SUB-Commission on promotion and protection of Human Rights

An Appeal to

The United Nations

Sub-Commission on the Promotion and

Protection of Human Rights

53 Session / Sesiones

??????2001

(Reports will be added at the earliest)

Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR

(Established in 1990)

An Appeal to

The United Nations

Sub-Commission on the Promotion and

Protection of Human Rights

Un appel à Nations Unies

Sous-Commission de la promotion et

de la protection des droits de l'homme

Una llamada a Naciones Unidas

Subcomision para la Promocion y Proteccion de

los Derechos Humanos

52 Session / Sesione / Sesion

31 July 2000 18 August 2000

LOGO

Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR

Centre Tamoul pour les droits des l'Hommes

Centro Tamil para los Derechos Humanos

(Established in 1990)

CONTENTS

Page

Appeal 4

UN Secretary General Mr. Koffi Anna’s recent statements on Sri Lanka 7

Recent United Nations Reports on Sri Lanka

1. Report of the Special Rapporteur of Independence judges and Lawyers 8

2. Report of the Working group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances 11

Sri Lanka still has the 2^nd highest number of disappearances TCHR 14

3. Report of the Special Rapporteur of Freedom of expression 15

4. Report of the Special Rapporteur of Disappearances and Summary Executions 16

5. Report of the Special Rapporteur of Torture and detention 18

6. Committee Against Torture (53^rd session) 23

7. Report of the Special Rapporteur of Religious Intolerance 24

8. Press release of Special Rapporteur against violence against women

Assassination of Kumar Ponnambalam

Special Rapporteur’s communication 25

Kumar’s assassins protected by politician 26

Are politicians involved in assassination kept hidden? 28

Identification Parade 29

Economic, social and cultural rights

Education 30

Health 31

Food 32

Freedom of Expression

EU sponsored seminar questioned 34

Draconian measures against printing presses Newspapers shut down

Arbitrary arrests and killings including those related to disappearances

Arbitrary arrest / detention / torture 35

Arbitrary killing 38

Sri Lanka Navy officer committed War Crime 40

Chemani mass grave

42 skeltons discovered

500 civilian casualties 41

Rights of the child

Right to life denied 42

Children assaulted in custody

Rape of children by police and army

Embargo starves children

Violence against women

Police force into women’s homes 43

Woman raped

Young mother killed

Seven soldiers allegedly raped Ida Hamilitta

Population displacements and asylum seekers

Refugees in Europe and other Western countries 44

Internally Displaced People

Refugees in India

Civilian evacuation failed

Country Situation Norway Embassy bombed 47

ICRC, UNHCR urged over ceasefire

Sri Lanka rejected cease-fire offer 48

TCHR summary (names, dates, place of incidents, etc)

Arbitrary arrest / Detention 00

Extra judicial killings / Summary executions 00

Enforced or involuntary disappearances 00

Rape / Torture and others 00

ANNEXES :

TCHR letter to the Chairman of Human Rights Commission 49

Sri Lankan Govt decision shuts door on talks 50
Bishop’s appeal to foreign missions in Colombo 51

31 July 2000

The Chairperson

Members of the Sub-Commission on

Promotion and Protection of Human Rights

52nd Session

United Nations

Geneva

Switzerland

Honoured Sirs / Mesdames

We, the Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR, herewith submit our appeal with our summary report on arrests, arbitrary killings, enforced disappearances, rape, torture etc which clearly records the deterioraaing human rights situation in Sri Lanka.

The UN Secretary-General has called for the new century to be the century of prevention. The sensitivity of our reports, based on past incidents, calls for all possible preventive measures to be urgently taken by the UN Human Rights forums. The Human Rights situation in Sri Lanka is far from improving, in fact it is deteriorating, therefore the UN Human Rights mechanisms are crucial.

Sir/Mesdames, the latest reports of the UN Special rapporteurs and the Working groups (included in this appeal) and the statements by the NGOs to the last Commission on Human Rights clearly indicate that there is imminent danger in Sri Lanka!

It is crystal clear that Sri Lanka does not reply to many of the communications by the UN Special rapporteurs and the Working groups. However, this lack of response even combined with Sri Lanka’s hard lobby within the United Nations cannot hide certain facts. Sri Lanka still ranks the 2nd highest number (12,113) of disappearances compared to other countries in the world. It is noteworthy that Sri Lanka was the only country the Working Group on Disappearances_visited three times (1991, 1992 and 1999) since the Group came into existence in 1980.

It is well known that Sri Lanka is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is less widely known that the major part of the Tamil living areas have been under an Economic embargo for over ten years. According to International NGOs and the Specialised organisations - health, education, housing, etc are under-going extreme and severe conditions. No Food, No Medicine, aerial bombing and shelling on civilian targets continue to kill innocent people on a mass scale and destroy civilians’ housing including a home for the aged, religious places and schools. Despite all this, the North East of Sri Lanka has become the dump yard and testing ground for modern and sophisticated weapons. In recent days, many countries have given large quantities of arms and ammunition to Sri Lanka, where people live in extreme poverty.

As far as Human rights defenders are concerned, from Late Mr. Richard de Zoysa - Journalist to Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam, assassinations were carried out by SO CALLED UNKNOWN gunmen. Mr. Ponnambalam - a leading lawyer and a good friend of our organisation was assassinated on 5 January this year - soon after he returned from attending conferences and seminars held at various world bodies in Europe, and in other continents, including the 55th session of the Commission on Human Rights. According to media reports - the killers of Kumar Ponnambalam are well protected and the investigations are manipulated and witnesses misled by the Sri Lankan Police. The President Chandrika Kumaratunga is the Commander-in-Chief of the security forces in Sri Lanka.

In a report (E/CN.4/2000/12) submitted to the 56th Session of the Commission on Human Rights - the High Commissioner for Human Rights sadly recalled that the former Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial and Summary or Arbitrary Executions, warned in his 1993 report that the situation in Rwanda had deteriorated to such an extent as to raise the distinct possibility that genocidal acts would take place, but this warning issued well in time, went unheeded. Action was not taken in response to the early warning. The same Special Rapporteur visited Sri Lanka from 24 August to 5 September 1997 and submitted a report, (E/CN.4/1998/Add.2), the warnings of which, go unheeded!

We, in TCHR, have repeatedly mentioned as an early warning, the on-going systematic cultural genocide and massive and gross violations of fundamental human rights of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, in particular the right to life. The failure of early contact and early action by these august forums will certainly lead to repetition of the failure of the UN’s preventive techniques regarding genocide, as in Rwanda, Cambodia and Former Yugoslavia.

Sirs/Mesdames, it is true that Sri Lanka has become party to the optional protocol in the recent past. This does not mean that all human rights violations in Sri Lanka will be addressed through this procedure. The UN VIPs have reminded us that "Naming and Shaming" is one of the preventive techniques of violations of human rights. Therefore, the appeals, reports, joint-statements, interventions, written statements, and so on to the UN Human rights forums are very important. TCHR will continue this arduous task at any cost.

We would like to inform the delegates and members of the UN Human Rights forums that the Sri Lankan government’s invitation to certain NGOs and other VIPs to visit Sri Lanka in the name of human rights missions / seminars etc will not produce any independent facts on the situation in Sri Lanka nor will such invitations help to improve the human rights situation! Instead, these visits will certainly help to strengthen the propaganda of the Sri Lanka mission in New York, Geneva and other places rather than enabling the fact finders to present their own observations and analysis.

The last visit of the Working Group on Disappearances was a typical example of how this visit was used in the 56th session (CHR) by the Sri Lankan government for their propaganda purpose!

As far as propaganda is concerned, nowadays, Colombo has adopted a policy of entering gradually and imperceptibly into the arena of high level people from the International Community. Through these contacts, they feel that propaganda can be conveyed more powerfully than they can do by themselves!

We take this opportunity to remind the Honourable members of the Sub-Commission that the National Commission on Human Rights of Sri Lanka is not an independent body. It is totally dependent on the Government and they are not allowed to function as an independent body, by the Security forces. They investigate also the violations, which took place during the period of the earlier government until 1994!

The recent statement by the UN Secretary General, the reports of the Special rapporteurs and Working groups, visits by Human Rights organisations and personnel (although the fact finding visits to Sri Lanka fail to get unhindered access to North East), urgent appeals of the International NGOs and specialised agencies and finally, the massive import of arms and ammunitions to Sri Lanka have all proved that the question of human rights in Sri Lanka, has characteristic which preclude from the claim that it is an "internal affair".

We kindly appeal to all human rights forums to apply the preventive techniques in time. We are sure, as no doubt you are too, that "Prevention is better than cure".

We urge you, the distinguished Chair and yourselves, distinguished members of the Sub-Commission, to seriously take our appeal into your kind consideration, to reflect on it as a call for action to be taken to prevent further gross and systematic violations and genocidal acts. We believe that the Sub-Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights has the capacity to express the noble values and aspirations in favour of human rights, therefore we appeal to you from the depths of our hearts to take action.

Thanking you,

S. V. Kirubaharan

General Secretary - TCHR

UN SECRETARY GENERAL CONCERNED IN SRI LANKA

(Press Release - SG/SM/7385 - 9 May 2000)

UN SECRETARY-GENERAL CONCERNED BY ESCALATION OF FIGHTING IN SRI LANKA, APPEALS TO ALL PARTIES TO AVOID PLACING CIVILIAN LIVES AT RISK

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General is concerned about the possible humanitarian consequences of the recent escalation of fighting in Sri Lanka. Thousands of civilians are in danger of being displaced. He appeals to all parties to avoid placing the lives of civilians at risk, and to ensure humanitarian access to all in need.

The Secretary-General strongly believes that a political solution is necessary to the conflict in Sri Lanka. He welcomes the offer by the Government of Norway to facilitate such a solution.

Statement issued by the Spokesman for Mr. Kofi Annan

(Press Release - SG/SM/7416 24 May 2000)

UN SECRETARY-GENERAL, CONCERNED OVER FIGHTING ON SRI LANKA’S JAFFNA PENINSULA, WELCOMES PEACE EFFORTS BY NORWEGIAN GOVERNMENT DELEGATION

The following statement was issued this evening by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General is concerned that the fighting on the Jaffna peninsula in Sri Lanka continues unabated. As a result, tens of thousands of civilians have already been displaced. The Secretary-General again appeals to all concerned to ensure that civilians will not be the victims of this conflict and that humanitarian workers will have safe and unimpeded access to all in need. He also wishes to reiterate his unequivocal condemnation of all acts of terrorism, including those that have frequently occurred in Sri Lanka.

The Secretary-General notes that a delegation from the Government of Norway is currently visiting Sri Lanka and the region. A political solution is needed to bring this conflict to an end, and the Secretary-General welcomes the Norwegian peace efforts.

THE QUESTIONS OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDICIARY, ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE, IMPUNITY

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Mr. Param Cumaraswamy, submitted in accordance with Commission resolution 1999/31

(E/CN.4/2000/61 - 21 February 2000 )

Sri Lanka

Communication to the Government

247. On 9 December 1998, the Special Rapporteur sent a letter to the Government concerning the case of Kumar Ponnambalam, a well‑known defence lawyer and General Secretary of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress. It was reported that there had been a widespread and well‑publicized call by Sri Lankan newspapers that Mr. Ponnambalam should be taken into custody and charged with criminal defamation of the President and with supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The source claimed that the calls for his arrest were based upon his work as a criminal defence lawyer and for speeches or statements he had made before various international bodies concerning the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. Fears were expressed that Mr. Ponnambalam would be arrested upon his return to Colombo on 25 December.

248. On 18 May 1999, the Special Rapporteur transmitted an urgent appeal to the Government concerning further developments in the country and in particular the case of. Percy Wijesiriwardenn, a Grade 1 Judicial Officer. According to the information provided, Mr. Wijesiriwardene was removed from office by the Judicial and Legal Service Commission without being accorded due process and in particular without being shown the charges against him. Furthermore, it was reported that Mr. Wijesiriwardene had been intimidated into submitting a letter seeking retirement. Mr. Wijesiriwardene’s petition to the Supreme Court for leave to challenge the removal on the grounds of breach of his fundamental rights pursuant to articles 12 (1) and 14 (1) (g) of the Constitution was dismissed without any reason given.

249. The Special Rapporteur also requested an invitation from the Government to carry out an in situ mission to Sri Lanka to study matters relating to the independence of the judiciary and the independence of lawyers, including the role and impartiality of prosecutors.

250. On 22 June 1999, the Special Rapporteur transmitted a letter to the Government concerning an incident at Ratnapura Magistrate’s Court. It was reported that on 19 May 1999 the Magistrate of Ratnapura was threatened, insulted and humiliated by an unruly mob for having performed his lawful judicial function. Though the Minister for Justice had condemned the action of the mob, the alleged incident was of concern.

251. On 13 September 1999, the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the Government concerning information he had received regarding the appointment of a new Chief Justice. According to the information provided, the Chief Justice was retiring and a controversy had arisen over the appointment of his successor. The Special Rapporteur informed the Government that his attention had been drawn to the fact that, save in a very few cases, the general practice had always been to appoint the next most senior judge of the Supreme Court as Chief Justice. However, he was informed that the Government was considering appointing the current Attorney‑General to the post who, although he had been a Supreme Court judge when he was appointed Attornny‑General, was the most junior of the judges. His attention had also been drawn to two petitions before the Supreme Court to strike the Attorney‑General off the rolls of advocates for misconduct.

252. On 28 October 1999, the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the Government concerning the criminal prosecution of Jayalath Jayawardena, a member of Parliament, whose trial had been postponed several times since it began on 30 May 1997 at the behest of the prosecution for flimsy reasons, very often for the non‑availability/absence of counsel for the prosecution. International foreign observers had been present in court to observe the trial on several occasions and the postponements had been costly in terms of effort, time and expense. The trial was called for hearing once again on 14 October 1999, when all the witnesses were present, but prosecuting counsel was not present for “personal reasons”. The court once again postponed the trial until 11 November 1999. It was also alleged that the trial is politically motivated and the postponements were orchestrated by the Government to frustrate international observers.

Communications from the Government

253. On 26 January 1999, the Government sent a letter to the Special Rapporteur in reply to his letter of 9 December 1998. The Government informed the Special Rapporteur, inter alia, that Mr. Ponnambalam had reportedly made a public statement on national television that he was a supporter of a well‑known terrorist group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE is banned in Sri Lanka. In view of the statement, the law enforcement authorities were obliged to carry out investigations as to the nature of Mr. Ponnambalam’s support. There was no prior decision to arrest Mr.Ponnambalam. Action would be taken to conduct an inquiry to ascertain the facts and if any wrongdoing is discovered appropriate legal proceedings would be instituted. Like any other citizen of Sri Lanka, Mr. Ponnambalam can challenge these legal proceedings, if and when they are instituted, in the courts, in particular in the Supreme Court, which has jurisdiction over fundamental rights in accordance with the Constitution of the country and the International Covenants on Human Rights.

254. On 7 July 1999, the Government sent a letter to the Special Rapporteur in reply to his letter of 18 May 1999. In view of the confidentiality of the material disclosed in this communication and the request of the Government for confidentiality, the Special Rapporteur will limit himself to a very short summary of the communication, which stated that the Commission which was chaired by the Chief Justice did communicate the allegation to Mr. Wijesiriwardena. The allegations were quite serious in nature. Because of the seriousness, and rather than face disciplinary proceedings, Mr. Wijesiriwardena agreed to take early retirement. There was no pressure exerted on him by the Commission.

255. On 29 October 1999, the Permanent Mission acknowledged receipt of the letter of the Special Rapporteur of 28 October 1999. The contents of the communication had been transmitted to the authorities concerned in Sri Lanka for clarification.

256. On 19 November 1999, the Government sent a letter to the Special Rapporteur in reply to his letter of 13 September 1999. The Government, inter alia, drew the attention of the Special Rapporteur to article 107 (1) of the Constitution, which provides, inter alia, that the Chief Justice shall be appointed by the President of the Republic. The Honourable Sarath N. Silva, Attorney‑General of Sri Lanka, was appointed Chief Justice in accordance with the above provision on 16 September 1999.

Observations

257. The Special Rapporteur notes with great concern the assassination of Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam on 5 January 2000. The Special Rapporteur sent a communication to the Government in regard to this assassination.

258. With regard to the case of Mr. Wijesiriwardena, having read the Government’s response, the Special Rapporteur considers that being a judicial officer with some experience, Mr. Wijesiriwardena ought to have appreciated the implications of his agreement to take early retirement rather than face disciplinary proceedings.

259. With regard to the appointment of the Attorney‑General as Chief Justice, as the appointment is now being challenged before the Supreme Court which will continue its hearings on 7 and 8 February 2000, the Special Rapporteur has decided not to disclose the full text of the Government’s response to his communication. He also reserves his observations on this issue in view of the proceedings before the Supreme Court.

THE QUESTIONS OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDICIARY, ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE, IMPUNITY

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers,

Mr. Param Cumaraswamy, submitted in accordance with

Commission resolution 1999/31

(E/CN.4/2000/61/Add.2- 24 March 2000)

Addendum

Sri Lanka

1. In paragraphs 252 and 255 of his main report (E/CN.4/2000/61), the Special Rapporteur referred to his communication of 28 October 1999 to the Government of Sri Lanka concerning the criminal prosecution of Jayalath Jayawardena and the Government’s acknowledgement, dated 29 October, of receipt of the same communication.

2. Since the completion and submission of the main report, the Special Rapporteur received a communication dated 3 February 2000 from the Government in response to the points raised in the communication of 28 October 1999.

3. The Government refuted the allegations that the trial had been postponed several times at the behest of the prosecution for unsubstantial reasons and orchestrated by the Government to frustrate international observers. It explained as follows:

(a) The request for postponement on 14 October 1999 was due to a genuine personal difficulty, which arose on the morning of the trial date as a result of persistent torrential rains. The Prosecuting Counsel was in fact prepared to conduct the trial;

(b) When it became apparent that he would not be able to proceed to work that morning, immediate steps were taken to inform the Senior Defence Counsel about the difficulty. Further, the Permanent State Counsel was instructed to obtain early dates in November, which he did;

(c) Consequently, there is nothing to indicate that the Prosecuting Counsel acted other than with a sense of responsibility in the circumstances;

(d) It should be reiterated that questions of impartiality and fairness cannot arise when an application for postponement is made on the basis of a genuine personal difficulty. The presence of international observers at the trial is welcome. However, it does not have any negative effect on the manner in which the trial is conducted by the prosecution. International observers should be assured that the postponements are in no way connected to their presence at the trial. There has been no request made to the Attorney-General to inform international observers regarding postponements, which could be anticipated in advance. Such a request could be accommodated, if made;

(e) The trial was taken up on 11 and 30 November and the evidence of all the witnesses who were summoned on those two days was taken and concluded;

(f) Further trial was fixed for 21 January and 10 February this year. On 21 January, none of the witnesses were available. It was later found upon inquiries being made that the summons had been sent for 10 February only and not 21 January, owing to a mistake on the part of the court staff.

4. In paragraph 259, the Special Rapporteur observed that the appointment of the Chief Justice was being challenged before the Supreme Court and that hearing would be continued on 7 and 8 February 2000. The Special Rapporteur has since been informed that in view of certain preliminary objections taken by the petitioners’ counsel, the Court has further adjourned hearing to 26 and 27 June 2000.

QUESTIONS OF DISAPPEARANCES AND SUMMARY EXECUTIONS

Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

(E/CN.4/2000/64 - 21 December 1999)

Sri Lanka

84. The Working Group transmitted seven newly reported cases, two of which occurred in 1999. All the cases were sent under the urgent action procedure. During the same period, the Working Group clarified the two cases that reportedly occurred in 1999 on the basis of information submitted by the source according to which the persons concerned were released after 39 days of unacknowledged detention in the People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) camp at Kovilkulam Junction.

85. Five of the newly reported cases concerned displaced persons residing at the Veppankulam camp in Vavuniya district who were abducted by members of an armed Tamil group opposed to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, allegedly acting with the acquiescence of the security forces. Local investigations have so far given no indication as to their whereabouts.

86. At the invitation of the Government of Sri Lanka, a member of the Working Group, Mr. Manfred Nowak, and the Working Group's Acting Secretary visited Sri Lanka from 25 to 29 October 1999. The report on the visit is contained in addendum 1 to the present report.

Visit to Sri Lanka by a member of the Working Group

on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances

(25-29 October 1999)

( Extracted from addendum - E/CN.4/2000/64/Add.1 - 21 December 1999)

Introduction

1. Since the establishment of the Working Group in 1980, 12,258 cases of disappearance alleged to have occurred in Sri Lanka have been reported to the Working Group. The cases occurred in the context of two major sources of conflict in that country: the confrontation of Tamil separatist militants and government forces in the north and north‑east of the country, and the confrontation between the People’s Liberation Front (JVP) and the government forces in the south. The cases reported to have occurred between 1987 and 1990 (145 cases in 1987; 182 cases in 1988; 5,027 cases in 1989 and 4,777 in 1990) took place mostly in the Southern and Central Provinces of the country, during a period in which both security forces and the JVP resorted to the use of extreme violence in the contest for State power. In July 1989, the conflict in the south took a particularly violent turn when JVP adopted even more radical tactics, including enforced work stoppages, intimidation and assassination, as well as targeting family members of the police and army. To thwart the JVP military offensive, the State launched a generalized counter‑insurgency campaign and the armed forces and the police appear to have been given wide latitude to eliminate the rebel movement and restore law and order in any way they saw fit. By the end of 1989, the armed forces had put down the revolt.

4. The first visit to Sri Lanka took place from 7 to 17 October 1991 and was carried out by three members of the Working Group, Mr. Agha Hilaly, Mr. Jonas Foli and Mr. Toine van Dongen. Their report (E/CN.4/1992/18/Add.1) was presented to the Commission on Human Rights at its forty-eighth session. The same members of the Working Group undertook a second visit from 5 to 15 October 1992 for the purpose, inter alia, of evaluating the progress of the implementation of its recommendations formulated in 1991. Their report was submitted to the Commission at its fiftieth session (E/CN.4/1993/25/Add.1).

5. The purpose of its third visit was two fold: to follow up on the recommendations made by the Working Group during its visits in 1991 and 1992 and to identify efforts taken to minimize and resolve the problem of enforced or involuntary disappearances, as well as to follow up on the latest developments. The Working Group was represented by one of its members, Mr. Manfred Nowak, and by its Acting Secretary. The visit took place from 25 to 29 October 1999.

A. Establishment of a mechanism to clarify the fate and whereabouts of the missing persons (E/CN.4/1992/18/Add.1, para. 204 (k) and E/CN.4/1993/25/Add.1, para. 133)

15. The three regional Presidential Commissions of Inquiry into Involuntary Removal or Disappearance of Persons set up in November 1994 submitted their reports to the President of the Republic on 3 September 1997. The Commissions investigated a total of 27,526 complaints and found evidence of disappearance in 16,742 cases. A further 10,135 complaints submitted to the Commissions by relatives and witnesses remained to be investigated by the present (fourth) Presidential Commission of Inquiry. They relate to 6,517 cases of disappearance and include complaints of disappearances alleged to have occurred in war zones like Wanni, Puliyankulam or the east of Ampakaman, which are of difficult access. The Chairperson of the present Commission of Inquiry informed the Working Group that out of these 6,517 remaining cases of disappearance, the Commission only considers 4,052 cases to be “proven”. Apart from only very few disappeared persons who were found alive, all of the more than 20,000 persons established by the four Commissions as disappeared are considered to be dead. More than 15,000 death certificates have already been issued in accordance with temporary legislation (see below, para. 52)

17. All four Commissions were authorized only to investigate cases of disappearances, which occurred under the former Government. Although the rate of disappearances increased again significantly during 1995 and 1996, no Presidential Commission of Inquiry was established in relation to these cases.

21. On 11 August 1998, the Commission submitted its first Annual Report, which covers the period from 17 March 1997 to 30 March 1998, to Parliament. The report has, however, not yet been made available to the general public. According to this report, the Commission has received a total of 4,350 complaints, has visited 1,240 police stations and 291 detention camps where it was in contact with a total of 3,444 detainees most of whom (3,325) were of Tamil ethnic origin. It investigated 842 cases of missing persons and traced 219 of them. In Vavuniya, out of 142 cases, 104 persons have been traced. In Jaffna, 16 persons were traced out a total of 325 cases. In Batticaloa 62 persons were traced out of a total of 204 cases and in Colombo, out of 76 cases, 16 persons were traced. The Human Rights Commission could, however, not indicate whether any of the disappeared persons reported to the Government of Sri Lanka by the United Nations Working Group were among those traced by it.

22. During the period between August 1998 and September 1999, the Human Rights Commission received 1,852 complaints against members of the armed forces and the police. A total of 1,122 persons were reported missing during this period of whom the Human Rights Commission could actually trace 648, i.e. more than half. In Vavuniya, 251 out of 497 missing persons were traced, in Batticaloa, 274 out of 285. Again, the Working Group was not able to check whether any of the disappeared persons on its list were traced by the Human Rights Commission.

24. Members of the Human Rights Commission also informed the Working Group that a total of 932 visits to police stations and 380 visits to detention camps had been carried out from January 1999 to September 1999; 2,315 detainees were visited, including 520 in Vavuniya, 476 in Jaffna, 462 in Anuradhapura and 202 in Batticaloa, of whom 2,179 were of Tamil ethnic origin.

C. Prosecution of those responsible for disappearances (E/CN.4 1992/18/Add.1, para. 204 (g))

34. With respect to criminal action against perpetrators of enforced disappearances, the three Presidential Commissions of Inquiry mentioned above (paras. 7 and 15) played a crucial role. They established evidence concerning 16,742 cases of disappearance and identified, in their final reports of September 1997, suspected perpetrators in relation to 3,861 cases of disappearance which had occurred under the former Government. On the basis of this evidence the Inspector General of Police in December 1997 established a special Disappearance Investigation Unit. In relation to the 3,861 cases of disappearance, police investigations against 1,560 suspected perpetrators members of the police and the armed forces were initiated.

36. With respect to the disappearances which occurred during the present Government, the Board of Investigation into Disappearances in Jaffna Peninsula in its report of 9 March 1998 (see above, para. 19) identified 21 cases of disappearance where “evidence has revealed sufficient facts to justify further inquiries by the police with a view to pursuing legal action against offenders”. In another 134 cases of disappearance the Board of Investigation found sufficient evidence of criminal acts but could not identify the alleged perpetrators. It recommended further inquiries by the Service Commanders to identify the offenders. According to information provided to the mission by the Secretary of Defence, the first indictments will be issued in a few weeks.

37. In spite of these efforts to investigate cases of enforced disappearance and to bring the perpetrators to justice, family members of disappeared persons and representatives of non‑governmental organizations complained that many of the persons who were identified as suspected perpetrators by the three Presidential Commissions of Inquiry continued to serve in their posts or have even been promoted. A person quite often named in this respect is the former Deputy Inspector General of Police, Premadasa Udugampola.

G. Revision of the Prevention of Terrorism Act and Emergency Regulations (E/CN.4/1992/18/Add.1, paras.204 (e) and E/CN.4/1993/25/Add.1, para.146 (a))

50. The Working Group recommended that the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the Emergency Regulations currently in force be brought into line with accepted international standards regarding due process of law and treatment of prisoners. The mission was informed that the Government had not made any amendment to the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and that the review of the Emergency Regulations had been limited to the reduction to 21 days of the maximum period of detention in areas outside the north and east of the country, and to 60 days in the north and east.

51. Non-governmental organizations continue to claim that PTA and the Emergency Regulations, above all regulation 17, are the main reason for the continuation of arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances. They therefore call for the immediate abolition of these laws.

III. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

56. With respect to disappearances which occurred during the late 1980s and early 1990s, in particular the JVP-related cases of 1989 and 1990 in the south of the country, almost 40,000 complaints have been investigated and more than 20,000 cases of enforced disappearances have been established by the four Presidential Commissions of Inquiry. On the basis of special temporary legislation, more than 15,000 death certificates have been issued and compensation has been paid to more than 12,000 families of disappeared persons. In almost 4,000 cases, suspected perpetrators were identified, criminal proceedings were instituted against some 500 members of the police and the armed forces, and some of the accused have been convicted and sentenced by the courts. Others have been subjected to disciplinary sanctions.

59. The Working Group also welcomes the recent establishment of a special Unit in the Rehabilitation of Persons, Properties and Industries Authority (REPPIA) with the specific task of establishing a database on disappearances in response to the cases transmitted by the Working Group to the Government of Sri Lanka and with the explicit aim of clarifying these cases on the basis of presumption of death, the payment of compensation to the families and other means of establishing the fate and whereabouts of disappeared persons. This Unit claims that it has clarified 4,010 of the roughly 12,000 cases submitted by the Working Group (2,761 of which on the basis of death certificates) but the Working Group has not yet been in a position to examine this information on a case-by-case basis.

61. Non-governmental organizations also rightly claim that the present Government has not done enough to investigate disappearances which occurred after it took office and to prevent disappearances in the future. Whereas disappearances under the former Government were investigated by four independent Presidential Commissions of Inquiry whose findings were in principle made available to the public, the more recent cases were only investigated by a non‑independent and confidential Board within the Ministry of Defence. The Human Rights Commission, which in principle could play an important role in investigating and preventing disappearances, seems to lack the necessary authority, political and financial support to carry out this task in an efficient manner.

62. As far as prevention is concerned, many of the earlier recommendations of the Working Group have not been implemented. First of all, the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the Emergency Regulations, which are rightly considered as the main reason for the continuation, albeit on a much less severe level, of enforced disappearances, have not been abolished or brought into line with internationally accepted standards of human rights. Secondly, no central register of detainees was set up. Thirdly, the safeguards for the prevention of arbitrary arrests, and in particular the legal obligation to immediately inform the Human Rights Commission of arrests and detentions, seem not to be widely known by the law enforcement bodies and are often disregarded in practice.

63. In conclusion, the Working Group addresses the following recommendations to the Government of Sri Lanka:

(a) The Government should establish an independent body with the task of investigating all cases of disappearance which occurred since 1995 and identifying the perpetrators;

(b) The Government should speed up its efforts to bring the perpetrators of enforced disappearances, whether committed under the former or the present Government, to justice. The Attorney-General or another independent authority should be empowered to investigate and indict suspected perpetrators of enforced disappearances irrespective of the outcome of investigations by the police;

(d) The Prevention of Terrorism Act and the Emergency Regulations currently in force should be abolished or otherwise brought into line with internationally accepted standards of personal liberty, due process of law and humane treatment of prisoners;

(e) Any person deprived of liberty should be held only in an officially recognized place of detention as stipulated in article 10 (1) of the Declaration. All unofficial places of detention, in particular those established by paramilitary organizations fighting alongside the Security Forces, such as PLOTE and TELO, should immediately be dissolved;

Sri lanka still has the 2nd highest

number of disappearances

TCHR PRESS RELEASE ON DISAPEARANCE

(Extracted from Ref: CH/01/04 (CHR 56) - 7 April 2000)

2- According to the Working group on disappearances, Sri Lanka has 12,258 disappearances and this is the second highest number compared to other countries.

3- Sri Lanka was the ONLY country where the Working group on disappearances has visited THREE TIMES!

4- When the working group on disappearances visited Sri Lanka in October last year, the representative of the working group Mr. Manfred Nowak NEVER MET anyone working on the disappearances in the North-east of the Island. Annex I of Mr. Manfred Nowak (E/CN.4/20006/64/Add.1) programme itself proves this clearly. The North-East is the region where many disappearances have been reported recently.

It is to be noted that the latest report of the Working group on Disappearances says that ``THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION COULD, HOWEVER, NOT INDICATE WHETHER ANY OF THE DISAPPEARED PERSONS REPORTED TO THE GOVERNMENT OF SRI LANKA BY THE UNITED NATIONS WORKING GROUP WERE AMONG THOSE TRACED BY IT``.

5- The National Human Rights Commission in Sri Lanka is a Government-funded Commission and it has no mandate to function independently.

THE QUESTION OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

Extracted from the report of the Special Rapporteur Mr. Abid Hussain

(E/CN.4/1999/64 - 29 January 1999)

Executive summary

An essential aspect of the mandate involves country visits. From 20 to 26 September 1999, the Special Rapporteur undertook a mission to the Sudan. He also visited Ireland from 18 to 22 October 1999 and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from 24 to 29 October 1999. Finally, the Special Rapporteur undertook a mission to Tunisia from 6 to 11 December 1999. The Special Rapporteur also requested the Governments of Albania, Argentina, China, Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, Indonesia, Peru, the Russian Federation, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam to invite him to visit their countries, but he regrets that invitations have not so far been received.

16. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur visited Geneva from 8 to 14 April 1999 for consultations and to present his report to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty‑fifth session. He discussed his intention to undertake field visits with the Permanent Representatives of the Sudan, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Egypt and Peru and with representatives of Cuba and the Russian Federation.

Sri Lanka

105. On 18 June 1998, the Special Rapporteur transmitted an urgent appeal to the Government of Sri Lanka on the case of Iqbal Athas, a journalist who was allegedly the target of an abduction attempt on 12 February 1998. The Special Rapporteur was informed that Iqbal Athas was being subjected to continued harassment which is believed to be related to his investigations into corruption in the top echelons of the security forces as well as in connection with some of the military actions undertaken in the ongoing conflict between the security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In his communication, the Special Rapporteur welcomed President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's order for the Criminal Investigation Department to conduct an investigation into this incident.

106. On 24 June 1998, the Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the Government of Sri Lanka concerning Lasantha Wickrematunge, an editor and journalist of an independent weekly openly critical of the Government, who reportedly was the target of an armed attack. According to the information transmitted to the Special Rapporteur, Lasantha Wickrematunge had received anonymous telephone threats and was attacked by an unidentified number of individuals who opened fire from a van outside his house after he and his family had returned home on the night of 17 June 1998. It was also alleged that he had been the target of an assault three years ago and that his house had been watched by persons in unmarked vehicles. The Special Rapporteur welcomed the fact that Mangala Samaraweera, the Minister of Post, Telecommunications, and Media, had condemned that attack and called for a thorough police investigation into the later incident.

107. On 29 April 1998, the Special Rapporteur requested the Government of Sri Lanka to extend an invitation to him to carry out an official visit to the country in the course of 1998.

108. Despite an acknowledgement sent by the Government on 4 May 1998, no further reply has been provided to the Special Rapporteur, in particular with regard to the above-mentioned cases.

QUESTIONS OF DISAPPEARANCES AND SUMMARY EXECUTIONS

Extracted report of the Special Rapporteur, Ms. Asma Jahanhir,

(E/CN.4/2000/3/Add.1 - 2 February 2000)

Addendum

Sri Lanka

402. The Special Rapporteur transmitted one urgent appeal and nine communications to the Government concerning violations of the right to live of the following persons.

Urgent appeal

403. On 15 June the Special Rapporteur transmitted to the Government an urgent appeal after having been informed that former Sri Lankan army lance corporal Somaratne Rajapakse and his family had received death threats in the form of letters addressed to Mr. Rajapakse’s wife. Mr. Rajapakse had been summoned by the magistrate in charge of forthcoming exhumations in the Chemmani area of Jaffna to indicate locations of alleged mass graves. There were reportedly also concerns for the safety of four other members of the security services, currently held at Colombo prison, and their families after they reportedly corroborated Mr. Rajapakse’s evidence about the graves. Mr. Rajapakse was reportedly being held in Bogambara prison, in Kandy, awaiting the outcome of an appeal against a death sentence imposed by the High Court in Colombo in July 1998. The Court had found the five men guilty of the rape, abduction and murder of 18-year-old Krishanthy Kumarasamy and the murder of her mother, younger brother and neighbour in 1996. During the trial Mr. Rajapakse reportedly told the Court that hundreds of other bodies had been buried at the same site as those of the above‑mentioned persons. In view of these allegations, the Special Rapporteur appealed to the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure the safety and integrity of the above mentioned persons.

Communications sent

404. The Special Rapporteur transmitted to the Government communications on behalf of the following persons.

405. Sathasivam Sanjeevan was arrested by the police at Paandiruppu, Amparai district, on 3 October 1998. It was reported that when his relatives visited him at the Kalmunai police station on 14 and 15 October, they noted that he could not lift his arms and that he had difficulty swallowing. On 16 October the police informed his relatives that he had been killed in an armed confrontation with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) while being taken to Amparai by the police.

406. Santhini Thangarasa and her sister Bavani Thangarasa were reportedly killed on 21 November 1998 at the village of Murippu in Mullaitivu when their house was destroyed in an air strike allegedly carried out by Sri Lankan airforce bombers. Two young boys, Muhunthan and Gegan, also died in the incident and five other persons were wounded.

407. Sevethi Joseph, Mohanraj Kavitha and Nagendran were killed on 23 November 1998 at Koddaikattiyakulam in Killinochchi in an air strike allegedly carried out by Sri Lankan airforce bombers. Ten other civilians were also wounded in this incident and admitted to hospitals in Mallavi and Akkarayankulam.

408. Velupillai Sellathurai,Visuvalingam Yogarani, Yogachandran Mallikadevi, Kalanathan Thanusha, Rasalingam Suthas and Siva were reportedly killed on 2 December 1998 at the fishing village of Nallathanithoduva-Chundikulam inntheeeast of Vadamaradchi as a result of a bombing allegedly carried out by Sri Lankan airforce Kfir jets. Several others were also reportedly wounded in this incident.

409. Sambasivam Arudchelvan and Rasu Letchumi were killed on 13 November 1998 at Vanni as a result of a bombing allegedly carried out by Sri Lankan airforce Kfir jets.

410. According to reports, Muhunthan Balchandran was killed on 21 November 1998 at the village of Murippu in Mullaitivu after an air strike allegedly carried out by Sri Lankan airforce Kfir bombers.

411. Gnaneswary Muthie was reportedly killed on 21 November 1998 at the village of Murippu in Mullaitivu after an air strike allegedly carried out by Sri Lankan airforce Kfir bombers.

412. Arulselvan Ramalingam was reportedly killed on 14 November 1998 at Kokkavil after an air strike allegedly carried out by Sri Lankan airforce Kfir bombers. He was on his way to Mallavi for business when he got caught in the reported air raid.

413. Anura Sampath was allegedly taken to the Moratuwa police station on 30 December in order to make a statement. His brother reportedly visited him the same day and Anura Sampath told him that he was being ill-treated by the police. The following day, Anura Sampath allegedly had disappeared from the police station and the officer in charge later told Anura Sampath’s family that he was dead, providing them with accurate information about the whereabouts of Anura Sampath’s corpse which the family found in Kalubovilla hospital.

Observations

414. The Special Rapporteur regrets that the Government has not replied to her communications.

QUESTIONS OF TORTURE AND DETENTION

Extracted report of the Special Rapporteur, Sir Nigel S, Rodley,

(E/CN.4/2000/9 - 2 February 2000 )

Sri Lanka

Regular communications and replies received

929. By letter dated 15 November 1999, the Special Rapporteur informed the Government that he continued to receive information on the practice of torture and other forms of ill-treatment, in particular in the context of the ongoing armed conflict between the security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). As in previous years, the Special Rapporteur has received information that persons arrested on suspicion of being members or sympathizers of the LTTE are reportedly tortured, in particular in the north and east of the country and in Colombo. There is a continuing use of unauthorized places of detention, especially in the Jaffna peninsula and Vavuniya, which is believed to be a factor facilitating torture. The People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) is reported to run such places of detention, where torture is allegedly routinely practised with the tacit approval of members of the army and the police, who are said to regularly visit those camps. Elements within the security forces are reportedly helping these paramilitary groups to protect the secrecy of their camps and the torture taking place there. Prisoners held there are allegedly beaten, administered electric shocks, have petrol poured on their back and lit, and are bitten by dogs on their private parts.

930. Torture of common criminal suspects and people taken into custody in a non-political context is reportedly widely practised, in order to extract confessions from suspects in theft and other criminal cases. The Evidence Ordinance nevertheless contains strong provisions to prevent the extraction of confeesions under torture, since it makes them inadmissible in courts. The Supreme Court is said to have awarded compensation to people arrested on suspicion of petty crimes who were subsequently tortured by the police in several cases. It is alleged that members of the public often approach local police officers to intervene in their disputes with neighbours, business rivals, family members or tenants. Many persons arrested in that context are said to have been subsequently tortured.

931. Furthermore, the Special Rapporteur has received information according to which corporal punishments continue to be imposed by courts, including on juveniles. Section 52 of the Penal Code reportedly lists whipping as a punishment to which offenders are liable under the Code. It is explicitly provided for as an additional punishment for theft of, among other things, vegetables and fruits. Section 29.1 of the Children and Young Persons Ordinance 1939 allows whipping to be imposed as a form of punishment by magistrate's courts on male children, as an additional punishment for certain offences. Cases have been reported.

932. Finally, according to the information received, despite the long-term existence of legislation to punish torture, and the enactment of the Torture Act in 1995, this violation is reported to be still committed with impunity. No one has reportedly been convicted in relation to the crime of torture in Sri Lanka. Seven indictments are nevertheless said to be currently before the High Courts, arising from eight judgments by the Supreme Court during 1997 and 1998 where the Court had found police officers had been responsible for torture, had awarded compensation and had recommended further investigations. But it is reported that the Supreme Court has expressed its frustration at the lack of follow-up by the relevant authorities to the Supreme Court's recommendation for further investigations and appropriate action against members of the security forces involved in acts of torture.

933. The Special Rapporteur transmitted to the Government information on the individual cases summarized below.

934. Weerage Buddhika Weerasinghe was reportedly arrested on suspicion of robbery in May 1996 and allegedly tortured at Pannala police station by being suspended over a rice pounder and hit repeatedly with a hosepipe while being forced to confess. The police in their statements to the court are reported to have denied that he had been tortured. The Supreme Court reportedly awarded compensation to him in a judgment of 31 October 1997.

935. Sinnarasa Anthonymala, a 17-year-old girl from Jaffna, was reportedly shot in the thigh by the Navy while travelling on a boat to India on 16 July 1995. Rescued by the Navy, she was reportedly taken to the Kankesanthurai navy camp, where she was allegedly stripped of her clothing and tortured by being struck on the head with an iron rod, for which she needed stitches. She was also allegedly handcuffed at the ankles and suspended upside down from a window bar, electric wires were applied on her body, and she was burnt with cigarettes and heated metal rods. On 28 August 1995, she was allegedly transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), where she was reportedly cut on the back of her neck, hit on the mouth and hit on her left leg with a piece of wood. After a month she was allegedly forced to sign seven statements typed in Sinhala. She was then reportedly transferred to the Welikada prison. After three months at the Welikada prison, a bullet was removed from her thigh by the prison hospital authorities. On 27 June 1997, she appeared in court. On her body the examining medical officer reportedly found a number of irregular marks and scars that corroborated all of her testimony of being tortured.

936. Anura Sampath was reportedly taken on 30 December 1998 to the Moratuwa police station and beaten by police officers. The following day, his family was eventually informed by the officer-in-charge that he was dead. They reportedly found his body at the Kalubovilla Hospital. A post mortem inquiry reportedly found that he died from 24 internal injuries, probably caused by assault. The police reportedly stated, however, that he had died after allegedly jumping from the police jeep.

937. Sathasivam Sanjeevan died in police custody allegedly as a result of torture. He was reportedly arrested during a police search operation on 13 October 1998 in Paandiruppu and detained at the Almunai police station, where he was allegedly tortured. On 17 October 1998, the family reportedly went to the Amparai police station and then to the Government Hospital where they were informed that their son had been killed in an armed confrontation with the LTTE when he was being transferred to the Amparai station. A deep cut along his chest had reportedly been stitched up, his tongue severed and stitched together, and there were injuries on his head and hip. A second post-mortem inquiry ordered by the local magistrate confirmed signs of injuries by blunt weapons inflicted before the shooting. The second magisterial inquiry was still continuing.

941. T. Ranjani was allegedly arrested on 26 November 1997 in Colombo and tortured by police officers at the Cinnamon Gardens police station. She was reportedly examined by the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) who found that she had seven injuries and that they were consistent with her allegation that she was hit with a PVC pipe and with sticks.

942. Muthuthamby Vanitha was reportedly arrested on 19 November 1998 by the Kotahena police in Colombo. She allegedly attempted to seek asylum in France, from where she was deported back to Sri Lanka in early October and detained for one week, during which she was allegedly beaten with iron pipes on her stomach and not allowed to use the bathroom. She was examined by a JMO who is said to have found evidence of torture. She is currently at the Welikade women's prison, where she is reportedly receiving medical treatment but is still allegedly suffering from the aftereffects of torture.

943. Periyathamby Subramaniam was reportedly taken into custody on 8 June 1997, by the "Razeek Group", a group which is described as being affiliated to the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front. He was allegedly burnt, beaten with a wooden rod, burnt on his penis with a cigarette butt, nearly suffocated with a bag containing chilli powder and petrol, pricked with pins on his body, and stabbed with a knife on his shoulder. He was reportedly transferred to Patpodi army camp where melted polythene wax was allegedly poured over his legs and one of his finger nails was removed with pliers. He was also reportedly tortured in the Counter Subversive Unit of the police in Batticaloa.

944. Thirty-five young men and women were reportedly taken into custody during a round-up by the army from Manipay on 2 January 1997. They were allegedly detained at the Thavady camp, where they were interrogated about their identity. On the third day of their detention, three soldiers were reportedly killed in an ambush by the LTTE. The soldiers at the camp allegedly started beating the detainees with poles, cricket bats and electric wire. Plastic bags filled with gasoline and ants were allegedly placed over the detainees' heads. On the fourth day of their detention, they were reportedly transferred to Manipay army camp where some complained to the commanding officer about the torture. Later that night, soldiers allegedly came to beat them. Male detainees were allegedly hung upside down by their toes and made to inhale chilli fumes that were being burned under the ropes. They were also allegedly beaten with PVC pipes and wire, and were subjected to electric shocks. Nails are said to have been driven into their hands and feet.

945. Kanapathipillai Sasikumar was reportedly arrested on 3 April 1997, and detained at a tower behind the Indian High Commission, which is said to be a "safe house" used by members of the army. He was allegedly stripped naked, had a bag with gasoline and chili powder pulled over his head and tied to his neck, and was tied to a chair. He was reportedly beaten all over his body with broken legs of tables and chairs and with PVC pipes filled with concrete. His hands were allegedly tied behind his back and he was suspended from a ceiling fan by a nylon thread attached to his thumbs. He was allegedly administered electric shocks. On 5 April, he was reportedly handed over to the Crime Detection Bureau. A doctor at Nagoda government hospital recommended surgery to his penis, but up to October 1998, the authorities at Kalutara prison, where he is detained, are believed to have not acted accordingly.

946. Bathatha Jayatunga Gamage Malsha Kumari, a 14-year-old girl, was reportedly tortured by police at Hungama in September 1995. She was allegedly hung by her wrists from a tree in an effort to make her confess to theft. While she was in this position, she was reportedly beaten with rubber hoses and sticks on her heels and all over her body by four police men.

949. Velusamy Baskaran, Neelian Yogesan, Vadivel Kanagaratnam and Somasundaram Shanmugarajah, four members of the Tamil Traders Association at Nuwara Eliya, were reportedly arrested in mid-November 1998 and tortured during their detention. They were reportedly transferred from the police station to the Counter Subversive Unit office where they were severely beaten.

950. Michaelpillai Robert Wellington died allegedly as a result of torture while in army custody at Point Pedro army camp. He was reportedly arrested on 20 July 1998 and beaten. He was allegedly dragged by five soldiers to the army camp and by the next morning was dead. His body is said to have showed marks of severe beatings and knife marks across his entire body, and his hands were broken. His body had six gunshot wounds, allegedly inflicted after his death.

951. Vythilingam Thiruchelvam was reportedly arrested on 31 October 1997 by members of the armed forces at Sudalaiady junction. His hands were allegedly tied up with a rope and he was taken to Uruthirapuram, where he was forced to jump into a latrine. He is said to have received gunshots while in the latrine. A friend of his, Shanmugasuntharam, was allegedly shot dead. The latrine was reportedly then closed. After two days in the latrine, Vythilingam Thiruchelvam was reportedly able to escape.

952. Kanthasamy Kalanithy, a Tamil woman, was reportedly arrested on 25 June 1998 by the army chief of the Mirusuvil army camp, who is said to have wanted to force her to marry one of the Sinhalese soldiers. She allegedly had to stand in front of 10 soldiers, but refused to choose one. She was allegedly gang-raped and then killed. The soldiers refused to hand over her body for examination and they have allegedly attempted to threaten her parents into silence.

953. Vallipuram Suganthi, a 15-year-old Tamil woman, was reportedly arrested on 10 July 1997 by 12 police officers and taken to Wellawatte police station where it is reported that she was severely beaten. She was also allegedly threatened with rape if she did not sign a statement about her involvement with the LTTE, which she eventually did. On 25 July 1997, she was reportedly transferred to the Crime Division Bureau, where she was allegedly beaten with a wooden stick on the head three times and was then threatened with being killed. After her release, she is reported to have undergone medical treatment at the Family Rehabilitation Centre of Colombo.

954. Thambirajah Kamalathasan was one of 192 Sri Lankan asylum seekers who were reportedly arrested on 15 July 1998 and held in detention for several weeks after they were returned to Sri Lanka from Senegal. He was allegedly tortured for several days at the Pettah police station. He was allegedly hit with a rod, had chilli powder rubbed into his eyes, and his genitals were squeezed. He was reportedly transferred to the Terrorist Investigation Department on 21 July 1998, and was reportedly held on the 6th floor.

956. Kanapathipillai Navaratam was allegedly detained and tortured with her husband. They were reportedly arrested on 9 August 1997, when they were fishing in the Thalayady Sea. They were allegedly beaten with batons and electric wires. They were then reportedly transferred to the Navy camp at Trincomalee, where they were beaten by at least 10 Navy personnel. When they became unconscious due to the beatings they were reportedly given to the police. They were then reportedly interrogated for 17 days at police headquarters. They were allegedly hung upside down and beaten with batons, had salt water poured on them and were sprayed with chilli fumes over their wounds. They were reportedly then transferred to Poose detention camp and kept there for 10 months, during which time they were allegedly tortured continuously. After appearing in court, they were released under a general amnesty 21 days later from the Kagasean detention camp.

958. Veeraputhiran-Thevy fled to Paranthan when the Sri Lankan forces reportedly entered the Vadamaradchy area, and then to Mallavi. While en route from Vavunia, she was reportedly beaten by women police on 24 September 1998. She was allegedly hit on the hip, thigh and cheek with iron bars.

959. Krishanthy Kumarasamy, a Tamil, was allegedly raped by army and military officials at a checkpoint in Chemmani. Her mother Rasamma, her 16-year-old brother, Piranapan, and her neighbour, Kirupaharan Sithamparam, went to the Kaithady armycheck post that afternoon, asking for information on her. The soldiers allegedly denied any knowledge of her. When the mother refused to leave without her daughter the three of them were placed in army custody and on that night, they were allegedly strangled to death with rope. They were reportedly all buried in a shallow grave. On 24 October 1996, their decomposed bodies were allegedly brought to Colombo by plane. Her family allegedly received death threats several times from the Sri Lankan armed forces. Somaratne Rajapakse, one of the six members of the security forces who were found guilty of the rape, abduction and murder of the above-mentioned persons and were reportedly sentenced to death in July 1998 by the Colombo High Court, is said to have been assaulted by Welikade Prison guards on 23 August 1998. He reportedly sustained injuries to his mouth, below his left eye and his chest. He was subsequently visited at the hospital by one of the attackers, who is reported to have threatened him not to talk about the incident. During the trial, he reportedly revealed to the court that 300 to 400 other bodies were also buried at Chemmani, Jaffna district, where the body of Krishanthy Kumarasamy had been discovered. The attack on Somaratne Rajapakse is believed to have resulted from his refusal to sign a written statement, allegedly on the order of a Minister, to the effect that he had been emotionally disturbed at the time he made the statement to the High Court about the mass graves and that it had been untrue.

960. S. Selvarani, a deaf and dumb girl, was reportedly raped on 16 March 1998. She was allegedly riding her bicycle to visit a friend when she was stopped at the Meesalal checkpoint in Chavakachcheri. She was reportedly bound and gagged and then gang raped by several Sinhala soldiers. When she returned home she attempted to kill herself by dousing herself in kerosene and setting herself on fire. The authorities are said not to have taken any action regarding this case.

961. Ehamparam Damayanthi, a 15-year-old girl, was allegedly tortured and sexually assaulted by soldiers at the Patpodi army camp in February 1997. She was allegedly kicked, hit with clubs, had gasoline poured over her face, and was submerged in water. Soldiers also reportedly pinched her buttocks, touched her breasts and asked indecent questions. On 15 January 1998, the Supreme Court awarded the maximum amount in compensation for a 15-year-old girl. The court allegedly noted that the charges of torture were not denied by the soldiers.

962. Selvaratnam Ravinsagar was reportedly arrested in Trincomalee on 1 February 1997 by the police. He was reportedly interrogated about a girl who was accused of being a member of the LTTE. He was allegedly handcuffed and beaten by three policemen on the soles of his feet with a wooden bar and a PVC pipe. He was also allegedly hit under his chin with a hard shoe heel and a petrol-filled bag was allegedly put over his head. He was reportedly constantly interrogated about the above-mentioned girl, but he denied knowing her. He is reported to have eventually admitted knowing that this girl was part of the LTTE. After one week he was reportedly interrogated by a sub-inspector of the Crime Detection Bureau (CDB) in Colombo, where he was asked to sign a new statement. He allegedly refused and was beaten again with a wooden bar by the sub-inspector and two sergeants. He was held in the CDB cells for one month, during which time he was handcuffed in such a way that he was unable to lie down. He was then reportedly held in a cell for four months and a half.

963. Kandasamy Sri Ram was allegedly tortured by police at Mirihana police station after his arrest on 25 August 1999. He was reportedly given bail on 15 September. Police officers reportedly burnt his body with cigarette butts and he was electrocuted. Pins are said to have been driven into his nails and an iron rod was inserted into his anus. He has made complaints to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and the Committee to Inquire into Undue Harassment and Arrest. The results of their investigations are not yet known. He is currently receiving medical treatment for physical and psychological trauma.

964. Selvarajah Thenuka, a 10-year-old Tamil girl, from the village of Pathameny, was allegedly gang raped by soldiers at Atchuvely, on 11 November 1996. She was reportedly brought to the Puttur V C army camp where she was allegedly raped.

965. Srilal Priyantha, a journalist working for the Lakbima, an independent Sinhala-language newspaper, was reportedly arrested on 14 May 1999. He was reportedly accused of the murder of five individuals in the southern uprising of 1989 and 1990 and of having concealed his identity. He reportedly had in fact written articles which exposed the corruption and abuse of power of the security forces. After his arrest, he was reportedly tortured by members of the CID. During his interrogation he was allegedly stripped naked and severely assaulted by police officers. On 14 June 1999, he was reportedly admitted to the Colombo National Hospital to be treated for injuries allegedly sustained during his detention.

968. Luis Rama was reportedly detained on 20 July 1995 by the Sri Lankan Navy for two months. She was then allegedly transferred to the Magazine Prison where she was reportedly suspended by the ankles, cut with blades, burnt with cigarettes and had a bag put over her head. She reportedly had linear scars over her chest and legs, ranging from two to seven inches in length. She reportedly had multiple cigarette burn marks on her left breast, knee, back, and elbow. She was reportedly examined by the office of the JMO in Colombo on 17 May 1997.

969. Sivalingam Kajenthiran, a deaf and dumb man, was reportedly tortured and killed by soldiers. He was allegedly arrested by Sri Lankan soldiers out of suspicion that he was a LTTE spy.

970. Rasanayakam Uthayakumar was reportedly arrested by the Sri Lankan army at Nayanmarkaddu, on 23 October 1998. He was reportedly interrogated at the Gnanams hotel army camp in Jaffna town. On 27 October 1998, his wife was told that her husband was already dead when his body was brought to the Jaffna hospital by the army. The body reportedly showed signs of abuse, including marks on his left foot and right hand, which indicated that he had been tied in chains.

971. Sivam Ashokumar was reportedly arrested by the PLOTE on 24 January 1999, while he was working along the roadside, and was driven away in a minibus. He was reportedly brought to Vairapuliyankulam PLOTE camp on 24 January 1999, and transferred that day to Kovikulam PLOTE camp. He was reportedly chained for 26 days and beaten on the chest, legs and hands with a pole and electric wire. He was reportedly released on 4 March 1999.

973. Chandramalige Bernard Joseph Silva reportedly died at Kandana police station on 22 February 1999. He had reportedly been arrested on 22 February by officers of this police station and his dead body was reportedly handed over to the Ragama hospital by these officers on the following morning. His family was informed by the police that he had died of a heart attack and that he had been taken to the hospital. The Deputy Inspector General of the area was asked to undertake a proper inquiry into the case. The preliminary report of the post-mortem examination submitted by the JMO of Colombo North Hospital reportedly concluded that the deceased had sustained injuries due to repetitive, systematic and selective blows from blunt weapons.

Urgent appeals and replies received

974. On 8 March 1999, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Chairman of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on behalf of Silvam Ashokumar who had reportedly been arrested from his home in Vavuniya on 24 January 1999 by members of the PLOTE, and of Arumugam Pakkiri, alias Ieya, who had reportedly been arrested on 7 February 1999 by members of the PLOTE. Both were said to be have been arrested on suspicion of being LTTE members. They were reportedly held in incommunicado detention in an unknown place.

(Note: Due to limited space, we could not reproduce the Special rapporteur’s report on Sri Lanka, which extended to eight and a half pages, in full. Please refer to UN publication for further cases of torture. TCHR)

Report of the Committee against Torture General Assembly

Extracted from report of the Committee against Torture

(A/53/44 - 16/09/98 - General Assembly Official Records Fifty-third session)

P. Sri Lanka

4. Subjects of concern

249. The Committee is gravely concerned by information on serious violations of the Convention, particularly regarding torture linked with disappearances.

250. The Committee regrets that there were few, if any, prosecutions or disciplinary proceedings despite continuous Supreme Court warnings and awards of damages to torture victims.

251. The Committee notes the absence, until recently, of independent and effective investigation of scores of allegations of disappearances linked with torture.

252. The Committee noted that, while the Convention against Torture Act 22/94 covers most of the provisions of the Convention, there were certain significant omissions.

253. The question of the admissibility under the emergency regulation of confessions is also a matter of concern, as well as the absence of strict legislation governing detention consistent with international norms.

5. Recommendations

254. The Committee urges the State party to review Convention against Torture Act 22/94 and other relevant laws in order to ensure complete compliance with the Convention, in particular in respect of: (a) the definition of torture; (b) acts that amount to torture; and (c) extradition, return and expulsion.

255. The Committee furthermore recommends that the State party:

(a) Review the emergency regulations and the Prevention of Terrorism Act as well as rules of practice pertaining to detention to ensure that they conform with the provisions of the Convention;

(b) Ensure that all allegations of torture - past, present and future - are promptly, independently and effectively investigated and the recommendations implemented without any delay;

(c) While continuing to remedy, through compensation, the consequences of torture, give due importance to prompt criminal prosecutions and disciplinary proceedings against culprits;

(d) Take the necessary measures to ensure that justice is not delayed, especially in the cases of trials of people accused of torture;

(e) Strengthen the Human Rights Commission and other mechanisms dealing with torture prevention and investigation and provide them with all the means that are necessary to ensure their impartiality and effectiveness.

256. The Committee urges the State party to declare in favour of articles 21 and 22 of the Convention.

257. The Committee would be remiss if it did not acknowledge that the Sri Lankan delegation made every effort to make the dialogue with the Committee fruitful, so that the State party might be helped to put an end to violations of the Convention.

(Sri Lanka - initial report- CAT/C/28/Add.3)

RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE

Report submitted by Special Rapporteur Mr. Abdelfattah Amor

(E/CN.4/2000/65 - 15 February 2000)

Sri Lanka

95. Two Seventh Day Adventists, including a pastor and pastor’s son, were reportedly arrested in 1998 and are said to have been detained since then on the basis of apparently unjustified suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities. The Special Rapporteur would like to receive the views and comments of the Government of Sri Lanka as soon as possible.

UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR DISMAYED AT CONTINUING REPORTS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN SRI LANKA

(Press Release 14/03/2000)

The Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Radhika Coomaraswamy, says she is dismayed that the incidence of gang rape and murder of women and girls by Sri Lankan soldiers is continuing unabated in Sri Lanka. In a letter dated 13 March 2000, the Special Rapporteur expressed her grave concern over the lack of serious investigation of allegations of gang rape and murder of women and girls. She focused on three individual cases which had been brought to her attention:

Sarathambal Saravanbavananthakurukal, aged 29, was reportedly gang-raped and then killed by Sri Lankan navy soldiers on 28 December 1999 in Pungudutivu, near Jaffna Peninsula. Despite an order by the President to immediately investigate the events, it is reported that 'very little is being done to pursue the matter'.

Ida Caremelitta was allegedly gang-raped by five soldiers and then killed during the night of 12 July 1999 in Pallimunai village on Mannar Island. Five masked and heavily armed men reportedly entered the house where she and her family were sleeping, took Ms. Caremelitta outside and violently raped and then killed her. The post mortem report indicates that Ms. Caremelitta had been repeatedly raped and that her body had been sexually mutilated.

On 6 October 1998, Ms. Pushpamalar, aged 12, was allegedly detained while returning from school and raped by a soldier in Sangathaanai, Chavakachcheri, east of Jaffna.

In her letter, the Special Rapporteur also expressed concern about political violence in the south of the country affecting women in particular. She cited the case of Anoja Weerasinghe, an actress whose house was attacked on 24 December 1999 and 2 January 2000 reportedly because of her political activities, including speaking in support of the United National Party and picketing peacefully in Veyangoda on 17 November 1999 to protest attacks against actors and actresses.

The Special Rapporteur expressed the hope that every effort will be made to prevent further violations through the investigation of the alleged incidents and the prosecution of alleged perpetrators in a manner consistent with international human rights standards.

ASSASSINATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER

KUMAR PONNAMBALAM

Extracted from the report of the Special Rapporteur

on the independence of judges and lawyers

(E/CN.4/2000/61 - 21 February 2000 )

Sri Lanka

Communication to the Government

Communications from the Government

253. On 26 January 1999, the Government sent a letter to the Special Rapporteur in reply to his letter of 9 December 1998. The Government informed the Special Rapporteur, inter alia, that Mr. Ponnambalam had reportedly made a public statement on national television that he was a supporter of a well‑known terrorist group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE is banned in Sri Lanka. In view of the statement, the law enforcement authorities were obliged to carry out investigations as to the nature of Mr. Ponnambalam’s support. There was no prior decision to arrest Mr.Ponnambalam. Action would be taken to conduct an inquiry to ascertain the facts and if any wrongdoing is discovered appropriate legal proceedings would be instituted. Like any other citizen of Sri Lanka, Mr. Ponnambalam can challenge these legal proceedings, if and when they are instituted, in the courts, in particular in the Supreme Court, which has jurisdiction over fundamental rights in accordance with the Constitution of the country and the International Covenants on Human Rights.

Observations

Assassins of Kumar Ponnambalam

Protected by pro-government politician

Kumar assassins protected by politician

(“Lakbima” 8 March 2000)

According to the latest information in the grape vine, ACTC leader Kumar Ponnambalam was assassinated by hired assassins of the under world on the orders of a strong politician. Two people suspected of carrying out the killing “Army Ranjit” and “Saman” alias Kamalsiri from Moratuwa, are heard to be in hiding these days in the house in Kandy owned by the son of the above politician.

This politician’s son was introduced to these two killers by a police constable, through him the deal had been made. A motor cycle and a Pajero with darkened windows have been used during the shoot out which also have been used by the assassins to get away. A fax claiming the responsibility for this killing sent by an organisation called “National Movement against Tigers” was received by the writer of this article which was written at 2.30 am on the 6^th of January and faxed at 4.30 am and signed by one Wijaya Ranabahu. This fax, probably sent by the attention somewhere else, but nevertheless the govt was more or less blamed for the killing.

Interviews of Chief Investigator to news papers in Sri Lanka

Senior Superintendent of Police Bandula Wickramasinghe - Director, Crime Detection Bureau (CDB) - is the chief Police investigator of the assassination of Kumar Ponnambalam. He has given a few interviews to news papers in Colombo regarding the assassination.

Extracted from “The Sunday Leader” of March 19, 2000

Q: What progress have you made in the Kumar Ponnambalm murder case?

A: We have progressed very well. We have identified the real person. But we will not come out with the full story now. But I told Mrs. Ponnambalam that with my 33 years of experience and a feather in my cap, I will definitely solve this issue. I traced two witnesses with greatest difficulty. They refused to come forward. I had to go and beg from them to come forward and help us in this regard. Then only they made the statement and gave us a the artistic impression as well. And following this I have now identified who the person is. I won’t commit my self now by revealing further information. But I am 100 per cent sure that this case will end up successfully. Even the witnesses at home identified the person.

Q: But the family members have said you are investigating this murder case with a pre-conceived notion that the government has had no hand in it. Why is this?

A: All I can say is this. I don’t have divine powers. Let me further investigate into this and prove to everybody who has done it. That is all. In the field of crime I have lot experience. And using my experience I will do it. It will be another feather in my cap, if I prove this very soon.

Q: It has also been alleged that you had forced two domestic aides in Ponnambalam’s house to identify a Tamil suspect from Batticaloa. Is this correct?

A: No. Not correct. Why I should I force? Can you fool the country? Can you fool the people?

Q: It is believed that underworld figures connected to the government were responsible for the murder. What do you say?

A: There is no truth is it at all. Underworld has no such weapons to carry out such a cold murder. Even the police do not have such weapons. Of course the army has. The underworld may have T-56 and revolvers. That is all. Or they may have grenades. They don’t have any other weapons.

Extracted from “The Weekend Express” of May 6-7, 2000

Q: Did you make any break through in the Kumar Ponnambalam assassination case?

A: I told Mrs. Ponnambalam that I am not a racist. Anybody who committed the murder would be brought to book. I have made very good success in this case but I cannot tell to which community he belonged. We have got a very good clue and already traced and photographs have been identified by the two domestic servants of the late Mr. Ponnambalam. I think we will announce it when we have 100 per cent confirmation.

Kumar’s Assassin refused for Identification

(“Ravaya” of May 25, 2000)

A request made by the wife of assassinated ACTC leader Kumar Ponnambalam from CID Director Bandula Wickramasinghe to arrange for an identification parade of “Moratuwa Saman” suspected to be the person calling over at Kumar’s residence on the day he was killed and in police custody now, was turned by the latter on the grounds that it has been established that the LTTE did the killing and there is no need for such an identification.

Many leading newspapers alleged that it was this “Saman”, who is wanted by the police for many murders and robberies that actually killed Kumar Ponnambalam.

Kumar Ponnambalam’s killers traced

(Government owned “Daily News” June 15, 2000)

The Colombo Detective Bureau (CDB) probing the killing of All Ceylon Tamil Congress leader Kumar Ponnambalam yesterday told the Daily News that they have identified the two underworld characters alleged to have killed Mr. Ponnambalam at Ramakrishna Road, Wellawatta on January 5.

Director CDB Senior SP Badula Wickremasinghe who is conducting investigations on the direction of Colombo DIG Bodhi Liyanage revealed that a Police Constable had telephoned the CDB headquarters and informed them that he was responsible for giving the contract to Morotuwa Saman and Sujeewa to kill Mr. Ponnambalam.

He has told the police that he knew Mr. Ponnambalam for a couple of months and had associated with him closely under the name of Shantha. On the day of the incident he requested Mr. Ponnambalam to come with him to go to Ramakrishna Road for a private errand.

While entering the Ramakrishna Road, he had requested Kumar to stop the vehicle and got off the car. As arranged earlier, the underworld characters had gunned down Mr. Ponnambalam. Later all three of them got into a three wheeler and escaped. He had told Mr. Wickremasinghe that he would soon surrender to the CDB. But Mr. Wickremasinghe said he had deployed a special police team to arrest the suspect.

POLITICAL LINK IN KUMAR KILLING?

(Extracted from “The Sunday Times” of June 18, 2000)

Police probing the assassination of ACTC leader Kumar Ponnambalam in early January are looking into a possible political connection, investigators said yesterday. The political link to the murder is being probed after it was confirmed that a reserve police constable had ordered the contract hit using underworld operatives.

Police have begun a massive hunt for the constable after his name emerged following the arrest of two underworld hit-men who are alleged to have planned the killing and later fired the fatal bullets at Mr. Ponnambalam. The two underworld operatives identified as Moratuwa Saman and Sujeewa were wanted by police in connection with series of criminal activities, largely robberies, extortion and intimidation of certain political elements.

They have repeatedly told investigators that the hit on Mr. Ponnambalam was carried out purely for patriotic reasons and that there was nothing else to it. The police however, will investigate further. There are also reports that the son of a VIP is alleged to have attempted to use some kind of friendly persuasion seeking the release of ‘Moratuwa Saman’ according to sources.

Mr. Ponnambalam’s widow had earlier requested the CDB to conduct a parade to identify the suspects, but the CDB turned it down on the grounds that Moratuwa Saman had been taken in for other cases. However, in a sudden change, the CDB has now identified the Moratuwa Saman as the suspect involved in the killing of Mr. Ponnambalam.

Kumar’s killers in seven murders

(Extracted from “The Weekend Express” of June 17-18, 2000)

Suspected assassins of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) Leader, Kumar Ponnambalam, were arrested this week through a tip-off given to the Kesalwatte Police Station, senior police source said yesterday.

Latest police investigations reveal that the killers, Sujeewan and Moratuwa Saman were told to come to the alleged place where the late Mr. Ponnambalam was last seen, by reserve policeman Sugath Ranasinghe alias Shantha, who was a close friend of Sujeewa and Moratuwa Saman and of the late ACTC leader. However, police said that Shantha had left the police during the conspiracy to kill Mr. Ponnambalam.

Are politicians involved in Kumar Ponnambalam assassination kept hidden?(“RAVAYA” of Sunday June 18, 2000)

CID Director Bandula Wickramasinghe told media last 15th that a reserve Police Constable has confessed to planning the assassination of ACTC leader Kumar Ponnambalam and that he hired two killers Moratuwa Saman and Sujeewa, who are now in police custody, to do the job. Adding that these two assassins have also confessed he stated that the two pistols used for the killing have been discovered. "Ravaya" of the 23rd of April published in its lead "Ponnambalam assassination suspect arrested: Investigations suppressed" that Moratuwa Saman actually killed Kumar and the assassination was planned by a Police constable, who is in possession of Kumar's'' cellular phone. It also added that these two belonged to a killer gang functioning with the govt protection. When Mrs. Ponnambalam contacted the CID director requesting an identification parade to identify the suspect, it was politely turned down saying the suspect is not assassin of her husband but Kumar was killed by the LTTE. Now he has admitted these facts himself.

However in order to divert the attention from the investigation he goes on to add that the killing was done on the insistence of the Police constable. "Moratuwa Saman" is a well-known criminal who was wanted in connection with 15 murders and a string of armed robberies. Though the police knew his whereabouts, he was arrested quite accidentally while they were deliberately trying to evade his arrest on the orders of a deputy minister. It was beddagane Sanjiwa from the Presidential Security Division, who actually coordinated between these criminals and gave them these contracts. In addition to Kumar's killing, this gang is involved in killing "Satana" editor Rohana Kumara and the attack on singer duo Rukantha and Chandralekha. This gang as a habit walks away with the cellular phones of their victims. They took away Rukantha's cellular phone. It was known that the "Lakbima" cameraman's phone was also taken by this gang when they attacked media men on 15 July. This was later given to a third party by a PSD officer. However, police investigations in to this too have been abandoned by now. As "Ravaya" has revealed, the police knows that a person who knows everything about Journalist Rohana Kumar's assassination is in Jail but no attempts have been made to investigate it.

Witnesses asked to demand the suspects to open their mouths !

On 3rd July 2000 an Identification Parade was held in the courts in Colombo to identify one of the suspects in the assassination of Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam. The witnesses were forced by Mr Bandula Wickramasinghe - Senior Superintendent of Police, to demand that the suspects lined up in the parade open their mouths to expose their teeth!

Mr. Bandula Wickramasinghe instructed the witness to identify the man with the unusual teeth as the real suspect! Since, in fact, the witnesses did not see the man called Shantha whom they had seen at Mr Ponnambalam’s residence, and for whose identification the ID Parade was organised, they could not identify anyone. The incident has been well publicised in the Colombo media, and proves that Mr. Wickeramasinghe - SSP is misleading the witnesses and manipulating the investigation into Mr Ponnambalam’s assassination. (TCHR).

ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND CULTURAL SITUATION

EDUCATION

Shrine in disrepair and sanctity defiled

4 March 2000 - The group of Tamil devotees from the Sri Lanka's capital who went to observe the Saivite festival of Maha Sivarathiri at the ancient Shiva temple at Thiruketheesawaram occupied by the Sri Lankan army returned to Colombo with reports that the shrine was in disrepair and its sanctity had been defiled.

The tempe is in the Mannar main land on the north-western coast of the island. The government promised to withdraw troops from the precincts of the temple following protests by Tamils locally and internationally. A former UN consultant threatened to fast unto death if troops were not withdrawn from the temple.

The devotees who visited the temple said that most parts of the shrine except its sanctum sanctorum had been desecrated and that the temple was in state of disrepair. The Army took only a stipulated number of devotees in buses on Maha Sivarathiri day to Thiruketheeswaram temple. The windows of these buses were shut and were completely covered with paper. Devotees from Mannar were allowed to go to Thiruketheeswaram only after being finger printed and voided by the Army.

The Mannar devotees were then issued special identity cards and travel passes by the army before they were taken in the covered buses to the temple to observe the Maha Sivarathiri vigil and bathe in the Palaavi river the morning after.

The temple drew thousands of Tamil pilgrims from all over the island during this time of the year before the army moved into its precincts in 1990.

Temples, schools in Batticaloa ordered to closed

22 March 2000 - The Sri Lanka Air Force ordered that a school and a temple in Batticaloa be closed immediately as they are within the land allocated for the future expansion of its base near the eastern town.

Air Force officials in Batticaloa summoned trustee board members of the Sri Sithivinayagar temple and the authorities Sri Vigneswara Vidyalayam, the affected school, to a conference at the Airbase and ordered them to close down both institutions forthwith.

As the orders had been quite strict the management of the temple vacated the precincts before noon according to a trustee board member. Air Force officials warned that no one would be allowed to enter the temple. The temple and Sri Vigneswara Vidyalam (school) serves the villages of Puthunagar, Veechukalmunai, Sethukudha, Thimilaitheivu and Vavunathievu.

Jaffna University boycotted lectures

7 April 2000 - Jaffna University Students were boycotting lectures demanding army authorities to permit civilians held up in the war zone to leave the area.

The Students Union said about 3,500 civilians are being held by the government troops as human shields in the villages of Pallai, Pachchilaipalli, Maasar, Soranpattu and Sinnathalayadi area and are barred from communicating with relatives. The students demand that immediate steps should be taken to allow these civilians to proceed to safer areas.

School shifted due to Navy attacks

29 April 2000- According to the Department of Education officials in Mutur, the Government Tamil Mixed School (GTMS) in Ilankanthai has been shifted to a safer location in the interior for fear of attacks by Sri Lanka Naval gunboats. The classes for the children were conducted under trees following the Navy attack as there are no buildings in the interior for running the school. Several huts and a school were damaged in the shelling.

The school building was amaged on two occsions in past when the village was bombarded by Navy gunboats. The civilians in villages of Soodaikudah and Ilakanthai say that the Navy gun boats generally fire indiscriminately on the coast from a safe distance at sea.

World Bank urges to exert pressure on the Ministry of Education

29 June 2000  The World Bank team visiting Sri Lanka told a delegation of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union -CTTU that the money allocated by World Bank for the construction of quarters for teachers serving in the war-torn areas in the Northeast province had not been utilized by the authorities.

The World Bank had allocated this money to the Sri Lankan Government to provide quarters to teachers as an incentive for them to serve in war-torn areas. Not a single cent has been utilized for this purpose, the visiting World Bank team told the CTTU delegation. CTTU has complained that the Northeast Ministry of Education had not implemented a scheme to pay incentive allowance to teachers who serve in difficult areas.

The World Bank team requested the CTTU delegation to exert pressure on the Northeast Ministry of Education to construct quarters for teachers serving in war-torn areas. This World Bank team was in Sri Lanka assessing the progress made in the implementation of the new education reforms, funded by the World Bank.

HEALTH

Construction work of Ayurvedhic hospital blocked

4 March 2000 - The construction work on the first district Siddha Ayurvedhic hospital of the North-eastern province was blocked by the Government Agent of Trincomalee due to pressure from Buddhist organisations.

The land allocated for the Siddha Ayurveda hospital is likely to be acquired by the Trincomalee Government Agent for the extension of the Sangamitta Buddhist Pilgrims Rest near Samudragama, a state backed settlement of Sinhala encroachers. The hospital was to be built in two stages by the Northeast Provincial Department of Indigenous Medicine 'Siddha Ayurveda'. When the first stage of this project commenced in January this year, the Government Agent went to the site and ordered the contractor to stop all construction work at the site forthwith.

Following this the Divisional Secretary, as directed by the Government Agent, instructed the Provincial Director of Indigenous Medicine to stop all building work until another suitable land was found for the hospital. The Buddhist organizations have played a vital role in pressurizing the Government Agent to stop the construction work on the proposed District Siddha Ayurveda hospital project. The Trincomalee Government Agent has always worked systematically against Tamil interests in the district.

Security forces blocked ICRC medical supplies

20 April 2000 - Sri Lankan security forces prevented the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from taking its Ministry of Defence authorised medical supplies for its mobile and primary health clinics in the Vanni. The civilians in the Vanni relied on the ICRC facilities.

According to the ICRC spoke person “ICRC has sought permission from the Ministry of Defence for 45 types of drugs. The Ministry of Defence gave clearance but considerably reduced the quantities. “However, the security forces in Vavuniya blocked 31 items completely and further reduced the quantities of the 14 which permitted, even though we had the Ministry of Defence clearance. "As a result, there was hardly anything we could take in," spoke person said.

Surgery closed down

7 May 2000 - The surgery of the Mallavi hospital and two branches of the Mullaithivu hospital were closed down due to a severe shortage of medical supplies in the Vanni. The Medicine Sans Frontier - MSF and the ICRC have raised concern over the shortage of medicine in the Vanni due to blocking by the Sri Lanka army. It was reported in 1998 that 36,515 patients in the Mullaitivu District reporting fever, 16,936 tested positive for malaria and 3,239 had cerebral malaria, which damages the brain and 60 percent of children suffered third- degree malnutrition.

10 April 2000 - Hospitals in Vanni have not received their first quarter allocation of Medicines, X-ray films and laboratory chemicals which is seriously affecting treatment of patients. According to the Hospital authorities they are already experiencing shortages as only 30% of the required supplies reached Vanni hospitals during the second half of 1999.

Permission not granted for ambulances

9 May 2000 - The ambulances donated by the UNICEF to the Mallavi, Kilinochchi, and Mullaithivu hospitals in the Vanni cannot be sent because Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence is continuing to delay permission.

The three ambulances were donated by the UNICEF to help medical authorities in the Vanni cope with the problem of handling serious emergency cases that cannot be treated there due to a severe lack of drugs and intensive care facilities for surgery. Health department officials in Vavuniya said the few ambulances that are currently in service in the Vanni are in a very bad condition due to the dilapidated roads and jungle paths of the region.

Short supply of medicine / malaria epidemic / undernutrition

- Supply of medicines for the first quarter of this year were allowed only in May. But all medicines were drastically cut. Even though 185 patients were admitted for surgical operations - only 49 major operations were carried due to lack of medicines.

- In November 99, the mortality rate among the 710 patients admitted to Mallavi hospital was 4%, while the rate for children under 12 years was 6.5%.

- According to the report of Redd Barna Norwegian NGO, undernutrition among children in Sri Lanka is 37%, but in the Vanni it is high than 70%.

- In 1999,216,000 people were treated in Kilinochchi hospital, 31,600 for malaria At Mallavi hospital, 158,000 people were treated, including for malaria, septicaemia and diarrhoea.

- During 1997 and 1998, 53% of the 430,240 malaria patients in Sri Lanka were from Vanni and Kilinochchi Districts. 80% of the 182 deaths due to malaria were in these districts.

FOOD

Malnutrition - half a million displaced persons

There continues to be serious problems with access to food for most of the hundreds of thousands of displaced persons, in the Vanni, due to the economic embargo imposed on the area by the Sri Lankan government. For about ten years food and essential items have been severely restricted. Many NGOs have stated in international human rights forums such as the Commission on Human Rights and Sub-Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights that these severe and cruel restrictions on food supply, is tantamount to using food as a weapon of war against the civilian population.

Deaths due to starvation

Earlier this year the Government Agents of both Mullaithivu and Kilinochchi Districts reported that “starvation among the population is identified and acute shortage of essential drugs is also experienced”. As the people are malnourished their vulnerability to epidemics grows. Around 500,000 people suffer from malnutrition in the Vanni, according to NGOs in the region. Malnutrition has reached grave levels causing a series of deaths. Treatment for anaemia due to malnutrition is difficult because of lack of availability of blood for transfusion.

From time to time the people have been demonstrating in large numbers at the offices of aid agencies and local officials. The injustice of being denied food to such a huge number of persons is really very serious. They demonstrate in the hope that some action will be taken on their behalf, and that the international community will react and exert influence on the government to rectify the situation, and allow basic food supplies to reach the people.

Fishing families unable to work to feed families

In the coastal village of Pesalai, west of Mannar, the fishermen have had their kerosene for their boats confiscated by the Sri Lankan army, despite the fact that their supplies were cleared by the Sri Lanka army and the police. Families that rely on the supply of fish for their daily food, especially those in the local refugee camp, are affected. Such difficulties are forcing them to seek refuge and access to food across the water in Tamil Nadu.

No food for displaced in Peninsula

There are problems in the Jaffna Peninsula too. In the “Ootru” survey report it was revealed that sixty seven per cent of the school children in Jaffna are undernourished. This high level of undernourishment among these children is due to bloated prices of essentials, unemployment and death of breadwinners in many families. There are 20,000 widows in the Peninsula with no regular means of income. Recently there have been additional problems, for those displaced yet again due to the war situation.

Local officials and Catholic church sources said on April 1^st that they were quickly running out of rice gruel for more than 7500 persons displaced in the Pallai sector due to the war situation. They said that there had been no funds or supplies to feed the people who fled the shelling in Pallai and Maasar, north of the Elephant Pass garrison, since Monday, March 27 as all civilian transport had come to a halt because of the fighting on the A9 highway and the interior between Pallai and Eluthumadduval.

International and local humanitarian agencies based in Jaffna town were not able to respond to this crisis so far the officials and church workers said. The Catholic church was the only organisation assisting the people arriving from the war zone. The condition of the refugees was deplorable and there were only seven priests from the Jaffna Catholic Church who were already overworked. Their cassocks were splattered with blood and mud as many war wounded came also with the newly displaced people.

The Chavakachcheri Divisional Secretary (DS), Mr.S. Sundarampillai declined to give cooked food for the refugees arriving in Mirusuvil from the war zone on the ground that he had to first get permission from the Jaffna Kachcheri to do so. The refugee crisis could turn acute with the expected arrival of the thousands held up at Kilali later that day Jaffna Catholic Church sources said. The situation could deteriorate further because of the Divisional Secretary's refusal to provide cooked food and the inability or reluctance of the international aid agencies in Jaffna to visit the Mirusuvil area.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), however, handed out non food relief items to about 109 persons who arrived in Jaffna town from the war zone when the fighting broke out.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

EU sponsored seminar questioned

2 May 2000 - The Counter Subversive Unit of the Sri Lankan Police questioned a senior Tamil journalist regarding a seminar sponsored by the European Union in Batticaloa in April. The CSU interrogated Mr.R.Thurairatnman, the Batticaloa correspondent for the Tamil daily Thinakaran, the Daily News and the Sri Lankan Broadcasting Corporation, and recorded a statement from him regarding the participants and purpose of the EU sponsored seminar.

The CSU had later contacted an official of the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA), a joint organiser of the seminar and exchange program, and obtained from him a list of the journalists who took part in the event. An organiser of the seminar said that the general tenor of the CSU investigation appears to be aimed at framing or intimidating some senior Tamil journalists and regional correspondents who report on the war.

The European Union sponsored the seminar and inter-provincial exchange program for Tamil, Sinhala and Muslim journalists in Batticaloa on April 21 and 22 in conjunction with many local organisations. The program was designed to build better understanding and rapport between Sinhala media persons and Tamil speaking journalists, particularly regional correspondents. This CSU investigation shows that Tamil journalists continue to remain vulnerable to arrest, interrogation and detention by outfits.

Promulgation of draconian measures against printing presses in Sri Lanka

4 May 2000 - The Sri Lankan President promulgated draconian measures under the public security ordinance banning all activities perceived as a threat to national security. Under these regulations, the government can take possession of ships, planes and vehicles and other assets from the public for national security purposes and for the maintenance of the essential services. The regulations also provide for the government to ban any publication and seize printing presses.

The regulations were gazetted on 3 May 2000. The promulgation has been made under Section 40 of the Public Security Ordinance. The government can seize the buildings and any other assets of any person found guilty under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and obtain the services of anyone in the national interests or to run the essential services.

The printing, distribution and selling of some publications that are not acting in the interests of national security will be banned. The government will have the right to seize printing presses acting in contravention of the regulations promulgated. Persons engaging in such acts will be arrested. Displaying banners and posters and distributing leaflets are banned.

Those who speak against the President, the constitution and the judiciary will be severely punished. Strikes and organising strikes are banned. The government has the authority to close the bank accounts of organisations which engage in strike action. The right to arrest any person has been granted to the Police and officers appointed for the purpose by the commanders of the Sri Lanka Army, Air Force and Navy.

Foreign media censored

4 May 2000 - The Sri Lankan Government renewed press censorship on the foreign media. Sri Lanka's local media have been subject to censorship since last year. However, Colombo-based foreign media had been exempted. Minister of post, telecommunications and media has said that all war-related reports shall be submitted to the censor.

Newspapers shut down

19 May 2000 - The Sri Lanka army sealed the Jaffna daily, Uthayan. According to a jounalist at the paper, soldiers who went to the paper's office in Jaffna town locked the building, cut the phone lines and took the keys away. Earlier the Army warned the Uthayan paper's assistant general manager and associate editor for publishing a story about the Sri Lankan President's meeting with Indian Air Force commander.

22 May 2000 - The Sunday Leader (English news paper), one of Sri Lanka's main newspapers was closed down by the government on 22 May 2000. No reason had been given.
The Sunday Leader has been critical of the ruling People's Alliance for a considerable period.

ARBITARY ARRESTS AND KILLINGS INCLUDING THOSE RELATED TO DISAPPEARANCES

Arbitrary arrest/Detention/ Torture

3 UNP organisers arrested in Batticaloa

Three organisers of the UNP in Batticaloa, Sinnathamby Kathirkamathamby, W. Fernando and Rudra Ignatius were arrested in Batticaloa on 3 February 2000 by a special CID team from Colombo. The chief UNP organiser for the district Mr. Rajan Sathiyamoorthy surrendered later on 10 February to the Police. The four are being held by the CID for investigations under the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

UNP MP questioned by CID

8 March 2000 - Mr. Alisahir Moulana, United National Party member of Parliament for Batticaloa was grilled by officers of the Criminal Investigation Division CID of the Sri Lankan Police for five hours.
Mr. Moulana was summoned to the CID head quarters and had been questioned at length. The UNP had got in touch with the Inspector General of Police about the interrogation of the MP.

Mr. Moulana was questioned about the activities of the four Batticaloa UNP organisers who were arrested last month by a special CID team and about the party's election campaign work in those parts of the eastern district. The CID had asked the MP about the identity of some LTTE leaders in his district sources close to him said.

Batticaloa MP subjected to search

11 March 2000 - Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, Member of Parliament for Batticaloa district and the Leader of the Parliamentary Group of the Tamil United Liberation Front was subjected to severe search at Mannampity security post.
Security personnel examined his bags and baggage's although he identified himself as a Parliamentarian.

Mr.Pararajasingham left Batticaloa in his official vehicle with his police escort to Colombo. At Mannampity security check point he was subjected to severe search by the police. His vehicle was also thoroughly searched by the security police personnel.

Six Tamils arrested in Colombo

12 March 2000 - Six Tamils have been arrested in Colombo by the investigations arm of the Sri Lankan Police. The director of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Police, said today that his section has arrested these persons in Dehiwela, a suburb in the capital's southern sector, and in Pettah in downtown Colombo.

200 arrested in Amparai

13 March 2000 - Nearly 200 people from Attapallam village in the south eastern Ampara district were detained by the Special Task Force during a search operation. Most of them taken in for questioning are agricultural laborers who had gone to the village for paddy harvesting from other areas. Attapallam village is Tamil village in Ninthavur electorate, about 20 km. east of Amparai town.

White van abductions in Vavuniya

15 March 2000 - A young woman and a youth have been abducted by unidentified men in a white van in the northern town of Vavuniya.
Ponnaiah Sureshini, 24, of Marukaarampalai junction on the Vavuniya-Mannar road was abducted at Pandaarikulam, while she was on her way to the village administrative office.

Kalimuththu Kovintharajah, 25, was abducted from his house in Vepankulam, by a group of armed personnel who came in a white van. According to a complaint made by his relatives, the abductors, 3 men and 3 women, came in a white van and took away Kovintharajah around 9 p.m. The men were in civil and women were in military fatigues. He has been missing since then.

Germany deported Tamils arrested at Airport

17 March 2000 - Sri Lankan Police took two Jaffna Tamils deported from Germany into custody at Katunayake International Airport.
Both Tamils, Vaitilingam Suthaharan and Subramaniam Theiventhran, permanent residents of Jaffna, were ordered on remand by the Negombo Magistrate. According to German Embassy spokesman, 150 Sri Lankans who had been refused asylum were deported last year.

Mother and 7 month old child arrested

21 March 2000 - A 30 year old woman, Sukanthi Narenthiran, was arrested at Kaluwanchikudi in the Batticaloa District by a CID team from Kandy. She was taken to Kandy for questioning along with her 7 month old child. Her husband, Narenthiran, was summoned for questioning.

More arrests in Vavuniya

22 March 2000 - Five civilians including four employees of the main Post Office in Vavuniya were arrested by a special team of the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) of the Sri Lankan Police from Colombo. An employee of a Jewellery shop in Vavuniya town was also taken into custody by the Police investigators from Colombo. See summary report, Arrests, cases 035-039 for names.

Three arrested in Trincomalee

23 March 2000 - Three youths were arrested during a combined search operation by the Sri Lanka Army and police in the Mutur Town area in the Trincomalee District. Three Tamil youths-two from Menkamam and one from Sampoor, villages were taken into custody. The youths were brought down to Trincomalee town for further interrogation.

Seven arrested in the East

24 March 2000  Seven Tamil villagers were arrested by the Sri Lanka Army near the district border between Ampara and Batticaloa. Eight persons including an eight year-old boy were travelling in a tractor from 13th milepost towards Malayarkadu in Ampara district for work. The Army arrested the seven adults near Malayarakadu. The eight-year old boy was abandoned alone at the spot.

The boy, however, managed to find his way home and told his family and others in his village that the Army had taken all the adults who were with him into custody. On representations made villagers, Mr.Joseph Pararajasingham, Parliamentarian of Batticaloa district contacted the Army authorities at Amparai.

The Army first denied the arrest. Later the Army admitted that troops had arrested seven persons travelling in a tractor in Malayarkaddu and that they had been handed over to the Police for further inquiries.

Tamils youths arrested in Colombo

29 April 2000 - Eight Tamil youth, including two girls, were arrested in Colombo. The boys and girls were taken into custody by the Sri Lankan Police during a search conducted in several lodges in the suburb of Bambalapitiya.

The eight youth are from various parts of the island's northern and eastern provinces.
Police claimed that the youth were arrested because they did not have any valid reasons for their presence in Colombo. They are being interrogated in detention at the Bambalapitiya Police station.

Several arrests in Batticaloa

27 May 2000 - At least 25 persons were arrested during a search operation by the Sri Lanka Army in the Thaandavanveli area in the Batticaloa. The arrested are being interrogated at the Batticaloa police station. Meanwhile, Sarumathy Krishnapillai (24) from Palukamam in Batticaloa was arrested by the Sri Lankan police. The young woman was employed at a garment factory and was staying at Wattale.

In another incident Sri Lankan police arrested Kanapathipillai Kangeswaran, 34, of Batticaloa at Manampitty check post. He was on his way to work in a paddy field at Kaduruvela in the neighbouring Pollanaruwa district when he was arrested. In Kalmunnai, the Special Task Forces arrested S.M.Nizar, 23 May 2000.

Tamil journalist arrested

28 May 2000 - The Sri Lankan Police arrested a senior journalist of the state run Tamil daily, Thinakaran. The Tamil journalist, Arul Sathiyanathan, was arrested in his home at Talawakella in the hill country district of Nuwara Eliya. Mr. Sathiyanathan was taken into custody by the Police although he had shown them proof that he was a senior accredited journalist at Thinakaran.

8 youths arrested in Batticaloa

4 June 2000 - Eight youths were arrested when the Sri Lanka Army soldiers and Police conducted a cordon and search operation in Kokkuvil, a village 4 km. north of Batticaloa. The troops used masked spotters during the search. The youths who were identified by the spotters were taken to the Batticaloa police station.

58 University students arrested

8 June 2000 - Sri Lankan police arrested 58 Tamil undergraduate students of the Engineering Faculty at the University of Moratuwa, south of Colombo. The police imposed an unofficial curfew in Moratuwa .

Sexual abuse by Sri Lanka soldiers on Tamil detainees

9 June 2000 - At least 1 in 5 male Tamil detainees in Sri Lanka have suffered sexual abuse, including rape, according to The Lancet, the British medical weekly. "We believe that sexual abuse of Tamil men in detention is common in Sri Lanka," a report by the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture published in The Lancet said, adding that the number of victims "is probably higher [than 20%] as some will not have reported it."

Based on examinations of 184 detainees, a group of 17 doctors contributed to the Medical Foundation's report. Of the 184 men, 38 said they had been sexually abused during their detention. Three of the 38 said they had been given electric shocks to their genitals, 26 had been assaulted on their genitals, and four had sticks pushed through the anus, usually with chillies rubbed on the stick first.

One said he had been forced to masturbate a soldier manually, three had been made to masturbate soldiers orally, and one had been forced with his friends to rape each other in front of soldiers for their "entertainment". Of the men who said they had been sexually abused, 11 reported being raped as part of that sexual abuse.

Cordon and search operation

9 June 2000 - In another incident, four people, including a woman, were arrested when the police searched a rice mill in Welikande in Batticaloa.

13 June 2000 - A large number of Sri Lanka Army soldiers and police cordoned off Muttur town, south of Trincomalee, in its entirety and conducted a search operation. At least 25 people were detained on suspicion during the search. Residents were herded to the town hall and interrogated in front of masked spotters.

More than 150 police personnel from Trincomalee, and about one hundred Army soldiers from Kallady camp were sent to the Muttur town to conduct the search. Meanwhile six people from Amparai district who went to work in paddy fields in the Polonaruwa district were arrested by the Army soldiers. Those arrested are being detained at the Anuradhapura prison.

6774 Tamils arrested in Colombo since July 1999

July 1999 152 January 2, 2000 2246

August 275 January 6^th 3000

September 80 February 157 (whole month)

October 560 March 37

November 60 April 55

December 49 May 45

June 58 (Until 15th)

Total arrests in Colombo = 6774

Arbitrary Killings

JMC member killed

1 March 2000  An unidentified youth shot and killed a member of the Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC), representing the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) in Jaffna Town. Mr. Anton Sivalingam was talking to another JMC member when the armed youth entered his house at 4th Cross Street and opened fire. He died on the spot. His body was taken to the Jaffna Hospital.

Youth killed in Mannar

26 March 2000 - In Mannar, the Special Task Force units from Semmantheevu and Naanaattaan had gone to cordon off and search Vaalkaipetraan Kandal had opened fire on two youth who had tried to get away on a motor bicycle. The pillion rider was shot dead while the other escaped. The Special Task Forces had arrested some people from the village following the shooting and took them away according to an unconfirmed report from Murunkan.

Indian fisherman dies in custody in Sri Lanka

March 28 2000 - A Tamil Nadu fisherman arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy in February near Kachchathivu died in custody. A human rights lawyer who went to see his body at the government hospital in Colombo charged that he died due to neglect of the injuries sustained when Sri Lanka Navy personnel assaulted him during arrest in the high seas.

The fisherman , Velsamy Rajah, 38, was taken into custody by the Sri lanka Navy near Kachchathivu on February 19 for fishing in Sri Lankan waters. He was produced before the Mannar courts and was then sent to the remand prison at Welikada in Colombo.

Velsamy was later transferred to the Police special detention camp in Mirihana where he fell ill. He died after being admitted to the government hospital in Kalubowila, an outer suburb of Colombo. Velsamy Rajah is from S.T.C Road in Vaithiyanathapuram in Madurai 10.

19 killed in a bomb explosion in Batticaloa

17 May 2000 - At least 19 people, including 4 Sri Lanka Army soldiers and a police officer were killed when a powerful bomb exploded in Batticaloa. Forty-two civilians and 21 members of the security forces were wounded in the blast.

The blast occurred near Mangalaramaya Vihare close to the Batticaloa police station.
A large number of people had gatherd at the venue to see Wesak celebrations at the Buddhist temple when the bomb which was believed to have been fixed to a bicycle of an ice cream vendor exploded, the police said.

15 killed and 31 wounded at home for aged in Jaffna

19 May 2000 - Aid agency sources in the north said that 15 persons were killed and 31 wounded at the home for the aged in Kaithady, east of Jaffna town, when it was hit by artillery shells. The Sri Lankan army has been shelling the general area of Kaithadi heavily since the Liberation Tigers overran its positions in and around this junction town on May 17.

According to a reliable source the bodies of the home's inmates who were killed in the shelling were blown to pieces. Eleven inmates of the Kaithady home for aged were killed on the spot and thirty five were seriously wounded when the shells hit the building and the premises.

Four of the wounded elders died later due to inadequate medical facilities in the area due to economic embargo to the peninsula. Aid agencies sources in Jaffna who came to know of the incident said they are not in a position to visit the scene as the shells continues to fall.

Shelling killed six in Batticaloa

24 May 2000  In Batticaloa said six civilians living close to the Sri Lanka army camp in a Batticaloa suburb were killed when a shell hit their garden. The Army base is located close to the coast in Batticaloa town's southern suburb of Kallady. Three civilians in the neighbourhood were wounded.

Bomb kills Sri Lankan minister

June 7, 2000 - A senior Sri Lankan government minister was assassinated by a suicide bomber in the capital, Colombo. Industry Minister CV Gooneratne and 20 others died in the attack which took place during celebrations honouring the country's war heroes. Dozens of people were wounded - including the minister's wife.

The police have blamed the attack on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The minister was attacked as he was collecting donations for the army in his constituency in Colombo. One eyewitness said he saw a man approach the minister as he walked in a parade in front of a big crowd. He then embraced him before setting off the bomb. "I heard a huge explosion and then saw parts of bodies flying around. I can't remember what happened immediately after that," said another bystander. A BBC correspondent says questions have been raised about a possible breach of security, which allowed the bomber to approach the minister.

Arbitrary killings named as a crime against humanity war crime

The Federal Court of Australia establishes that former Sri Lankan Navy officer committed war crime

Bandisattambige Ajith Susantha Fernando, a former Sri Lankan Navy officer committed a crime against humanity, a war crime, and therefore was not eligible for refugee status, concluded the Federal Court of Australia, 8 June 2000. He was excluded from coverage of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees under Article 1F(a) and 1F(b)

The decision of the Federal Court upheld that of the Refugee Review Tribunal. The latter’s report, dated 10^th March 2000, had stated that, “The tribunal is satisfied that the applicant’s actions cannot be regarded as being isolated or random acts, but rather part of a larger design to persecute Tamil civilians, including Tamil refugees.”

Fernando admitted to killing unarmed civilians in a refugee camp. In early 1993 he was stationed near Jaffna in the North of Sri Lanka. An ICRC refugee camp giving shelter to 300-400 Tamil refugees stood in the way of the Sri Lankan forces securing a pier from the LTTE. The ICRC flag was flying above the camp, clearly identifying it as being under the auspices of the ICRC. Fernando’s commanding officer ordered him to kill the civilians in the camp. He was not surprised or alarmed at the commanding officer’s direction.

Under Fernando’s command, 8 men and a Tamil speaking interpreter approached the camp wearing clothes consistent with the usual dress of the LTTE, and tried through the Tamil interpreter, to engage the civilians in the camp. The civilians in the camp were apparently not deceived by the guise and started shouting at them. The nine members of the Sri Lankan armed forces exposed their M16 rifles, formed an angle formation and shot at the civilians. None of the camp occupants were armed, their ages varied between 5 and 50 years of age. 40 refugees were murdered, 18 of whom were in the range of Fernando, including a pregnant woman. The remaining refugees fled. After the massacre Fernando was commended by the commanding officer and told to forget about the events. He had freely participated in the act.

Chemmani case moved before Chief Magistrate

1 June 2000 - The Magisterial inquiry relating to Chemmani graves came up for hearing before Colombo Chief Magistrate. Initially the Jaffna Magistrate's Court heard the case, but following an order by the Court of Appeal, the matter was transferred to the Colombo Magistrate.

The Court of Appeal made this order after an application by the suspect army officers that their lives were in danger in appearing at the Jaffna Magistrate's Court for the case. The Court allowed an application by Senior State Counsel seeking written authority from Court to enable a senior CID Officer to proceed to Jaffna and bring the relevant case records presently lying at the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court.

The Chemmani case revolves around the testimony of one of the soldiers found guilty in the assault, rape and murder of Krishanthy Kumaraswamy and the murder of her mother, brother and a neighbour. Upon being convicted, Rajapakse queried why he was being singled out for punishment when he knew of hundreds of bodies being dumped by other soldiers in the grounds of Chemmani.

The government opened the investigation into the allegations after intense international pressure. After many delays and rumours of evidence being destroyed, 17 bodies were discovered in the areas the Rajapakse pointed out.

42 more Skulls and skeletons found in Kilinochchi

Between 7-10 March 2000 - Eight skeletons were recovered from a sewage-pit in Uthyanakar, Kilinochchi. The remains were found when the owners were cleaning the compound. Jewellery was also found in the pit. The skeletons are believed to the remains of people who had gone to visit relatives in Kilinochchi, when the Army was in control of the town, and were latter reported 'missing'.

10 March 2000 - A human skull and an arm bone were recovered from a sewage pit in a house at Thirunakar in Kilinochchi. The skeletal remains were handed over to the Kilinochchi hospital

21 March 2000 - Three more human skeletons were recovered from toilet pits in Kilinochchi north. These were the remains of civilians killed by the Sri Lanka Army when it was in control of the area. About ten human skeletons were found from sewage pits early March at Thirunagar and Uthayanagar in Kilinochchi district. Six of them were identified by relatives from the remains of clothes found in the pits.

23 March 2000 - One skeleton was discovered from the same waste-pit in Urithirapuram, Kilinochchi where three skeletons were unearthed before. The skeleton found contained remnants of a reinforcing surgery done to one broken leg bone. The three skeletons found on 22 March, had some clothing around them.

The waste-pit was situated about 700 m north of the Forward Defence Lines of the security forces when Kilinochchi was occupied by the Sri Lankan Army. The skeletons have been taken to the Kilinochchi District Hospital for medical examination. They will be later taken to Akkarayan for possible identification.

So far 42 skeletons have been discovered in Kilinochchi district including the 13 found on the 6th, 8th, 11th and the 20th of March.

500 civilian casualties due to bombing and shelling

9 June 2000 - The Bishop of the Catholic Church in Mannar Rt.Rev.Dr. Rayappu Joseph said in appeal sent to the heads of foreign missions in Colombo that there were more than five hundred civilian casualties due to bombing and shelling by Sri Lankan security forces in the Madduvil area, close to Chavakachcheri in Jaffna. "I am given to understand that the attitude of the armed forces is that 'it is better to kill the people than allow them to go into the LTTE controlled areas' the Bishop states in the appeal.

The following is the full text of the Mannar bishop's appeal. "Situation of the war area of Chavakachcheri-Kodikamam, Jaffna. I wish to express my concern regarding the state of the civilians in the above mentioned war area. The Parish Priest of Chavakachcheri Rev. Fr. Ananthakumar having moved out of this trapped area with 76 families to Koanavil in Vanni via Sangupiddy - Pooneryn has contacted me from Madhu. He described the pathetic situation of the people being mercilessly made victims of this senseless war. Since they are trapped, they have no way of escaping from this plight.

"Few have risked their lives amidst Sri Lankan Army's heavy artillery shelling and aerial bombings to move out into safe area. This exodus takes five to six days when they cross over to Vanni via Sangupiddy-Pooneryn. In the meantime quite a number have been killed and I am given to understand that the attitude of the armed forces is that " it is better to kill the people than allow them to go into the LTTE controlled areas".

"I am also informed that people who are compelled to live within the bunkers are helpless and starving. According to this source the number of civilian casualties in the Madduvil area is more than 500. This type of massacre is witnessed to be extending to other areas of Thenmarachchi as well. The people of Meesalai, Sarasalai and Manthuvil have sought refuge in school buildings. There are 157 inmates, all sickly and helpless, housed in the Kaithadi Home for the Elders. Unfortunately, the NGOs are not permitted by the security forces to move into these areas.

"Hence, I appeal to Your Excellency to prevail upon the Government and the LTTE to rectify the alarming situation at least by permitting the NGOs like the UNHCR and ICRC to reach those areas with food and medicine and if necessary to evacuate those victims from there in a situation of temporary cease fire."

RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Children, amongst the most vulnerable members of the community, continue to face severe and multiple violations of their rights. All children have the right to food, healthcare and education. They also have the inherent Right to Life itself. There exists chronic suffering for Tamil children whose rights in all these areas are being denied.

Right to life denied.

Children continue to be killed by Sri Lankan armed forces. Children of all ages are affected. Mariyanayakam Jude, aged 17 was shot dead by Sri Lankan Navy on 26^th April 2000 as he was fishing off the coast of Chundikulam. At the other end of the continuum of childhood, the infant son of Sivanesan Annaimary was killed when the Sri Lankan army shelled his parent’s home on 26^th May, in Madduvil.

Children arrested and detained. Assaulted in custody.

Eleven cases have been documented of children arrested by Sri Lankan security forces since January. The youngest was aged twelve and was arrested while studying in his school, Urumpirai Chandrothaya Vadyalayam. Two girls who were arrested by the Sri Lankan Army stationed at Maavadivembu, on 28^th May, were severely assaulted whilst in army custody. Kala Alakaiah and Kubenthini Thillainathan were so badly injured that they were admitted to Batticaloa hospital by prison officers.

Rape of children by Sri Lankan army and police

There has still been no denunciation or investigation by the government of the horrific rape case of twelve year old girl-child Pushpamalar who was raped by a soldier in Sagathaanai, Jaffna, on 6^th October 1998.

On 11 February, a Muslim boy was sexually assaulted by two policemen who were attached to the police post inside his school in Muttur, Trincomalee. They forcibly took him to a wooded area near the school before committing the offence.

Embargo starves children

In the Vanni area, school children continue to suffer due to the economic embargo on the area, imposed by the government of Sri Lanka for more than a decade. Severe malnutrition and disease result from the lack of food and medicine. The denial of these basic necessities of life to children is a serious breach of the government of Sri Lanka’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and its obligations to respect humanitarian law in armed conflict. Night blindness, due to lack of vitamin C continues to affect many children as do respiratory infections, scabies, malaria and anaemia.

Education of children disrupted

With disturbing frequency schools are taken over and occupied by the Sri Lankan army. Please see section on Education for specific examples. Also for instances of schools being shelled by Sri lankan armed forces. Children are not safe even in their own classrooms.

Child maimed by explosion

Tharmalingam Vinodharan, a 10 year old child from Maravanpullo in the Thenmaradchi area of the Jaffna Peninsula, lost both hands below his wrists when an unidentified explosive detonated on 21^st June 2000. according to hospital sources, he was admitted to the Mallavi hospital and later transferred to Vavuniya General Hospital for surgery. The child’s relatives said that his eyes were also affected by the explosion.

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

The human rights situation for women continues to be desperate and serious. Rapes and sexual assaults of Tamil women by Sri Lankan army, Police and navy continue unabated. As was pointed out by NGOs during the 56^th session of the Commission on Human Rights even though the President, the Prime Minister and the Special Rapporteur on Violence against women, are all Sri Lankan women, the situation for women has not improved.

Police force into women’s homes at night

In the Sinnakadi area of Mannar residents reported on 18^th June 2000 that six policemen have been attempting to rape women in the area. The policemen, attached to the checkpoint situated at the Building Materials Co-operative in Sinnakadai forcibly open the doors of local residents at night. This is terrifying for anyone living in the house, and with the high rate of rape and murder of Tamil women by Sri Lankan army and police, this is clearly inflicting terror on these women. A complaint has been lodged with the brigadier general of the area. However, given the impunity with which the armed forces carry out their violations of human rights, it is not surprising that 100 families are seriously considering moving from the area. Sri Lankan police and army checkpoints are notorious locations for sexual harassment, arbitrary arrest and “disappearance”.

Woman raped

A woman was admitted to Manthikai hospital, Point Pedro, on March 3^rd 2000, in an unconscious state. She had been raped by three Sri Lankan army soldiers from Malusanthi army camp near her house. The soldiers had said they wanted to check her identity card, and forced their way into her home, while she was alone. All Tamils have to have identity cards and cannot even stay with relatives or friends without registering with the police.

Unsafe at home

Another case of a woman being unsafe in her own home is that of Ponnuthurai Kathirasipillai, aged 52. She was in her kitchen when, on 26^th March she was shot in the stomach by Sri Lankan Special Task Force Police who opened fire in her village, Vaalkaipetraan, South East of Mannar. First she was admitted to the small local hospital at Murunkan, then to Mannar hospital and finally to Vavuniya, for treatment. It is not infrequent for the Sri Lankan police and army to fire indiscriminately into residential Tamil neigbourhoods. Even in their homes people live in terror.

Young mother killed

Mrs. Sivanesan Annaimary, a young mother, and her infant son were killed instantly when Sri Lankan army shelling hit her home in Madduvil Sivankovilady, on the morning of 26^th may 2000. She was simply in her own home when this atrocity happened. Many other people were injured in surrounding homes.

Mother killed returning from hospital with newborn

Another shocking killing of a mother took place on the afternoon of 27^th March 2000. Sritharan Yogeswary aged 38 was coming home from Jaffna hospital with her newborn baby, and her husband and sister in an auto rickshaw. At Iththaavil, the Sri Lanka army fired at the rickshaw. Yogeswary was blown to bits, her husband and the driver too. Witnesses said the baby was splattered with the flesh and blood of the dead parents. Yogeswary’s sister and the baby survived.

Seven soldiers alleged to have raped Ida Hamilitta

According to one of the soldiers attached to the Pullimunai Sri Lanka Army camp, Kaliyan Murukaiah Mahalingam, seven soldiers were involved in the horrific gang-rape and murder of Ida Hamilitta, on July 11 1999 in the early hours. The names of those already arrested and in remand are Dayananda Upal Gurusinghe and Rjah Somaratne. The other five are still serving in other areas. Their names are, Lieutenant BB Mahinda Perera, Lance Corporal MK Ruvan Kumara, KP Jayamande Hewawasam, SD Uppali Karunaraten and R Dissanayake according to Mahalingam. Mannar Magistrate Mr Illancheliyan ordered their arrest.

At the post-mortem of Ida Hamilitta the Judicial Medical officer stated that she had been raped, shot at her genitals, had 18 injuries on her body, had been bitten and had been stabbed on her abdomen.

It is routine practice for Sri Lanka police, army and navy to be moved to other areas after serious incidents of violence against women, and massacres, in cases where the local people and family have been courageous to report and follow the matter up, despite the fear of retribution. Once the incident is known nationally or internationally, then the transfers occur, in an attempt to prevent action being taken against them.

One example in point is the case of Sarathambal Saravanbavananthakurukal, 29 year old mother gang-raped and brutally murdered by Sri Lankan Navy on 28^th December 1999. Although the President was reported to have ordered an immediate investigation on 30^th December, the Naval personnel believed to have carried out the heinous crime were immediately transferred. TCHR issued an Urgent Action on 4^th January, stating this fact (see report to 56^th session of the CHR). In her letter of 13/03/00 the Special Rapporteur on violence against women stated that “very little is being done to pursue the matter.” Unfortunately this does not come as a surprise to us.

POPULATION DISPLACEMENTS AND ASYLUM SEEKERS

Refugees in Europe and other western countries

(The figures are subject to verification)

During the 1990s, more than 170,000 Sri Lankans sought asylum in Europe and North America, including nearly 15,700 in 1999.

In 1999, nearly 12,698 Tamils applied for asylum in Europe, 2,915 applied in Canada, and 83 in the United States. The United States granted refugee status to 18 percent of the 1,000 Sri Lankans who applied for asylum during the 1990s.

European countries returned more than 500 rejected Tamil asylum seekers to Sri Lanka during 1998.

According to UNHCR records, nearly 138,000 Sri Lankans applied for asylum in Europe between 1990 and 1998. European governments recognized 18 percent as refugees and granted another 12 percent other forms of temporary refuge.

During the same period, 31,000 Tamils applied for asylum in Canada, which granted more than 80 percent of them refugee status.

Internally displaced people

(The figures are subject to verification)

According to the Sri Lankan government, 687,000 Sri Lankans were internally displaced at the end of 1999. However, that figure did not reflect the number of people actually displaced.

Nearly 100,000 Tamils were newly displaced during the year. In Jaffna most of the 269,000 persons are to be considered as displaced.

In March 99, the government launched two offensives in the western Wanni that displaced more than 20,000 people. The first offensive on March 4, displaced 4,000 people from Iluppaikulam, Mundrumurippu, and nearby areas. The second offensive displaced some 5,000 people from Vidataltivu and Pappamoddai in Mannar District.

The Sri Lankan army did not permit the more than 10,000 displaced persons housed in welfare centres in Vavuniya to leave.

On November 20, at Madhu church in Mannar, a shell fired by the Sri Lankan army killed 42 displaced civilians, including 13 children, and injuring 60 others.

In 1998, Some 150,000 displaced Tamils lived in established "welfare centres" in government-controlled areas.

A military offensive in December 1998 displaced more than 15,000 people from Oddusuddan, some 30 miles Northeast of Vavuniya. The displaced fled heavy artillery shelling by the army.

In Vavuniya, there are more than 22,000 Tamil refugees in 12 camps. Health and sanitary conditions in the camps are extremely poor. The security forces have refused permission for many people in the camps to travel to Colombo.

IDPs massacred

Refugees in camps for the internally displaced are highly vulnerable. Sri Lankan armed forces are capable of committing vile atrocities against these unarmed defenceless people. 40 such internally displaced persons were murdered by a Sri Lankan Navy officer and those under his command, in a case which has come to light only because he subsequently sought protection in Australia, as a refugee, but was refused ! (More details above in section on Arbitrary Killings)

Refugees in India

(The figures are subject to verification)

More than 100 Tamil refugees repatriated from India, and some 3,500 formerly displaced persons returned home.

Out of 110,000 refugees, 70,000 lives in refugee camps and nearly 40,000 lived outside the camps.

According to UNHCR, 3,839 Tamil refugees fled to India during 1998.

On July 26, 1998, a boat carrying about 50 refugees capsized; 40 of the refugees drowned.

In September 99, 12 Sri Lankans fleeing to India drowned when their boat capsized.

36 Refugees at Rameswaram coast

13 June 2000 More than 36 Tamil refugees arrived in one of the sand dunes off the Rameswaram coast. According to officials, the refugees had informed about their arrival through the fishermen before they arrived at the coast.

Civilian evacuation failed

27 May 2000 - The evacuation of an estimated 15,000 civilians from the embattled Chavakachcheri sector failed on 27/5/2000, as heavy shelling by the Sri Lanka Army prevented them moving to designated points where UNHCR officials were waiting, following the declaration of a cease-fire by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Sri Lanka Army is using civilians as human shields and subjecting them to indiscriminate artillery and aerial bombardment.

The UNHCR had informed the Sri Lankan government about the cease-fire arrangement but the Sri Lankan government failed to respond.

An estimated 15,000 Tamil civilians are entrapped in the battle zones in the Chavakachcheri sector and are at considerable risk.

Present situation

More than 50,000 people are displaced in Maruthankerni, Thenmaratchy and Palai.

20,000 are accommodated in refugee camps established, and provided with dry rations.

The camps are in Point Pedro, Chankanai, Kokkuvil, Manipay and Thirunelveli in the Jaffna peninsula.

More than 6,500 people are in the compound of St Patrick's College, Chundikuli.

Nearly 7,000 are in the compound of Jaffna Hindu College.

Nearly 70% of the civilians in Jaffna town had moved to safer areas.

More than 5,000 people are awaiting at Trincomalee for a ship to take them to Jaffna. They are facing many difficulties in Trincomalee.

2000 rupees to buy our coffins!

4 April 2000 - Do you intend to give us 2000 rupees to buy our coffins?" "Are you going to let us be used as human shields?" asked angry refugees from the war zones in the southern sector of Jaffna when senior government officials went to distribute dry rations among them. More than three thousand civilians who fled the war have been blocked at Kilali by the Sri Lanka Army. The irate refugees were reacting to reports in the media that the government had promised to give 2000 rupees (28 USD) as relief to each family displaced from the war zone near Jaffna's gateway garrison following representations made by Tamil Parliamentarians about their plight.

The displaced civilians refused to accept the rations from the them. Some in the crowd told the officials "We came here not because we have no money or food, but to save our lives. So you must let us go to find safety."

There are 1114 persons housed in the Kilali Roman Catholic Tamil Mixed School and the Church in the same compound. The Army says that it has a legitimate security concern in allowing these civilians to go to the other parts of Jaffna without screening them first, to identify infiltrators.

COUNTRY SITUATION

Norway embassy bombing claimed

24 May 2000 - A group calling itself as National Front Against Tigers (NFAT) claimed responsibility for the grenades attack on the well guarded Norwegian mission in Colombo. The group in a statement faxed to the newspaper offices in Colombo said that the Norwegian government is the "international agent" of the Liberation Tigers. The same group claimed responsibility for the assassination of Kumar Ponnambalam on 5 January.

The Norwegian mission was attacked with grenades. The building suffered minor damages in the attack. The Royal Norwegian embassy provided security by the Sri Lankan government following a protest against the Norway government in front of the mission by Sinhala nationalists and Buddhist priests on 16 April.

The BBC's Sinhala service journalist was assaulted and the Norwegian flag burn by the militant protestors. "We will take serious actions against all those "agents" who pose a threat to Sri Lankan state", the statement said.

Protest against Norwegian involvement in negotiation

Nearly ten-thousand people demonstrated in Colombo, protesting against Norway's role in resolving Sri Lanka's conflict. The demonstration was organised by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a Marxist party, which is considered as a third political force in the island.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered at Lipton Circus near downtown Colombo and marched towards Hyde Park, shouting slogans against talks with the facilitation of Norway to end the ethnic conflict in the island. A rally was held at the Hyde Park.

JVP has announced that it would organise a country wide protests against Norway's involvement.

On 15 March 2000 - A group of extremist Sinhala Buddhist organizations picketed in Colombo protesting against the Norwegian peace initiative seeking a political solution to the island's ethnic conflict.

About 100 people, representing several Sinhala extremist organizations, including Sinhala Weera Vidhana and National Movement Against Terrorism, marched from Borella towards the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Ward Place and began shouting slogans against Norway's involvement said sources.

Protestors shouted slogans such as "Do not interfere in internal affairs" and "Do not talk with the Tigers".

ICRC, UNHCR urged over cease-fire

9 June 2000 - The Liberation Tigers said they had urged the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to help arrange a temporary cease-fire between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan armed forces to facilitate the evacuation of civilians trapped in the battle zones of the thenmaradchi division in the Jaffna peninsula. The civilians are unable to leave as the Sri Lankan armed forces are pounding the possible routes of evacuation, the Tigers said in a statement from their London offices.

Following is the extracted text of the press release: "The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has urged the resident representatives of the UNHCR and the ICRC to help to arrange a temporary cessation of armed hostilities between Sri Lankan armed forces and the LTTE combat formations in the Thenmarachchi division of the Jaffna peninsula to facilitate the evacuation of Tamil civilians stranded in the fighting zone.

"The LTTE has made this appeal to these non-governmental humanitarian organisations following large scale civilian casualties sustained in the fighting zones of Thenmarachchi as a consequence of indiscriminate barrage of artillery shelling, multi-barrel rocket fire and heavy aerial bombardment by Israeli made Kifir combat aircrafts. Already a large section of the stranded population has moved to safe area in Valigamam, Vadamarachchi and Vanni sector. Yet thousands are still caught up in the crossfire unable to move to areas of safety. The Sri Lankan armed forces are pounding the possible routes of evacuation to prevent civilian movement. "The LTTE has also requested the ICRC and the UNHCR to visit the battle zones to take stock of the tragic and dangerous situation the civilians are exposed to."

Cease-fire as gesture of good will

8 May 2000 - The Liberation Tigers said that they are prepared to declare a temporary cease-fire to allow the Sri Lanka Army troops in the northern Jaffna peninsula to withdraw safely. In a statement from its London offices, the LTTE said its offer was "gesture of goodwill" to prevent further bloodshed and "to create a congenial environment" for the SLA "to withdraw from the unfavourable theatre of war with dignity and honour".

The extracted text of the statement : "We call upon the government of Sri Lanka to consider our proposal seriously and respond positively without delay. A positive response, we are confident, will create cordial conditions for a permanent cease-fire, peace talks and negotiated political settlement for the Tamil national question. We also wish to indicate to the Sri Lanka government that it will bear total responsibility for the disastrous consequences of heavy military casualties if it rejects our proposal for de-escalation and continues the war effort."

Sri Lanka rejected cease-fire offer

8 May 2000 - The Sri Lankan army totally rejected the cease-fire offer by the Liberation Tigers. An officer at the operational headquarters of the Ministry of defence said that their Army will fight to the last man to defend Jaffna.

The officer said that there was no question of withdrawing from the peninsula. The Sri Lanka Army is confident of its position there as many countries have pledged military assistance to fight the LTTE according to the officer. He dismissed the LTTE offer for a cease-fire to enable the army to withdraw its troops from Jaffna as psychological warfare tactics.

Diplomatic relations with Israel

4 May 2000 - The Government of Sri Lanka decided to resume diplomatic relations with the Government of Israel with immediate effect.

Modalities of representations were to be mutually discussed and decided upon by the two governments, a press release stated. Urgent resumption of relations with Israel comes in the wake of negotiations to resume military assistance for fighting the Liberation Tigers in the north.

ANNEXES

TAMIL CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS TCHR

(Estd. 1990)

9, Rue des Peupliers, 95140 Garges les Gonesse, FRANCE

Ref. CH/02/04 18/04/2000

The Chairperson

UN Commission on Human Rights 56th Session

United Nations

Geneva

Switzerland

Dear Sir,

With reference to the statement made yesterday under agenda item 17 - on Human Rights Defenders - by the Geneva Sri Lanka representative in the UN Commission on Human Rights - 56th Session; we, the Tamil Centre for Human Rights non ECOSOC organisation, categorically deny that we have justified any killings what so ever in the past or present. Our organisation does not distribute the bulletins of other organisations and we cannot bear responsibility for the activity of other organisations.

Within our last ten years of service, we have earned our reputation through hard work and honesty, which has led to a considerable amount of respected testimony from the UN and other international bodies.

We hereby request the Sri Lanka representative to produce any document written by our organisation that proves his accusation to be true and correct. This allegation was a shock and a surprise to us. It begs the question, why has the Sri Lanka representative accused us this year, in particular, and not before?

We are sure that every state representative and NGO can see, through their own experience and knowledge, that the Sri Lanka representative’s baseless statement about our organisation has a hidden motivated agenda to earn us discredit with other states and NGOs. This is for your information and kind consideration, please.

Thanking you.

Yours truly,

S. V. Kirupaharan,

General Secretary

SRI LANKAN GOVT DECISION SHUTS DOOR ON TALKS
(By Nirupa Subramanian, The Hindu Newspaper 19 June 2000)

COLOMBO, JUNE 18 - The Sri Lankan Government's decision to exclude the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) from the proposed interim council to administer the north-east has shut the door on negotiations with the separatist group, at least for now.

With this, the President, Mrs. Chandrika Kumaratunga, has made it clear that there would be no bargaining with the LTTE. After consultations with the Opposition United National Party and Tamil parties, it would be presented as a fait accompli to the group.

The immediate fall-out of this could be on the Norwegian facilitation of a dialogue between the Government and the LTTE.

It is evident that the compulsions of majoritarian Sinhala politics have played an important role in the decision. With general elections round the corner, the President's position seems to be aimed at reassuring her party's Sinhalese constituency that she had no intention of cutting a deal with the LTTE. Hard-line Sinnhala organisations have been opposed to the idea of devolution, and any plans to involve the LTTE in it would only add fuel to fire.

Only a few months ago, Mrs. Kumaratunga had accused her main opponent in the presidential campaign, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, for conspiring with the LTTE when he suggested that an interim council be set up in the north-east with the LTTE in charge.

Tamil politicians are apprehensive about what this political posturing forebodes for the search for a lasting solution to the country's ethnic conflict. The Tamil United Liberation Front, which has been pressing for talks with the LTTE, reacted with dismay to the announcement. ``It is strange for the Government to adopt such a position. What will the President tell the international community which is pressing her to open talks with the LTTE? How can she appoint a facilitator for negotiations with the LTTE and then shut the door on them?'' asked Mr. V Anandasangaree, senior vice-president of the party.

Though he conceded that the LTTE would have in any case ``never agreed'' to participate in the proposed council, the Government's pre-emptive exclusion of the group was ``surprising'', Mr. Anandasangaree said. He reiterated the party's demand that the LTTE ``will have to be party to any solution in the north-east''. ``Otherwise there can be no peace in the country,'' Mr. Anandasangaree warned.

Bishop says 500 civilian casualties in Madduvil

The Bishop of the Catholic Church in Mannar Rt.Rev.Dr. Rayappu Joseph said in appeal sent to the heads of foreign missions in Colombo that there were more than five hundred civilian casualties due to bombing and shelling by Sri Lankan security forces in the Madduvil area, close to Chavakachcheri in Jaffna. "I am given to understand that the attitude of the armed forces is that 'it is better to kill the people than allow them to go into the LTTE controlled areas' the Bishop states in the appeal.

The following is the full text of the Mannar bishop's appeal. The appeal is dated June 9 but was released to the press on 12/6/2000.

"Situation of the war area of Chavakachcheri-Kodikamam, Jaffna.

"I wish to express my concern regarding the state of the civilians in the above mentioned war area. The Parish Priest of Chavakachcheri Rev.Fr.Ananthakumar having moved out of this trapped area with 76 families to Koanavil in Vanni via Sangupiddy- Ponneryn has contacted me from Madhu. He described the pathetic situation of the people being mercilessly made victims of this senseless war. Since they are trapped, they have no way of escaping from this plight.

Rev. Dr. J. Rayappu Joseph

Bishop's House, Pattim, Mannar

Telephone : + 94 - 23 - 2191

Fax : + 94 - 23 - 2191

56^th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights

MASSIVE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

How long will the UN Commission for Human Rghts continue to listen to the reports of its own Special Rapporteurs and of NGOs concerning massive human rights violations in Sri Lanka as it has been doing for over a dozen years without addressing its primary causes?

- Society for Threatened Peoples

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HORRIFYING SITUATION FACED BY TAMIL WOMEN

The fact of rape used as a weapon of war by the armed forces of the Sri Lankan government is not new to this Commission. A number of NGOs here, in previous sessions of the Commission and Sub-Commission have expressed alarm at the horrifying situation faced by Tamil women.

The Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR) has documented catalogues of cases of women whose rights are grossly violated by the Sri Lankan security forces. Taken on average over the last four years, a Tamil woman is raped every 16 days, a Tamil girl child is gang-raped every three months and every two months a Tamil woman is gang-raped and brutally murdered by the Sri Lankan armed forces. The real figures are considerably higher. These are only the documented cases.

According to the Sri Lanka Police statistics, crime against women has reached horrendous figures in the South of the island. Between January and June 1998 there were 26,565 recorded cases, and between January and July 1999 there were 26,660 cases.

- International Peace Bureau

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER ASSASSINATED

France Libertes would like to draw attention to violations of human rights perpetrated against human rights defenders in Sri Lanka, particularly the case of Mr G.G. Ponnambalam.

According to the Urgent Action document of the Tamil Centre for Human Rights (ref no: AE/02/01) dated 28^th February, there are many clues in the assassination of Mr Ponnambalam but no serious investigation took place. It is stated in the same document that the government Analyst Department which examined the car in which r Ponnambalam was killed, could find no finger prints inside the vehicle not even those of Mr Ponnambalam who had driven this car to the place where he was assassinated.

France Libertes expresses deep concern regarding this situation and urges the UN Human Rights Commission to take up the issue with the government of Sri Lanka, in favour of the establishment of an independent commission of enquiry into the assassination of Mr Ponnambalam.

- FRANCE LIBERTES / Foundation Danielle Mitterrand

*********************================*******************

1999

*********************================*******************

1998 Sub-Commission

The Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR) would like to extend its congratulations to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) of the United Nations - on the occasion of its 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights has stood as an example to the countries of the world, upholding the Articles set forth in its Declaration for the protection of human rights of all people, peace with justice and security.

Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR)

Le Centre Tamoul pour les Droits de l’Homme (CTDH)

9, rue de Peupliers

95140 Garges les Gonesse

FRANCE

Tel/Fax : 33-1-40 38 28 74

Established in 1990

Branches : Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Switzerland , The Netherlands, United Kingdom

website : http://www.tamilrights.org

http://www.tchr.com

CONTENTS

Page

Appeal

Situation Report 5

Violation of Human Rights and fundamental freedoms

Injurious effects of anti-personnel mines 7

Economic, Social and Cultural rights 8

Food

Education

Health

Fishing and Agriculture

Human Rights of Women and Children 13

Contemporary forms of Slavery 15

Land rights and property damage 15

Administration of Justice and Human Rights of detainees 17

Freedom of movement 18

Population displacement

Freedom of expression 19

Religious intolerance 20

Summary Report 21-33

Annexes

(1) Extract from the report (E/CN.4/1998/68/Add.2) of 34

Mr. Bacre Waly Ndiaye

(2) Extract from the report of Amnesty International 35

(January-December 1997)

(3) Sri Lanka uses food as a weapon against the Tamil population 37

(4) Welioya colonisation scheme 38

(5) Military growth of Sri Lankan security forces since 1994 40

(6) Points raised by Experts at the 18th Session of the Committee on 41

Economic, Social and Cultural rights

(7) Press release of the NGO "Peace Brigades International" 42

(8) AGOTIC appeal on Tamil children 43

(9) Evidence of a torture victim 45

3^rd August 1998

The Honourable Mr. Chairman, Experts and Delegates,

50^th Session of the Sub-Commission on Human Rights

Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities

United Nations

CH - 1211 Geneva 10

Dear Mr. Chairman and Hon. Experts,

We have the honour and duty, once again to bring to your kind attention, our latest report on the violations of human rights in the Island of Sri Lanka, on the occasion of the 50^th session of the Sub-Commission on Human Rights.

In the past, we have submitted several reports to the UN Human Rights sessions. Ever since the armed conflict started in Sri Lanka, during the last fifteen years, this Sub-Commission and the Commission on Human Rights have heard enough interventions by various NGOs as well as by the Honourable delegation of Sri Lanka. The interventions made by the NGOs pleaded the Honourable members of the Sub-Commission and Delegates of the Commission to find justice and durable solution and to end the gross violations of human rights in Sri Lanka. On the other hand, the Sri Lankan delegation's interventions were all purely imaginary and tended to justify the atrocities, abuses violations of human rights by the security forces, especially in the North-East of the Island. When we look back at all the interventions made by the Sri Lankan delegation in the past, we can observe the testimony of genocide of the Tamils. The lack of initiative in sorting out the root cause of the problem in Sri Lanka is also quite visible and apparent.

The human rights violations continue to deteriorate and the intervention of this Sub-commission is urgently needed.

Sri Lanka was featured regularly in the local and foreign media on its human rights violations, including disappearances in the North-East. The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has made two visits to Sri Lanka in 1991 and 1992. Last year, the Working Group has reported that Sri Lanka has the highest number of disappearances for the year 1997.

Mr. Bacre Waly Ndiya - UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions has visited Sri Lanka from 24 August to 5 September 1997. The report (E/CN.4/1998/68/Add.2) published on 12 March 1998 by Mr. Ndiya is highly critical of the security forces made of 99% Sinhalese.

Mr. Mr. Olara Otunnu - special representative of the UN Secretary General on Children in Armed Conflict has made a visit to Sri Lanka in May this year. The UN Special representative who had visited Jaffna, Maddhu and Vanni region has expressed his deep concern over the situation prevailing there. Mr. Olara told the media in Colombo that “I feel sad about the situation in Jaffna”.

Mr. Francis Deng - special representative of the UN Secretary General has also made a visit to Sri Lanka in 1994. His visit was concerned with the frequent displacement of refugees as a result of aerial bombardment and shelling in Tamil inhabited areas. (Report E/CN. 4/1994/44/Add.1.)

Hon. Sirs, Sri Lanka may be an exceptional country to welcome two Special representatives of the UN Secretary General, a Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial - summary or arbitrary executions and two visits by UN Working Group on Disappearances. Many NGOs like Amnesty International, ICJ have also made their visits and made reports which were shocking on the situation in Sri Lanka.

With all these interventions, concerns appeals of the UN and NGOs, the human rights situation in Sri Lanka has never improved. In fact, it is going from bad to worse and deteriorating.

Sri Lanka has the habit of giving vague and false promises and resorting to fiction in order to mislead the UN Human Rights Sessions and NGOs. In the past, the International community and the UN mechanism have been deceived by the government of Sri Lanka.

Mr. Bacre Waly Ndiya has accused in his report that impunity is widely practised in Sri Lanka by the armed forces. In order to deny this accusation, the Sri Lankan government which wield a lot of influence over the country's judicial system, has sentenced to death five soldiers accused in the Krishanthy Kumarawamy murder case. Our past experience on Sri Lankan create doubt that this death sententence will never be carried out, and there are more chances for these accused to get Presidential pardon. The death sentence is just an eye-wash to this Sub-Commission and other Human Rights sessions as well as to the International community. Time will prove this fact.

We do urge this Sub-Commission and the High Commissioner for Human Rights Mrs. Mary Robinson to appoint a Commission to investigate into the unauthorised and illegal burial of several hundreds of bodies in Jaffna peninsula - Sri Lanka.

We do sincerely hope that the 50th Session of the Sub-Commission will consider all these facts and intervene directly in the form of a Resolution at least on the humanitarian situation in the North-East of Sri Lanka.

We take this opportunity to express our sincere felicitation on the occasion of the 50^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Thanking you.

Yours sincerely,

S. V. Kirubaharan

General Secretary - TCHR

THE SITUATION REPORT

WHOSE BODIES ARE THESE 300 TO 400 ?

On 3 July 98, the first accused in the rape and murder of the 18 year old student, Krishanthy Kumaraswamy - Jaffna school girl, her mother, brother and a family friend had told the Colombo High court that there were 300 to 400 bodies in the place where the raped teenager and her family were buried! He said in the court "We only buried bodies. We can show you where 300 to 400 bodies have been buried". He also reportedly said "almost every evening, dead bodies were brought there and the soldiers were asked to bury them". The human rights activist around the world has raised a question on this disappointing information by the accused. This case has earned International attention.

13,000 DISAPPEARANCES IN EAST

Speaking at a seminar in Colombo Mr. Joseph Pararajasingam - Member of Parliament for Batticaloa said that since 1990 there were thirteen thousand (13,000) Tamils who had disappeared in the East and that there were about 8,500 widows and 6,000 orphans in the East.

300 DISAPPEARANCES IN 3 MONTHS

The Human Rights Task Force appointed by the Sri Lankan government has reported that between January and March (1998) 300 Tamil people have disappeared in Jaffna.

26 KILLED IN AERIAL BOMBING

On June 10, 1998 - twenty six civilians including women and children were killed and more than fifty were critically injured when two Kfir jet bombers of the Sri Lankan air force carried out a massive bombing on the refugee settlement of Suthanthirapuram, in Mullaitivu district.

18 TORTURE CHAMBERS IN VAVUNIYA

According to a Sinhala news paper “Lakbima” of 28 June 98, published in Colombo - Tamil youths travelling to Vavuniya are tortured in 18 different torture chambers in Vavuniya. These torture chambers are run by the armed groups closely working with the government.

SINHALESE HOME GUARDS ABDUCT TAMIL CHILDREN

On March 31, 98, five Tamil children in the Gal Oya colony at Ariyarwaththai were abducted by Sinhala-Muslim home guards in Batticaloa. It is feared that the home guards may have killed them.

ARMY ASSAULTS GOVERNMENT OFFICER DURING ROUND-UP

The armed forces severely assaulted Vallipuram Thavarasa, a grama-sevaka during a round-up of Kudathanai village in the Jaffna peninsula. His right hand was injured and he was admitted to the local hospital.

ARMY ROUND UP IN GURUNAGAR

The armed forces rounded up Gurunagar in Jaffna, ransacking homes and arresting 13 residents on 17 March 98. The same day, fishing in the sea off Gurunagar was also banned by the military.

ARMY SET OFF BOMB IN JAFFNA

Informed sources from Jaffna stated that the Sri Lankan army was responsible for the bomb set off in a crowded shopping area in Jaffna town on 12 April 98. The reports say the attack was planned by the army to wilfully implicate the LTTE. The explosion took place at the Power House Road near the Kasturiar Road and Kankesanthurai (K.K.S) Road junction. A mother of three was killed and several others were injured in this bomb blast.

CIVILIAN ROUND-UP IN VALIKAMAM

Thousands of soldiers in Jaffna in Valikamam cordoned off and detained many civilians in the villages of Moolai, Chulipuram, Ponnalai, Sithankerni, Vaddukoddai and parts of Chankanai on 18 April, 1998. The detainees were interrogated in the burning Sun for the whole day without water and food.

TORTURED AND KILLED

Mr. Murukupillai Sellathurai (52 years) died soon after being released by the military in Veeramunai in Baittcaloa district. The post-mortem examination revealed that he had suffered fatal internal injuries due to torture.

STF GATHERS INFORMATION

The Special Task Force (STF)has ordered local government officials (Grama Sevakas) to collect information on Tamil families living in Batticaloa district. The officials have been asked to gather names, age, sex and occupation. People in Batticaloa are frightened that an impending massacre is awaiting them in the East.

PUTHUKKUDIYIRUPPU WAS BOMBED

On 2 May 98, Sri Lankan war planes dropped several sorties of bombs over the town of Puthukudiyiruppu in the Batticaloa district. Several properties were damaged and residents and shopkeepers fled the town in panic.

ROUND-UP IN VAVUNIYA

On 2-3 May 98, the Sri Lankan armed forces rounded up several villages in Vavuniya district. Once the villagers were taken away their homes were ransacked The detainees were gathered in the open grounds in the hot sun without food and water.

300 TAMILS ROUNDED UP BY ARMY

On 15 March 98, the army and police in Batticaloa have rounded up civilians in the villages of Valaichchenai, Vinayagapuram, Kannakipuram and Peyathalai. Many homes were ransacked and twenty five civilians were arrested. Ten were detained for further questioning at the Harbour army camp.

On 20 May 1998, Sri Lankan soldiers rounded up Tamil civilians in Valaichchenai area. More than 300 civilians were taken away for questioning. On the same day, the army rounded up civilians in other towns Kannakipuram, Kalmadu, Vinayagapuram, Peyathalai and Kannankiramam. Residents were herded like cattle and ordered to assemble in a common place. Here they were detained in the hot sun without food and water and denied sanitary facilities. Several civilians were taken away cattle to the Valaichchenai Harbour army camp.

ARBITARY ARRESTS BY ARMY

On 8 March 98, the Sri Lankan army rounded up civilians in the Island of Punguduthivu in the Jaffna peninsula. Several civilians were taken into custody.

ARRESTS IN COLOMBO

During the second week of April 98, the Sri Lankan security forces arrested fifty two Tamils in Colombo and its suburbs.

FREQUENT ARREST AND INTIMIDATION OF TAMIL PASSENGERS

It has become a routine for the Sri Lankan soldiers to board Colombo-bound trains at Polgawela station, coming from Vavuniya and harass the Tamil passengers. They go through compartment after compartment arresting Tamil passengers. The arrested passengers are taken to Colombo police stations.

ARMY IN CIVIL DRESS

At Poonthoddam army detention centre Vavuniya Sri Lankan army soldiers in civil dress are taking Tamil men and women for interrogation. So far none of them taken for interrogation has returned.

FARMER ABDUCTED

On 2 April 98, Sri Lankan soldiers abducted a young Tamil farmer at Kothanda Koluththikulam in Batticola. Several farmers who went to harvest crops in their fields were also arrested.

CIVILIAN LOSES LEG IN ARMY LANDMINE (Refer Page 40)

In March 98, Mr. Thavarajah Natheeswaran lost a leg due to explosion of a landmine in Puthur in Jaffna district.

On March 24, 98 another civilian, Yogendram Ratheepkumar, lost his leg as he stepped on a mine in Urumpirai in Jaffna.

On 1 April 1998, Daniel Kantharuban lost his right leg after stepping on a landmine in Erlalai in Jaffna peninsula.

On April 29, 98, S Sunthararasan (19), a Tamil fisherman, lost his leg as he stepped on a mine in Mullaitivu's Kallapadu seashore. All these landmines believed to have been buried by the Sri Lankan army for their security in the Jaffna peninsula.

(Please refer the Summary report - Page 21-30)

ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

(Refer page of 34-37)

7000 FAMILIES STARVING IN BATTICALOA

At Vaharai in Batticaloa, more than 7000 Tamil families are starving following the government's blockade of food and medicine to the Tamil regions. Sri Lankan army has not given the pass to transport food to the region. The ICRC has agreed to provide escort but the army has refused.

MILITARY STOPS EMERGENCY FOOD SUPPLIES TO TAMIL REFUGEES

The army has blocked relief supplies to Tamil refugees in the villages of Pallikudiyiruppu and Srinivasapuram. The refugees are believed to be in danger of starvation.

DELIBERATE CONTAINMATION OF FOOD WITH

WORMS, FLIES AND INSECTS

According to Co-operative Society sources in the North-East, the food relief for displaced Tamil civilians is un fit for human consumption. The spokesman for the Stores said that flies, insects and worms are contained in the food supplies provided by government. The stores has refused to distribute the food supply.

The government has deliberately stopped food relief to Tamil refugees in Kithual, Karadiyanaru and Pankudaveli in the Batticaloa district. More than 2,000 families have not received their relief since November last year and are in fear of serious starvation.

ARMY BLOCKS FOOD SUPPLIES TO MULLAITIVU

The Sri Lankan army has deliberately blocked urgently needed food supplies to the displaced Tamils in Mullaitivu.

60% OF THE SCHOOL DESTROYED IN BATTICALOA

Speaking at a seminar in Colombo Mr. Joseph Pararajasingam - Member of Parliament for Batticaloa has said that since 1990, 60% of the schools in the Eastern province have been destroyed during military operations and two hundred million rupees is needed to repair these school buildings.

STUDENTS AND TEACHERS PROTEST

On 3 April 1998 the Mullaitivu Teachers' Association and the students' union held a demonstration at Mallavi in the Vanni to condemn the government for frequent aerial bombardment of Tamil schools. The protest started in the morning at Mallavi central college and the participants marched to the UNHCR office and handed over a petition to the resident representative.

PERMISSION TO HOLD SPORTS MEET DENIED

The army in Jaffna peninsula has refused permission to hold the Sports Meet in the village of Maruthankerny.

GOVERNMENT HARMS TAMIL CHILDREN’S EDUCATION

The military attack on Tamil schools has damaged Tamil children's education in Batticaloa district. Batticaloa district's literacy rate has dropped to an all time low of 69%. This is caused by daily bombing, and shelling of school buildings. Since 1983, several Tamil schools in the region have been destroyed or are unusable due to army shelling. Consequently many Tamil children end up in refugee camps.

JAYA SIKURUI DISRUPT EDUCATION

According to the Education Officer of Thunnukai, the prolonged Jaya Sikurui operation in the Vanni area has severely disrupted children's education. He blamed the government for authorising aerial bombing and artillery shelling on civilian centres.

SHORTAGE OF SCHOOL TEACHERS

The Education department official in the Mullaitivu district have admitted that there is an acute shortage of school teachers in the Vanni district. The actual requirement for the district is about 1457 but only 722 teachers are serving. The government is deliberately denying facilities to Tamil schools in Vanni.

Many schools including Karuvankerni Vigneswaran School in Valaichchenai in Batticaloa district remain closed since May 98. Parents have refused to send their children to school as they fear that the army would harm them.

HOSPITAL UNABLE TO COPE UP

Due to prolonged medical embargo on the Tamil people, the Mulankavil co-operative hospital in Vanni is unable to treat its patients. The medical blockade resulted last year in the death of 46 patients including two new-born infants and mothers.

MALARIA OUTBREAK

During 1997, 149,052 outpatients suffering from Malaria were treated at Mullaitivu hospital, according to Mullaitivu's health officer. He added that Malaria patients constituted 30% of the total number of patients.

The Mulankavil hospital in Vanni has stopped treating all Malaria patients due to unavailability of drugs. During the month of April, 1107 Malaria patients were treated. The hospital has run out of drugs due to the government's blockade of medicine to the Vanni region.

SHORTAGE OF ANTI-RABI VACCINE

Most of the hospitals in Vanni area have had no anti-rabies vaccines in their stores for the past several months.

MEMORANDUM FROM THE HEALTH SERVICE

The Deputy director of the north-east health service, Dr. Sellathurai, has submitted a memorandum to the north-east health ministry pointing out the appalling state of the health service in the region. He noted a serious shortage of medical personnel including minor staff and nurses in all health centres in the north-east and that several clinics outside army control have had to be closed down due to deliberate government negligence. The Batticaloa Teaching Hospital has no medical specialist and other support staff. Ambulance vehicles are also not available. Hospitals in the Jaffna peninsula and all over the Vanni district suffer from the same plight because of government’s negligence. Medical supplies do not arrive on time and, even when they do, supplies are often insufficient.

APPEAL FROM THE GOVERNMENT AGENT

The Government Agent (GA) Mr. Tharmakulasingam stated in his latest report in May that a large displaced population, the shortage of drugs, medical personnel, hospital facilities and the ongoing Jeyasikiru military operations are all factors contributing to an atmosphere of malnutrition, starvation as well as anxiety among the residents in the Mullaitivu district.

The refusal to supply approved drugs by the Ministry of Health and delays in transporting medicine from Vavuniya has lead to shortages of much needed drugs such as Anti Rabies vaccine, Anti Venom serum, hloroquine, Premaquine and Toxicide” said the report.

The report added that shortage of drugs, doctors and other medical personnel has resulted in severe hardship consequently, the patients are forced to travel to distant places such as Vavuniya Base Hospital for emergency medical services.

The GA also said that medical laboratory facilities have not been available at the Mullaitivu District Hospital since 1990.

“Drugs for the first quarter reached hospitals at the end of March and April, but minus 125 drugs which included the most needed drugs. Drugs for the second quarter were approved at the end of May but transport has yet to be arranged through the UNHCR” the GA added.

STATISTICS OF DISPLACED TAMILS

Population in Mullaitivu district as of 31/3/1998 :

Category Families Persons

Permanent (Not displaced) 12,207 49,924

Displaced within the District (Jeyasikuru) 6,893 21,618

Displaced from others Districts 35,331 139,970

Total 54,431 218,512

Displace families according to place of origin as of 31/3/1998

District Families Persons

Mullaitivu 12,207 28,618

Jaffna 6,893 96,050

Kilinochchi 24,951 16,361

Vavuniya 3,874 15,273

Mannar 42 144

Trincomalee 2,643 10,516

Other districts 411 1,626

Total 42,224 168,588

HOSPITAL UNDER ATTACK

On 19 May 98, soldiers from a checkpoint had opened fire at the Jaffna teaching hospital. Hospital staff fled through fear of army assault. One patient Vadivel Sivapalan (35) sustained injury as a result of army firing.

JAFFNA HOSPITAL

The Jaffna Teaching Hospital has a permanent shortage of medicine and medical equipment. There is also a severe shortage of hospital staff including nurses and doctors.

MILITARY OCCUPATION OF JAFFNA HOSPITAL

This teaching hospital is presently under the administration of the Armed forces. Several wards are exclusively reserved for the use of the military. The patients are frightened of the constant presence of military personnel in the hospital premises.

FISHING BAN FOR TAMIL FISHERMEN

Since long time, the armed forces have banned fishing in the Kilali coastal areas and Pulopallai in the North.

The Sri Lankan armed forces have reintroduced a ban on fishing off the coast of Mathagal (in Jaffna), after lifting it in January. About 150 Tamil fishing families who fish at Mathagal have lost their livelihood.

NAVY HARASS FISHERMEN

The Sri Lankan Navy continues to harass and kill many Tamil fishermen off the Mullaitivu coastal area. On 7 March 98, three Tamil fishermen fishing off Ampalavan Pokkanai were killed. Two others have escaped by jumping into the sea, subsequently rescued by other fishermen. Several thousand rupees worth of fishing materials were burnt when the boats caught fire.

Sri Lankan naval forces opened fire on Tamil fishermen at sea off Puthukudiyiruppu on March 25, 98. The fishermen jumped off the boat and swam ashore.

Sri Lankan soldiers from the nearby Kalladi army camp in Batticaloa have set fire to fishing equipment belonging to Tamil fishermen at Kalladi beach. The fishing equipment belonging to 20 different fishermen was valued at several thousands of rupees.

While there are several fishing areas around the Jaffna peninsula, the soldiers occupying the region ban all fishing. After months of agitation by the fishermen the Army chief in Valikamam apparently gave permission to fish from April 17, 98. But when the fishermen went out for fishing, soldiers turned them away saying that fishing is banned under all circumstances.

Since March, 30 fishermen have been killed in the attacks on fishing boats in the coastal area of Mullaitivu and, damage to fishing properties is estimated to be 2,900,000 rupees.

On 1 May 98, the Sri Lankan navy bombed the coastal village of Manmunai in Chempianpattu in east Vadamaradchy in the North. Several fishermen's huts were burnt down. Valuable fishing boats and fishing equipment were destroyed.

On May 21, 98 two fishermen were killed and 11 were injured in an aerial bombing carried out by Kfir war planes in Silawaththai, Mullaitivu. A group of Tamil fishermen drawing their nets in the coastal waters was the target of this attack.

FISHING TRAINING DENIED TO TAMIL STUDENTS

The defence ministry has denied permission to Tamil students to take their school owned Fishing training vessel into the Batticaloa lagoon. The training school opened under the resettlement and rehabilitation plan initiated by the government is without proper training vessels due to government’s lack of initiative. A 4.5 million-rupee worth fishing vessel which was intended for the Batticaloa fisheries training school is being kept back in Negombo.

SHORTAGE OF WATER

Since early part of 1997, the armed forces at Colony-13-Amy camp have cut off water supply to Tamil villages on the Batticaloa-Amparai border. The Tamil villages of Mandoor, Sankapuram and Kanesapuram do not have any supply of water since early 1997 and the cultivation is at a standstill in this area. A total of 5,000 Tamil families living in the three villages are undergoing extreme hardships. 2,900 acres of rich paddy lands have remained uncultivated.

RICE MILL CLOSED DOWN

At Kiran in Batticaloa - a rice mill employing mainly Tamil widows and Tamil handicapped persons has been closed down by the Sri Lankan army, saying that it is an anti-government establishment.

HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN

100% OF THE CHILDREN LOST THEIR FATHERS

A recent survey conducted on Tamil fishing community in the Mullaitivu district has revealed that a majority of the male members have been killed by the Sri Lankan navy. Another survey from the local Tamil Iniyan Kudiyiruppu school, revealed that 100% of the children have lost their fathers to the Sri Lankan navy. There were 30 children in the class, all their fathers have been killed.

8000 WIDOWS AND ORPHANS

Figures released by an independent study group reveal that 8000 young Tamil women have become widows during the last 8 years in Jaffna district as a result of Sri Lankan military attacks. Tamil orphans run to more than 8000.

FORCED MARRIGE ENDED IN GANG RAPE AND MURDER

On 25 June 98 - A 26 year old unmarried woman in Mirusuvil in Jaffna peninsula was gang raped by ten Sri Lankan army soldiers. According to the information that we received, the Army chief of the nearby army camp has ordered Miss Kandaswamy Kalanithy to stand infront of ten soldiers and requested her to choose one soldier to get married. When Miss Kandaswamy Kalanithy refused to do so, one of the soldiers put a pottu on her forehead to singnify his marrige to her. When she protested this forced marrige, she was gang raped by all ten soldiers and then killed. The army chief also refused to hand over her body to a Doctor for an examination. The soldiers have threatned her parents not to speak to anyone regarding this incident.

TWO BABIES DIED WITHOUT DRUGS

On 16 April 98, two children - 3 1/2 years and 1 1/2 years have died of a rare form of fever at the Akkarayan hospital in Vanni, one of the regions which are facing government embargo on medicine.

ARRESTED WOMEN

On 9 March 1998, the army in Jaffna peninsula arrested four women at Vallipuram Kovil checkpoint in Point Pedro, when they were returning home after shopping. The arrested women are Thavasingam Satkunathevi (40), Anandakumar Indira (31) and Kandasamy Maheswary (46), of Nagarkovil in Point Pedro area.

HUSBAND AND WIFE ARRESTED

On 24 April 98, Jegaseelan Puvaneswary (24), a mother of two who went in search of her husband was arrested. While she was passing the Valaiyiravu bridge the soldiers on duty arrested her. Todate both husband and wife are detained in different detention centres. Two of their young children are without proper care as the parents are under military custody.

POLICEMAN ATTEMPTS TO RAPE

On 15 March 98, a policeman attached to the Kopay police station in Jaffna attempted to rape a mother of three in her house in Thirunelveli. The residents intervened and prevented her being raped by the Policeman. When it was brought to the notice of the Kopay police station they came to the scene and took the policeman to safety without charging him for the crime.

6-YEAR OLD GIRL SHOT DEAD

The army in Kiran in Batticaloa gunned down a 6-year old Tamil girl who had been held in their custody. Soldiers asked the detainees to run away from the camp and then opened fire as they ran. 6 year old Peethamparam Sasikala was killed instantaneously.

SRI LANKAN SOLDIERS GANG-RAPE A YOUNG GIRL

On 19 March 98, soldiers gang-raped a deaf and dumb girl in Meesalai in Jaffna. The girl, Selvaranee, unable to bear the humiliation attempted to commit suicide. Her mother’s timely intervention saved the girl who is recuperating at the local hospital.

WOMAN SHOT DEAD

On 30 April 1998, the Sri Lankan armed forces shot and killed a 36 year old mentally retarded woman who resisted their attempts to rape her. This unfortunate incident took place when she was at the army check post at Nochchikulam in the Mannar district.

ARMY SHELL KILL PREGNANT WOMAN

On 12 March 98, Asokan Atputharanee (29), a 5-months pregnant mother was killed when she was hit by a sharpnel from an explosive fired by the Sri Lankan army in Kudathanai in the Jaffna district.

WOMEN WHIPPED PUBLICLY

On 19 June 98 - a Special Task Force (STF) team at Kalmunai highway at Kottaikallar in Batticaloa whipped three Tamil women publicly. The reason for this whipping was unknown.

NGOs COMPLAIN TO UN ENVOY

On 6 May 98, NGOs in Madhu, Vanni told the visiting UN special envoy Olara Otunnu that the Sri Lankan military was deliberately obstructing their humanitarian aid programme, resulting in widespread malnutrition and unusually high mortality among people. The meeting was presided by the representative of the Mannar government agent and attended by many NGOs and the refugee population. The NGOs said that according to the latest survey, infant mortality has shot-up to an alarming level in those areas blockaded by the Sri Lankan army. The UN envoy was told that farming in these areas was also hampered due to the embargo on fertiliser. The heavy bombardment of agricultural lands has contributed for sharply reduced agricultural products. Many parents and relatives of young people who recently 'disappeared' also made a plea to help trace their missing relatives. They broke down and wept in front of the UN envoy, who was visibly moved by their plight. Responding to their appeals, Mr. Otunnu said he was already aware of these matters and expressed sorrow over the disappearance of innocent people. The UN special envoy promised to bring the matter to the attention of the authorities in Colombo.

CONTEMPORY FORMS OF SLAVERY

NO PERMISSION TO BRING HOME DEAD CHILD

On 30 March 98, the military has refused army-pass to a mother to bring home the body of her 6-month old infant. The mother, Kamaladevy, admitted that her baby Chandravathany who was suffering from diarehoea to the Vavuniya hospital. As the child's condition deteriorated, the baby was transferred to the Anuradhapura hospital and died. The mother was forced to leave the lifeless body of the infant in the hospital mortuary and travel alone back to Vavuniya. Ultemately the child was denied a descent burial.

LAND RIGHTS AND PROPERTY DAMAGE

(Refer page of 35-36)

81,000 HOUSES DESTROYED

Jaffna's Peace and Justice Committee has said 81,000 homes in Valikamam in Jaffna district have been damaged by Sri Lankan forces.

COLONISATION IN KANTALAI

At Kantalai in Trincomalee district - about a 20 sq. km Tamil inhabited area is now being settled with sinhala people. Residents of this area earlier fled after persistent military onslaughts. This colonisation has been sponsored by the government

CIVILIANS FORCED OUT OF THEIR VILLAGE

On 19 March, 1998, the Sri Lankan police and army ordered 101 families to leave the Upparu village in Trincomalee. Residents have now taken refuge at Alankerni and Faisal villages.

ARMY TELLS TAMIL CIVILIANS NOT TO COME BACK

The Trincomalee district's army co-ordinating officer has declared that Tamil families who were driven out of their Upparu village by the army and police will not be permitted to return home under any circumstances. At a meeting convened at the district's administrative office, the Army commander rejected a plea from a local MP for the return of the residents. Permission was also denied to villagers to return to take back their cattle left in their homes. The purpose of this forced exodus is to colonise Sinhala settlers in the homes and villages vacated by the Tamils.

42 HOMES LEVELLED IN JAFFNA

The security forces have demolished 42 houses in Ilavalai, Siruvilan and Peruvilan in Jaffna. Trees and other structures were also knocked down, wells levelled to make room for an army playground.

GOVERNMENT SPONSORED COLONISATION

Sri Lankan security forces colonise Tamil areas with Sinhalese people. The Tamils living in Morawewa and Trincomalee (Peeniyadi, Ravananstreet, 6th mile post, Kanniya, Nellari, Veppamkulam, Pankulam and Moraweva Pillaiyar Koviladi) have been forcibly evicted from their houses. The Sinhalese settlers are given all facilities by the government

TAMIL VILLAGES WITH SINHALA NAMES

These areas have now been given Sinhalese names, such as Sinhapura and Thandapura in Kantalai, South-west of Trincomalee. A 20 sq. area km is colonised by armed Sinhala settlers. Tamil residents in the neighbourhood of the new settlement fled their villages for fear of army attack.

The village of Sinna Yalpanam close to the China Bay air force base in Trincomalee has been renamed Janasaviyapura and colonised with Sinhalese settlers. Tamil Nedunkuda village has been renamed Nalandapura. A new Sinhalese colony called Sinhapura has also been created in Pottuvil.

RESTRICTIONS ON RESETTLEMENT

Restrictions have been imposed by the Sri Lankan Navy on the resettlement of displaced Tamil families in Mandaithivu. This is an island very near the Jaffna town with a population which solely depends on fishing for its livelihood.

ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE AND

HUMAN RIGHTS OF DETAINEES

(Refer page of 36-37)

Forty-seven Tamil political prisoners held at the Kalutura prison, are on a fast unto death since 23 June 98 demanding that the authorities either begin legal proceedings against them or release them.

On December 12 97, three political prisoners in the Kalutara prison were killed by Sinhala prisoners with the connivance of Sinhala guards. No inquiry was held on the prison killings until to-day.

It will be recalled that 53 political prisoners were massacred in the Colombo high security Welikada jail on July 24 and 25, 1983. Fifteen years later no proper inquiries have been held nor the culprits punished

THREE IDENTITY PAPERS FOR TAMILS

The Sri Lankan soldiers at the check points in Jaffna peninsula have ordered the civilians to carry 3 identity papers and details of their movements. Likewise those who take the flight to Colombo must get two witnesses from the neighbourhood who should assure in writing that the passanger is not a "terrorist".

SIGN BOARDS IN SINHALESE

Sign boards in Jaffna are being converted from Tamil to Sinhalese. Public sign boards, road names , bus destination boards, Time tables etc. are written prominently in Sinhalese while Tamil the version is etched in minute characters.

DELIBRATE DELAY IN ISSUING NATIONAL ID CARDS

In a move to undermine the political strength of the Tamils in the Central and Uva provinces, a large number of the hill country Tamils who have been registered as voters, are not given their national identity cards. The Sri Lankan government has ignored pleas by the Tamils to expedite the processing of their national identity cards applications.

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT

(Refer page of 35)

RESTRICTIONS ON FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT

The Sri Lankan government has cut down the Tamils' freedom of movement across the island. In a new move announced recently, it will allow only 125 Tamils a day to cross into Mannar from other parts of the Vanni.

The military also announced that Tamils wishing to travel from Vanni to Jaffna will not be allowed to cross the Uliyankulam check post. For the last two months the Sri Lankan army has similarly stopped boats ferrying Tamils from Mannar to Jaffna, resulting in nearly 5,000 Tamils currently being stranded in Mannar. Some of those stranded are University students and student teachers from the Jaffna peninsula.

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT IN JAFFNA

The Sri Lankan armed forces have restricted the movement of men aged 16-40 from Vadamaradchy east sector to other parts.

The army has also stopped civilians taking food and clothes to the area and confisticated money in excess of 350 rupees per person.

TROOPS DENY ENTRY TO RETURNING RESIDENTS

The army has refused permission to 5561 Tamil civilians trying to get to their homes in Valikamam East. They are being held in 56 army-detention centres in many parts of Jaffna peninsula. These detention centres are believed to be unfit for human habitation.

The detention centres in Jaffna are as follows :

7 detention centres in Kopay; 734 persons belonging to 194 families

13 detention centres in Chankanai; 833 persons belonging to 229 families

9 detention centres in Sandilipay; 784 persons belonging to 221 families

3 detention centres in Tellipalai; 440 persons belonging to 127 families

8 detention centres in Uduvil; 907 persons belonging to 241 families

7 detention centres in Pt. Pedro; 1081 persons belonging to 253 families

detention centres in Karaveddy; 70 persons belonging to 18 families

2 detention centres in Jaffna; 366 persons belonging to 83 families

detention centres in Maruthahankerni; 326 persons belonging to 82 families

FLEEING REFUGEES TARGETTED BY THE NAVY

On 25 February 98, the Sri Lankan navy has opened fire on a group of Tamil refugees who were waiting at Mannar to board the ferry to Tamil Nadu in India. On the following day at the same place again the Navy has arrested fifty four refugee women waiting to flee to Tamil Nadu. The Tamil refugees were fleeing to India to escape the military onslaught of civilians in Tamil areas.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

PRESS CENSORSHIP

Since June 5, 1998 - President Chandrika Kumaratunga has imposed Press censorship in Sri Lanka. As the present censorship applies to both local and foreign press, this will keep the whole world in the dark about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. Foreign news reporters are already prohibited from visiting the North and East. Reuters news agency has criticised the press censorship.

EDITOR ESCAPES ASSASSINATION - WORK OF THE GOVERNMENT

On 18 June 98, Mr. Lasantha Wickrematunga - editor of Sunday Leader, escaped death when gunmen burst into his home and sprayed bullets to scare the editor. According to Mr. Lasantha Wickrematunga, it is belived to be the work of the security forces.

The Paris-based media rights organisation, Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF), in a letter to President Chandrika Kumaratunga called for the attackers to be tried and sentenced. "Our organisation asks you to ensure that all journalists can exercise their profession safely", RSF said.

The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka expressed "total disgust" at the attack on the Sunday Leader editor. Mr. Wickrematunga had previously been assaulted by unidentified men who had warned him to stop criticising the government. Mr. Wickrematunga's Sunday Leader weekly has been uneqivocal in its criticism and exposed alleged corruption in the government.

(Colombo, June 18 - AFP)

ATTEMPTED TO ABDUCT A JOURNALIST

On 12 February 1998, five gunmen, suspected to be connected with the security forces, forcibly entered the home of Mr. Iqbal Athas and, after threatening him and his family, attempted to abduct him. Mr.Iqbal Athas is a senior journalist specializing in defence-related reporting. He writes for the Sunday Times, a Colombo news paper.

RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE

HINDU PRIESTS APPEAL TO UNESCO

The North-East Hindu Priests' Association has despatched a letter to UNESCO requesting it to tell the Sri Lankan government to stop bombing Hindu temples, arresting Hindu priests, and using temples as army living quarters and checkpoints. Copies of the strong statement were sent to India's ruling BJP, Shiv Sena, Vishva Hindu Parishad and the Kanchi Kamakody Hindu leadership. It points out that well over 1800 Hindu temples have been entirely destroyed or partially damaged and the holiness of these temples purposefully violated. Hindu icons have been plundered by the Sri Lankan army and Hindu priests routinely intimidated and harassed at army checkpoints.

TWO CHRISTIAN PRIESTS KILLED IN AERIAL BOMBING

On June 4, 1998 two Christian priests Christianpillai and Dominic in Kanahampikaikulam in the Killinochchi district were killed when Kfir bombers dropped several sorties of bombs. The bodies of the diseased were shattered beyond recognition.

Last year August 25, a Christian priest Rev. Arulpalan of Konavil in Killinochchi district, who was reportedly taken in for questioning by the Sri Lankan Army was not seen alive there after, his decomposed body was discovered on September 9, 1997. To-date no inquiry was held to punish the perpetrators of the crime.

PRIEST INJURED

On 10 June 98, a Hindu priest and his wife were injured in an aerial attack at Suthanthirapuram Mullaitivu. 1800 Hindu temples in North and East of Sri Lanka were destroyed or damaged over the past few years.

CHURCH CONVERTED INTO ARMY CAMP

St. Joseph's church of the Tamils at 7th mile post in the Trincomalee district has been converted into an army administration base.

ARMY DESTROYS HISTORIC TEMPLE

The historic Keerimalai Naguleswarar Hindu Temple was bombed by the Sri Lankan airforce. The damage to the temple is estimated to be in the range of hundreds of thousands of rupees.

HINDU IDOLS

The head priest from the historic hindu temple of Maviddapuram Kandasamy in Jaffna has identified at Mallakam courts, Hindu-idols robbed from this shrine during the time, the Sri Lankan army occupied this temple. The priest also told the courts that many more items have been robbed from the temple including the gold plated flag-post and other idols.

(LIST OF DESTROYED OR DAMAGED TEMPLES AND CHURCHES ARE AVAIBLABLE)

ANNEXES

EXTRACT FROM THE REPORT OF

MR. BACRE WALY NDIAYE

(Report N°. E/CN.4/1998/68/Add.2 - dated 12 March 1998)

(The Special Rapporteur on extra judicial, summary or arbitrary executions

visited Sri Lanka from 24 August to 5 September 1997)

The Special Rapporteur wishes to note that while in Jaffna town, and despite the curfew which is still in force from 8 p.m., he generally observed that during daylight, there were visible signs of an easing of tension in the life of the people. However, although there has been a re-establishment of a government administration in the Jaffna peninsula, the military remain in control of the city.

The security forces, comprised of members of the army and the police are 99 per cent Sinhalese and do not speak Tamil which is the language of the local population and very often treat the local population with suspicion. This amplifies the sense of an army occupation and exacerbates the already existing feeling of alienation.

With regard to cases of execution the Special Rapporteur was told that families are reluctant to claim the bodies of their relatives. Close relatives who want to claim the bodies of the victims are required the to declare that the victims were terrorists. Failure to do so will result in the bodies not being given to the families. Due to these conditions, families are afraid to claim the bodies, and several bodies remain unclaimed.

Soldiers convicted of rape or other crimes could be granted bail once the investigation is completed. While on bail, the same soldiers are often transferred to other parts of the country, thus making it difficult to trace them. Often, they will not report for further investigation.

Torture is reportedly used by the armed forces with two principal aims : to obtain information on insurgent group and to intimidate the population. Torture, inflicted at the place of detention, in remote places in rural areas or in military and police premises, reportedly precedes the taking of a decision as to whether the detainee is released or put at the disposal of the competent judicial authority. It seems to be a common practice that members of the armed forces and security forces arrest persons without a warrant, subject them to interrogation and take them to the judge days later, after forcing them to sign a statement of good treatment. All these circumstances, together with the fact that the detainees are kept incommunicado, increase the risk of torture.

Effective impunity encourages political violence and is a serious destabilising element in all contexts of the Sri Lankan socio-political system. Respect for the rule of law is essential to maintain order and stability and to protect human rights in any country. Impunity perpetuates the mass violation of human rights. There have been periodical Extrajudicial executions, but few perpetrators have been brought to justice. Furthermore, impunity is an obstacle to democratic development and peace negotiations, and makes reconciliation difficult. This culture of impunity has led to arbitrary killings and has contributed to the uncontrollable spiralling of violence.

The systematic absence of investigation, either civil or military, into violations of the right to life facilitates impunity. Investigations are rarely conducted, and when they are, they do not lead to the appropriate convictions or penalties.

Impunity for those responsible for human rights violations remains a serious concern. Progress in a few court cases against members of the security forces charged in connection with disappearances and extrajudicial executions is slow, as are investigations into many other cases. While in Colombo, the Special Rapporteur met with Mr. W.C.N Rajapakese who recounted the case of his sister, Ms. W.W Chandrawathie. She was 22 years old when, on 26 September 1990, she was forcibly taken from her house in Eppawala, Aunradhapura district, by a sub-inspector of police accompanied by other relatives, who subsequently shot her. They also alleged that her body was later burnt on tires at a nearby quarry. Officials at the local police station refused to assist the family when they attempted to lodge a complaint. Her family then contacted the Deputy Inspector General of Police of the area, who initiated investigations, the result of which were presented to the Magistrate's Court.

EXTRACT FROM THE REPORTS OF

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

(January-December 1997)

The three commissions of inquiry established in late 1994 to look into past human rights violations, particularly "disappearances", presented their final reports to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in September. They had reportedly found evidence of 16,742 "disappearances" since 1 January 1988. The government announced it would make the reports public and initiate legal proceedings in those cases where the commissions found prima facie evidence against members of the security forces.

A Board of Investigation, set up in late 1996 within the Ministry of Defence to investigate "disappearances" reported in Jaffna, received complaints concerning 760 people. Of these, 180 were found to be in detention or to have been released; the others remained unaccounted for at the end of the year.

Thousands of Tamil people, including scores of possible prisoners of conscience, were arrested during security operations in all parts of the country. According to official figures, 8,652 people were arrested in Colombo alone between July 1996 and July 1997. After an attack on the World Trade Centre in Colombo in October, apparently by the LTTE, 965 Tamil people were arrested, including 139 women. Approximately 50 of them were detained for further investigation. At the end of the year, an estimated 1,200 people were detained without charge or trial under the Emergency Regulations or Prevention of Terrorism Act, of whom 400 had been held for more than two years. The security forces also held relatives of LTTE members as hostages in order to put pressure on LTTE suspects to give themselves up. Sinnathamby Kanmany, whose daughter was suspected of being an LTTE member, was arrested in March in Vavuniya and held without charge or trial for four months by the Crime Detection Bureau in Colombo. She was finally released in July on the order of the Supreme Court.

Torture and ill-treatment in army and police custody were widespread. Kumaru Selvaratnam was arrested in March on suspicion of involvement with the LTTE. During the first eight days of his detention at Slave Island police station in Colombo, he was assaulted with a broomstick. He suffered injury to the testicles as a result of which they had to be surgically removed. In Jaffna, torture was widespread. Methods included near-suffocation with plastic bags filled with petrol; beatings with wire and plastic pipes; electric shocks; and suspension by the thumbs or ankles. The Supreme Court awarded compensation to a 14 year old girl who had been tortured by police in Hungama in 1995. No prosecutions were initiated under the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Act. (see Amnesty International Report 1995)

There were several allegations of rape by members of the security forces, particularly in the north and east. In March Velan Rasamma, a widow and her sister, Velan Vasantha, were reportedly raped by four soldiers in Mayilampaveli Colony, Batticaloa district. The soldiers allegedly involved were arrested but later released after the women failed to identify them at an identification parade, apparently because of fear of reprisals.

Approximately 80 Tamil civilians reportedly "disappeared" after arrest by the army, most in Jaffna, Batticaloa, Mannar and Killinochchi. Further evidence emerged about approximately 600 "disappearances" reported in Jaffna in 1996.

There were several reports of alleged extrajudicial executions, particularly in Vavuniya in the "Vanni", where internally displaced people trying to return to their homes were killed by the army. In September the bodies of the Reverend Arulpalan and two labourers, Joseph and his 16 years old son Surendran, were found in Shalom Nagar, their home village in the security zone around Kilinochchi town. They had "disappeared" after they were seen arrested by soldiers when they went to cut some palmyrah leaves in August. According to reports the Reverend Arulpalan had been shot in the head and Surendran's head had reportedly been severed and placed between his legs. The army denied responsibility for the killings and blamed the LTTE.

One Muslim and two Tamil detainees were killed at Kalutara prison in December by a group of Sinhalese criminal prisoners in an apparently premeditated attack. There were reports that prison staff and army personnel failed to take measures to protect the detainees and that some were appointed to investigate the killings.

Police officers charged with murdering 12 prisoners in Nittambuwa, Gampaha district in 1990 were acquitted in April owing to lack of evidence.

Throughout the year, Amnesty International called for a halt to "disappearances" and other human right violations; for the prosecution of alleged perpetrators; and for a review of the Emergency regulations and the Prevention of Terrorism Act. It also urged the government to establish an independent inquiry into the killing of three detainees at Kalutara prison.

SRI LANKA USES FOOD AS A WEAPON AGAINST TAMILS

(Extract from the report submitted at the occasion of the 18th session of

the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (27 April - 17 May, 1998)

by FIAN International, an NGO in consultative status with ECOSOC,

working for the Human Rights to Feed Oneself.)

The Jaffna Medical faculty conducted a survey of the nutritional standards of children in the Jaffna district in 1993 and found over 44,000 children in the district to be suffering from malnutrition.

The government greatly restricted essential supplies such as food, medicine, fertilisers etc. As this cannot be attributed to infrastructural weaknesses in the area, there is reason for concern, that food could have been used as a weapon against both the LTTE and the Tamil population remaining in the area. This amounted to a violation of the right to food and of the Geneva Convention IV to which Sri Lanka is a state party.

Due to the failure of the government to provide for adequate facilities to the increasing number of refugees in the Vanni district, living conditions there are so appalling that most of them meanwhile preferred to return to Jaffna peninsula. Still some half a million refugees struggle to survive in the jungles of Vanni district. An equal number is stranded in the Eastern province. There were reports of violations of civil and political rights perpetrated by the armed forces of both sides, as well as land evictions and massive displacement of people in the war zones, which amount to a violation of these people's land rights and right to feed themselves.

Independent surveys reveal that under-nourishment and malnutrition, specially among expecting mothers and children, are as much as 70 per cent. No doubt, one of the attempts of the Government to meet this situation is the Triposha programme, a supplementary feeding programme with the support of CARE/USAID. Reports indicate that this programme has not been reaching the North and East for the past couple of years.

According to NGOs and humanitarian officials, access to health care is poor. The Jaffna teaching hospital which had well over 1000 beds now functions with only one ward. In Vanni, besides the Vavuniya district hospital, there is a hospital in Mallavi and another one in Akakarayankulam, both of which are severely overcrowded. The hospital in Vavuniya is unable to provide for the needs of the thousands of displaced persons who moved in from places north of Vavuniya. No additional facilities in the area function. Drugs are in short supply. There is also an acute shortage of staff. The Jaffna teaching hospital had only one specialist - an eye surgeon. The incidence of Malaria and respiratory tract infections is high.

In fact, the suicide rate in the country ranks among the highest in the world. Recent published statistics showed 70,000 suicides from 1993 to 1997, a number higher than that accounted for deaths in ethnic warfare during the same period. A vast number of these suicides have taken place among the poorest.

Nearly 2/3 of Sri Lanka's coastal areas fall within the Northern and Eastern Provinces and well over 30 per cent of the population depend on fishing for their living. Since the eruption of the ethnic conflict, the Government severely restricted fishing in the coastal areas in the North and East for reasons of security. No fishermen could not fish in these waters without the permission of the security forces and this permission is seldom given. 90,000 fisher-families are reported to have lost their sole means of livelihood when the government barred civilian access to the coastal belt north of Mannar up to Trincomalee.

By the end of 1996 there were 768,356 internally displaced person (mostly Tamils); approx. 96,000 in India.

The displacement of the population :

Numbers displaced (approx.)

December 1994 525,000

October 1995 649,049

December 1995 1017,181

May 1996 839,161

October 1996 770,356

December 1996 768,356

(Source : Ministry of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction)

According to the same source, at the end of 1997 - 193,253 families of the Northern and Eastern Provinces consisting of 787,632 members were displaced and received state assistance of dry rations. Out of the displaced 36,540 families are in 370 Welfare centres. The rest are staying with friends and relatives.

However, NGO and other humanitarian officials allege that there is a large number of people in Vanni who have not been taken into account in these figures since they do not receive any assistance from the government. Recently, a news report said that there were about 70,000 displaced persons in Vanni not receiving any relief.

(Source : Poser hits Refugee Life in Vanni. C. Kamalendra. "Sunday Times", April 1997)

In addition it is estimated that about 200,000 people have sought refugee overseas, some of whom have applied for asylum. 100,000 refugees are estimated to be in South India.

(Sources : Sri Lanka, State of Human Rights Report 1997. Law & Society Trust)

WELIOYA COLONISATION SCHEME

Manal Aru now named Welioya is located between the Districts of Trincomalee, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya and Anuradhapura. The total land area is about 100,000 acres (=154 square miles). Until 1983 it had several farms like Navalar Farm, Ceylon Theatres Farm, Kent farm, Dollar Farm etc. All in all there were 16 farms. There were also individual buildings on 10 to 15 acres, and all the inhabitants were Tamils. The Welioya colonisation scheme represents a most destructive and pointless attempt to tamper with an age old population which had been living in these lands for several generations, through colonisation. "Towards the end of 1983, 1,208 Tamil families had been forcibly evicted by the military from 42 villages in Weli-oya area in which they had been living for generations and they stand displaced since then. In addition, Tamil families who were living in Nedunkerny, an area adjoining Weli-oya, also got evicted by the military from 18 villages in that area. No information is available as to the exact number of families that got evicted from these 18 villages. They are now scattered and live in various places as refugees. 3000 families who were evicted are suffering in refugee camps hoping for the day they could go back to their villages.

The Eastern Province consists of three administrative districts namely; Amparai, Batticaloa and Trincomalee, which had a high concentration of Tamil and Muslim populations. To the West of these districts lies the Sinhalese populated districts of Monaragala, Polonnaruwa and Anuradhapura. In between them are the border areas which were fertile land once cultivated but now abandoned to the advancing jungles which were part of the Eastern Province.

Successive governments since independence have followed a policy of colonising these border areas with mostly Sinhalese population brought from outside the bordering districts. The policy was motivated both by political as well as economic considerations. Politically the intention is that there should be no territory that could be called Tamil. Economically the land owning class, who held political power since independence, thought that the best way to solve landlessness among the Sinhalese who might one day demand lands from them, is to shift them to the colonisation scheme in the distant Eastern Province.

Demolition of houses during military operations

(a) The District of Jaffna in the 1980's had a population of 800,000. As at end of 31/12/1997, it had dwindled to 473.279. Due to the ongoing war about 40% of the dwelling houses had been demolished. According to the records available with the district administration, the number of houses demolished / partly damaged is given below.

Slightly

Demolished Partly damaged damaged

Permanent Houses 8,171 20,084 16,332

Semi Permanent Houses 4,860 6,968 3,665

Temporary Houses 11,384 3,708 4,145

Total 24,415 30,750 24,142

(Note : Houses under high security zones in the district are not included. About 25% of the land area falls under high security zones)

(b) The Government launched a military operation code named ”JAYASIKURU” last year to clear 90 miles of road way from Jaffna in the North. This road way is the main roadway that links Jaffna Peninsula to the main land. About 60 miles of this road way runs through areas that were not in government control, but in control of LTTE. Reports reaching from these areas indicate that 100 meters both sides of the road have been cleared with bulldozers demolishing several buildings including dwellings, to assure security for the road. No survey had been done to ascertain the damage caused to buildings. This is borne out by the fact that 246,000 persons in the District of Kilinochchi, and 450,000 in the district of Vanni, the two districts through which this road way runs, stand displaced.

Forcible eviction from arable lands and houses

These occur to establish new military camps and to extend existing camps. A few such instances are given :

(i) Palaly Airport in the District of Jaffna was converted into a military air base in the early part of 1980. Nearly 430 acres of land had been taken over partly for extension and partly to assure security. This is a very fertile area with highly productive red soil.

(ii) Batticaloa Airport was similarly made into an airbase and 90 acres were taken over in 1990 out of which 70 acres were arable land belonging to cultivators. Again in 1994 further 263 acres of land were taken over for this Airport. As a result 256 families who were cultivators had been evicted. According to a recent survey 40 percent of the families evicted are at poverty level.

Confiscation of property and demolition of dwellings

The Prevention of Terrorism Act N° 4 of 1979 (PTA) and the existing Emergency Regulations (ER) already provided for forfeiture of property as one of the consequences of conviction for certain offences in addition to other penalties such as life imprisonment, imprisonment and fine. Under PTA any person who causes the death of a specified person or kidnaps or abducts or commits an attack upon a person, is deemed to have forfeited all properties moveable and immoveable to the Republic.

Under the Emergency Regulations any person convicted on the charge of conspiracy to overthrow the government could be punished with death or rigorous imprisonment and will forfeit all his property.

The present Regulation "The Emergency" (confiscation of property) Regulation N°. 1 of 1996 published on 22^nd August, 1996 had taken a step further and provides for confiscation in certain circumstances even when there has been no finding by a Court that an offence has been committed. The confiscation is carried out by the Inspector General of Police after approval of the Defence Secretary. The approval only has to state that from the information available to the defence Secretary the Secretary is satisfied that :

During the early part of July, 1996 following the arrest of a person the police sealed her residence at Rasavalli Lane, Wellawatte (Colombo). After three days the Criminal Detective Bureau of the police using a bulldozer completely demolished the house with the household goods which included valuables. The said person stands charged before court for possessing arms and ammunition. On 21st March 1997, the police tried to bulldoze a house at Boswell Place, Wellawatte. Due to protests by the residents and intervention of neighbours, police ploughed the compound, damaged roof and threw away a pile of bricks that were in the compound.

MILITARY GROWTH OF SRI LANKAN

SECURITY FORCES SINCE 1994

President Chandrika's government which speaks of human rights and peace has increased the defence forces by double since it came to power

1986 1988 1993 1995 1996 1997

Army 30,000 40,000 90,000 105,000 118,890 135,000

Navy 3,960 5,500 10,100 10,300 11,831 12,000

Airforce 3,700 3,700 10,700 10,700 12,292 12,500

Police 21,000 21,000 40,000 80,000 80,000 80,000

STF 5,000 7,000 8,000 8,000 8,000 8,000

Total 63,000 77,200 158,800 214,000 231,013 247,500

(Source : Air Vice Marshal - Harry Gunatilleke - Weekend Express of 25-26 April 1998)

OVER 1800 LANDMINE VICTIMS IN JAFFNA

According to “Lankadeepa”, the Sinhala daily news paper of 10 July 98, over 1800 civilians have lost a limb due to land mines in Jaffna during the last 6 years. The paper said, according to the survey, 1448 of them are males below the age of 30.

Dr. N. Selvarajah of the University of Jaffna, said that between 80 to 100 victims of pressure mines are reported every month in Jaffna. He gave this figures in a seminar, jointly organised by the University of Jaffna and UNICEF, on 6 July 98. These landmines believed to have been buried by the security forces for their security in the Jaffna peninsula.

POINTS RAISED BY THE EXPERTS AT THE 18th SESSION OF

THE COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

(Extract from the DPI Press release 28/4/98 and 29/4/98)

The committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights this morning started it consideration of a report by Sri Lanka, discussing among other issues the effect of the armed conflict in the south Asian country on the fulfilment of these rights.

* One expert said there had been marginalization of Tamils in their homeland since independence. Actions by the majority Sinhalese had resulted in reduced rates of employment, low standards of health, housing and education for Tamils. Why was the Government not willing to comply with international obligations to fulfil the aspiration of its minorities, the expert asked.

* Other issues raised included prospects for a solution to the 14 year war, which had caused the displacement of an estimated 193,000 families, or 800,000 people; claims by non-governmental organisations that the Government used food as a weapon against the Tamil population and Tamil refugees and the need for in-depth information about mental disorders in refugee camps.

* Concerning discrimination against ethnic groups, an expert said available data did not prove it did not exist, as the delegation claimed. Although there was no discrimination in the private sector, most economic development was in the Sinhalese populated areas, while Tamil-populated areas were ignored; that was the crux of the problem.

* One expert said the statistics in the core report on causes of low birth weight did not include figures from northern or eastern Sri Lanka. The government could not blame the conflict for not addressing problems. Otherwise the fighting was justified. If practical reasons were the cause for the lack of statistics, how had it been possible to hold elections in the Jaffna peninsula but not health surveys? Figures showed that the Sinhalese population was better treated and provided for than other ethnic groups.

* But Committee experts pointed to the so-called Welioya Colonisation Scheme, under which Tamils had been removed from their homes to be replaced by tens of thousands of Sinhalese families. Some claims might be propaganda, experts said but it was not sufficient for the delegation to say that there were no evictions or that all reports were propaganda. The delegation also had to be careful not to blame the LTTE - the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - for everything, said one expert.

* One expert said the delegation insisted that there had been improvement in the quality of life, but statistics showed that Sinhalese children were in better health than non-Sinhalese. Was this because the distribution of revenue was not equitable, or was it because Sinhalese were better educated? He was concerned about the correlation between non-Sinhalese persons and cases of malnutrition among children.

Press release of the NGO "Peace Brigades International"

who quit Sri Lanka in May 98

Your Excellency, 5 MAY 1998

It is with regret that we inform you that Peace Brigades International has decided to close its project in Sri Lanka. We have had a presence in your country since 1989, striving to protect and encourage those working to ensure respect for human rights...

During recent years the demand for our service of protective accompaniment by democratic activists has reduced significantly, especially in the South, where most of our early work was centred. This is a positive change. At the same time, we have continued to perceive a need for our presence in other regions, particularly in the East.

However; our ability to work effectively in that region has been noticeably hindered by the limitations on access to the region that your government has deemed necessary to impose due to the ongoing conflict. As a result of these two factors, combined with other internal criteria within our organisation over the last year, we have gone through a process of evaluation resulting in a decision to withdraw our team from Sri Lanka.

We must, however, express our most serious concern and surprise over the recent actions taken by your government with respect to our organisation. On 4 March 1998 at a meeting with members of the Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs and Plan Implementation and Parliamentary Affairs, we were informed that we would be unable to continue our work in Sri Lanka without agreeing to new and strict conditions. In particular, those conditions included the demand that we refrain from publishing reports outside Sri Lanka without first submitting them to the appropriate government ministries. No such condition had ever been imposed before, not even under the UNP government.

As a non-governmental organisation with a firm commitment to non partisanship and independence, it was unthinkable that we could condition our work in this way. As a result our on-island representatives did not receive the necessary recommendation for resident visas to be issued. Under these circumstances we were forced to withdraw much more abruptly than we had planned.

You have often eloquently voiced your commitment to human rights and democracy, and we have been encouraged by your attempts to seek a negotiated solution to the conflicts in Sri Lanka. We recognise that a sovereign government facing an internal conflict will often deem it expedient to control both geographical access and information about the conflicts.

Nevertheless, when such measures are applied to non-partisan NGO witnesses whose presence can increase respect for human rights, the result is counterproductive: these measures undermine trust in the government, and weaken the possibilities for achieving true democracy and respect for human rights.

Despite our withdrawal, our commitment to the people of Sri Lanka continues. We hope to continue to serve the cause of democracy and human rights in Sri Lanka by monitoring the situation and informing our members, other international NGOs and international government contacts of ongoing developments. We will also do our best to support the efforts of other non-partisan, non-violent NGOs still working in Sri Lanka.

In closing, we again offer our sincerest support for all efforts your government can take towards a negotiated solution to the conflict, and towards the respect for human rights of all Sri Lankans.

Respectfully yours,

Anne Harrison - Chair of PBInternational Council

Andrew Kendle -Chair of the Sri Lanka Project

Kevin Ellis - Co-ordinator of the Sri Lanka Project

PBI is an international NGO working for the peaceful resolution of conflicts in Central America, Colombia, Haiti, and the Balkans. It has associate status with the United Nations Department of Public Information. For more information on this issue, please contact: PBI's International Office, 5 Caledonian Road, N1 9DX, UK.

Tel.: +44-171-713-0392, fax: +44-171-8372290, e-mail: pbiio@gn.apc.org

AGOTIC appeal on Tamil children to Mr. Olara Ottunu

Special representative of UN Secretary General

(AGOTIC -Tel/Fax: +94-1-57385 Email : monoraj sri.lanka.net)

The Action Group of Tamils in Colombo sent out an appeal on the arrival to Sri Lanka of the UN's special envoy on children and armed conflict. But AGOTIC says its statement, reproduced here, was unfortunately 'blacked out' by the Colombo media.

We urge Mr. Olara Otunnu - special representative of the UN Secretary General - to especially visit conflict areas in the north and east of Sri Lanka, meet LTTE representatives and obtain firsthand information on the lives of Tamil children living in conditions of armed conflict.

We also wish to draw Mr. Otunnu's attention to some salient aspects of the issue.

The international community has been justifiably concerned about the plight of children in armed conflict. Children invariably are disproportionately affected in such conflicts, and the armed conflict in Sri Lanka is no exception.

The armed conflict between the Sri Lankan Government and the Tamil people began in earnest in July 1979, when President JR Jayawardene ordered Brigadier Weeratunga to "eradicate terrorism" in six months.

That year, the Sri Lankan armed forces unleashed the draconian counter-insurgency measure of collective punishment against the Tamil people.

Tamil children were worst affected by this indiscriminate application of violence. And the government has continued and intensified the collective punishment of Tamils with utter disregard for its impact on children.

Tens of thousands of Tamil children have been orphaned. Thousands have died in indiscriminate artillery shelling and aerial bombing, often carried out blindly at night while many more have been crippled.

Severe food restrictions including on infant milk-food imposed in June 1990, have led to widespread starvation. And malnutrition is rampant among Tamil children in the north. In the Mullaitivu district, for example, 40% of children suffer from third degree malnutrition.

Numerous schools have been damaged or destroyed by Sri Lankan armed forces and many others converted into camps for the armed forces or Tamil refugees. Consequently, the education of the vast majority of Tamil children has been massively disrupted. (about 20,000 Tamil children in Mullaitivu district are unable to attend schools).

The adverse effect on the next generation of Tamils is obvious - the Tamil society will be burdened by large numbers of physically maimed and mentally undeveloped adults in the near future.

Yet the government continues to deliberately target Tamil children as part of its counter-insurgency tactic of applying collective punishment against the Tamil people. Meanwhile, the government's avowed 'compassion' for Tamil children fools no one.

AGOTIC unreservedly condemns this genocidal destruction of the next generation of Tamils.

In the meantime, the Sri Lanka government has discovered 'compassion' for Tamil children allegedly recruited by the LTTE.

It is a matter for the LTTE to respond to the government's allegation, but AGOTIC is constrained to draw attention to the following points:

Article 38(2) of the United Nations Convention on The Rights of the Child provides that "States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons who have not attained the age of fifteen years do not take a direct part in hostilities." We have not seen any evidence to prove that the LTTE has induced Tamil children below the age of 15 to take "a direct part in hostilities".

Sri Lanka has failed to substantiate its allegation that the LTTE employs children in hostilities - the government has produced no photographic evidence of LTTE cadre killed in battle who could be children. The so-called 'confessions' under interrogation of 'captured' Tamil children trotted out by the government cannot be taken seriously, especially while there is widespread use of torture by the armed forces.

Indeed, AGOTIC is appalled by the cynical management of information to exonerate the government and pallor the LTTE.

The government-owned Sunday Observer (3 May 1998), for example, made no reference to the plight of thousands of Tamil children internally displaced or dying as a result of the government's policy of calculated genocide. Instead, the newspaper reported unsubstantiated hearsay information about the alleged recruitment of children by the LTTE.

Another example is the book titled, 'Children: the invisible soldiers', by Rachel Brett and Margaret McCallum, published by the Swedish Save the Children Fund. The authors collected the data through questionnaires sent to selected NGOs in Sri Lanka (and other countries)

AGOTIC regrets that the authors did not visit Sri Lanka to verify the data given in the completed questionnaires.

No attempt was made to expose the government's deliberate tactic of damaging beyond repair large sections of future generations of Tamils by denying food to, and destroying the educational infrastructure of, Tamil children.

Indeed, Tamil children are most at risk from the collective punishment applied by the government on the Tamil People.

Further, AGOTIC was shocked to read the AFP news agency report (3 May) that former UNICEF representative Brita Ostberg alleged that "If the LTTE does not recruit children, they will have very few fighters."

The crux of the issue is that Tamil children are at risk primarily because the government is waging war against a section of its own people. UNICEF must demand that the government stops this war immediately, lifts all restrictions on medical and food supplies and spares the Tamil children.

If UNICEF fails to do this, it will be betraying countless Tamil children living in Sri Lanka.

Dr. S Sathananthan

Secretary

EVIDENCE OF A TORTURE VICTIM

(Extract from the report of the "Women's Development and Information Unit" - U.K.

This report was published in the "Tamil Guardian" of Saturday May 9, 1998)

The British adjudicator in the case, Miss K. Eshun, affirmed during proceedings at London's Lincoln House that she found Vijayakumar Jeganmogan's story utterly believable.

Among other things, his evidence showed how 'Tiger hunting' in Sri Lanka has become a mighty business - arguably one of the biggest money extortion rackets in the Island.

Along with the usual accommodation bills, Tamil residents in Colombo's lodges caught up 'protection taxes' to the police to help secure release after the inevitable arrests that occur during routine round-ups.

Jeganmogan has suffered immeasurably, not only in Colombo's prison but also penniless on the streets of Hong Kong after escaping from the island. He's now a manual worker in London, but is just one of the tens of thousands of Tamils in Britain longing to return to their homeland.

But the ongoing war and its attendant evils have made life for Tamils there an uncertainty, or at the very least a debilitating trauma.

He's only one of the few granted asylum here in Britain, but says his dream is simply to lay his head on his mother's lap. He told his story to the Women's Development and Information Unit.

The arrest

I was staying in a Colombo lodge. They just came... like a round up.... they came there and arrested four of us, the younger people. And they took us to a cell.

There were more than a hundred people in the small cell so we could only stand.... we couldn't sit there because a hundred people you know. We had to stand like that for seven hours. There was one man, he was 64 years old, he had to stand there like that too.

Custody conditions

The new cell was the same size as the old one but with only 20 people, so we could lie down. But it was very smelly because of the toilet. 100 or 120 people had used that toilet, so how would you feel? The people who were there, they used to buy some cardboard as a seat or bed or anything, because the floor's very bad smelly.

Anticipation of torture

The next day, I think it was 18 November (because they arrested me on 17 November 1993)...next day the inspector came with another inspector. They called our names, my name and the other one arrested with me. They said : "You have to go to the CTB headquarters" and they just went away. At that time, the others said : "Careful, that place is the place where you get beaten up", so we were really worried about what was going to happen.

Sinhalese deserters are tortured too

After 2 or 3 hours we went to the CTB headquarters in Borella.... they put us in small cells. There was another boy, I think he was a Sinhalese who ran away from the army, and they put him there and he didn't talk to us.... until after we got beaten, then he talked to us... he had also been beaten before that.

The man who came with the inspector before that, he came and called our names.

First he called the other boy's name, he was a bit younger than I. I was 19 years old and he was 18 years old, but he's a bit smaller, you know. So they called him first and then he came back after half an hour. He had lots of red marks on his body. He was just crying, he never said anything to me, he just sat there. Then they called my name, I was really scared. They took me to the Inspector's office.

The torture

There was a table and chair in the room and behind him there was a row of brushes, there were sticks, every size of sticks. There was one thin stick, then thicker and thicker, longer, shorter, the big thick one has a rubber cover on it.

He took a very thin long stick and hit it on the table and said : "Are you a Tiger?". He asked me in Tamil and I said : "No, I'm not a Tiger". And he said, "Okay, I'm going to take a statement, you have to tell me the truth". And he was asking about my family, how old I was, what I was doing before I came to Colombo. I told him the true story, because I had nothing to hide. So after that when he finished, he said "When did you join the Tigers?" I said "I never joined the Tigers". And he started to beat me with the stick on my back. It was very think and very painful. And I still said "No, I never joined the Tigers". And he put that stick back.

I just watched him, what he was going to do, what stick he was going to take. I couldn't think of anything else. And he took a bigger stick with the round handle on it. He came to me and went to beat my head, so I tried to block it with my hand, I still have the scars.

He started to beat me and said, "If you say you are a Tiger I will stop, If you say you are a Tiger, I will stop". I didn't say anything "No, no" I said, "If I'm not a Tiger why do I have to say I'm a Tiger?" And he started to beat me harder and harder.

At one point my skin broke and blood was everywhere. He showed me some other blood - like black spots in places around the room and he said "If you don't say you are a Tiger, you see the blood all here?" So then I said "Okay", I will say I'm a Tiger", And he said "Okay, I will take a statement tomorrow, or later. You can go now",.... after half an hour of beating.

But at that time, when you get beaten up like that you can't say "no". You can say "no", for only a few minutes..... even for half an hour you can say "no". But after that you can't. And after a certain time, even if we say "yes", they don't care. They know we say "yes" because of that beating.

The compassion of other victims

When we arrived back the others knew we were going to arrive like this. They always used to make something ready for you like bed. They'd buy new cardboard and fold the cardboard and make it like a pillow.

And they'd buy some ointment from the old lady who used to come there. If you have money, if we gave her money, you could buy anything. So they always used to pay money to her and buy some cardboard and ointment, to prepare for our arrival.

When we arrived, they'd start to massage us everywhere like that.

Routine torture in custody

They don't call the person after that. They just call randomly. They will ask you what your name is and take your details. Then, after two hours you have to go with them and you will come back like that, where you can't even walk.

So when they take people to the 'beating place' we arrange nice things to take care of them when they come back. They took me about three times. The first two times I was beaten up by them.

Extortion

But the third time my father was there and he paid some money to the inspector who had been beating me. The inspector said, "Next time when I call him, tell him to just sign the papers I'm showing him so I won't beat him... I'll put him in a safer place and you can take him out from there". So my father paid him money and the next time when they called me they didn't beat me up, they just said, "Sign this paper".

Institutionalised extortion

If they think he's a rich man - or if they think he can look like a Tiger, if they can show others he looks like a Tiger - they keep him there to get more money. Inside it's just the money business.

In the end, my father ended up paying about two hundred and fifty thousand rupees. But that first time he paid a hundred thousand (at that time £1,450) to stop the beating and ten thousand for the policeman with whom I was staying so he could come and visit me whenever he wants.

After that, they took me to a big prison. There were more than 600 people there, all political prisoners like me.

Economic ruin

Some, they beat up badly.... and (if) nobody responds for that with money they'll end up as dead bodies in some Colombo lake.

But my father started to pay so I knew that wouldn't happen to me.

At the end, he paid 400,000 to get me out. And he paid about 100,000 to an agent. He told the agent after I arrived in London he'd pay the rest of the many, but when we got as far as Hong Kong, the agent started asking for money, like blackmailing me. I just ran away from him.

I worked there for two or three months. When I was in Hong Kong, Chandrika came to power. She had said that when she came to power they were going to make peace so I went back with an emergency passport. I obtained it in the High Commission in Hong Kong. I went back to Colombo.

Peacetime in Sri Lanka

After four days, they arrested me (8 January 1996; I'd got there on the 4th). I showed them all the papers for my release from the court orders and everything. They didn't care. They just threw away the papers and took me. They started to beat me in the police station. My father was there and straight away he came to the police station and paid money to get me out of there. The senior officer said, "You're on the blacklist because after we released you we tried to find you but never found you here.... after that you went on the blacklist". I showed him the passport and said : "See, I've been in Hong Kong". They said, "Don't give me that. Everyone can show something like this".

At the time there was to be peace, but they still arrested and beat me. So my father spent more money to get me out and hid me in his friend's house for nearly fifteen days. I went to Bangkok to my uncle who lives there and he arranged to send me to China. After that, they sent me here to London. They paid £8,000 to the agent.

Army operations affect entire family

By that time my family had sold three quarters of the farm. But after 1996, they couldn't go back to the farm because of the Sri Lankan military attacks after peace talks had broken down. The army went in there so nobody could go. If you go there you never return.

*********************================*******************

WCAR

SRI LANKA

Facts to the United Nations

World Conference Against Racism

Information à Nations Unies

Conference Mondiale Contre le Racisme

Informativos a Naciones Unidas

Conferencia Mundial Contra el Racismo

31 August 2001 07 September 2001

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)

Contents

Page

TCHR appeal to the Secretary General of 02

World Conference Against Racism

A few noteworthy human rights violations by Sri Lanka 03

Facts and figures of 18 years war against the Tamil people 05

Population 1901 - 1981

Do you know? 06

Comparison : Palestinians - Kosovans - Tamils 07

Recent massacres and major killings of Tamils by Sri Lankan security forces 08

ETHNIC CLEANSING - COLONISATION

Tamil and Sinhala populations in the Eastern provinces 09

" " Amparai district

" " Batticaloa district 10

" " Trincomalee district

" " Vavuniya district

" " Mannar district 11

Population in Tamil hereditary regions - 1981

Tamil refugees around the World

GLOBALISATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM

Education 12

Minimum marks for University admission in Sri Lanka - 1971

Standardisation 13

University Admission 1969-1980

Employment 14

Since 1956 - Decrease in the Tamil ratio in the government service

Main employment in semi-government - 1981

Executive positions in the State administration and Engineering field

DISCRIMINATION IN RELIGION

Population based on religion in 1946 in Ceylon 15

More than 2000 Hindu Temples destroyed in Tamil hereditary regions

Cost of damage to Hindu Temples (Government figures)

Act of discrimination on Hindu, Muslim public holidays

Mahavamsa sanctions killings of Tamils 16

Historical Hindu temples ruined

Massacres in the Christian churches

INSTITUTIONAL RACISM

Increase of defence forces doubled since 1994 17

99% Sinhalese in Army and Police - UN Special rapporteur

Military expenditure for military operations

Military expenditure for year the 2000 18

World Bank to pay for those weapons in Sri Lanka

Number of deaths range from 78,000-100,000

Tamil political detainees killed in prisons

GENDER AND RACE

Sri Lankan government security forces persecute Tamils throughout the island 19

22 years of PTA

Year 2000 - over 18,000 arrested under PTA-ER 20

Torture

Rape as a weapon of war

SELF-DETERMINATION

A Declaration made by the representatives of the Jaffna University 21

31 August 2001

Mary Robinson

Secretary General

UN World Conference Against Racism

Durban

South Africa

Dear Madam,

At the very outset, we the Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR, would like to warmly congratulate you on your great task as Secretary General of the World Conference Against Racism 2001.

Everyone is aware that you and your staff are working day and night to make this conference a successful one at the start of this millennium, as there are so many instances of discriminations around the world. Various types of discrimination have paved paths for Civil war, Ethnic Conflict, Armed conflict, etc. Many of these conflicts have as their ultimate goal, the winning of Right to self-determination as the only durable solution to the political problems at the root of discrimination and xenophobia in today's world.

Madam, we do not have to tell you in detail what have been happening in Sri Lanka for the last few decades! The systematic discrimination by Sinhala political leaders against the people who live in their traditional homeland in the North-East has forced tremendous hardship upon them in many forms.

As a result of the failure to find a solution by non violent struggle and parliamentary ballot, the Tamils youth found that armed struggle was the only means to gain their fundamental rights and their right to self-determination.

After a long struggle, today Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka have a de-facto government in two thirds of their hereditary lands the North East of the island. The administration of this de-facto government is lead by the Liberation Tigers of Tamils Eelam - LTTE.

The present de-facto government of Tamil Eelam has all the characteristics of other states. It has defined boundaries and has the support of the people. It has a judicial system, police force, banks, etc. In fact, the Tamils of the North East of the island voted overwhelmingly in the 1977 parliamentary election for the same. The Sinhala leaders suppressed this ballot, shortly afterwards, by a constitutional amendment (known as the “Sixth amendment”) in parliament.

Madam, herewith we append various facts on Colonisation, Employment, Education, Religious activities, Military activities, Genocide, etc for participants of this Conference to see how a Nation has been discriminated against during the last 55 years!

Madam, even the Norwegian mediation between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE has come to a stalemate because the government has demanded the Norwegian government to change the main mediator, Mr. Solheim. He was shuttling between the government and LTTE for nearly two years in search of peace. The government has accused Mr. Solheim of giving too much consolation to the Tamils!

Now it is time for the International community to realise that the present government cannot deliver a lasting solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. It is time for the international community to exert intense pressure on the Sri Lankan government to stop the bloody war and start negotiations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - LTTE in order to find a negotiated durable solution in the Island of Sri Lanka.

Thanking you,

Yours truly,

S. V. Kirubaharan

General Secretary - TCHR

A few noteworthy Human Rights violations by Sri Lanka

Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR/CTDH Email : tchrgs@hotmail.com / tchrdip@hotmail.com

1948 The Citizenship Act disenfranchising Indian Tamil Plantation workers was passed in Parliament. One million 3rd generation plantation workers were living in the island for over 115 years. They were brought to the island by the British from South India to work in Tea and Rubber plantations in the hill country. 1,000,000 plantation Tamils were victimised.

1956 The "Sinhala Only" Act was passed in the Sri Lankan Parliament. This Act made "Sinhala" as a compulsory language for Tamils. Tamils staged peaceful protests in Colombo and Gal Oya. 150 Tamils were burnt or hacked to death; 20 women were raped; 3000 were rendered refugees and their properties were looted by the Sinhala mobs.

1958 Anti Tamil riots in Sinhala areas. Massacre of Tamils, looting of their properties, setting fire to their houses and even burning Tamils alive! 25,000 Tamils were rendered refugees; 500 Tamils were burnt or hacked to death; 200 Women were raped and Tamil properties were looted or destroyed by Sinhala mobs.

1961 Tamil non-violent (Satyagraha) civil disobedience campaign in the North-East was disrupted by the Sri Lankan security forces, protesters were beaten and arrested.

1964 The pact (Srima-Shastri) to evacuate Tamil plantation workers of Indian origin was signed. They were living in the Island for over 115 years. 650,000 Plantation Tamils became stateless persons.

1972 Equal education opportunities to Tamil students were denied. Standardisation on University admission was introduced.

1974 The Fourth International Tamil research Conference held on 10/01/1974 in Jaffna was disrupted by the Sri Lanka Police. 9 Tamils were brutally killed.

1979 On the 11th of July 1979, Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was introduced in Sri Lanka. This Act gives free hand to the Security forces to arrest, detain, torture, rape, kill and dispose of victims bodies with impunity. Arrested people could be detained for eighteen months without being produced in courts. (July)

1981 On May 31, the Jaffna Public Library containing 95,000 volumes was completely destroyed in a fire set by a group of Police officers who went on a rampage in the Jaffna city. 95,000 volumes of irrecoverable - invaluable books were burnt.

July-August attacks on Tamil civilians. Incidents of violence centred on three specific areas: the gem mining area of Ratnapura, Negombo near the capital city of Colombo, and the plantation towns in central Sri Lanka. At least 15 plantation Tamils had been killed, numerous Tamil shops and businesses burned, and more than 5000 plantation Tamils had fled to refugee camps.

1983 May 18, more than 200 houses burnt down in Jaffna by the Sri Lankan security forces. Two killed and many wounded in Thirneveley.

The Government masterminded anti-Tamil riots in July 1983. More than 6,000 Tamils were killed by the Sinhalese in the South. Tamil houses and businesses were looted and destroyed. Tamils living in the South were sent by ships to the North and East by the government. 250,000 Tamils were made refugees; 2,500 Tamils were burnt or hacked to death; 500 women were raped; 53 Tamils political prisoners were brutally murdered in the Welikada prison on 25-27 July where maximum security prevailed.

1984 Tamils living in the North-East were arrested tortured and killed. Women were raped, many disappeared. Tamil properties were looted or destroyed by the Sri Lankan security forces. Air Force bombers dropped napalm bombs in residential areas causing severe loss and damage to Tamil people and their property. All these continue.

The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and the Emergency Regulations (ER) adopted by the government help the security forces to commit all sorts of human rights violations with impunity.

1990 Sri Lanka uses food and medicine as weapons of war against the Tamil people. Economic embargo in Tamil areas. Food, medicine, electricity and other important items are denied to the Tamils. It continues.

1995 October 30, 1995 Mass Exodus from Jaffna: Nearly 200 Killed in Jaffna peninsula as a result of military operations. October 30, 1995 Historic exodus and military occupation of Jaffna. The night of Monday October 30 , l995 was a black night in the entire history of the age‑old city of Jaffna. Never has history witnessed such an exodus of fear and panic stricken people screaming and squeezing themselves out of the narrow roads and lanes of Jaffna. The nearly half a million population in and around the town was literally on the roads in pouring rain inching its way out of the densely populated town into the sparsely populated and ill ‑equipped suburban villages of Chavakachcheri, Kodikamam and Palai. It was for everyone a flight for survival that day.

1996 September 07, 1996 Krishanthy Kumaraswamy. A student and 3 others raped and killed in Jaffna. Krishanthy Kumaraswamy (18) who was returning home after sitting the GCE (A/L) examination at Chundikuli Girls High School was last seen at 11.30am at Kaithaddy checkpoint in Jaffna. She never made it home. Her mother, brother (Pranavan ‑ 16) and family friend (Mr Kirupakaran ‑ 35) who became concerned went in search of Krishanthy. They too disappeared. The discovery of the four bodies led eventually to the revelation of the existence of Chemmani mass graves.

650 people disappeared in Jaffna - several mass-graves were discovered in many parts of North-East including Chemmani. Some government soldiers confession in the Jaffna Magistrate Court revealed the fact that they buried hundreds of bodies.

1997 September 25, 38 NGOs serving in several parts of Batticaloa district were ordered by the Government of Sri Lanka to cease all humanitarian operations. This immediately followed a government order banning NGOs from assisting people in the areas of Batticaloa.

2000 January 2000 HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER MR G G PONNAMBALAM, WAS ASSASSINATED. Mr G.G. Ponnambalam Jn. (known to everyone as Kumar Ponnambalam) was involved in human rights for many years. He was a leading lawyer in Colombo. Gunmen assassinated him in Wellawatta in Colombo.

* * *

Ethnic and religious groups

(Government statistics)

Ethnic Religion

Sinhalese 74%, Buddhist 69%,

Tamil 18%, Hindu 15%,

Moor 7%, Christian 8%,

Burgher, Malay, Vedda 1% Islam 8%

FACTS AND FIGURES OF 18 YEAR WAR

AGAINST THE TAMIL PEOPLE

Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR/CTDH Email : tchrgs@hotmail.com / tchrdip@hotmail.com

70,000 Tamils have been killed in the North-East of the Island. This number is three percent (3%) of the

total Tamil population of the Island. In other words, an average of nine (9) Tamils have been

killed every day; or for every 50 Tamils living one has been killed.

460,000 Tamils have sought refugee status in Europe and other countries. This is 16% of the Tamil

population

1,000,000 Tamils are displaced within the North-East of the Island. This is 40% of the Tamil population.

250,000 Tamil children's education affected due to either the destruction of school buildings through

aerial bombings or conversion of school buildings into military camps.

60,000 Families have lost their bread winners. More than 40,000 women are forced to be widows.

300,000 Tamil houses destroyed in the North-East. Nearly 900,000 to 1,000,000 people are without

shelter and most of them live in shrub jungles or under trees.

2000 Buildings of religious places, such as Churches and Temples have been destroyed in aerial

bombings.

9 State sponsored anti-Tamil pogroms with greatest venom and intensity in 1956, 1958, 1961, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1982 and 1983. Also there were many other smaller scale pogroms.

(TCHR - Information accumulated from local news papers,

religious heads, NGOs and other reliable sources )

Population 1901-1981

(Table is shown on Community basis)

Plantation

Year Sinhalese Ceylon Tamils Tamils Muslims

1901 65.4% 26.7% * 6.4%

1946 69.2% 11.0% 11.7% 5.6%

1953 69.3% 11.0% 10.9% 5.7%

1963 71.2% 11.1% 10.6% 6.3%

1971 71.9% 11.1% 9.4% 6.5%

1981 73.98% 12.6%** 5.56%** 7.12%

* In 1901 the only terminology used to refer Tamils was "Ceylon Tamil"

** This statistics was taken after the repatriation of plantation Tamils to India was started

DO YOU KNOW?

* Do you know that Tamils in the Island of Sri Lanka are not protected by the Rule of Law of Sri Lanka?

* Do you know that a Tamil cannot become Head of State in Sri Lanka because the constitution has made Buddhism as the state religion of Sri Lanka?

* Do you know that the Tamil language is ignored totally in Sri Lanka?

* Do you know that the Sri Lankan army is occupying Tamil hereditary lands and causing human disaster in those areas?

* Do you know that Sri Lanka is the only country in the world which has enforced an economic embargo on Tamils whom it claims to be its own citizens?

* Do you know that Tamils are routinely massacred by the Sri Lankan security forces. So far more than 100 massacres have taken place in the Tamil hereditary regions?

* Do you know that 500,000 Tamil refugees from the island of Sri Lanka have sought asylum in foreign countries?

* Do you know that there are 1,000,000 Tamils internally displaced in Sri Lanka due to the genocide policy of the government?

* Do you know that according to the UN Working group on disappearances, Sri Lanka is the country which has the 2^nd highest number of disappearances for the last six years?

* Do you know that the foreign aid irrigation schemes allocate 95% of the water resources to Sinhalese-owned lands and only the remaining 5% is divided among Tamils and Muslims?

* Do you know that the International community is helping Sri Lanka to prolong the war?

* Do you know that Sri Lanka is totally against any NGO participation in and out of Sri Lanka?

* Do you know that for last year’s World Bank meeting on Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga, 3 High profile ministers and 4 Permanent Secretaries to the Ministries were in Paris to Lobby the aid consortium! This is supposed to have been the highest level team that has represented a state in the history of the World Bank?

* Do you know that there is a de-facto government in the Tamil hereditary regions, administrated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)?

* * *

Recent massacres and major killings of Tamils by Sri Lankan Security forces

Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR/CTDH Email : tchrgs@hotmail.com / tchrdip@hotmail.com

Major incidents Date No. Killed No. Injured

Vantharumoolai 05/09/1990 158 -----

Saththurukkondan 10/09/1990 184 -----

Kokkaddicholai (II) 12/06/1991 82 200

Massacre in the Killaly sea(I) 02/01/1993 52 -----

ICRC refugee camp - Jaffna 1993 40 -----

Nachchikuda Massacre 18/04/1995 30 060

Navaly St. Peter's Church Massacres 11/07/1995 165 150

Nagar Kovil School Children Massacre 22/09/1995 71 100

Bolgoda Lake - Colombo 1995 27 -----

Kumarapuram Massacre 11/02/1996 24 -----

Poonaithoduvai in Kilinochchi 18/02/1996 11 -----

Muthumariyamman Temple - Jaffna 03/03/1996 07 21

Nachchikuda 16/03/1996 16 60

Sithandi, Kaluvenkerni - Batticaloa 11/05/1996 18 30

Massacre in the Killay Sea (II) 20/04/1996 42 075

Puttur - Jaffna 03/06/1996 08 -----

Mallavi Town - Mallavi, Vanni 24/07/1996 09 24

Puthukudyiruppu - Kilinochchi 31/07/1996 10 30

Kilinochchi town - Kilinochchi 25/09/1996 05 09

Puthumurippu - Kilinochchi 25/09/1996 05 15

Vavunikulam - Kilinochchi 26/09/1996 04 12

Konavil - Kilinochchi 27/09/1996 04 08

Akkarayan - Kilinochchi 29/09/1996 04 07

Ponnalai Bridge in Jaffna 29/01/1997 09 -----

Nedunkerni - Vanni 17/07/1997 08 22

Vavunikulam - Church - Vanni 15/08/1997 09 21

Mullaitivu (Manthuvil) 11/08/1997 40 86

Amparai 24/09/1997 08 13

Market Place in Batticaloa 11/12/1997 05 53

Kalutara Prison 12/12/1997 03 20

Jaffna Coast - Jaffna 27/01/1998 09 15

Thampalakamam 01/02/1998 08 19

Vaddakkachchi in East Paranthan 26/03/1998 08 37

Suthanthirapuram in Mullaitivu 10/06/1998 32 52

Mullaitivu 15/09/1999 22 35

Maddhu church - Mannar 20/11/1999 38 56

Batticaloa (near Buddhist temple) 17/05/2000 19 43

Kaithaddy (Home for the age) 19/05/2000 15 31

Muttur ( Poomarathaddysenai) 04/10/2000 08 ----

Bindunuwewa detention centre 25/10/2000 31 78

Mirusuvil 19/12/2000 08 ----

(many more to be included)

ETHNIC CLEANSING - COLONISATION

v Destruction of homes, property, public buildings, cultural places and objects in Tamil hereditary areas. Shelling and bombings from land, air and sea for more than sixteen years. Nearly 80% of the houses have been destroyed in Jaffna and other parts of Tamil hereditary regions.

v Calculated plan of colonisation of Tamil areas, changing the demographic pattern of those areas.

v Embargo imposed by the Sri Lankan government for more than eleven years, on food and medicine to the Tamil hereditary regions leading to death by starvation and disease. Cruel and systematic destruction of a people. One million internally displaced Tamils living in dire conditions.

v All the above are acts of Genocide.

Since 1827 - Tamil and Sinhala populations in EASTERN PROVINCE

(Table is shown on language basis )

Year Tamil Speaking Sinhala Speaking

Total % Total %

1827 46,291 99.24% 350 0.53%

1881 118,409 93.82% 9,146 4.66%

1891 138,907 93.89% 9,537 5.06%

1901 159,374 91.8% 14,228 5.05%

1911 171,590 93.4% 12,108 3.76%

1921 179,543 93.95% 13,278 4.53%

1946 255,083 87.8% 24,029 9.87%

1953 303,220 85.5% 51,190 13.11%

1963 431,870 79.25% 114,260 19.9%

1971 564,127 78.61% 153,444 20.7%

1981 724,652 74.4% 251,827 24.92%

Tamil and Sinhala population in AMPARAI DISTRICT

(Table is shown on language basis)

(Amparai district was created in 1963)

Tamil Sinhala

Year Speaking Speaking

1963 70.22% 29.34%

1971 69.47% 30.18%

1981 62.03% 37.64%

Since 1827 - Tamil and Sinhala populations in BATTICALOA DISTRICT

(Table is shown on language basis )

(Until 1963 it includes Amparai district)

Tamil Sinhala

Year Speaking Speaking

1827 99.62% 0.00%

1881 93.27% 4.75%

1891 93.2% 5.21%

1901 92.34% 5.21%

1911 92.95% 3.74%

1921 93.12% 4.56%

1946 92.55% 5.83%

1953 87.64% 11.52%

1963* 95.6% 3.35%*

1971 94.49% 4.49%

1981 95.95% 3.21%

* Creation of Amparai district

Since 1827 - Tamil and Sinhala populations in TRINCOMALEE DISTRICT

(Table is shown on language basis)

Year Tamil Speaking Sinhala Speaking

Total % Total %

1827 18,908 98.45% 250 1.53%

1881 20,120 90.72% 935 4.21%

1891 23,543 91.44% 1,109 4.3%

1901 25,327 89.04% 1,203 4.22%

1911 26,947 90.54% 1,138 3.82%

1921 31,432 92.13% 1,501 4.38%

1946 57,014 75.09% 11,606 20.68%

1953 66,133 78.8% 15,296 18.22%

1963 96,610 79.25% 40,950 19.9%

1971 131,673 70.2% 54,744 28.8%

1981 167,813 65.38% 86,341 33.62%

Since 1827 - Tamil and Sinhala populations in VAVUNIYA DISTRICT

(Table is shown on language basis)

Year Tamil Speaking Sinhala Speaking

Total % Total %

1827 8,011 94.3% 517 5.7%

1881 14,297 91.9% 1,272 8.1%

1891 14,169 91.4% 1,332 8.6%

1901 13,795 91.1% 1,364 8.9%

1911 15,300 88.2% 2,036 11.8%

1921 16,323 87.3% 2,383 12.7%

1946 19,224 82.7% 4,022 17.3%

1953 28,901 82.3% 6,211 17.7%

1963 56,300 82.3% 12,190 17.7%

1971 78,900 82.9% 16,346 17.1%

1981 80,373 83.2% 15,531 16.8%

Since 1827 - Tamil and Sinhala populations in MANNAR DISTRICT

(Table is shown on language basis)

Year Tamil Speaking Sinhala Speaking

Total % Total %

1827 13,408 100.0% --- ----

1881 21,050 98.6% 298 1.4%

1891 24,241 98.9% 270 1.1%

1901 24,563 98.6% 363 1.4%

1911 24,823 96.9% 780 3.1%

1921 24,951 97.6% 631 2.4%

1946 30,033 95.2% 1,505 4.8%

1953 41,344 94.6% 2,345 5.4%

1963 57,400 95.4% 2,780 4.6%

1971 74,501 95.8% 3,279 4.2%

1981 96,642 90.4% 10,298 8.6,%

Population in Tamil hereditary regions - 1981

Mullaitivu 77,512 Batticaloa 330,899

Vavuniya 95,904 Amparai 388,786

Mannar 106,940 Puttalam 493,344

Trincomalee 254,154 Jaffna 831,112

Tamil refugees around the World

Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR/CTDH Email : tchrgs@hotmail.com / tchrdip@hotmail.com

Country Applied Accepted Rejected

Austria 700 N/K N/K

Australia +10000 N/K N/K

Belgium 800 N/K N/K

Canada +200,000 N/K N/K

Denmark 7000 2000 N/K

France +30000 20000 7000

Finland 2000 N/K N/K

Germany +40000 N/K N/K

Italy 1500 01 999

India +180,000 N/K N/K

Netherlands 8000 2300 2500

Norway 6000 N/K N/K

Sweden 1200 N/K N/K

Switzerland +35000 N/K 12000

United Kingdom +10000 200 N/K

United States +1000 N/K N/K

+30,000 On transit in Far-East, Africa, Russia and Eastern Europe

NK = Numbers not known (But there are)

These are approximate figures as of October 1998. All are victims and witnesses of human rights violations in Sri Lanka.

GLOBALISATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM

Education and Employment

v Half a million Tamils have fled racist persecution in the island of Sri Lanka over the last two decades, and are living in many different parts of the world, mostly as refugees.

v In their host countries they can be on the receiving end of racism and xenophobia.

v The residual responsibility of colonial powers, which helped create the current conflict, is not addressed. Some Western powerful nations actually support the Sri Lankan government’s genocidal policy with monetary aids and arms artificially propping it up and giving moral courage to the government to continue the war against Tamils.

v Commercial transactions between some of these states and Sri Lanka rank higher than respect for human rights.

v Some Tamil asylum seekers in western countries have been deported back to Sri Lanka by such governments and have faced torture and horrific consequences.

v The Tamil hereditary areas in the North and East of the island of Sri Lanka have faced horrific environmental destruction. Vast areas of agricultural lands have been destroyed. Trees, and land cultivated over decades have been left devastated by carpet bombing and incendiary devices such as petrol and tar bombings.

EDUCATION

Minimum marks for University admission in Sri Lanka - 1971

(Table is shown on a language basis - 1981)

Sinhala Tamil Discriminating

Faculty Students Students Marks

Medicine 229 250 21

Engineering 227 250 23

Engineering (Kattupatai) 212 232 20

Bio-Science 175 181 06

Agriculture/Physical Science 183 204 21

Architecture 180 194 14

Both Sinhala and Tamil students follow the same syllabus and sit the same public exam, but Sinhala students can enter the University with less marks than the Tamil students and also have priority to choose the University they opt!

In 1972 Equal education opportunities for Tamil students were denied. Standardisation on University admission was legalised in Sri Lanka to satisfy the Sinhala community. This was the beginning of “Standardisation” in Education in Sri Lanka.

STANDARDISATION

1973 Standardisation came into effect

1974 Standardisation on District basis was introduced

1975 Standardisation and District ratio

1976 Standardisation 70% and District basis 30%

At a later stage admission to the Universities were allocated on :

1 - Merit 30 %

2- District basis 55%

3- Backward Districts 15%

University Admission 1969-1980

(Table is shown on language basis - 1981)

Sinhalese % Tamils % Others

1969-70

Arts 2522 88.4% 269 11.5% 0.1%

Science 457 57.7% 328 41.4% 0.9%

1970-71

Arts 2226 89.9% 273 11% 0.1%

Science 579 60.6% 358 37.5% 1.9%

1971-72

Arts 2073 92.6% 161 7.2% 0.2%

Science 680 63.2% 377 35.3% 1.5%

1973

Arts 2053 91.5% 182 8.1% 0.4%

Science 7933 67.4% 371 31.5% 1.1%

1974

Arts 1934 86% 310 13.7% 0.3%

Science 1058 75.4% 340 24.2% 0.4%

1980-81

Arts 2428 81.92 % 534 18.02% 0.6%

Science 1476 78.42% 409 21.58% -----

EMPLOYMENT

Since 1956 - Decrease in Tamil ratio in the Government Service

Sector 1956 1965 1970

Administrative 30% 20% 5%

Clerical Service (Post office, Railway, Customs) 50% 30% 5%

Doctors, Engineers, University lecturers 60% 30% 10%

Security forces 40% 30% 1%

Workers 40% 20% 5%

Security Forces (See page 17)

At the moment the employment opportunities for Tamils are not even 2%

Employment opportunity in Government Service 1972

(Table is shown on language basis)

Sinhalese Tamils Others

Government Dept. 67.7% 31% 1.3%

White Collar job 81.2% 17.5% 0.12%

School Teachers 81.5% 18.2% 0.3%

Workers 86.4% 12.5% 1.1%

Labourers 85.5% 13.6% 0.9%

Main employment in Semi-Government

(Table is shown on language basis - 1981)

Sectors Sinhalese % Tamils % Others

High Tech 8,155 75.5% 2,570 24.5% 0.69%

Admin. Managers 4,539 83,31% 865 12.51% 0.80%

Clerks 62,596 86.28% 9,265 3.34% 0.63%

Salesperson 852 87.28% 117 8.32% 1.18%

Service 11,602 87.06% 552 8.39% 0.65%

Production/Transport 101,884 88.00% 13,292 8.36% 0.58%

Executive positions in the State administration and Engineering Field

(Table is shown on a language basis - 1981)

Sinhalese % Tamils % Others

SL Admin. Service 144 100% ----- ----- -----

Permanent Sec. (Ministries) 39 95,12% 2 4.88% -----

Competent Authorities 224 79.15% 46 16.25% 4.59%

Additional Secretaries 25 83.33% 4 13.33% 3.33%

Other Secretaries 107 89.17% 9 7.50% 3.33%

Corporation (Chairmen) 86 88.66% 6 6.19% 5.15%

DISCRIMINATION IN RELIGION

Population based on religion in 1946 in Ceylon (Sri Lanka)

Community Buddhists Hindus Islam Christians

Sinhalese 91.9% 0.1% 0.1% 7.9%

Ceylon Tamils 2.6% 80,6% 0.3% 16.5%

Plantation Tamils 1.3% 89.3% 0.3% 9.1%

Muslims 0.7% 0.3% 98.7% 0.3%

More than 2000 Hindu Temples Destroyed in

Tamil hereditary regions

More than 2000 Hindu temples have been damaged and rendered useless while 300 Hindu temples have been totally destroyed due to ongoing war in the North and East. According to the memorandum forwarded to the Director General of the UNESCO by the Hindu Religious Priest Organisation of the North East Province.

The organisation further alleges that most of the Tamil and Sanskrit Scriptures, both printed and in manuscript, stone and metal idols have been destroyed.

The memorandum sent to UNESCO includes annexes giving detailed particulars of Hindu shrines destroyed during the 14 year conflict.

Cost of damage to Hindu Temples

(Figures released by the office of the Hindu religious and *Cultural Affairs on 4 October 1993)

District No. of Temples Estimated cost of Damaged

Jaffna 513 127,792,953.00

Kilinochchi 33 2,100,000.00

Mullaithivu 131 39,744,000.00

Mannar 37 6,969,000.00

Vavuniya 136 15,706,000.00

Trincomalee 199 33,470,500.00

Batticaloa 283 26,660,739.00

Amparai 147 30,648,100.00

* Government Ministry

Act of discrimination on Hindu, Muslim Public holidays

Having half boiled public holidays only for those of a particular religion is creating confusion and administrative problems besides being an act of discrimination or insult against those people, an MP has said.

UNP Parliamentarian A.H.M. Azwar appealed to the government that the Haj Festival on April 8 be declared a full public holiday instead of a holiday for Muslims only.

As part of the holiday cutting measures to improve productivity, the government had from last year removed Haj and Maha Sivarathri from the list of full public holidays and made them holidays only for the particular Communities.

Earlier Hindus also protested by asking that Maha Sivarathri on Feb. 25 be restored as a full public holiday. Mr. Azwar said he had made several appeals in Parliament and elsewhere asking that the Haj public holiday be restored and pointing out that it was a holiday even for the United Nations. (The Sunday Times 29 March 1998)

Mahavamsa sanctions killings of Tamils !

‘’What sustains and nourishes Sinhala-Buddhist jingoism to this day is a Buddhist chronicle originally written in Pali-the Mahavamsa. Authored by Buddhist monks and believed to have been written beginning in the sixth century A.D.,……………

‘’To readers who know the close affinity of both religions might wonder why Sinhala Buddhists in Sri Lanka destroy HinduTemples. It might come as a surprise that Mahavamasa sanctions killing of Tamils !” (Translated into English by Wilhelm Geiger, published by the Ceylon Government Information Department, Colombo 1950). (S. Sivanayagam Editor ‘Saturday Review’, ‘Tamil Nation’ and ‘Hot Spring’)

Historical Hindu Temples ruined

World famous five renowned Hindu shrines were in existence in Ceylon-Sri Lanka long before Lord Buddha was born. (1) Thirukketheeswaram Mannar (2) Thirukonneswaram - Trincomalee (3) Naguleswaram Keerimalai, Jaffna (4) Munneswaram Chillaw (5) Thondeswaram East, Batticaloa.

SAINTS Thirugnanasampatha Moorthy Nayanar (7^th century A.D.) and Sunthara Moorthy Nayanar (9^th century A.D.) have sung hymns in praise of Thirukketheeswaram and Thirukonneswaram.

The Sri Lankan governments have planned in such a way, that all five Hindu shrines are under the control of the Sri Lankan security forces. These historic temples are in ruins ! The assets including jewellery belongs to these temples were stolen by the Sri Lankan security forces.

Massacres in the Christian churches

The Tamils who have sought shelter in churches in the Tamil hereditary regions have been massacred by security forces. Many Christian churches were bombed and destroyed during on-going military operations. On 11 July 1995, 165 Tamils were killed at Navaly St. Peter’s church in the Jaffna peninsula. Again on 22 November 1999, 38 Tamils were killed at Madhu church in Mannar.

INSTITUTIONAL RACISM

v Institutional racism permeates the entire judicial system - Tamils in Sri Lanka have no protection under the rule of law. NOT ONE independent investigation on the mass killings and mass graves or any human rights violations of Tamils have been carried out!

v “Commissions of Inquiry” lead no-where. Transfers of soldiers and transfers of court cases continually avoid the punishment of perpetrators of human rights violations. Tamils are obliged to travel to unsafe areas where they face threats and intimidation. They live in constant fear. Whereas Sinhala soldiers successfully appeal to have cases transferred to courts in Sinhala areas. The state allows this blatant discrimination.

v 27 years of Emergency Regulations and 22 years of Prevention of Terrorism Act have facilitated the committing of gross human rights violations, by Sri Lankan Security forces against the Tamils, with impunity.

v The role of the state religion has unfortunately been to induce and whip up hatred and fear. It has backed the war against the Tamil people. Hated crimes have been and still are widespread. In 1983 state-sponsored anti-Tamil pogroms killed thousands of Tamils in cold blood. During the subsequent period of armed conflict, the Buddhist monks and majority of the Sinhala political leadership have called on the Sinhalese to fight against the Tamils’ struggle for their right to self determination.

v The Sri Lankan army which occupies the Tamil hereditary areas commits heinous crimes on a routine basis - arbitrary arrests, detentions, torture, rapes, disappearances and extra-judicial killings. The Sri Lankan security forces do not speak Tamil and treat all Tamils with suspicion. All civilians are protected persons under the Geneva Conventions but the Sri Lankan security forces pay no heed to them. The Sri Lankan government systematically breaches its obligations under these Conventions to which it is a party. Regularly, Tamil detainees are tortured, to sign confessions under duress, in Sinhala, a language they do not know.

v Massacres of defenceless detainees have taken place while state agencies - prison guards have looked on, or even joined in.

INCREASE OF DEFENCE FORCES DOUBLED SINCE 1994

1986 1988 1993 1995 1996 1997

Army 30,000 40,000 90,000 105,000 118,890 135,000

Navy 3,960 5,500 10,100 10,300 11,831 12,000

Air Force 3,700 3,700 10,700 10,700 12,292 12,500

Police 21,000 21,000 40,000 80,000 80,000 80,000

STF and

Paramilitary 5,000 7,000 8,000 8,000 8,000 8,000

Total 63,000 77,200 158,800 214,000 231,013 247,500

(Source : Air Vice Marshal - Harry Gunatilleke - Weekend Express of 25-26 April 1998)

99% Sinhalese in Army and Police

"The security forces, comprised members of the army and the police are 99% Sinhalese and do not speak Tamil which is the language of the local population and very often treat the local population with suspicion. This amplifies the sense of an army occupation and exacerbates the already existing feeling of alienation".

(Mr. Bacre Waly Ndiaye Special Rapporteur on extra judicial, summary or arbitrary executions visited Sri Lanka from 24 August to 5 September 1997 E/CN/.4/1998/Add/2 dated 12 March 1998)

Military expenditure for operations in

Tamil Hereditary regions

Year Amount

1977 50 Million rupees

1978 56 Million rupees

1983 197.7 Million rupees

1984 232.9 Million rupees

1985 619.6 Million rupees

1986 869.6 Million rupees

1987 1000 Million rupees

1996 $ 640 Million dollars

1998 $ 719 Million dollars

Military expenditure for Year 2000

The concerns of the World Bank seem to have had no effect. The Sri Lankan government tabled supplementary estimates in Parliament on 9 August for an additional Rs 28 billion ($360million) for defence. The total expenditure for defence for the year 2000, excluding many hidden expenditures, stands at a staggering Rs 80.43 billion ($1.3 billion), nearly 8% of GDP.

World Bank to pay for those weapons in Sri Lanka!

‘’The Israelis also trained elite forces…………, and helped Sri Lanka cheat the World Bank and other investors out of millions of dollars to pay for all the arms they were buying from them.

‘’Periodical World Bank representatives would go to Sri Lanka for spot checks, but the locals had been taught how to fool these inspectors by taking them on circuitous routes easily explained for security reasons then back to the same, quite small area where some construction actually had been carried out for just this purpose.

‘’Ironically, the project (Irrigation) had been invented to get money from the World Bank to pay for those weapons.’’ (Excerpts from ‘’By Way of Deception’’ Claire Hoy and Victor Ostrovsky)

Number of Deaths range from 78,000 to 100,000

The conflict has claimed approximately 80,000 lives. More than 62, 400 people have been killed since the war broke out in 1983. [Associated Press in Times of India, 27 September 2000]

In 1997 the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies estimated total conflict deaths from 78,000 to 100,000 since 1983.

Tamil Political Detainees killed in Prisons

The Tamil political detainees are kept in prisons alongside hardened Sinhala criminals and drug addicts who ill-treat them in various ways. There were many incidents in Sri Lanka when convicted Sinhala prisoners, with the connivance of prison guards and soldiers massacred Tamils detainees. As the governments have masterminded these killings, no independent inquires have been held so far !

Date Prison Incident

25-27 July 1983 Welikadai Prison, Colombo 53 Hacked to death

22 Apr 1987 Magazine Prison, Kalutara 15 Seriously injured

Feb 1996 Magazine Prison, Kalutara 27 Seriously injured

12 Dec 1997 Magazine Prison, Kalutara 03 Hacked to death - 19 injured

6 Jan 1999 Magazine Prison, Kalutara 03 Killed - 33 seriously injured

7 Jan 1999 Magazine Prison, Kalutara 15 Seriously injured

28 Jan 1999 Welikadai Prison, Colombo 03 Women seriously injured

25 Jan 2000 Bindunuwewa Detention Centre 31 Hacked to death-78 injured

(Boys under the age of 16)

GENDER AND RACE

v Tamil women face sexual torture and racial discrimination of the most violent kind. Gang-rapes and killings of Tamil women by Sri Lankan security forces are routine. The methods of killing and the mode of disposal of bodies have become more and more gruesome as soldiers have tried to conceal their war-crimes. Rape is being used as a weapon of war against Tamils to humiliate, subjugate, and terrorise.

v Tamil women often remove the “pottu” on their forehead, a cultural and religious tradition, in order to avoid being identified as a Tamil, in Southern areas. Simply being a Tamil is enough to be arrested, detained, tortured, and killed or even to disappear. Even if she can remove her pottu, if she does not know the Sinhala language fluently, she will be identified as a Tamil. Even if she knows Sinhala, she will be discovered to be Tamil when she shows her Identity card (ID) at a checkpoint, and has to face the consequences.

v In the Tamil hereditary regions, there were many forced marriages between the Security personnel and Tamil girls. The Tamil girls get married through fear, to the Sinhala soldiers.

v Sterilisation is on the increase in the hill country not as family planning but as a measure of ethnic cleansing. Tamil women under the age of 19 have been sterilised.

v In Sri Lanka, there are 20 different passes ONLY for the Tamils! Failure to carry these passes will result either in arrest or disappearance. For women there is the added fear of sexual violence and rape by security forces.

SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT SECURITY FORCES PERSECUTE

TAMILS THROUGHOUT THE ISLAND

(53rd Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights - 25 March 1997)

“The Sri Lankan Government security forces persecute Tamils throughout the island with arbitrary arrests, indefinite detention, torture, involuntary disappearances and extra-judicial killings. In short, every Tamil man or woman has become a target.

The Sri Lankan Government also permits the existence of shadowy para-military groups, who are really hitmen and henchmen of poor-calibre politicians, who also indulge in the crimes mentioned above.”

by the late Mr. G. G. Ponnambalam

Humanitarian Law Project - USA

(Mr. G. G. Ponnambalam - assassinated by so-called unknown gunmen on 5/1/2000)

22 Years of PTA

In July 1979 the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was introduced in Sri Lanka. The Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary provision) Act No. 48 of 1979 gives wide powers to the police and the Minister of Defence to arrest and detain Tamils for a period of 18 months at a stretch without being produced in courts. This Act gives a free hand to the Security forces to arrest, detain, torture, rape, kill and dispose bodies with impunity.

Year 2000 - over 18,000 arrested under PTA-ER

14 February 2001 - More than 18,000 persons, mostly Tamils, were arrested under the draconian Emergency Regulations (ER) and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) last year, said a senior human rights worker in Colombo. "The press in Colombo reported 13,514 arrests under the ER and PTA from January to November 2000. More than forty percent of the arrests under the ER and PTA are not reported by the press here. So the real figure would be not anything less than eighteen thousand," Mr. N. Kandasamy, co-ordinator for the Centre for Human Rights and Development in Colombo said. At least 2,500 Tamils are being held in various detention centres now, according to him. "They are all political prisoners" Mr. Kandasamy said.

"Not all those arrested under the ER and PTA are issued with receipt of the arrest and all arrests should be reported to the Human Rights Commission according to the law. But this is not the case", says Mr. N. Kandasamy, Co-ordinator for the Centre for Human Rights, Colombo.

There are many unauthorised detention centres in many parts of the island. It is required under the law to publish in the government gazette all authorised places of detention. But not all places are gazetted and authorised under the law, human rights workers say.

(An average of 50 persons per day arrested under PTA-ER in Sri Lanka !)

Torture

"Torture has been banned by UN treaty since 1987… but since the beginning of 1972, torture became a major problem in Sri Lanka. Arrested People, especially Tamils are tortured not just for information but because of who they are or what they believe". - TCHR

Rape as a weapon of war

According to our statistics of international Human Rights organisations:

A TAMIL WOMAN IS RAPED EVERY 16 DAYS

A TAMIL WOMAN IS GANG-RAPED AND MURDERED EVERY 2 MONTHS

SELF-DETERMINATION

v "Self-determination is essentially a right of people……. of specific type of human community sharing a common desire to establish an entity capable of functioning to ensure a common future." (UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/405/Rev.1 (1980) at p.9 - UN Sales No. e.79.XIV.5)

v Some countries still feel uncomfortable with the principle of self-determination and this has resulted in a curious insecurity regarding the consequences of the right to self-determination.

v The current Tamil national struggle has not been viewed as justified in the exercise of self-determination by many Sinhala politicians.

v All arguments about the existence of an ancient Tamil kingdom of the Tamil people and their full functioning as an independent country prior to colonial rule have fallen on deaf ears.

v Previous decades of attempts to solve the political problems by discussions among the political leaders in a majority Sinhala government had failed miserably. Every agreement was torn up and broken by the Sinhala leaders due to the objection by Buddhist clergies.

v Way back in the 1977 General election (the last free and fair elections in which the Tamils in the North-East participated), Tamils overwhelmingly voted in favour of exercising their right to self-determination.

v This democratic mandate of the right to self determination of the Tamils was subsequently prohibited by the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution in parliament by Sinhala leaders.

v The yearning for basic respect for fundamental rights and freedoms grew within the Tamil people. Although these rights and freedoms are guaranteed under international law they do not exist in reality for the Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka.

v The right to self-determination of the Tamil people is based on both persistent human rights violations and historic independence.

A DECLARATION MADE BY

THE REPRESENTATIVES OF JAFFNA UNIVERSITY
JAFFNA UNIVERSITY STUDENTS UNION

A DECLARATION MADE BY THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE JAFFNA UNIVERSITY AT THE “PONKU TAMIL” (TAMIL UPSURGE) EVENT ON 17TH JANUARY 2001 AT THE UNIVERSITY GROUND OF JAFFNA

We are assembled here on this occasion to express the voice of our soul with unanimity. The government of Sri Lanka should stop this ruinous and dangerous war forthwith and commence a just and meaningful negotiation with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - LTTE.

Through this negotiation we should find a political solution to fulfil the aspirations of the Tamils by recognizing the concepts of :

1 - TAMIL NATIONALISM

2 - TRADITIONAL HOME LAND

3 - RIGHTS OF SELF DETERMINATION

The feelings of our people have been frozen due to fear of long-term oppressive measures.

Please understand the genuine feelings and aspirations of our people in a clear perspective.

You should therefore in all conscience speak for finding a just and durable solution for our peaceful living.

1) The Jaffna university teachers' association

2) The Jaffna university students' union

3) The Jaffna university executive officers' union

4) The Jaffna university employers' union

5) The Jaffna university clerical & technical staff union

(Since this declaration was made, Tamil Diaspora living in various parts of the world have endorsed it)