutally massacred in the government-controlled areas in Trincomalee, prompting 3 independent experts of the Council (H.Jilani, human rights defenders; P. Alston, extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary executions; J. Ziegler, the right to food) to issue a press release on 11 August 2006 in which they state: the deliberate targeting of humanitarian workers is a serious violation of the basic principles of international and humanitarian law and the Declaration of Human Rights Defenders. Also on 6 August 2006, several members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission narrowly escaped attacks from the government forces in Maavil Aaru. On 9 August 2006 government forces attacked an ambulance belonging to Nedunkerni hospital killing a doctor, 2 nurses and the driver. Over the weekend of 12-13 August, the government forces deliberately bombed a girls orphanage killing 60 girls and wounding 120 who were between the ages of 15 and 18. An attack on St. Philip Mary church in Allaipiddy left 15 dead and more than 100 injured.

 

Since the renewed fighting, there are more than 100,000 newly displaced, many without food or water. UNICEF and the UNHRC report the continued blockage by the government forces of urgently needed aid to the rapidly increasing numbers of displaced, prompting the UN officer in Sri Lanka to express concern. UNHCR reports that of the over 40,000 newly displaced in Muttar, more than half are women and children, but in a statement on 8 August 2004 indicated they were not allowed access.

 

The situation of Tamil civilians is made much worse because so many Tamils are still displaced by the Tsunami and because most of the international aid raised on their behalf was not allowed to be delivered. For example, the American Red Cross, that received hundreds of thousands of $$US for Tsunami victims in Sri Lanka, was told by US authorities that they could not distribute it in the Tamil areas. The Sri Lankan government also severely restricted aid to the Tamil Tsunami victims, only allowing aid raised by the Tamil diaspora and then restricting that as well. In addition to the hundreds of thousands of Tamil refugees who have sought and obtained asylum outside of Sri Lanka, the current figures of internally displaced indicates nearly 1/3 of the entire Tamil population is displaced or in exile.

 

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We have long indicated to the Sub-Commission that the United States geopolitical interests in ports and airfields in the Tamil areas has been a major impediment to resolving this long conflict and we invite you to consult our written statements in this regard that we submitted to both the Sub-Commission and the Commission. In light of this we were alarmed by recent pronouncements in Colombo and elsewhere by high State Department officials: in our view the US has given the government of Sri Lanka a green light to undertake actions that violate humanitarian law under the pretext that due to the unabated demonization of the Tamils by Sri Lankan and US authorities, no one will dare defend them, and in any case, no one will be able to do anything about it. However, because now the UN independent experts, UNICEF and UNHCR have spoken up, and because the UN is in a process to reform its work, we hope that the Sub-Commission, which as rightly undertaken to address attacks against medical and other protected persons in time of war, will inform the Council of its concerns regarding Sri Lanka and the situation of the Tamil people and will request that the Council act.

 

* * * * *

 

President Rajapakse follows the same approach

used by previous Presidents!


19 July 2006 -
The latest edition of the official periodical of the Liberation Tigers, Viduthalaipulikal, printed in Kilinochchi said, the All Party Conference (APC) on constitutional reforms initiated by Sri Lankas President Mahinda Rajapakse follows the same approach used by previous Sinhala Presidents, Jeyawardhene, Premadasa, and Chandrika Kumaratunge. APC is a recurring tactic used by Sri Lanka's Presidents to present a peace posture to placate the international community while refusing to reconfigure the polity from the rigid and majoritarian Unitary constitution, said the latest edition of the official periodical of the Liberation Tigers, Viduthalaipulikal, printed in Kilinochchi.

 

Excerpts from the article follows:

 

In the history of the Sri Lankas ethnic struggle, Sri Lankas Presidents of the past have held "All Party Conference (APC) as a mechanism to take the edge off the Tamil National struggle. A closer examination of the contexts in which the APCs have been held, reveals a persistent pattern.

 

In 1984, after refusing to even study the political guidelines put forward by the Tamils at the Thimpu talks, which emphasized the acceptance of Tamil homeland, Tamil nationhood and the Tamil right to self-determination, as pre-requisites for any negotiated solution, the Sinhala government lead by J R Jeyawardene convened an APC. The Sinhala political parties during APC deliberations advanced theories to dress-up district councils proposal within Sri Lankas Unitary constitution.

 

Then in 1994, Chandrika Kumaratunge, when the peace talks failed with the LTTE due to the over confidence of her military, she turned to forming an APC. Her proposals based on Union of Regions got watered down during the APC process and ended up nowhere when hostilities broke out.

 

Presently the four and a half years long peace effort has also lost its way. It is in this context that Mahinda Rajapakse is initiating yet another APC.

 

This persistent pattern of APCs demonstrates the Sinhala governments' approach to resolving Sri Lankas ethnic struggle. Each time after stonewalling peace efforts because of its unwillingness to accept the political aspirations of the Tamil people, Sri Lanka calls an APC. In the APC Sri Lanka brings together all the Sinhala parties, postures as the side dedicated to a peaceful resolution, and proceeds to advance one-sided resolution within unitary constitution, repeatedly rejected by the Liberation Tigers.

 

The opening address by Mahinda Rajapakse at the latest APC drama reveals his views about the solution to the Tamil struggle. He said that the solution must be found within a unitary system with the consent of the Sinhala people. His speech did not even acknowledge Tamil aspirations. Tamil parliamentary representatives were not invited to participate. Similar to APCs of the past, Mr Rajapakses APC has not wavered from taking a hard line position, promising little change to the traditional Sinhala approach to the Tamil National question.

 

The current APC also has a hidden objective to turn Tamil struggle, which has become an international issue, back into an internal issue, and force a one-sided solution within the unitary system. The Government of Sri Lanka aims to use the APC as an excuse to again force a war on the Tamils, when the solution within the unitary system proposed at this APC is rejected by the LTTE.

 

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It will be a futile exercise to attempt to find a resolution after marginalizing the Tamil side to the conflict, the Tamil side. Previous attempt by Chandrika government to find a resolution by marginalizing the LTTE was a dismal failure.

 

Over the thirty year history of the armed struggle, the LTTE has participated five times in direct talks with the Sinhala government. Each time, the talks failed due to the hard line stance of the Sinhala government and its over confidence of its own military capability. The latest peace effort with Norwegian facilitation, with the CFA signed has lead to some agreements.

 

Sinhala government has not shown sincere committment to strengthen the peace efforts through respecting the agreements reached. Calls by LTTE to implement the CFA have been ignored. This has forced the LTTE to lose confidence in the talks.

 

If Rajapakse government is genuine about finding a peaceful resolution to the ethnic conflict it must respect the CFA and show its willingness to hold talks with the LTTE on the basis of the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposal submitted by the LTTE.

 

If Sri Lanka government rejects this political position of the LTTE, then the LTTE has no alternative except to seek its own path to win the political freedom for the Tamil people.

 

 

President Rajapaksa Suspected of Links with

Ketheeswarans Assassination
Manalel Jeyaram
Courtesy: Global Electro-Newsnet - September 5, 2006

 

Colombo:


The latest reports emerging from Colombo seem to confirm the allegation that the Presidents Security team and especially its inner junta consisting of Basil and Gothabaya Rajapaksa have had strong links with the assassins who recently murdered Dr. Ketheeswaran Loganathan, Deputy Head of the Colombo-based Peace Secretariat.

 

Reportedly hours before being shot to death, Ketheeswaran was on the phone talking to a senior member of the presidents inner junta to express his disgust over the killing of the 17 aid workers by the government forces and stated that he no longer believes that the government has any genuine interest in peace negotiations. He is said to have had inside information regarding the premeditated killings of the 17 NGO employees. In a heated argument Ketheeswaren seem to have stated that if this happens to the aid workers what chance the ordinary Tamil civilians have in Sri Lanka. He also threatened to have said that he intends to make public his resignation as Deputy Head of the new Peace Secretariat, though Sri Lankas hawkish President Mahinda Rajapaksha had asked Ketheeswaran to delay this decision for a couple of days.

 

President Rajapaksha was visibly irritated by Ketheeswarans decision as at that time he was facing intense pressure from international organisations and the world media over the killing of the French aid workers of Action de Faim. It is said that immediately following this conversation, an unexpected visit was made by the governments notorious intelligence unit to Ketheeswarans house. This happened minutes before the assassination took place. Its now believed that the main aim of the assassination was to divert the world media attention from the masscare of the NGO workers and to deliberately put the blame of Ketheeswarans death on LTTE to discredit the latter.

 

According to Ketheeswarens family none of the killers were Tamils. It is now a routine practice in Sri Lanka that the officials who carry out such killings are also paid in full to investigate their own atrocities. Other independent sources confirm that Ketheeswaran Loganathans name has been on JVPs top hit list! When contacted JVD refused to comment.

 

http://tamilcanadian.com/news/news_archives.php?max=20&next=20&lagent=

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Killings and disappearances

continue in Sri Lanka

 

States of Emergency

 

Out of 34 years of state of Emergency

29 years have been used for suppressing the rights of Tamils'

 

Since the independence (1948) of Ceylon – the ruling governments have used the state of emergency for nearly thirty-four years, as one of its weapons, giving unlimited powers to its security forces. We wonder whether Sri Lanka has already entered the "Guinness book of records" for the number of times state of emergency has been declared.

 

If the state of emergency is analysed in broader terms, the seriousness of it can be understood. What is a state of emergency? A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend certain normal functions of government, may work to alert citizens to alter their normal behaviours, or may order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale for suspending civil liberties. Such declarations usually come during a time of natural disaster, during periods of civil unrest, or following a declaration of war.

 

In other words, "state of emergency is a period of exception from the normal applicability of Civil and Criminal law and of human rights norms".

 

Since independence, Sri Lanka has seen one Coup d'etat by the military on 27 January 1962 and two class struggles by the Singhalese youths in the South (4 April 1971 & 1987-1989). In other words, if the declared state of emergency in Sri Lanka had been to prevent the fall of government to the insurrectionists - Sinhalese youth in the South and Coup d'etat, it would have been only for a period of four to five years out of almost a thirty four year of emergency rule. The remaining twenty-nine years of state of emergency have been used in Sri Lanka to suppress the right to self-determination of the Tamil people. The right to self-determination is a democratic right of peoples, accepted in international law, based on the International Covenants on Human Rights.

 

The draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) also remains. However the Cease-fire Agreement signed on 21 February 2002,article 2.12 prevents the security forces from carrying out search and arrests under this act.

 

Past experiences have shown that declaration of emergency in Sri Lanka paves the way for shocking increases in human rights violations committed by the security forces.

 

The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Mr. Bacre Waly Ndiaye, visited Sri Lanka and stated in his report : Of particular concern are the emergency regulations governing arrest and detention procedures and those governing post-mortems and inquests when deaths have occurred in custody or as a result of the official action of the security forces. The regulations still provide for indefinite preventive detention on renewable, three ­monthly detention orders. Sri Lanka has been under an almost continuous state of emergency since May 1983. Official emergency measures override the safeguards contained in the normal law and have granted sweeping powers to the security forces. In addition, there have been repeated allegations of intimidation of lawyers, relatives and others attempting to take remedial action through the courts". (Excerpts, CN.4/1998/68/Add.2 - 12 March 1998 para 73)

 

The UN Human Rights Committee, which monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, stated the Committee remains concerned that Sri Lanka's legal system still does not contain provisions which cover all of the substantive rights set forth in the Covenant, or all the necessary safeguards required to prevent the restriction of Covenant rights beyond the limits permissible under the Covenant. It regrets in particular that the right to life is not expressly mentioned as a fundamental right in chapter III of the Constitution of Sri Lanka. Excerpts - CCPR/CO/79/LKA. (Concluding Observations/Comments, 1 December 2003)

 

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Salient periods of emergency rule in Sri Lanka :

 

 

            No.                             From                                     To

 

            1                     12 August 1953                                 11 September 1953
            2                     27 May 1958                          26 March 1959
            3                     25 September 1959                03 December 1959
            4                     17 April 1961                          04 April 1963
            5                     05 March 1964                                   04 April 1964
            6                     08 January 1966                    07 December 1966
            7                     19 December 1966                 18 January 1969
            8                     26 October 1970                    25 November 1970
            9                     16 March 1971                                   15 February 1977
            10                   29 November 1978                 28 May 1979
            11                   03 July 1979                           27 December 1979
            12                   16 July 1980                           15 August 1980
            13                   03 June 1981                         09 June 1981
            14                   17 August 1981                                 16 January 1982
            15                   20 October 1982                    20 January 1983
            16                   18 May 1983                          11 January 1989
            17                   20 June 1989                         (July) December 2001

            18                   05 November 2003                 28 April 2004

            19                   13 August 2005                                 To-date

 

 

Reverend Fr. Thiruchchelvan Nihal Jim Brown

Amnesty International – Urgent action

 

Fear for safety/Possible "disappearance"

PUBLIC AI Index: ASA 37/023/2006

29 August 2006


UA 230/06 Fear for safety/Possible "disappearance"


SRI LANKA Reverend Fr. Thiruchchelvan Nihal Jim Brown (m) Wenceslaus Vinces Vimalathas (m)Reverend Fr. Thiruchchelvan Nihal Jim Brown and Wenceslaus Vinces Vimalathas went missing after a friend left them at a Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) checkpoint on Kayts Island off the northern peninsula of Jaffna on 20 August at approximately 14:10. There is great concern for their safety, and Amnesty International fears that they may be victims of "disappearance".


Father Jim Brown, a parish priest in the village of Allaipiddy on Kayts Island, and Wenceslaus Vinces Vimalathas left Allaipiddy by motorbike around 12:30pm on 20 August heading for the nearby village of Mandaithivu. The SLN did not allow them to enter Mandaithivu, and Father Jim Brown and Wenceslaus Vinces Vimalathas decided to return to Allaipiddy. On the way back to Allaipiddy, they
met a friend who accompanied them to the Allaipiddy SLN checkpoint. The friend left Father Jim Brown and Wenceslaus Vinces Vimalathas standing at the checkpoint at approximately 14:10, which is the last confirmed sighting of the two men.


Inquiries about their whereabouts have been made at a number of churches across the Jaffna peninsula and in surrounding areas. As Kayts Island is strictly controlled by the SLN, there aresuspicions that the two men may have been taken into custody. Rear Admiral Upali Ranaweera, Commander of the SLN's Northern Region, has denied that the two men were arrested. Navy personnel at the Allaipiddy checkpoint have stated that Father Jim Brown and Wenceslaus Vinces Vimalathas passed through the Allaipiddy checkpoint and returned soon after in the direction of Jaffna town. However, when Kayts police requested that they produce the registration of the two men passing through the checkpoint on their return from Allaipiddi, they refused.


Father Jim Brown had assisted a number of civilians in moving from Allaipiddy to the town of Kayts following armed conflict in Allaipiddy between the SLN and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 13 August, during which at least 15 civilians were killed and 54 injured. In the days following this incident, he allegedly received a number of death threats from the Commanding Officer of the Allaipiddy Naval Camp, accusing him and other civilians of assisting the LTTE to dig bunkers.

 

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION

 

The human rights situation in Sri Lanka has deteriorated dramatically in recent months, as escalating violence has resulted in widespread human rights abuses and a climate of fear and insecurity. Increased fighting between the government security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) since April 2006 has resulted in the death and injury of scores of civilians, the displacement of more than 200,000 people, and the destruction of homes, schools, and places of worship. Neither the government security forces nor the LTTE appear to be taking adequate precautions to protect civilian lives. The two parties to the conflict say they remain committed to the 2002 ceasefire agreement; however, analysts refer to the situation on the ground as an undeclared war. Over two decades of conflict in Sri Lanka have claimed the lives of more than 65,000 people, the majority of them civilians.


There are fears that a pattern of "disappearances" by state agents is re-emerging in Sri Lanka following the introduction of new Emergency Regulations in August 2005 that granted sweeping powers to the security forces. Sixty-two cases of "disappearance" in the north of the country have been registered by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka over the past year. The Commission is also investigating the status of 183 other individuals who are still missing under unknown circumstances.

(http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGASA370232006)

 

 

51 schoolgirls killed, 60 wounded in an airstrike

 

14 August 2006 – Fifty one schoolgirls killed and 60 wounded when Sri Lankan Kfir jets bombed a children's home compound in Mullaitivu district in North of Sri Lanka Monday morning where schoolgirls from Mullaithivu district were attending a two-day residential course on first aid. Ambulances are rushing the wounded, many of whom are bleeding badly, to hospitals, sources said. Officials of the Liberation Tigers Peace Secretariat, briefing reporters in Kilinochchi, described the attack as a horrible act of terror by the Sri Lankan armed forces. They called upon the UNs child agency, UNICEF, and international truce monitors to visit the scene of the carnage.

 

Four Kfir jet bombers of the Sri Lanka Air Force dropped 16 bombs on the premises of the Chencholai childrens home in Vallipunam on Paranthan-Mullaithivu road, killing at least 50 schoolgirls.

 

Some 60 girls were wounded, many seriously, in the 7:00 a.m. airstrike.

 

Girls from various schools in the Mullaitivu district were staying overnight at the compound, attending a two-day course in first-aid.

The civil society in Mullaitivu urged the international Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM), overseeing the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) to attend the site.

 

Commenting at the time, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said: We can confirm that 21 civilians were killed consequent to the air strike at Manthuvil junction The ICRC deplores the fact that the air strikes were carried out in a civilian area.

 

 

 

40 civilians feared killed, 100 wounded in Army shelling


13 August 2006 - At least 15 persons were killed and 20 severely wounded when rockets and artillery shells fired from Palaly military base hit St. Phililp Mary Church in Allaipiddy, in the North of Sri Lanka, where civilians had sought refuge. Ambulances dispatched from Jaffna hospital Sunday evening brought the wounded to the hospital. 37 wounded civilians were rushed to Jaffna hospital from other areas, Allaipiddy, Mankumban and Mandaithivu. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan soldiers resumed firing rockets from a Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) from Duraiappa stadium in Jaffna town.

 

Three of the wounded civilians succumbed to the wounds while they were being taken to Jaffna hospital.

 

54 wounded persons were being treated at the hospital, 4 dead bodies are lying at the hospital mortuary.

 

According to the Sri Lanka Red Cross in Jaffna, the civilan casualties could be around 40 in Jaffna islets. Around 100 civilians were wounded according to initial reports.

 

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Sri Lanka Army blocks 2000 families fleeing


13 August 2006 - Sri Lanka Army soldiers, citing the Police curfew in force, blocked nearly two thousand families who were moving north towards safer Vadamaradchy from their houses in Thenmaradchi villages of Varani, Vatralai, Thaavalai, Idaikurichchi and Karambaikurichchi, in the North of Sri Lanka.

 

The families were forced to stay in open terrain in Tharavai, Kapputhu areas bordering Vadamaradchi and Thenmaradchi without food and other basic needs. Water supply was also scarce in the area, according to members of 50 families who managed to escape Army barrier and enter Vadamaradchi.

 

Artillery shells from Tiger positions continued to hit the 52-4 Brigade Head Quarters of the Sri Lanka Army located in Varani, in Jaffna. The 52-4 Brigade camp is located on Point Pedro Kodikamam Road in Varani.

 

The electricity was cut off to Jaffna peninsula. Telephone land-lines to Jaffna district worked only intermittently. Mobile phone coverage remained cut off for the 3rd day Sunday.

 

 

 

17 NGO workers massacred in Muttur


5 August 2006 -
Sri Lanka Army soldiers who entered the Muttur town in the early morning of Saturday shot and killed 17 Tamil workers from Action Fiam NGO. The workers, trapped inside their Muttur branch office residence located close to Muttur Cultural Centre, were shot and killed at point blank range, initial reports from Muttur town said.

 

According to the initial reports, four of the fifteen massacred at the residence were women workers.

 

Meanwhile, 29 Tamil males who were among the civilian refugees being transported by United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) towards Trincomalee town were arrested by Sri Lanka Army troopers and were transported in a tractor.

 

The arrested were handed over to the Police.

 

300 Tamil families reached Trincomalee in a transport facilitated by the ICRC.

 

 

Aid agency probes Sri Lanka massacre as monitor slams shelling

 

7 August 2006, COLOMBO (AFP) - A French aid agency was trying to find out who shot dead 17 of its employees as a Nordic truce monitor hit out at the Sri Lankan government for shelling Tamil rebels as they tried to reopen a bitterly-contested waterway.

 

The bodies of 11 men and four women, wearing Action Against Hunger (ACF) T-shirts, were found face-down in their office on Sunday in the town of Muttur, close to heavy fighting between Tamil rebels and government forces.

 

The rebels have accused the security forces of killing the aid workers, who were all members of Sri Lanka's minority ethnic Tamil community.

 

Benoit Miribel, the director general of Action Against Hunger (ACF), said his organisation was stunned by the killings which were unprecedented in its 25-year history.

 

"We are trying to send a team to find out what is going on in this area," Miribel told AFP in Paris. "But soldiers have prevented us from entering the town which remains completely sealed off."

 

ACF is one of the hundreds of aid agencies that set up operations in Sri Lanka after an Indian Ocean tsunami wiped out much the island's coastal infrastructure and killed an estimated 31,000 people in December 2004.

 

 

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INTERVIEW

 

Sri Lanka obstructing slain aid staff probe – SLMM Head

 

Saturday August 12, 2006 COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan authorities are deliberately hampering efforts to investigate the murder of 17 aid workers, some of whose relatives blame the military, the island's chief truce monitor said on Saturday.

 

As the international community, from the United States to the United Nations, demands a transparent investigation into one of the worst massacres of aid workers in living memory, the government is denying Nordic truce monitors access to the site.

 

The military blames Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels for the killings last week, amid a bout of the worst fighting since a 2002 ceasefire. The government has promised to conduct a transparent probe.

"I have experienced this in the Balkans before. When you're not let in, it's a sign that there's something they want to hide," said retired Maj. Gen. Ulf Henricsson, who heads the unarmed Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).

 

"You have a lot of time to clear it up. If there was clear evidence for the LTTE to have done it, why not let us in to see it? I think the government makes the situation worse for themselves, because the truth will come out."

 

The local staff of aid group Action Contre la Faim, or Action Against Hunger, were found lying face down in the grounds of their compound in the eastern town of Mutur, which was the scene of fierce fighting between the military and rebels.

 

Photographs taken by fellow aid workers show them wearing blood-soaked Action Contre la Faim T-shirts, lying in rows on the ground, apparently shot in the head. Most were Tamil.

 

ACCESS DENIED

 

"They are denying us access to the whole area, so we cannot monitor. There were journalist trips arranged to Mutur last Saturday and Sunday. That was possible, but we had no access. Why? For security reasons? Of course not. There are other reasons."

 

Henricsson is frustrated at repeated obstruction by both the government and the Tamil Tigers when his team tries to investigate repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement, which is dead on the ground as battles rage.

 

His monitors say there is evidence that troops have been involved in extrajudicial killings of minority Tamils in the war-ravaged north and east.

 

The Tigers have also committed a litany of violations, and have given European Union nations Sweden, Denmark and Finland an ultimatum to withdraw their members from the monitor team in light of a new EU terror ban against them.

 

The three countries are pulling out, cutting the mission from 60 to 20 monitors. Remaining nations Norway and Iceland are to contribute new staff to bring the mission to 30-strong.

 

Henricsson, a Swedish national, will have to leave -- and thinks it is time the monitors pulled the plug altogether.

 

"I have recommended to the facilitator (Norway) to at least consider a withdrawal," he said.

 

"(The mission) is some kind of political cover for the government and the LTTE to still have the ceasefire agreement on more or less," he added. "I don't like to be a political hostage. Why be here, if you're not wanted, not used? Why spend the money and the time on this?"

 

 

 

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ICRC condemns killing of 15 aid workers in Muttur, Trincomalee

Press Release 06/88  - 7-08-2006

 

Sri Lanka: ICRC condemns killing of 15 aid workers and continues to assist the displaced in Trincomalee

 

Colombo / Geneva (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) strongly condemns the killing of 15 national employees of the French humanitarian organization Action Contre la Faim (ACF) in the town of Muttur, Trincomalee district, Sri Lanka. The ICRC is deeply concerned about the serious deterioration of the security situation, which has severely hampered the efforts of aid workers to provide assistance for the country's most vulnerable people. "We are appalled at what happened to the ACF staff," said Yvonne Dunton, head of the ICRC's sub-delegation in Trincomalee. "This was a deliberate attack on a humanitarian organization that was doing valuable work for the people of Muttur."

 

The ICRC calls on all the parties to the conflict to respect the work of humanitarian agencies and to refrain from any acts that might jeopardize their staff or their activities. It also urges the relevant authorities to take all necessary measures to ensure that aid workers assisting the civilian population and persons no longer taking part in the hostilities are spared from attack and can move about freely and safely.


Today, the ICRC provided displaced families in the town of Kantale with assistance consisting of 335 tarpaulins, 335 hygiene kits (soap, washing powder, razors, bath towels and shampoo) and 112 baby parcels (blankets, towels and baby powder). It is also installing sanitary facilities and two water-distribution systems in the camps where the families are sheltering. More relief activities for the displaced population are planned for the coming days.

 

(http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/sri-lanka-news-070806!OpenDocument)

 

SLMM Chief narrowly escaped artillery attack

 

06 August 2006 - Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission officials, including the SLMM Head, Major General Ulf Henricsson, Ove Jansen, Liberation Tigers Political Head S. Elilan and civilian representatives who went to Maavil Aaru site to re-open the closed sluice gates came under Sri Lanka Army artillery attack, narrowly escaped and were forced to take cover on the ground from the attacks.

 

According to the source from Maavil Aaru, dozens of artillery shells were fired. Norwegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen Bauer is in direct contact with Royal Norwegian Government and Colombo discussing the latest hostile attacks.

 

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera had ealier assured Norwegian Envoy Jon-Hanssen Bauer that attacks would be ceased. The re-opening of sluice gates is blocked by the new escalation of attacks.

 

 

The `missing' Tamils of Sri Lanka

Concern as nation teeters on the brink of civil war
Western officials, rights watchdogs sound alarm

 

(Toronto Star July 12, 2006 – Andrew Mills – Special to the Star)

 

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka—A few weeks ago, after midnight, a white van full of what appeared to be government soldiers pulled up in front of Kanakan Sasikaran's house.

 

They kicked in the back door and about 15 men, some of them with black masks, stormed into the house.

 

They hauled Sasikaran, 29, from his bed, dragged him out to the van and, just before speeding off, struck his wife in the face with the butt of an AK-47 assault rifle.

 

There has been no trace of Sasikaran since.

 

Now, his weary relatives search for news at the Red Cross, the police station and, on this particular afternoon, in the hot waiting room of the human rights commission.

 

It operates an arm's-length government agency that tries to record the troubling spike in killings and disappearances of Tamils here in the last six months.

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Neither the army, nor the police say they picked Sasikaran up, according to his 45-year-old uncle Sittambalam Mohandas. His nephew, he says, worked as a tractor driver and has no connections to the Tamil Tiger rebels.

 

"We don't know whether he is still alive or not," Mohandas says. "And if he is alive, where is he? We don't know the answers." In Jaffna, more than 100 Tamil civilians have been killed and 255 have been reported missing so far this year, according to Mudiappah Remadious, a lawyer at the human rights commission.

 

The strong evidence has Remadious convinced that the Sinhalese-dominated security forces are behind at least 40 of the disappearances and most of the killings.

 

As Sri Lanka teeters at the brink of all-out civil war, the recent string of killings and disappearances of Tamils living in government-controlled areas is a chilling signal of the bloody ethnic fight that looms ahead.

 

Neither the government nor the Tamil Tiger rebels who are fighting to create an independent homeland for the Tamil minority have yet declared war here.

 

Nevertheless, fighting and attacks have killed more than 700 people — more than half of them civilians — so far this year.

 

Diplomats and rights watchdogs like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are sounding the alarm about the killing and disappearance of Tamil civilians, which is spinning the cycle of violence out of control.

 

As the Tamil Tigers have stepped up their suicide bombings and attacks on military, government and civilian targets, the security forces appear to have responded by taking revenge on Tamil civilians.

 

It has already created a culture of fear among Tamil civilians.

 

Some 50,000 mainly Tamil refugees have left their homes since the end of April, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Some have moved into territory controlled by the Tamil Tiger rebels, others have paid smugglers to ferry them to India.

 

An estimated 40,000 soldiers patrol the 500,000 Tamils on the Jaffna peninsula. In Jaffna town, troops in full combat gear line the streets at 20-metre intervals. And when their 15-truck convoys barrel through the centre of town, civilians are forced to the roadside. Across town, a Roman Catholic priest who's also been recording the human rights violations unfolding around him worries that a government plan to terrify Tamil civilians is working, especially in Jaffna.

 

On his desk sit two file folders, one labelled "killing list" and the other labelled "missing."

 

He pulls a spreadsheet from the "missing" file and begins to read: "April. 38 missing. Nine traced. 29 not traced. May. 55 missing. 18 traced. 37 not traced."

 

The soft-spoken priest looks up: "We haven't finished (the month) yet, but the number is still increasing." He fears many of these missing Tamils are already dead.

 

"It's schematized killing," he says. "To threaten the people. To keep them under pressure. To send the message that the government can save the life and the government can destroy the life."

 

The priest doesn't want his name published because so the security forces don't hinder his work. The military, however, claims that its soldiers have nothing to do with the disappearances or killings.

 

"Civilians get caught in the crossfire also, but there are no organized killings," says army spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe. "And about the disappearances, of course the army is not responsible for this. Whenever someone is taken into custody, they are handed over to the police."

 

But when pressed, Samarasinghe admits that there may be "a few bad eggs.

 

"When you take 1,000 people in the army, you get one or two corrupted people, right," he says. "If we find them and they are found guilty they will definitely be court martialled and punished."

 

"There is very good evidence that the security forces have once again started killing civilians and quite indiscriminately," says a Western diplomat in Colombo, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

 

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Most recently, for example, the Tigers were thought to be behind the bombing of a bus last month that killed 68 and injured 66 civilians. Two days later, members of the Navy hurled grenades into a church in the western town of Pesalai, where 3,000, mainly Tamil refugees, had taken shelter.

 

The grenade blew one woman's head off and injured 47 others inside the church, according to a report by Ryappu Joseph, the bishop of Mannar, and filed with the Vatican.

 

"See the cruelty here. I don't think anything like this happens anywhere else in the world," says the Human Rights Commission's Remadious.

 

What frightens him is how quickly the scope of such killings and disappearances is growing. Families have been executed in their homes. Hindu worshippers have simply disappeared from their temples. And when the putrefied remains of a missing Hindu priest and a retired high school principal were discovered in a shallow grave on the outskirts of Jaffna the government authorities refused to continue searching the suspected mass grave, Remadious says.

 

"The suspected places are still under supervision (by the army)," the priest said. "They can't exhume them." Remadious, the priest and several diplomats agree that neither the police nor the judiciary is seriously investigating most of the killings and disappearances.

 

They worry signs of a government cover-up suggest the orders to carry them out may have come from Colombo. "You basically have an apparatus in terms of law enforcement and institutional culture, that created this problem in the past — in the '90s. It was never effectively dismantled," says an international analyst who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

 

"Things are switching back to their old ways and tactics," the analyst said. "I think maybe it's too far to say it's a calibrated strategy, but the signals and so forth come from the top."

 

To make matters worse, the Tamil Tigers' propaganda machine is using these attacks to justify their own attacks on government and civilian targets. "Invariably, it is a self-defence exercise that the Tamil people are engaged in," S.P. Thamilselvan, the Tigers' political leader, said in a recent interview, describing the guerrillas' fight.

 

Right now, for example, gruesome photos of the killing of a family of four, where the mother and daughter were raped and then hanged, are pasted on telephone poles and in shops throughout the territory controlled by the Tamil Tigers. Everyone assumes the military was behind the attack.

 

But the government's own propaganda machine is at work, too. Not far from the priest's office, a giant government troop carrier equipped with loudspeakers rumbles by carrying an auspicious message.

 

"Some groups are trying to destroy the good relationship that exists between the army and the civilians," the voice says over the loudspeaker in perfect Tamil. "Don't believe them. They are spreading rumours. "

 

(http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1152654614218&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home)

 

 

Interviews

 

Confused statemment by Sri Lankas Defence Spokesman,

Keheliya Rambukwella

 

31 July 2006, Colombo, Sri Lanka (AP)

 

Still, the government said it had not violated the cease-fire, insisting it sent ground forces into Tiger territory only to end a rebel blockade of a key water source.

 

"Our military's operation to open the irrigation gates is purely based on humanitarian grounds. It is not an act of war," chief government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said.

 

Sunday Leader, 6 August 2006

 

Q. The LTTE however had informed Deputy High Commissioner for the UK, Leslie Craig that air strikes were a declaration of war?

19

 

A. We do not know the circumstances in which was stated, but as far as we go, this is not a war. Mavilaru was all about winning a right back for the people. It was a humanitarian mission.

 

Q. Have you worked out a clear formula to settle the Mavilaru issue? Is this a planned offensive or mere retalisation we see?

 

A. It is a humanitarian offensive. It was launched to provide water and not to gain territory. We will look at modalities later. Lets give water first. Thereafter we can think of mid and long term programmes.

 

7 August 2006, Colombo (AFP)

The government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told AFP. "We don't want terrorists to come and open the waterway. They must simply allow irrigation engineers to do it, otherwise we will open it anyway."

 

In reality, there is no cease-fire agreement – SLMM Chief

 

July 31, 2006, COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP)

The mission's chief, Ulf Henricsson, a retired Swedish general, said the truce was intact only on paper.

"In reality, there is no cease-fire agreement in this area in Trincomalee today, but the paper is still valid," Henricsson said.

 

Sri Lanka truce dead in all but name - Chief monitor

By Simon Gardner

 

COLOMBO (Reuters) Sat Jul 29, 2006 - A four-year ceasefire between Sri Lanka's government and the Tamil Tiger rebels is dead in all but name and a low intensity war continues to rage, the head of the Nordic mission that oversees the truce said on Saturday.

 

Neither the government nor the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are willing to compromise to try to halt violence that has killed more than 800 people this year, and the military is being heavy-handed, said retired Swedish Major General Ulf Henricsson, who heads the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).

 

"In reality they more or less have terminated the ceasefire agreement in their actions," he told Reuters in an interview at his home in downtown Colombo.

 

"It's still useful if the parties decide they want to talk, then you have the paper and you can go back to it. But just now we are far from a real ceasefire."

 

The air force dropped a bomb on Friday 750 metres (yards) away from where Henricsson was meeting rebel leaders in the eastern district of Trincomalee in a bid to resolve the dispute.

 

"We sat talking and got clearance from the government and tried to convince the LTTE to have confidence in the government," he said. "They dropped a bomb in the vicinity. That's not the right signal."

 

Many observers fear the fighting could spiral out of control, rupture a 2002 truce and restart a two-decade civil war that has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983. But Henricsson doubts there will be a full-blown war.

 

"I don't think either side have the capacity for a full-scale war," he said. "They definitely could continue and maybe increase the violence. There is also a risk that violence will spread, for example to Colombo, if they don't take care of the situation."

 

Sri Lanka President saying one thing to media and

international community, while ground reality is exact opposite !

 

SLMM chief Major General Ulf Henricsson

(The Morning Leader - June 14, 2006)

Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Chief, Major General Ulf Henricsson says that it is time both the LTTE and the government decide on whether they want the SLMM to continue its operations in the island. He said while the SLMM had lately been under a lot of criticism by both parties, the Mission now awaited the response of both parties on whether their members should continue to function in the country. He added all decisions on the impact of the EU ban would also be taken after the government and the LTTE respond to the questions posed by the Norwegian facilitators. "Until both parties answer these questions it is not possible to comment about our operations in the island," he said in an interview with The Morning Leader.

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Q: What impact will the failure of Oslo talks have on the operations of the SLMM?

A: We do not know that yet as we have heard that the Norwegian facilitators have asked the government and the LTTE to answer five questions. Until both parties answer these questions it is not possible to comment about our operations in the island.

Q: Does this failure mean the SLMM will continue to abstain from boarding Sri Lankan navy vessels until such time there is a resolution to the dispute?

A: Yes, because the LTTE has not changed its mind in guaranteeing security for our monitors. Till a firm guarantee is given by the LTTE, SLMM members will not board any of the navy vessels as the lives of our monitors are at risk.

I would also like to add that the absence of SLMM monitors on navy vessels will have no effect on naval operations. However it will definitely affect fishing in the north and east and this should be a concern for both parties because the lives of innocent civilians are at risk. Civilians will abstain from travelling on navy vessels due to possible attacks.

Q: You had discussions in Oslo with the parties to the conflict. What issues do you think are the most urgent that need resolution given your discussion?

A: Well, I would say that it was the Norwegian facilitators who held discussions with both the conflicting parties in Oslo and my presence at these discussions was only to support the facilitators. However as we all know the country is desperate for peace and at this point of time, I am doubtful if both parties can achieve that.

Following the failure of the Oslo talks, a serious question has also arisen if the government and the LTTE want the SLMM to continue their operations in the island. It is a question which they now have to answer. If both parties do not want the SLMM to stay then that will terminate the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA).

It is also important to note at this point whether the Tamils and the LTTE would accept the three European Union countries – Sweden, Denmark and Finland in the SLMM. It is only after the LTTE answers this officially that we could take the next step to find another solution. There are some other alternatives but whether they are realistic or not is yet to be known. However the SLMM will have discussions on these alternatives later.

Currently only two countries would be allowed to stay in LTTE controlled areas – Norway and Iceland. However it is now to be seen if Norway wants to function alone with Iceland. Norway has made it very clear that they would not increase their members just because the LTTE does not accept members from the EU countries. If Iceland stays alone, then only one third of the Mission is left and they would not be able to monitor all the violations as the numbers are too small.

Q: The government has been very critical of your report on the implementation of the agreement reached at the February Geneva talks. How would you meet the governments criticism and the allegations of bias against the SLMM?

A: Well, I do not think I can answer that as the SLMM has only reported what the government and the LTTE has committed according to our findings and information. I am not expecting any party to like our findings as we have reported the truth. Most people would agree that the SLMM has given the people a realistic view of what exactly is happening in the country.

Q: In your report you have said that the government remained unwilling to implement all of its commitments and instead denied even the mere presence of armed groups in the north-east. Are you categorically stating that it is the government that is primarily responsible for the escalation of violence given your reasoning?

A: I am not pointing fingers at a particular party as both parties are to blame equally for the violence in the north and east.

However we are saying that the government has turned a blind eye to all the incidents which have taken place to date and it is sad that investigations have not even begun on any of the incidents.

21

 

There is no word by the police on the incidents which had been reported two months ago and it is surprising that no one has been arrested for the increasing violence in the north and east. It is a very disappointing and a sad situation that the country is facing and the government should be held responsible fully.

It is very easy for the government to say that an incident did not take place in a government controlled area when actually it did. There are many incidents which have taken place in government controlled areas which the government has denied saying that it was in LTTE controlled territory.

We have reported the truth and if the government is not comfortable with it then it is time they take some action rather than talking behind the Missions back.

Q: In your report you have in fact said that the attacks against the security forces were LTTEs way of putting pressure on the government. Are you then justifying LTTEs actions?

A: No. I am not, because all these are cease fire violations. We have from day number one been very critical of all the violations by both parties.

Q: The government has also criticised you for commenting on your references to a confident legal system and full democratic control of the armed forces. Are you saying that the government has no control of the armed forces?

A: No. I am not saying that the government has no control of its armed forces. All I am saying is that from what I have seen on the field it is time the government strengthened its control on the armed forces. Because currently the President is saying one thing to the media and the international community, while the ground reality in the north and east is the exact opposite. Both the government and the armed forces should work in unity and it is time the armed forces started obeying the orders of the government as it is the government that is in control.

Q: Given LTTEs opposition to members of EU nations functioning under the SLMM, how effective can your role now be?

A: It is time the LTTE realises that SLMM members do not represent their countries when serving in the Mission. We have made this very clear to both the LTTE and the government.

Just the way UN members represent their organisation and not their countries, SLMM members only represent the SLMM. This is all I can say for now. (excerpts, Armed forces should obey orders of government, The Morning Leader - June 14, 2006)

 

Resolution on Sri Lanka in Malaysian Parliament

 

Speech by M.Kula Segaran MP for Ipoh Barat

on 17th, July 06 at 7.15pm at the Parliament House, Malaysia

Mr. Speaker

 

We are all proud of Malaysias commendable effort to promote peace and prosperity in the region and the world. Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is famous for the foreign policy phase prosper thy neighbor and his win-in foreign policy.

 

Malaysia has been active resolving international disputes, sending peace keeping forces across the globe and offering its mediating services to parties at dispute.

 

Some commendable examples include peace keeping and conflict resolution between the Manila government and the Mindanao rebels, the conflict between Jakarta and the Acehnese, between North Korea and the west countries and most recently between the Myanmar military regime and democracy activist Ang San Su Kyi.

 

Some of these conflicts are ongoing while others, thanks to Malaysiascommitment to peace and conflict resolution, have been settled.

 

Most recently Malaysia sent our troops to keep the peace in Timor Leste.They are defending key areas like the airport and hospitals and warehouses from marauding mobs. They are risking their lives for regional peace.

 

22

Mr. Speaker,

 

Such commendable initiatives must continue and one area where Malaysiasexpertise is needed is in Sri Lanka.

 

Mr. Speaker, as you know Sri Lanka has been wrecked by civil war formore then 40 years and much mediation effort by western nations and even India have not let to a permanent settlement of the conflict between the majority Singhalese people in the south of the island and the minority Tamil people in the North East. The conflict has killed about 64,000 people, displaced one million and held back the island's growth and economic development.

 

Some estimates suggest that the government has spent up to 5% of gross domestic product on defence in recent years. Both communities have in habited the island for time immemorial and have fought each other at times but most times have inter-married and lived in peace. The current conflicts have their roots in the changes to Sri Lanka society that occurred during the colonial period under British rule. The conflict has been made worse by the Colombo government bend on seeking a military solution to the ethnic issue.

 

The people of the island include Muslims who form a significant minority and are often trapped between the conflicting parties.

 

Mr. Speaker, the situation in Sri Lanka has deteriorated to an extent war is imminent and many people are fleeing the land ending up as refugees in India. The situation is very urgent Mr. Speaker. It is a timely moment for Malaysia to offer its commendable service in conflict resolution and help mediate between the warring parties.

 

Malaysia should offer its good office and wide expertise in conflict resolution to bring the conflicting parties to the negotiating table.

 

Malaysia is highly respected as the conflict resolution specialist. Malaysia has send peace keeping troops all over the world to keep the peace.

 

Malaysia should look to the plight of the minority people in Sri Lanka – the Tamils and Muslims – and intervene in a positive manner and offer its good office to mediate.

 

Malaysia should offer its expertise to resolve the conflict and bring both parties to the negotiating table.

 

Mr. Speaker I move a motion

 

Tamileelam is the Only Feasible Solution Left for Tamils

by Vettivel

 

The peace talks failed because agreements were not implemented, and then the peace process failed because the international community that supported the peace process doesnt seems to care about Tamils' rights or even Tamils lives.

 

The hawk Sinhala government that is under no pressure from the international community, conveniently ignored all the agreements, and went a rampage and killed more than 300 Tamils in the last three months. None of the peace actors raise concerns about these atrocities with the Sri Lankan state terrorists. Even the SLMM that initially released a statement to blame the Sinhala government for the extrajudicial killings, retreated from their statements for some unknown reasons. All these green signals from the international players boosted the Sinhala hawk leadership to wage a low intensity war against Tamils.

 

When Tamils were killed by the Sinhala state terrorists, almost all the human right organizations and the international community who voluntarily cried for Tamil children's safety went completely silent. After several emails and letters from Tamils, it took a week for the so-called human right organizations to condemn the Alaipiddi massacre. The same kind of behavior was noticed in other Tamil massacres as well. When five Tamil students were killed by the Sinhala army in Trinco, the same ignorance was observed.

 

Most foreign governments when they talk about Sri Lanka, they think they are dealing with a government that represents all the communities. However, the reality is different. In fact, the Sri Lankan government doesnt represent Tamils, and it never represented Tamils in the past either. Since Ceylon got independence from the British, Tamils have been not part of the government; they always stand outside the Sinhala government body because of the Sinhala racist agenda. Almost all the constitutional changes have passed in parliament over Tamil protests.

23

 

 

The conflict in Sri Lanka is obviously between the Sinhala hawk leadership and Tamils. Sinhalese understand this fact very well; that is why they fiercely oppose Tamil leadership, whether such leadership is military or political. In the early 1980s, the Sinhala government placed heavy restrictions on the TULF that didnt have any military wings and threatened to ban it. Whenever a Tamil leadership emerged and asked for Tamil rights, the Sinhala leadership always opted for a military solution. There were numerous non-violent protests that were violently oppressed using Sinhala thugs and military.

 

The reality is that throughout the 50 years of history, Tamils didnt get any rights via peace talks. This is why Tamils used force to get their rights. This peace process also confirmed this learned lesson again.

 

Whether it is peace or war, the Sinhala government's intention has been always weaken the Tamil leadership and protect the Sinhala domination in Sri Lanka. Systematic Sinhala colonization, terrorizing Tamils, and chasing away Tamils from their habitations are all part of the Sinhala state terrorist strategy. The 99% Sinhala military and police force has been used to execute the Sinhala government terror plan. For Tamils, without doubt, the Sinhala military isan evil force. When these Sinhala evils roam the Tamil areas, Tamils are tortured, killed, raped, and disappeared.

 

All these atrocities committed by the Sinhala forces have gone unpunished. None of the international players raise any concern about this genocide. Instead, they continue to provide loans to the Sinhala state to buy weapons, and provide logistics to destroy the Tamil homeland. Even after the Sinhala government bombed and killed more than 15 Tamil civilians and chased away 40,000 Tamils, the international community praised the Sinhala president for his restraint. There is no surprise about this treatment because, after more than 60, 000 Tamil civilians killed by the Sinhala government, the international community did the same thing.

 

This current peace process started not because of the sympathy mooted by the international community, but because the disaster faced by the Sinhala military when it was hit hard by the Tamil tigers. It was the Tamil military domination that created this peace process. Tamils are fully aware of this truth, however, they opted to give a chance for peace instead of to continue fighting.

 

What Tamils mistakenly believed is that they could trust the international community, and believed that the international community will bring peace to Tamil homeland. This is why Tamils stopped promoting separation after the peace process started. The international players supported the peace process because their intention was only to save their investments. They dont really care much about the plight of ordinary Tamil civilians in the northeast. What they want is a stable government that can do whatever is good for them. The Sinhala government is always willing to do anything for anyone if they help defeat the Tamils. The former Sinhala president JR clearly said that he would join with any devil if he can defeat the Tamils. The Sinhala government, including so-called patriots, is ready to sell their so-called sovereignty if someone helps them to fight against the Tamils. The only thing Sinhala leadership never want to do is to share power with the Tamils.

 

The international community has left the Tamils to choose their own destiny. Tamils' fate now entirely depends on the military capability of Tamil forces. The current proven fact is that Tamils will never get any acceptable solution through negotiation with the Sinhala leadership.

 

There is no international pressure on the Sinhala leadership, therefore the Sinhala government has no obligation to share power with the Tamils or to accept a federal solution. This ultimately has left athe Tamils with only one solution – that is Tamileelam – a separate state for Tamils. The price Tamils may have to pay for this could be high, but when there is no other alternatives, people are forced to choose the only path that is available to them.

(http://sangam.org/taraki/articles/2006/06-10_Only_Feasible_Solution.php?uid=1778)

 

 

Sri Lankan government rejects LTTE proposal to end fighting

World Socialist Web Site - 7 August 2006

 

The Sri Lankan government yesterday rejected an offer from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to open the Mavilaru irrigation sluice gate and to end military operations in the east of the island. Instead the security forces intensified their shelling and air strikes on LTTE positions, making clear that the water issue is just the pretext for a broad military offensive in open breach of the 2002 ceasefire.

 

The LTTE announced the proposal after discussions with Norwegian peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer who flew to Sri Lanka last Friday in a bid to end the current fighting. Senior LTTE leader S.P. Thamilchelvan offered to open the sluice gate, which lies within LTTE-held territory, if the government stopped its offensive, provided aid to internal refugees displaced by air strikes and dealt with the problems of farmers in the Mavilaru area.

 

24

 

At the press conference on Sunday, Thamilchelvan indicated that the Norwegian envoy had promised to convince Colombo to address these demands within three weeks of the opening of the sluice gate. However, he warned: The ceasefire is on at the moment, and if the military continues attacks and shelling and makes any more moves, we will consider it as a full scale war.

 

The government immediately rejected the offer and issued an ultimatum. Defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told the media: Water should not be a negotiating tool... We do not want terrorists to come and open the waterway. They must simply allow irrigation engineers to do it, otherwise we will open it anyway.

 

The state-owned television channel Rupavahini reported that the military had stepped up its attacks on LTTE positions around Mavilaru, Muttur east and Sampur. Within hours of the LTTE press conference, an eyewitness told Reuters that the heaviest artillery and multi-barrel rocket barrage for days had been fired from military bases in Trincomalee towards rebel territory.

 

Officials from the Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), including its head Ulf Henricsson, came under fire as they moved towards the Mavilaru area yesterday afternoon to supervise the opening of the sluice gate. The SLMM supervises the increasingly tenuous ceasefire agreement. Foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera had previously assured the Norwegian envoy Hanssen-Bauer that the military would cease its bombardment of the area.

 

The attack on SLMM officials was not accidental. The government ordered the offensive to capture the sluice gate on July 26 despite LTTE offers to negotiate an end to the water dispute. While claiming to be acting in the interests of thousands of farmers deprived of water, the military has used the opportunity to attack LTTE positions elsewhere in the country. In reality, the government does not want the sluice gate opened because that would end its pretext for seizing LTTE territory in the eastern province.

 

The government accused the SLMM monitors of flouting protocol and failing to inform authorities that they were accompanying the LTTE. Accusations of SLMM bias are not new. For months, President Mahinda Rajapakse has been under pressure from his Sinhala chauvinist allies—the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU)—to dispense with Norwegian facilitators, withdraw from the ceasefire and launch an all out war on the LTTE.

 

According to the Hindustan Times, at least 32 LTTE fighters and 40 soldiers died in fierce fighting for control of Muttur. By the weekend, the military claimed to have driven out the LTTE. Speaking yesterday from the town, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader Rauf Hakim indicated that there were still areas under LTTE control and that clashes were continuing. He said that 40,000 people had been displaced and were living in makeshift camps in need of urgent assistance.

 

The attack on the SLMM monitors and the refusal to negotiate with the LTTE makes clear that the government has not the slightest interest in the impoverished farmers downstream of the sluice gate. In fact, the government has no answer to the economic and social crisis that is leading to rising levels of poverty and unemployment throughout the country. That is why since coming to office last November, Rajapakse encouraged the military to take an aggressive stance and is now plunging the country back to war.

 

While Rajapakse is cautious about openly advocating war, his political allies in the JVP have no such compunction. At a press conference in Colombo yesterday, JVP leaders declared once again that the defeat of terrorism was the main task facing the government and the country. The defeat of the terrorism means nothing less than restarting a full-scale civil war that has already cost at least 65,000 lives over the last two decades.

 

The escalating conflict has already been a disaster for people in the North and East. Hundreds have been killed since last November and tens of thousands have been forced to leave their homes. According to a recent UN report, about 5,600 people have fled to southern India, while an estimated 312,000 people, mostly Tamils, have been internally displaced. The governments determination to press ahead with its latest humanitarian offensive is a sharp warning that far worse is to come.

(Excerpt - http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/aug2006/sril-a07.shtml)

 

 

 

 

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Tamil diaspora reiterates that an economic embargo

on Sri Lanka should be enforced

 

TAMIL CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - TCHR/CTDH

CENTRE TAMOUL POUR LES DROITS DE L'HOMME

(Established in 1990)

Ref : KG088/PR/2006                                                                       6 September 2006

 

 

If we look back at Sri Lankas human rights record - various reports of the United Nations Special Rapporteurs and treaty bodies; International institutions; Parliamentarians belong to European Union countries and other countries, have all accepted that Sri Lanka violates the human rights of Tamils. Whoever you meet, wherever you go, the decision-makers of various states, world bodies, inter-governmental and regional bodies accept the fact that the bloody conflict in the island of Sri Lanka is of deep concern to them. However, the international community has no remedy for the State terrorism in Sri Lanka.

 

In 1998, the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances stated that, "Sri Lanka had the second highest number of disappearances in the world, ranking next to Iraq". Also Sri Lanka was the only country that the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has visited several times.

 

For over twenty-five years, how much torture, how many cold-blood killings, massacres, rapes, disappearances of Tamil people in the North East have been reported, with 100% evidence of Sri Lankan security forces involvement. The latest statistics shows that 79,000 were killed, more than 25,300 disappeared and more than 12,000 women raped.

 

We are talking about matters of life and death, but some pretend not to see any of this, and some even blame the victims who stood up for their rights.

 

In our long years of work with various world institutions and meetings with many diplomats, we have gathered that it is the Sri Lankan governments misinformation lobby that prevents any of the world bodies taking action on Sri Lanka. Therefore, Sri Lanka is given total impunity by the international community. This is where international law has failed and the double standards of the international community are glaringly obvious.

 

A significant part of the Sri Lankan lobby is carried out through Sri Lankan Embassies in Western countries which expect Tamils to work for them, providing information about the activities of the Tamil Diaspora. Whosoever refuses to collaborate is harassed and intimidated by members of Sri Lankas National intelligence Bureau – (NIB), who are attached to the Sri Lankan Embassies in the Western Countries.

 

On top of all the aforementioned atrocities, for more than a decade the people in the North East were strangled by a draconian Economic embargo imposed by the Sri Lanka government. This same government incredibly claims that the people in the North East are its citizens. The embargo really affected the people seriously in many aspects, and with long term consequences, especially the elders and the children.

 

This embargo has once again been enforced by the Sri Lankan government on various areas in the North East.

 

The international community is just watching, never even making an attempt to condemn any of the aggressive acts and policies of the Sri Lanka government.

 

Therefore, now is the right time for the Tamil diaspora to show its strength and to follow the path of other ethnic groups who have emerged from the clutches of these double standards of the international community.

 

Once again, as the Sri Lanka government has declared war against the Tamil people and the international community is pretending not to see any of the atrocities committed by Sri Lankan security forces, the Tamil diaspora has to work in a cooperative way on an immediate remedy which could be carried out, such as an economic embargo on Sri Lanka.

 

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The fact should be accepted that Sri Lanka is earning large sums of foreign exchange through the Tamil diaspora who mostly come to Western countries as political refugees. Several items produced by the Sri Lankan marketing department and various other state and private industries are exported to Western countries. The consumers of these items are mostly the Tamil diaspora.

 

The Western world is full of open markets for various similar products from other Asian and African countries. If the Tamil diaspora starts to boycott Sri Lankan products, this will certainly stop the pumping of their hard earned money into killing their kith and kin.

 

At the same time, many of the Tamil diaspora who send remittances to relatives in Sri Lanka do so through Sri Lankan Banks. These banks earn a huge of foreign exchange for the government of Sri Lanka which eventually uses the profit for military purposes to kill the kith and kin of the Tamil diaspora in the North East.

 

In the recent past, the Sri Lankan national carrier, Sri Lankan Air Lines, has been frequently used by the Tamil Diaspora for travelling to Sri Lanka and other destinations. The profit of all these commercial entreprises have pumped money into Sri Lankan military oppression in the North East of the Island.

 

In other words, knowingly or unknowingly - part of Sri Lankan military expenditure is bolstered by the Tamil diaspora. If the Tamil diaspora changes the pattern of their shopping, remitting money and mode of transport and various other activities, this would be a big down fall to the Sri Lankan government.

 

Also the Tamil diaspora has a huge responsibility in campaigining to convey the real situation to the local people in the country wherever they live and preventing tourists flocking to Sri Lanka. Surely the voice of the Tamil diaspora could help to expose the unethical nature of holidaying on an island where atrocities of such magnitude exist.

 

Let us work together, in many organisations, with all those who have been thinking of this ingenious idea for many years and together bring the Sri Lankan war machine to a halt. This is the best way at the current time to save the people from Sri Lanka State terrorism, enviromental terrorism, cultural genocide and for finding a durable solution to the long standing bloody conflict.

 

Importantly, such actions will raise awareness of the true human rights situation in the island of Sri Lanka, within the wider communities we live in. All people of goodwill can be invited to join in solidarity by boycotting Sri Lankan products and other foreign income generators, in order to express their opposition to Sri Lankas genocidal policies and actions. (Excerpts)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR

Centre Tamoul pour les droits de l'Homme - CTDH

Centro Tamil para los Derechos Humanos

(Established in 1990)

 

 

 

 

Website : www.tchr.net

 

 

 

 

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Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR            Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR

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