Remarks Of Tamil Genocide in Sri Lanka:
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Mass grave discovered in Naachchikkudaa, Mannaar
De-mining workers of Danish De-mining Group (DDG) have discovered a mass grave in Naachchikkudaa area in Mannaar containing 75 to 100 skeletal remains while engaged in de-mining in the area, informed sources in Mannaar told TamilNet Wednesday. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) had not permitted resettlement in Naachchikkudaa earlier claiming that the area was infested with landmines and a great quantity of explosives lying buried at the height of the war had taken place in Naachchikkudaa. It is suspected that the skeletal remains discovered may have belonged to young men and women, the sources added.
The sources also revealed that the de-miners also found a lot of unexploded landmines and explosives in the area.
Though people have been permitted to resettle in many parts of Mannaar district Naachchikkuda is not one of them.
Even the de-mining activities are carried out under the strict supervision of the SLA in Naachchikkudaa.
SLA authorities have refused to release any information about the mass grave.
Meanwhile, on 08 October 2009, Parliamentary Group Leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), R. Sampathan said in Sri Lanka Parliament that, “The Sri Lanka government fears that, if the international community gets involved in the de-mining, they may stumble on to mass graves of Tamil victims killed during the last stages of fighting between the Sri Lanka military and the Tamil Tigers," accusing the Sri Lankan government of refusing to accept foreign assistance towards the de-mining.
The sources also revealed that the de-miners also found a lot of unexploded landmines and explosives in the area.
Though people have been permitted to resettle in many parts of Mannaar district Naachchikkuda is not one of them.
Even the de-mining activities are carried out under the strict supervision of the SLA in Naachchikkudaa.
SLA authorities have refused to release any information about the mass grave.
Meanwhile, on 08 October 2009, Parliamentary Group Leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), R. Sampathan said in Sri Lanka Parliament that, “The Sri Lanka government fears that, if the international community gets involved in the de-mining, they may stumble on to mass graves of Tamil victims killed during the last stages of fighting between the Sri Lanka military and the Tamil Tigers," accusing the Sri Lankan government of refusing to accept foreign assistance towards the de-mining.
Citing photo evidence, HRW calls for UN war crimes probes
Citing photographic evidence in its possession of war crimes committed in Sri Lanka in early 2009, Human Rights Watch (HRW) Thursday joined a chorus of calls this week for an independent international investigation into violations of the laws of war during the closing months of Sri Lanka’s campaign against the Tamil Tigers. Calling on the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to promptly establish an international investigation to examine allegations of wartime abuse by both sides to the conflict, HRW said it has examined more than 200 photos taken on the front lines in early 2009 by a soldier from the Sri Lankan Army’s Air Mobile Brigade. The pictures include a series showing a captured long-standing LTTE Political Wing cadre being executed by Sri Lankan troops, probably after torture, as well as the possible rape or mutilation of LTTE women cadres.
The full text of a press statement by HRW follows:
Sri Lanka: New Evidence of Wartime Abuses
Government Inquiry Inadequate; UN Should Establish International Investigation
(New York, May 20, 2010) – New evidence of wartime abuses by Sri Lankan government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the armed conflicted that ended one year ago demonstrates the need for an independent international investigation into violations of the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said today. Recently Human Rights Watch research gathered photographic evidence and accounts by witnesses of atrocities by both sides during the final months of fighting.
On May 23, 2009, President Mahinda Rajapaksa promised United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that the government would investigate allegations of laws-of-war violations. One year later, the government has still not undertaken any meaningful investigatory steps, Human Rights Watch said.
Last week, the government created a Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission with a mandate to examine the failure of the 2002 ceasefire and the “sequence of events” thereafter. It is not empowered to investigate allegations of violations of the laws of war such as those documented by Human Rights Watch.
“Yet another feckless commission is a grossly inadequate response to the numerous credible allegations of war crimes,” said Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Damning new evidence of abuses shows why the UN should not let Sri Lanka sweep these abuses under the carpet.”
Human Rights Watch called on Secretary-General Ban to promptly establish an international investigation to examine allegations of wartime abuse by both sides to the conflict.
New Evidence of Wartime Violations
Human Rights Watch has examined more than 200 photos taken on the front lines in early 2009 by a soldier from the Sri Lankan Air Mobile Brigade. Among these are a series of five photos showing a man who appears to have been captured by the Sri Lankan army. An independent source identified the man by name and told Human Rights Watch that he was a long-term member of the LTTE’s political wing from Jaffna.
The first two photos show the man alive, with blood on his face and torso, tied to a palm tree. He is surrounded by several men wearing military fatigues, one brandishing a knife close to his face. In the next three photos, the man is lying – apparently dead – against a rock. His head is being held up, he is partly covered in the flag of Tamil Eelam, and there is more blood on his face and upper body.
A forensic expert who reviewed the photos told Human Rights Watch that the latter three photos show material on the man’s neck consistent in color with brain matter, “which would indicate an injury to the back of his head, as nothing is visible which would cause this on his face. This would indicate severe trauma to the back of the head consistent with something like a gunshot wound or massive blows to the back of the head with something such as a machete or ax.”
While Human Rights Watch cannot conclusively determine that the man was summarily executed in custody, the available evidence indicates that a full investigation is warranted.
Several of the photos also show what appear to be dead women in LTTE uniforms with their shirts pulled up and their pants pulled down, raising concerns that they might have been sexually abused or their corpses mutilated. Again, such evidence is not conclusive but shows the need for an investigation.
The new accounts by witnesses described indiscriminate shelling of large gatherings of civilians during the last weeks of fighting, apparently by government forces. In addition to an incident on April 8, 2009, previously reported, witnesses told Human Rights Watch about three other incidents in late April and early May 2009 of government forces shelling civilians, mainly women and children, who were standing in food distribution lines. The witnesses also described LTTE recruitment of children and LTTE attacks on civilians attempting to escape the war zone.
Government’s Failure to Investigate Abuses
The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission created on May 17, 2010 is the latest in a long line of ad hoc bodies in Sri Lanka that seem designed to deflect international criticism rather than to uncover the facts. The mandated focus of the commission – on the failure of the 2002 ceasefire – is largely unrelated to the massive abuses by both government forces and the LTTE in the last months of hostilities. Nor does the commission appear to have been designed to uncover new information: the commission’s terms of reference do not provide for adequate victim and witness protection.
The government-appointed chairman of the commission, Chitta Ranjan de Silva, is a former attorney general who came under serious criticism for his office’s alleged interference in the work of the 2006 Presidential Commission of Inquiry. The attorney general’s role was one of the main reasons why a group of 10 international experts, the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), withdrew from monitoring the commission’s work. The IIGEP stated that it had “not been able to conclude…that the proceedings of the Commission have been transparent or have satisfied basic international norms and standards.”
“De Silva was the architect and enforcer of the attorney general’s conflict of interest role with respect to the 2006 commission,” said Arthur Dewey, former US assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration and member of the IIGEP. “Nothing good for human rights or reconciliation is likely to come from anything in which De Silva is involved.”
The government has also yet to publish the findings from a committee established in November 2009 to examine allegations of laws-of-war violations set out in a report produced last year by the US State Department, despite an April 2010 deadline.
Sri Lanka has a long history of establishing ad hoc commissions to deflect international criticism over its poor human rights record and widespread impunity, Human Rights Watch said. Since independence in 1948, Sri Lanka has established at least nine such commissions, none of which have produced any significant results.
On March 5, Secretary-General Ban told President Rajapaksa that he had decided to appoint a UN panel of experts to advise him on next steps for accountability in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government responded by attacking Ban for interfering in domestic affairs, calling the panel “unwarranted” and “uncalled for.” Two months later, Ban has yet to appoint any members to his panel.
“Ban’s inaction is sending a signal to abusers that simply announcing meaningless commissions and making loud noises can block all efforts for real justice,” Pearson said. “The only way to ensure accountability in Sri Lanka is to establish an independent international investigation.”
The full text of a press statement by HRW follows:
Sri Lanka: New Evidence of Wartime Abuses
Government Inquiry Inadequate; UN Should Establish International Investigation
(New York, May 20, 2010) – New evidence of wartime abuses by Sri Lankan government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the armed conflicted that ended one year ago demonstrates the need for an independent international investigation into violations of the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said today. Recently Human Rights Watch research gathered photographic evidence and accounts by witnesses of atrocities by both sides during the final months of fighting.
On May 23, 2009, President Mahinda Rajapaksa promised United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that the government would investigate allegations of laws-of-war violations. One year later, the government has still not undertaken any meaningful investigatory steps, Human Rights Watch said.
Last week, the government created a Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission with a mandate to examine the failure of the 2002 ceasefire and the “sequence of events” thereafter. It is not empowered to investigate allegations of violations of the laws of war such as those documented by Human Rights Watch.
“Yet another feckless commission is a grossly inadequate response to the numerous credible allegations of war crimes,” said Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Damning new evidence of abuses shows why the UN should not let Sri Lanka sweep these abuses under the carpet.”
Human Rights Watch called on Secretary-General Ban to promptly establish an international investigation to examine allegations of wartime abuse by both sides to the conflict.
New Evidence of Wartime Violations
Human Rights Watch has examined more than 200 photos taken on the front lines in early 2009 by a soldier from the Sri Lankan Air Mobile Brigade. Among these are a series of five photos showing a man who appears to have been captured by the Sri Lankan army. An independent source identified the man by name and told Human Rights Watch that he was a long-term member of the LTTE’s political wing from Jaffna.
The first two photos show the man alive, with blood on his face and torso, tied to a palm tree. He is surrounded by several men wearing military fatigues, one brandishing a knife close to his face. In the next three photos, the man is lying – apparently dead – against a rock. His head is being held up, he is partly covered in the flag of Tamil Eelam, and there is more blood on his face and upper body.
A forensic expert who reviewed the photos told Human Rights Watch that the latter three photos show material on the man’s neck consistent in color with brain matter, “which would indicate an injury to the back of his head, as nothing is visible which would cause this on his face. This would indicate severe trauma to the back of the head consistent with something like a gunshot wound or massive blows to the back of the head with something such as a machete or ax.”
While Human Rights Watch cannot conclusively determine that the man was summarily executed in custody, the available evidence indicates that a full investigation is warranted.
Several of the photos also show what appear to be dead women in LTTE uniforms with their shirts pulled up and their pants pulled down, raising concerns that they might have been sexually abused or their corpses mutilated. Again, such evidence is not conclusive but shows the need for an investigation.
The new accounts by witnesses described indiscriminate shelling of large gatherings of civilians during the last weeks of fighting, apparently by government forces. In addition to an incident on April 8, 2009, previously reported, witnesses told Human Rights Watch about three other incidents in late April and early May 2009 of government forces shelling civilians, mainly women and children, who were standing in food distribution lines. The witnesses also described LTTE recruitment of children and LTTE attacks on civilians attempting to escape the war zone.
Government’s Failure to Investigate Abuses
The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission created on May 17, 2010 is the latest in a long line of ad hoc bodies in Sri Lanka that seem designed to deflect international criticism rather than to uncover the facts. The mandated focus of the commission – on the failure of the 2002 ceasefire – is largely unrelated to the massive abuses by both government forces and the LTTE in the last months of hostilities. Nor does the commission appear to have been designed to uncover new information: the commission’s terms of reference do not provide for adequate victim and witness protection.
The government-appointed chairman of the commission, Chitta Ranjan de Silva, is a former attorney general who came under serious criticism for his office’s alleged interference in the work of the 2006 Presidential Commission of Inquiry. The attorney general’s role was one of the main reasons why a group of 10 international experts, the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), withdrew from monitoring the commission’s work. The IIGEP stated that it had “not been able to conclude…that the proceedings of the Commission have been transparent or have satisfied basic international norms and standards.”
“De Silva was the architect and enforcer of the attorney general’s conflict of interest role with respect to the 2006 commission,” said Arthur Dewey, former US assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration and member of the IIGEP. “Nothing good for human rights or reconciliation is likely to come from anything in which De Silva is involved.”
The government has also yet to publish the findings from a committee established in November 2009 to examine allegations of laws-of-war violations set out in a report produced last year by the US State Department, despite an April 2010 deadline.
Sri Lanka has a long history of establishing ad hoc commissions to deflect international criticism over its poor human rights record and widespread impunity, Human Rights Watch said. Since independence in 1948, Sri Lanka has established at least nine such commissions, none of which have produced any significant results.
On March 5, Secretary-General Ban told President Rajapaksa that he had decided to appoint a UN panel of experts to advise him on next steps for accountability in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government responded by attacking Ban for interfering in domestic affairs, calling the panel “unwarranted” and “uncalled for.” Two months later, Ban has yet to appoint any members to his panel.
“Ban’s inaction is sending a signal to abusers that simply announcing meaningless commissions and making loud noises can block all efforts for real justice,” Pearson said. “The only way to ensure accountability in Sri Lanka is to establish an independent international investigation.”
British MPs call for war crimes probes at Mu’l’livaaykkaal Remembrance
Parliamentarians from all three main British political parties addressed a rally Tuesday at Westminster to commemorate the forty thousand Tamil civilians massacred last year by the Sri Lankan government forces during the closing months of the island’s civil war. Addressing 10,000 people who filled the permitted space in Parliament Square, MPs from the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, which comprise Britain’s new ruling coalition, and the main opposition Labour party were united in their condemnation of the war crimes and the need for international action on Sri Lanka’s war crimes.
"There should be an international independent investigation into the war crime charges against the Government of Sri Lanka" said Lee Scott, Conservative MP (Ilford North). He pledged his unwavering support for the Tamil people.
"We have a new obligation as the parties in government, I promise that we will work with our friends in EU, Commonwealth and UN to bring peace and justice in Sri Lanka," said Simon Hughes Liberal Democrat MP (North Southwark and Bermondsey).
Mr. Hughes said this was the time for Tamils and their friends to stand together and take practical steps to advance their cause.
"The last year has proved to many people that the Sri-Lankan government is incapable of meeting the political needs of the Tamil people." Virendra Sharma, Labour MP (Ealing and Southall), and Chair of All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPG-T) said.
Other Parliamentarians who addressed the rally included Tom Brake, Liberal Democrat MP (Carshalton and Wallington), Andrew George, Liberal Democrat MP (St Ives and the Isle of Scilly), Robert Halfon, Conservative MP (Harlow), John Mann, Labour MP (Bassetlaw), Keith Vaz, Labour MP (Leicester East), John McDonnell, Labour MP (Hayes and Harlington), and Barry Gardiner, Labour MP (Brent North).
Other parliamentarians joined the crowd briefly at various times during the 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. rally.
Amongst the other speakers to address the rally were James Allie, Liberal Democrat Councillor (Brent), Robert Evans, former Labour MEP, Julian Bell, Labour Coucillor (Ealing), Mr Gupta, General Secretary, Hindu Council UK and Graham Williamson of campaign group ‘Act Now’.
A survivor of the slaughter in Vanni, who escaped from Muliyavaikkal on May 18 last year, shared his experiences of losing his father and cousins, of seeing people blown up in front of his eyes.
“We took the injured to hospitals, and they [the Sri Lankan government] targeted the hospitals,” he said.
He spoke of the shortage of food, especially milk powder for the babies. He mentioned seeing people queuing up for food and milk powder, only to have the queues shelled and bombed. “As the little food and milk powder the people had was being handed out, [the government] killed those in the lines,” he said.
“We believed our people protesting overseas would save us, but it did not happen. All the world countries were against us,” he noted.
The event began with a moment of silence in the memory of all those who had died, followed by the floral tribute in front of a ‘40,000’ sign, commemorating the lives lost. It concluded with a candle light vigil and those presenting taking an oath to not rest until the Tamils who remain in the camps are freed and justice is achieved for those who died.
In bleak contrast to the 72-day protests at the same location last year, Tuesday’s gathering was far more sombre, recalling the atrocities that could not be averted by the international community and reflection on the ongoing sufferings of their kith and kin in Sri Lanka, a statement by the organizers said.
Representatives from British Tamils Forum (BTF) and Tamil Youth Organisation (TYO) handed a memorandum at the Houses of Parliament calling on the British Government to use her leverage on trade through permanent withdrawal of GSP+ and prevention of IMF loan to exert pressure on the Sri Lankan government to uphold international law.
“British Tamils called on Britain to use her standing in the commonwealth, European Union, the UN, as well as her influence on other powerful nations and to ensure an independent international inquiry into the war crimes committed against the Tamil people during the war is initiated to bring the perpetrators to justice,” a statement from the organizers said.
Tamils Need Justice and Protection
On the 1st anniversary of the massacre of nearly 40,000 Tamil people by the Sri Lankan state, we the Tamil people of the Diaspora and other peace loving people are gathered here today to remember those who died as well as those who had their lives shattered by the physical and mental scars inflicted upon them. Heavy weaponry was used by the military during the offensive on densely populated areas and designated “Safe Zones”. Cluster bombs and chemical weapons were also alleged to have been used in the onslaught.
We are here to remind the world that the perpetrators of these heinous crimes against humanity are still at large and are still charged with governance to continue with their genocidal programme against the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. Evidence gathered by International Crisis Group in a report released on 17 May 2010 provides reasonable grounds to believe that government security forces “repeatedly and intentionally” violated international law by attacking civilians, hospitals and humanitarian operations.
Today the Tamil people have been left totally defenceless and in danger of obliteration in their own homeland under the jack boot of the Sinhala armed forces of Sri Lanka. Over 80,000 Tamil people are still held in concentration camps guarded by the Sinhala armed forces. Over 11,000 Tamil youth are held in undisclosed torture camps with scant disregard to their human rights. Local media reports give gruesome accounts of the fate of these youth who are held without accountability.
The Sri Lankan government is continuing to decimate the Tamil homeland. The land and property belonging to the Tamil people are being plundered by Sinhala settlers with state patronage. The street names and sign boards are being changed from Tamil to Sinhala, Tamil historical and religious sites are being destroyed and replaced by Buddhist temples across the traditionally Tamil North and East regions. The Tamil people face existential threat of unprecedented proportions whilst the world media and international attention is kept away by the Sri Lankan state. The Tamils have become a community in danger in their own homeland.
“UN was paralysed when political and diplomatic intervention was required to protect Tamil civilians in the Sri Lankan government campaign to wipe out the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam,” Lord Patton, Chancellor of University of Oxford, commented in an article in Financial Times in reference to UN’s inability to uphold the principle of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) to prevent such atrocities.
Britain’s Responsibility to Protect
Owing to Britain’s political involvement in the history of the island, the Tamil people have reason to expect the British government to take decisive and effective measures to protect the Tamil community from total annihilation. The Sri Lankan government, embolden by its support from anti-Western alliances, continues to ignore with utter contempt all calls to respect international norms on human rights.
British Tamils want Britain to use her leverage on trade through permanent withdrawal of GSP+, prevention of IMF loan and her standing in the commonwealth, European Union, the UN, as well as her influence on other powerful nations to exert pressure on the Sri Lankan government to,
•Uphold international law and release all the people held in concentration camps across the island and resettle them in their places of origin
•End illegal, indefinite and arbitrary detention of more than 11,000 youths held in so-called rehabilitation centres and be given access to legal representation
•Allow unhindered access to the international media and aid agencies to the North & East of the island of Sri Lanka
•Halt all Sinhalisation of the Tamil areas, ethnic cleansing and decimation of the North & East
We want the British Government to ensure that,
•International aid is not diverted to purposes other than those for which it was entrusted to the Government of Sri Lanka
•The Tamil people are protected from ethnic cleansing and annihilation by the Sinhala State.
•An independent international inquiry into the war crimes committed against the Tamil people during the war is initiated and the perpetrators are brought to book.
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