Oral Intervention by Deirdre McConnell

 

 

INTERFAITH INTERNATIONAL

 

Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human rights

Fifty-seventh session

 

Item 3

Administration of justice, rule of law and democracy

 

 

 

Mr / Madame Chairperson,

 

Many important issues are raised in the initial report of the working group on the administration of justice (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2004/6), including the fact that frequently investigations into human rights violations have not been handled properly.

 

The working paper on the implementation in domestic law of the right to an effective remedy against violations of human rights by State agents (E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/15), noted that the lack of effective domestic redress may lead to institutionalisation of violations, and may contribute to a climate of impunity, and to the systematic or widespread occurrence of violations.

 

Mr / Madame Chairperson,

Article 29 of Sri Lanka’s 1948 constitution specifically denied capability to the Parliament to make laws discriminatory to, in favour of or adverse to any one community which were not equally applicable to the other communities. Solemn assurances were given that the ethnic majority would not avail themselves of the numerical superiority to discriminate against the Tamils. The Privy Council held that this Article 29 was an entrenched clause and rendered the constitution and not Parliament sovereign.

In 1972, twenty four years after independence from British rule the dominant Sinhala Buddhist majority gave itself an autochthonous constitution, renamed the island as 'Sri Lanka' (the old Sinhala name) and ensured that the Constitution secured a dominant role for Buddhism. The constitutional safeguards which had hitherto debarred the enactment of discriminatory legislation were scrapped.

Racist legislation and racism have been at the heart of the political problems in the island of Sri Lanka since independence. Racist policies implemented on citizenship, language, education, land and other areas discriminate severely against Tamils.

Rule under Emergency Regulations (ER) has become the norm - for more than 30 years since 1948. The Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary provision) Act, made permanent in 1982, gives wide powers to the police 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 of bodies with impunity. Confessions obtained under torture are admissible in evidence and shift the burden of proof to the accused. Many detainees continue to languish in jail, without charge or trial.

 

 

 

Mr / Madame Chairman,

Voices expressing concern have been raised over the years in this and other august human rights forums with regard to these systematic human rights violations and lack of effective domestic remedies.

In document (E/CN.4/2002/72), the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers quotes from the report of a mission to Sri Lanka composed of distinguished jurists, who found “the perception of a lack of independence of the judiciary was in danger of becoming widespread”.

 

The Human Rights Committee (HRC), in its concluding observations of November 6 2003, stated that it remains “concerned that Sri Lanka's legal system still does not contain provisions which cover all of the substantive rights set forth in the ICCPR (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights) ”.

 

The HRC is concerned about - the inconclusiveness of prosecutions against police or armed forces officers, on charges of abduction and torture ; the state party’s inability to identify, or inaction in identifying those responsible for the large number of disappearances ; the ignoring or rejecting of allegations of violations of freedom of expression ; persistent reports that media personnel and journalists face harassment and the fact that victims of human rights violations have been subjected to intimidation and/or threats, thereby discouraging them from pursuing appropriate avenues to obtain an effective remedy.

 

Mr / Madame Chairperson

 

The pattern of bias in the Sri Lankan judicial system and the Supreme Court is well recorded.

After delays and postponements, eventually the culprits of the Bindunuwewa mass murder in October 2000, in which 27 young detainees were brutally murdered, were simply acquitted by the Supreme Court.

In the case of the Kokkadicholai massacre of 1991, the Kokkuvil massacre of September 1990 or Kumarapuram massacre of February 1996, none of the security personnel involved have been prosecuted. The Kokkuvil massacre and Kumarapuram massacre cases continue to drag on in the courts.

After the Attorney General had indicted eighteen Sinhala soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army with the murder of thirty-five Tamil civilians including fourteen children in the Mylanthanai village in Batticaloa district on August 9 1992, all the eighteen accused were acquitted by the High Court Judge in Colombo. The soldiers had made successful application to have the inquiry transferred to Colombo, for their safety – regardless of the lack of safety for the victims’ witnesses, who had to travel to areas where they felt unsafe and were intimidated. The Sinhalese speaking Jury, for which the soldiers had made successful application, brought a unanimous verdict of not guilty.

We are sad to have to report that there has been no progress on the case of the assassination of Mr Kumar Ponnambalam on 5thJanuary 2000, despite ample evidence regarding the alleged perpetrators of the crime. There has been no proper investigation or punishment of culprits in the many cases of murders of human rights defenders and journalists, Mr Chandra Nehru, Mr G. Nadesan, Mr M. Nimalarajan, and Mr D. Sivaram. Delayed justice is justice denied.

Mr / Madame Chairman

 

Recently a statue of Buddha was erected illegally in Trincomalee, with political motivation, intent on causing tension among local communities, and clearly not for worship. The local District court ordered the removal of the statue, a decision overturned by the Supreme Court. Increased armed forces have been stationed in the town, presenting a picture of being under military occupation. Local people feel insulted and humiliated by this unwarranted oppression, and demand impartial implementation in the enforcement of law and order.

 

The Supreme Court, upholding a petition filed by Sinhala extremists on 15th July 2005 issued a stay order suspending four key provisions of the recently agreed Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS). This shows the inherent bias in the Sri Lankan Courts against Tamils, even in the face of the suffering caused by the catastrophic tsunami disaster of last December 26. When the structure was approved on 24th June by both parties, the tsunami victims hoped they would receive the aid that many in the world so generously gave. But after waiting more than six months they are bitterly disappointed by the action of the Supreme Court.

 

Mr / Madame Chairperson

 

Two thirds of the NorthEast of the island is not under the purview of the Sri Lanka judicial system. In these areas the Tamil Eelam police, founded in 1990, and the Tamil Eelam judicial system are functioning well, are effective and accepted by the people in that area. The Tamil Eelam courts started functioning in 1993. Presently there are 120 lawyers and 26 Judges who have graduated from the law college of Tamil Eelam.

 

Mr / Madame Chairperson

 

Human Rights organisations have been raising the urgent matter of the systematic human rights violations of Sri Lanka’s armed forces and the lack of effective remedies in the Sri Lankan judicial system year after year in this august forum. Expatriate Tamils demonstrated recently outside UNESCO headquarters regarding the illegally erected statue of Buddha in Trincomalee.

 

Our urgent concerns are also of impending war should the situation deteriorate further.

 

We believe that this Sub-Commission can be a vehicle to express the noble values and aspirations for humanity that underpin all true efforts to promote and protect Human Rights and thereby make a real and valuable contribution for the good of all the peoples of the island of Sri Lanka.

 

We appeal to you to take action. 

 

Thank you,

 

 

 

 

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International Association of Democratic Lawyers

 

61st Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights

 

Question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms

in any part of the world

 

 

Oral intervention by Deirdre McConnell

 

Mr Chairman,

 

General Assembly resolution 32/130 states that in approaching human rights questions within the United Nations system, the international community should accord priority to search for solutions to mass and flagrant human rights violations.

 

In the island of Sri Lanka, the Tamil people’s human rights and fundamental freedoms have been violated for more than fifty years. Since 1948, legislation has denied the rights of Tamils, in citizenship, language, education, religion, land and other areas.

 

In the 1950s and 60s the Tamil people’s non-violent struggle for equality, justice and dignity was crushed by violent military repression, followed by horrific pogroms of genocidal proportions in which thousands of Tamils were killed. These persistent attacks on the Tamil community eventually gave rise to armed conflict.

 

During twenty years of war over 79,000 Tamils have been killed or “disappeared”; 500,000 have sought political asylum in Europe and other countries and 2375 buildings of religious places of worship have been destroyed in the North East, the traditional Tamil homeland area, in aerial bombings and artillery shelling by military forces.

 

Rape and murder used as a weapon of war systematically by regular armed forces, with impunity, has inflicted horrendous suffering on thousands of Tamil women.

 

There have been no independent inquiries into any of the above endemic and chronic violations against Tamils, despite repeated calls by human rights organisations.

 

 

Mr Chairman,

 

The alleviation of the suffering of the Tamil people, thereby creating conditions of normalcy in which peace talks could begin, is central to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam signed more than three years ago, with the facilitation of the Royal Norwegian Government.

 

It is sad to note that although the ceasefire has created normalcy in the seven Southern provinces, normalcy does not exist for the people in the North East.

 

In breach of CFA article 2.1 and 2.5 people are harassed at checkpoints in the NorthEast. Over the last year the incidence of harassment, rape and sexual assault of Tamil civilians by regular armed forces has increased.

 

Violating CFA article 2.2, the army continue to occupy temples and churches in the North East; violating article 2.3 school buildings are still occupied by the Sri Lanka army. In a few cases, the army has withdrawn, but “High Security Zones” have been immediately built nearby.

 

Many people in civil society are asking, “ ‘Security’ – for whom? Certainly not the security of local Tamil people”. The situation of IDPs remains critical, they are prevented from resettling in their own homes due to these militarised zones.

 

Fishermen are still severely restricted in pursuing their livelihood, they are persistently harassed and intimidated by Navy and armed forces.

 

In violation of article 1.8 of the CFA, the government has not disarmed paramilitaries nor ensured they leave the North East. On the contrary, these paramilitaries working with the Sri Lanka armed forces have been responsible for recent assassinations in the East, of human rights activists and political leaders and activists, causing terror and destabilisation.

 

 

Mr Chairman,

 

It was the coastal parts of the North East which were the worst affected when the disastrous tsunami recently struck the island on December 26 last year. The majority of the casualties were Tamils from the North East. 24,500 Tamil people were killed by the tsunami and 10,000 are missing; nearly 700,000 Tamils were displaced and over 120,000 houses in Tamil areas were completely damaged.

 

Mr Chairman,

 

The authorities prevented the UN Secretary General from making a humanitarian visit, which he requested, to the North East, the areas in the island most affected by the tsunami. This is a serious violation of the UN Charter, Chapter XV Article 100 by the Sri Lankan government.

 

In conclusion, this Commission has the capability, the ability and the authority to immediately send a mission to Sri Lanka and ensure that in the affected areas the victims of these human rights violations receive redress. We urge the Commission to take urgent action.                                                                                                                      

 

Thank you

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following interventions were made by the International Peace Bureau, Geneva, Switzerland in the 58th Session of the UN Human Rights Commission (2002)

 

 

 

Item 10  Economic Social and Cultural Rights

 

 

58th Session of the UN Human Rights Commission (2002)

 

 

 

Distinguished Chairperson, Members and participants,

 

I wish to speak on behalf of the International Peace Bureau.

 

For the last seven years several NGOs have, in this forum, raised the matter of the economic embargo imposed by the past Sri Lankan government on the Tamil hereditary areas of the island of Sri Lanka. The very existence of the embargo was persistently denied and rejected in this forum by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs. Yet it prevented food, medicine and the essentials of daily life from reaching nearly one million internally displaced persons and others who suffered death, starvation and disease as a consequence.

 

Whereas, the present government has lifted the economic embargo and now there is some free flow of food, medicines and items essential to daily life. We are seeing practical efforts by this current government that show the people a serious intention to address their real concerns. This is wholeheartedly welcomed.

 

However, as the embargo lasted for more than ten years, all has not yet been restored to normal.

 

 

Sirs / Mesdames,

 

The Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the government of Sri Lanka, which came into effect on 22 February, states in Article 2, paragraph 2.2 that the military should withdraw from úplaces of worship; temples, mosques, churches and other holy sitesî. Paragraph 2.3 states that the armed forces must withdraw from the schools they have been occupying.

 

We are sad to say that the withdrawal of the army from these and other places is a slow process at the moment.  We hope the present government which is strongly for peace, and which, despite opposition to it, has brought fifty-four years of human rights violations hopefully to a permanent end, will speed up the process so that the dignity of the people, and their social and cultural rights can be respected and normalcy restored.

 

Happiness of the Tamil people will be earned, when there is normalcy and full respect for all their Economic, Social and Cultural rights.

 

 

Sirs / Mesdames,

 

The last twenty years of war and bombings of the Tamil hereditary areas, the NorthEast, have left a visible legacy of devastation and demolished infrastructure. 80% of the homes have been destroyed in the Jaffna Peninsula, thousands of places of worship all over the Tamil hereditary areas, have been damaged or destroyed by the previous Sri Lankan governmentÃs air force bombings. Roads, schools, hospitals, market places are all in dire need of repair. There is much work to be done before the people can live under conditions that could be described as normal.

 

For more than fifty years, Sri Lankan governments of the past have carried out a colonisation process, settling Sinhalese people in the Tamil hereditary areas of the island. This process, executed according to cunning and insidious plans, deliberately changed the demographic pattern of those Tamil areas, to achieve a higher proportion of Sinhalese people, i.e. voters, in those areas in the long-term.  Colonisation has infringed the economic, social and cultural rights of the Tamils and must come to an immediate end.

 

The Tamil Centre for Human Rights has brought detailed annual reports to this forum, and again this year have produced a 112 page report on the situation of human rights, including Economic, Social and Cultural rights, in the island of Sri Lanka. Two years ago TCHR produced a special report on the colonisation of Tamil hereditary areas.

 

Sirs / Mesdames,

 

The fishing restrictions, partially lifted, still prevent thousands of fisher folk from working. Fishermen, farmers and others need to be able to get back to work. Farmers have been unable to work in their paddy fields due to the Sri Lanka army land mines littering the fields between Puliyankulam and Omanthai in the Vanni. According to humanitarian aid workers the past government laid an estimated figure of several hundred thousand landmines. This issue needs addressing. In Jaffna alone, 1763 people lost their legs due to land mines.

 

The largest hospital in the Vanni, in Kilinochchi was bombed in 1996 and according to hospital sources it would cost 1.6 million US dollars to rebuild. It had more than 200 beds and treated more than three thousand outpatients a day. Since 1996 staff have struggled to find drugs and qualified medical personnel to manage all the patients in a small medical centre in the village of Akkarayan, South of Kilinochchi. 

 

Sirs / Mesdames,

 

Last week, as the first budget was introduced by the new government in Sri Lanka, the Tamil National Alliance Member of Parliament, Mr Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam stated in Parliament that the budget úhas failed to treat the war-ravaged northeast as a special zone for developmentî.

 

Whereas, it is clear that the functioning of hospitals, schools, places of worship and all other institutions which make up the social fabric and infrastructure urgently need to be restored to normal. Then the people will be able to live daily life with dignity and hope for today and tomorrow.

 

Respect for Economic, Social and Cultural rights and practical measures to embody such respect, hold an undeniably important place in the unfolding peace process.

 

Sir / Madam Chairperson,

 

With the permission of the present government Tamil cultural events are being held all over the island, and have attracted many thousands of people. Ministers from the new government are participating in these events, showing the Tamil people an openness and commitment to peace. This is highly appreciated by the international community.

 

To achieve a permanent peace in the island of Sri Lanka the government must create conditions of normalcy in the North East. This includes relieving the desperate plight of the people who have suffered horribly for many years.

 

We urge the Commission on Human Rights to request the government of Sri Lanka to use all the means at its disposal to speed up the process of restoring the Economic, Social and Cultural rights of the Tamil people.

 

Thank you.

April 2002

 

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Item 11    Civil and Political Rights

 

 

58th Session of the UN Human Rights Commission (2002)

 

 

Distinguished Chairperson, Members and participants,

 

I wish to speak on behalf of the International Peace Bureau.

 

Civil and political rights are the barometer of a country, proving the level of democracy, civilisation and political will.

 

Peace and Justice must be founded on respect for human rights.

 

We are happy that first steps have been taken in Sri Lanka towards creating a conducive environment, where fifty-four years of violations of the civil and political rights of Tamil people in the island of Sri Lanka can be brought to an end.  We refer to the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Government of Sri Lanka that came into effect on 22 February and to the permanent ceasefire.

 

In the past, anti-Tamil pogroms, unilateral abrogation of pacts (by Sinhala Leaders), Sinhala colonisation in Tamil hereditary regions, thousands of killings, arrests and detentions of Tamils, hundreds of rapes and gang-rapes of Tamil women and a systematic economic embargo to the North East since 1987 were on the scale of massive and collective punishment of the people. The repression was of genocidal proportions.

 

We are aware that the backbone of the system that produced massive human rights violators, is still in existence, and the perpetrators of crimes against humanity go free. There has to be a solution to address the pain and suffering caused by the perpetrators of past human rights violations. Military commanders who were responsible for horrendous human rights violations are still in post. These perpetrators must be brought to justice.

 

 

Sirs / Mesdames,

 

Sri Lanka is a country where twenty-eight years of Emergency rule combined with twenty-three years of Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) allows the security forces to violate human rights with impunity. In this very forum we have heard many interventions by NGOs in the past on the situation in Sri Lanka.

 

Sri Lanka gained independence from the British in 1948 and up to the end of June 2001 the island was under Emergency rule for 10,190 days (nearly 28 years out of the 54 years of independence). The people have been arrested, tortured, raped and disappeared with impunity.  There remain over 1,000 Tamil political prisoners languishing in jails on the island.

 

We hope that the present government of Sri Lanka will continue to give hope to the people and will abolish the PTA and Emergency Regulations, and release the political prisoners who have been detained without charge or trial.

 

Sirs / Mesdames,

 

In the past, reports of the Special Rapporteurs and working groups have been highly critical of the situation in Sri Lanka and there were many communications made by Special Rapporteurs, to which the then government of Sri Lanka never replied!

 

Many journalists, lawyers and others were brutally killed.

 

Since 1983, more than 70,000 Tamils have been killed and more than 800,000 have been internally displaced. Another 400,000 or more Tamils have sought asylum in foreign countries. All the communities on the island have been affected by the war.

 

These facts and many more have been brought to this forum, year after year, by the Tamil Centre for Human Rights, in detailed reports that have always included extensive and detailed documentation on violation of civil and political rights.

 

Sir / Madam Chairperson,

 

As the momentum for peace moves forward, further steps are required to create conditions in Sri Lanka in which the violations of Civil and Political rights of the Tamil people can come to an end ­ and thus ensure a true and durable peace - a peace where human rights and fundamental freedoms are respected.

 

To achieve a permanent peace the government has to create normalcy, lift the ban on the LTTE and start the peace process.

 

The achieving of a permanent peace will bring human rights violations to an end but there has also to be a solution for all the human rights violations that took place in the past.

 

We urge the Commission to take positive steps in this regard. 

 

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

 

April 2002

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Item 17 (b) Human Rights Defenders

 

 

58th Session of the United Nation Human Rights Commission (2002)

 

Distinguished Chairperson, Members and participants

 

I wish to speak on behalf of the International Peace Bureau. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, appreciating the work of human rights defenders has said, úas part of civil society, Human Rights Defenders have always been the driving force of democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights and, accordingly, the counter-weight to the power of the stateî.

 

Sirs / Mesdames,, I would like to raise our concerns about an eminent and distinguished Lawyer and human rights defender Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam from Sri Lanka who was assassinated in the capital Colombo, by úSO CALLED UNKNOWNî gunmen during the period of the previous government, on 5 January 2000. According to the latest reporting in newspapers in Colombo, the killers have been clearly identified and affidavits were given by the Police officers who were involved in the investigation of the assassination. Therefore they can no longer be called  úUnknown gunmenî.

 

Soon after the assassination of Mr. Ponnambalam, the Tamil Centre for Human Rights ­ TCHR, issued a press release on 28 February 2000, with factual clues.  The same clues are presently published in various newspapers with Police reports and affidavits in Colombo. This transparency may be due to the change of government in Sri Lanka.  Sadly, TCHR and its representatives were humiliated by the then government for publishing the facts regarding the assassination of Ponnambalam.

 

This august forum may be shocked to hear the fact that according to the affidavits of Police officers, one of the sons of the former deputy Minister of Defence Anurutha Ratwatte is the prime suspect in this assassination. Also this forum may be astonished to hear that sixteen months ago, President of Sri Lanka Chandrika Kumaratunga, Commander in Chief of the Armed forces took no action on the suspects when she was notified regarding the identity of the killers by the Police officers! It should be noted that the prime suspect, Mahen Ratwatte, is the cousin of Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

 

Mr. Ponnambalam was an outspoken critic of the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. On several occasions he presented the case on Sri Lanka to this Commission and also alerted this forum to the risk and danger that he was facing in Sri Lanka due to the attitude of the (PA) Government! During his participation in this forum, he met most of the Special rapporteurs, Presidents of working groups and officials in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

 

Sirs / Mesdames, in Sri Lanka, Mr. Ponnambalam defended 98% of the cases of political prisoners arrested by the Sri Lanka government, under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency regulations (ERs).

 

Mr. Ponnambalam exercised his rights under article 6 of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. He did this by speaking out in local, national and international forums. He carried out his work with dedication and energy in order to protect the fundamental freedoms of individuals.

 

 

 

 

 

Sirs / Mesdames, Mr. Ponnambalam is no more with us!

 

Killings of human rights defenders have been happening for a long time, in Sri Lanka. The list is long, both before and after the killing of popular Sinhalese journalist Richard de Zoysa eleven years ago. We could quote many other cases of human rights defenders assassinated like this but lack of time prevents us.

 

Sirs / Mesdames, we also would like to bring the attention of this Commission to the case of Dr Jayalath Jayawardena, who is presently Minister for Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees, whose case is pending in the Human Rights Committee! Dr JayawardenaÃs life was threatened while he was in the opposition.  

 

Regarding the assassination of Kumar Ponnambalam, concerns were raised by various officials in the United Nations and by the International human rights organisations to this forum: On 15 august 2000, during the 52nd session of the UN Sub Commission on the promotion and protection of human rights, a Member and an Expert Mr. Louis JOINET of France, raised his concern in a speech made about Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam, saying, úI met Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam here in the United Nations during a previous session. He had told me personally of his fears due to the fact that he had been verbally threatened and certain media had written attacks against him. Immediately, I had made an appointment with the Ambassador of Sri Lanka, whom I met in this building. I talked the matter over with him bringing to his notice these threats to Mr. Ponnambalam. Mr. PonnambalamÃs fears proved to be right and he is no more aliveî!

 

Concerns were raised promptly by the United Nations Special rapporteurs. Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Mr. Datoà Param Cumaraswamy. (E/CN.4/200/61-21 February 2000 and E/CN.4/2001/65 ­ 1 February 2001). Last year his report to this forum raised concern over the delay in the investigation in to the murder of Kumar Ponnambalam.

 

Special rapporteur on Disappearances and Summary executions, Ms. Asma Jahanhir (E/CN.4/2001/9/Add.1 ­ 17 January 2001) also raised concerns.

 

Sir / Mesdames, as we present a case of a human rights defender from Sri Lanka, it is our duty to inform you of the latest development in the peace process for which Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam and many others dedicated and gave their lives.

 

As far as the peace process is concerned, there are many positive signals from the parties to the conflict, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government. Of course the Sinhala extremists and peace haters of the previous government continue to be hurdles to the peace process!

 

It is a pleasure to inform this Commission that the Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe has visited the worn torn Jaffna peninsula and has personally witnessed the damage caused by twenty years of military operations. The Prime Minister stated, "Fighting ha(s) been severe and suffering ha(s) been severe too in Jaffna. All the people ha(ve) suffered enough from this conflict but Jaffna ha(s) undergone severe hardships.î

 

Under the leadership of Ranil Wickremasinghe, the government has taken positive steps toward peace.  If it could continue to remove other obstacles which may be hurdles to the peace process, a permanent peace could be achieved sooner in Sri Lanka.

 

 

Sir / Madam Chairperson, we urge this Commission to request the government to call for a public and independent inquiry into the brutal killing of Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam, a noble and passionate Human Rights Defender.

 

Thank you.

April 2002

 

 

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52nd session of the United Nations Sub - Commission

on promotion and protection of human rights

 

 

Item 6

 

Intervention made by the Basilian expert - , Paulo Sergio Pinheiro in the 52nd session of the United Nations Sub - Commission on promotion and protection of human rights.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to praise again the excellent report made by Ms. Gay McDougall and her contribution to improve the comprehension of the use of sexual violence during contemporary armed conflicts. 

 

I would like to draw attention to paragraph 20 of Ms McDougallÃs report, where several reasons are stated for this sexual violence so prevalent in armed conflict:

 

-          The use of sexual violence is seen as  an effective way to terrorise and demoralize members of the opposition, therby forcing them to flee

-          Access to womenÃs bodies and sexuality often is seen as the úspoils of warî or part of the úservicesî that are made available to combatants

-          Acts of sexual violence are not consistently viewed or codified as criminal acts, and those who commit them often are not punished under the law

-          Racism, xenophobia or ethnic hatred often is directed against women and girls who are members of targeted groups, and who then are subjected to sexual violence because of their gender and other factors of their identity

-          Sexual violence is used as a form of úethnic cleansingî  

 

The Special Rapporteur has presented several cases of sexual violence including rape, being used in many armed conflicts in several countries. I would like my colleagues to consider in the same pattern of sexual violence some allegations concerning the conflict which opposes the Tamil Community to the central state in Sri Lanka. In this sense my attention to this situation was called by a letter on Sri Lanka from my former colleague, the Special Rapporteur on Violence against women. Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy in that letter dated 13th 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 focussed on three individual cases which had been brought to her attention.

 

The first case, a woman aged 29 was reportedly gang-raped and then killed by Sri Lankan Navy soldiers on 28th December 1999 in Pungudutivu, near Jaffna Peninsula. Despite an order by the President to immediately investigate the events, it is reported that úvery little is being done to pursue the matterî.

 

The second case, was a woman allegedly gang-raped by five soldiers and then killed during the night of 12 July 1999. On 6th October 1998 a girl aged 12 was allegedly detained while returning from school and raped by a soldier in Sangathaanai, 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. The Special rapporteur, in her letter 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.

 

As my colleague Francoise Hampson explained a few days ago, the main contribution of the Special Rapporteurs of the Commission on Human Rights is not simply to denounce or to target countries. The most important endeavor of Special Rapporteurs is precisely to find ways in collaboration with the governments to prevent violations and to fight impunity.

 

Relative to sexual violence crimes it would be a remarkable contribution to the work of Gay McDougall and to the struggle against sexual violence in armed conflicts if the distinguished observateurs delegations of the countries mentioned in this report could inform the Special rapporteurs and this Sub-Commission about the investigations and other measures taken concerning the cases mentioned here and other allegations on criminal violence against women in armed conflicts.

 

The recommendations put forward in the Special rapporteurs final report include:

 

Legislation at the National level,

Adequate protection for victims and witnesses

Appropriate support services for victims,

Eventual prosecutions.

 

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro

 

 

 

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Administration of Justice Item - 9

 

Intervention made by the French expert - Mr. Louis JOINET, in the 52nd session of the United Nations Sub - Commission on promotion and protection of human rights.


15 August 2000 - During the session of the Sub Commission on human rights, under the agenda item "Administration of Justice", Mr. Louis Joinet - the French Expert made a speech about Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam.

 
In his long intervention about a few Latin American countries and Sierra Leone, he then devoted several minutes to speaking about Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam. He asked the UN Sub Commission on human rights to take the necessary steps regarding his case. He said:

úThe second part of my intervention will be devoted to the question of human rights defenders. Here I quote two cases.

 
The first case ­ dramatic, because it is an assassination ­ is that of Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam, Sri Lankan lawyer, who devoted himself, amongst other matters, to defending people who were charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act ­ PTA - in Sri Lanka. He was assassinated in a street in Colombo, while he was in his car, by killers who then fled. I met him here in the United Nations during a previous session.


He had told me personally of his fears due to the fact that he had been verbally threatened and certain media had written attacks against him. Immediately, I had made an appointment with the Ambassador of Sri Lanka, whom I met in this building. I talked the matter over with him, bringing to his notice these threats to Mr. Ponnambalam. Mr. PonnambalamÃs fears proved to be right and he is no more alive. Here again, only a good system for the administration of justice can ensure that there is no impunity for those who committed this crime. The Sub commission has to take this matter into our consideration.î


Mr. Louis JOINET is one of the senior and long-standing members of the Sub Commission on promotion and protection of human rights. There are twenty-six members in the Sub Commission.

 

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52nd Session of the Sub-Commission on Promotion and Protection of Human Rights

 

Item 6   Contemporary forms of Slavery

 

(Slavery and slavery-like practices during wartime)

 

 

Madam Chairperson,

 

The Sub-Commission initiated a very important area of work in 1994 when it decided to invite the submission of a working paper on the situation of systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery like practices during wartime. The appointing of a Special Rapporteur, was commendable.

 

Many NGOs welcomed the resolution of the 51st session of the Sub-Commission (1999/16) which requested Ms Gay McDougall to submit an update to her report of 1998 (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/13) to this Session of the Sub-Commission. We hold her reports in high esteem knowing the rigour and excellent quality of her work.

 

The effect of systematic rape on a people is beyond words. Used as a weapon of war, rape intimidates, vilifies, humiliates and wounds, not only the women of the community but also the men, the children, the adolescents. To invade the most intimate parts of a womanÃs body is to invade the intimate part of a whole community, where life is made and from which this sacred new life is born. Sexual violence used to subjugate and destroy a people is a form of úethnic cleansingî, and is an abhorrent and heinous war crime.

 

Madam Chairperson, on 14th March 2000 a UN press release conveyed the dismay of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women,  úthat the incidence of gang-rape and murder of women and girls by Sri Lankan soldiers is continuing unabated in Sri Lankaî.  She expressed her grave concern over the lack of serious investigations of allegations of gang-rape and murder of women and girls. Impunity remains a serious concern in Sri Lanka. 

 

Sarathambal Saravanbavananthakurukal, a mother aged 29 was gang-raped and killed by Sri Lankan Navy soldiers in Pungudutivu on 28th December 1999. It is routine practice for Sri Lankan police, army and navy to be moved to other areas after such atrocities, especially in cases where the family have been courageous to report the incident despite the very real fear of retribution. In the case of SarathambalÃs murder, the Navy officer was reported to have immediately been transferred, to prevent action being taken against him.

 

Ida Hamilitta was gang-raped and murdered by seven soldiers in the night of 12th July 1999. At the post-mortem the Judicial Medical Officer stated that she had been repeatedly raped, shot at her genitals, sexually mutilated, had 18 injuries on her body, had been bitten and had been stabbed on her abdomen.

 

The Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR) has documented catalogues of cases of Tamil women raped by the Sri Lankan armed forces in the North East of the island. Taken on average over the last four years a Tamil women is raped every 16 days. These are only the documented cases. The real number is much higher. Every two months a Tamil woman is brutally gang-raped and murdered by Sri Lankan armed forces ­ again these are only the documented cases. A girl child is gang-raped by Sri Lankan army personnel every three months. There are many attempted suicides after the ordeal experienced. There are cases where women are killed because they resisted the sexual advances of Sri Lankan soldiers.

 

Each of these incidents of rape and gang-rape and murder carries its shock waves of horror, terrorising all other members of the local community. Small children have been subjected to witnessing sexual violence inflicted on their own mother, as in the horrific case of the rape and murder of Koneswary.

 

On May 31st 2000 a 70 year old woman, Poomani Saravanai, of Neervely, Jaffna, was raped and robbed by Sri Lanka army personel. She was raped in front of her thirty-two year old son, while another soldier held her son at gun-point. The soldiers stole cash and jewellery from her after the rape. Later, Poomani courageously denounced her attackers. In her own words, she wrote, úThis incident in itself is a typical example that portrays the inner motive of the Sri Lankan government to annihilate the Tamil race by torturing and shamingî.

 

There have been cases of Police forcing their way into the homes of Tamil women at night. On 18th June 2000, six policemen attempted to rape women in the area of Sinnakadi in Mannar. The policemen, attached to the checkpoint situated at the Building Materials co-operative in Sinnakadi forcibly open the doors of residents at night. This is terrifying for the women. A complaint has been lodged with the brigadier general but given the impunity with which the armed forces carry out their violations of the human rights of Tamil civilians, it is not surprising many families wish to move from the area. Sri Lankan police and army checkpoints are notorious locations for sexual harassment, arbitrary arrest and údisappearanceî.

 

Madam President, we urge the Sub-Commission to take up the situation of systematic rape of Tamil women by the Sri Lankan armed forces, in the island in Sri Lanka, and to take meaningful action to bring to an end these atrocities.

 

 

Thank you.

 

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INTERFAITH INTERNATIONAL

 

Statement Item 9      

 

The latest reports of many special rapporteurs and working groups to the 56th Session of the Commission on Human Rights are highly critical of the gross violations of human rights in Sri Lanka, the country with the second highest number of disappearances. Emergency Regulations have been in place in Sri Lanka almost uninterruptedly for twenty years. The wide powers given to the security forces result in torture, disappearances and deaths in custody. These gross and massive violations of human rights are an international crime. Recently a Sri Lankan Navy officer claimed refugee status in Australia. He had massacred refugees in the Jaffna Peninsula. This is well documented in the Australian courts, where it was recognised that he had committed a war crime. Outstanding Human Rights Defender, Mr Kumar Ponnambalam, who made interventions in the Commission on Human Rights in 1997 and 1999 was shot dead in Colombo last January. The investigations by the Sri Lankan police have not been properly done and the witnesses have been manipulated by the police. This matter was brought to the 56th session of the Commission on human rights by several NGOs who called for an independent commission of inquiry into his murder. Colombo newspapers clearly indicated that top politicians had a hand in this assassination.