Sri Lanka's Genocide on Tamils

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields - Channel4 News Documentary

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 12:49:00 +0000

Jon Snow presents a forensic investigation into the final weeks of the quarter-century-long civil war between the government of Sri Lanka and the secessionist rebels, the Tamil Tigers.

With disturbing and distressing descriptions and film of executions, atrocities and the shelling of civilians the programme features devastating new video evidence of war crimes - some of the most horrific footage Channel 4 has ever broadcast.

Captured on mobile phones, both by Tamils under attack and government soldiers as war trophies, the disturbing footage shows: the extra-judicial executions of prisoners; the aftermath of targeted shelling of civilian camps; and dead female Tamil fighters who appear to have been raped or sexually assaulted, abused and murdered.

The film is made and broadcast as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon faces growing criticism for refusing to launch an investigation into 'credible allegations' that Sri Lankan forces committed war crimes during the closing weeks of the bloody conflict with the Tamil Tigers.

In April 2011, Ban Ki-moon published a report by a UN-appointed panel of experts, which concluded that as many as 40,000 people were killed in the final weeks of the war between the Tamil Tigers and government forces.

It called for the creation of an international mechanism to investigate alleged violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law committed by government forces and the Tamil Tigers during that time.

This film provides powerful evidence that will lend new urgency to the panel's call for an international inquiry to be mounted, including harrowing interviews with eye-witnesses, new photographic stills, official Sri Lankan army video footage, and satellite imagery.

Also examined in the film are some of the horrific atrocities carried out by the Tamil Tigers, who used civilians as human shields.

Channel 4 News has consistently reported on the bloody denouement of Sri Lanka's civil war. Sri Lanka's Killing Fields presents a further damning account of the actions of Sri Lankan forces, in a war that the government still insists was conducted with a policy of Zero Civilian Casualties.

The film raises serious questions about the consequences if the UN fails to act, not only with respect to Sri Lanka but also to future violations of international law.

You can follow the programme on Twitter using #KillingFields

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields will be shown to MPs and parliamentary officials at a special showing in the House of Commons next week.

If you wish to contact your MP directly on this or any other matter you can go to Theyworkforyou.com (you can click on the link at the left hand side of this page) to find out who your representative is and how to contact them.

trailer

Viewers, please watch this documentary video in Channel 4 News website, found in this link

Channel4News youtube

or here

War crime suspect in Rajapaksa entourage plans charted flight escape

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 09:20:00 +0000

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 December 2010, 00:44 GMT]

Sri Lankan Major General Chagi Gallage, a member of Mahinda Rajapaksa's entourage to London, plans to escape war crimes accusation in the courts of London by chartering a flight, informed circles in London said Thursday midnight. Meanwhile, if Mr. Rajapaksa's visit was a private one as claimed by him, why there were senior ministers like G.L.Peiris and military commanders in the entourage, wonder media circles in London. The escape plans of the military commander follows attempts by the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) to file a war crimes case against him in London. Valid reasons are suspected behind the escape attempt of Chagi Gallage. Around 7,000 Eezham Tamils in London protested the presence of Rajapaksa entourage in London Thursday.

Sri Lanka Army commander Maj. Gen. Chagi Gallage

Meanwhile, briefing a press conference Thursday at the High Commission of Sri Lanka in London, Colombo's minister Dr. G.L.Peiris said that SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ‘freedom of expression’ had been violated in Britain by Tamil protesters.

When journalists countered him by pointing out to the status of freedom of expression in the island of Sri Lanka, Dr. Peiris said that during certain times governments are forced to take certain measures. He drew a parallel, citing the British way of handling freedom of expression during the height of IRA struggle.

Sri Lanka never killed any civilians, Mahinda Rajapaksa told British media Thursday. “Many of our army officers trained at Sandhurst. That is why they will never kill a civilian,” he was quoted as saying by James Harding and Ben Macintyre of The Times.

Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to London was part of a media offensive orchestrated by the lobbying firm Bell Pottinger hired by Colombo, says Sam Coates, Deputy Political Editor of The Times.

In the mean time, the British Defence Secretary Dr. Liam Fox on Wednesday met Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa who was on his ‘private visit’. Fox was tight lipped of his half an hour ‘private meeting’ with Rajapaksa.

But, it seems, the British Foreign Office is not happy about the Defence Secretary getting close to Colombo. Citing a source, Sam Coates said that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Foreign Secretary Mr William Hague may step in if the Defence Secretary were judged to be too close to Colombo.

SLA command complicit in Vanni massacre (Courtesy: Sunday Observer)

Tamils call for Rajapaksa's arrest

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 08:57:00 +0000

Activists accuse Sri Lankan president of being a war criminal as new footage of a massacre is aired during his UK visit.

Tamil activists are calling for an international arrest warrant for Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan president who is currently visiting the United Kingdom.

Many Tamils have dubbed Rajapaksa a war criminal and, as commander-in-chief of the Sri Lankan forces, they hold him responsible for the deaths of thousands of Tamil civilians in a civil war that ended in May 2009.

Rajapaksa was greeted by Tamil protestors as he arrived in London on Monday night, a day before a British TV channel broadcast video footage of an alleged massacre by Sri Lankan forces of civilians, which could inflame Tamil anger further.

Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull reports from London.

Rajapaksa 'linked to Tamil deaths'

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 08:51:00 +0000

A leaked cable says US believes Sri Lankan president is implicated in mass deaths of Tamils.

Last Modified: 02 Dec 2010 10:12 GMT

Another leaked US embassy cable released by whiste-blowing website WikiLeaks has added weight to calls for an independent inquiry into the final days of Sri Lanka's civil war.

US diplomats in Sri Lanka believe the country's president carries much of the responsbility for the mass deaths of ethnic Tamil civilians in the final days of the civil war.

According to the cable written by Patricia Butenis, the US ambassador, Mahinda Rajapaksa, his generals and family members are implicated.

The UN has said that at least 7,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the final months of fighting.

Butenis wrote in January that responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country's senior civilian and military leadership, including President [Rajapaksa] and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka," she said, according to WikiLeaks.

Gotabaya Rajapakse, the president's brother, is defence secretary.

Former general Sarath Fonseka led the army's defeat of the Tamil Tigers but was arrested shortly after losing a presidential bid this year.

Rajapaksa has resisted external pressure for an international probe into allegations that both the rebel Tamil Tigers and the military committed war crimes during the conflict.

He has instead opted for an internal investigation, a move that was also questioned by Butenis.

According to the cable, Butenis, said that "there are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power."

Further doubts

The document also shows Butenis questioning whether the Tamil Tiger fighters captured by government forces will receive a fair trial.

"The Government of Sri Lanka is holding thousands of mid- and lower-level ex-LTTE [Tamil Tiger] combatants for future rehabilitation and/or criminal prosecution. It is unclear whether any such prosecutions will meet international standards." she said.

Last year, the army killed the top Tamil Tiger leadership, during a nearly four-decade campaign in which they fought for a separate Tamil homeland.

The revelations coincide with Rajapaksa's visit to the United Kingdom. Noisy protests at London's Heathrow Airport greeted the Sri Lankan president when he arrived on Monday.

the Oxford Union, Britain's prestigious debating society,, has cancelled a speech he was due to give, citing security reasons, as Tamil activists were said to be planning a large demonstration outside the venue.

Source: Al Jazeera English

Sri Lanka - Evidence for war crimes published by GTF and Channel 4 UK

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 15:19:00 +0000

In the First video Col. Ramesh a senior LTTE leaders is investigated by the army after his surrender or capture at the end of the war. Later the army reported he was killed in war. Col. Ramesh's family reported he was not found after his surrender/capture.

WikiLeaks cables: 'Sri Lankan president responsible for massacre of Tamils'

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 15:13:00 +0000

Tamil activists in Britain - where Mahinda Rajapaksa is currently visiting - are seeking an arrest warrant for alleged war crimes

Julian Borger, diplomatic editor guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 1 December 2010 19.10 GMT
Article history

Sri Lanka's president, Mahinda Rajapaksa. Photograph: Keystone/Rex Features

American diplomats believed that the Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, bore responsibility for a massacre last year that is the subject of a UN war crimes inquiry, according to a leaked US cable.

Lawyers for Tamil activists in Britain are seeking an arrest warrant against President Rajapaksa for alleged war crimes committed last year at the bloody end of the long-running civil war against Tamil separatists. Rajapaksa, who is in the UK, is due to meet the defence secretary, Liam Fox, tomorrow and had an address to the Oxford Union scheduled for Fridaycancelled due to security concerns.

Thousands of Tamils are thought to have died in a few days in May 2009, when a large concentration of Tamil Tiger guerrillas and civilians, crammed in a small coastal strip, came under heavy bombardment from Sri Lankan government forces.

In a cable sent on 15 January this year, the US ambassador in Colombo, Patricia Butenis, said one of the reasons there was such little progress towards a genuine Sri Lankan inquiry into the killings was that the president and the former army commander, Sarath Fonseka, were largely responsible. "There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power," Butenis noted.

"In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many alleged crimes rests with the country's senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka." Fonseka was convicted of corruption by a court martial this year.

In her cable to Washington, Butenis seeks to explain why there is so little momentum towards the formation of a "truth and reconciliation" commission, or any other form of accountability.

Most Tamil Tiger commanders, also under suspicion for war crimes such as the use of civilians as human shields, had been killed at the end of the war.

President Rajapaksa had meanwhile fought an election campaign promising to resist any international efforts to prosecute "war heroes" in the nation's army.

Not only was the Colombo government not interested in investigating itself, but Tamils in Sri Lanka – unlike those abroad – were also nervous about the issue as it might make them targets for reprisals.

Butenis wrote: "While they wanted to keep the issue alive for possible future action, Tamil leaders with whom we spoke in Colombo, Jaffna and elsewhere said now was not time and that pushing hard on the issue would make them 'vulnerable'.

"Accountability is clearly an issue of importance for the ultimate political and moral health of Sri Lankan society," the ambassador concluded, but she did not think it would happen any time soon.

Last month David Cameron endorsed calls for an independent investigation into the end of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009. The UN has set up a inquiry into the events of last May, but Butenis thinks any overt foreign push for prosecutions would be counter-productive.

"Such an approach, however, would seem to play into the super-heated campaign rhetoric of Rajapaksa and his allies that there is an international conspiracy against Sri Lanka and its 'war heroes'," Butenis argued.

A spokesman for Fox said: "Dr Fox will be meeting President Rajapaksa in a private capacity. This reflects Dr Fox's long standing interest in Sri Lanka and his interest in, and commitment to peace and reconciliation there."

Source: The guardian UK

US embassy cables: Rajapaksa shares responsibility for 2009 Sri Lankan massacre

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 15:06:00 +0000

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 1 December 2010 19.10 GMT

Friday, 15 January 2010, 12:23
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 000032
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INSB
EO 12958 DECL: 01/15/2020
TAGS PGOV, PREL, PREF, PHUM, PTER, EAID, MOPS, CE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA WAR-CRIMES ACCOUNTABILITY: THE TAMIL
PERSPECTIVE
REF: A. 09 COLOMBO 1180 B. COLOMBO 8
COLOMBO 00000032 001.2 OF 003
Classified By: AMBASSADOR PATRICIA A. BUTENIS. REASONS: 1.4 (B, D)

Summary

US ambassador to Colombo said that the main reason there will not be a Sri Lankan enquiries into the mass killings that marked the end of the war with the Tamil Tigers last year was that President Mahinda Rajapaksa, bears much of the responsibility, along with his government, generals and some of his family. Key passage highlighted in yellow.
Read related article

1. (S) SUMMARY: There have been a few tentative steps on accountability for crimes allegedly committed by Sri Lankan troops and civilian officials during the war with the LTTE. President Rajapaksa named a committee to make recommendations to him on the U.S. incidents report by April, and candidate Fonseka has discussed privately the formation of some form of "truth and reconciliation" commission. Otherwise, accountability has not been a high-profile issue -- including for Tamils in Sri Lanka. While Tamils have told us they would like to see some form of accountability, they have been pragmatic in what they can expect and have focused instead on securing greater rights and freedoms, resolving the IDP question, and improving economic prospects in the war-ravaged and former LTTE-occupied areas. Indeed, while they wanted to keep the issue alive for possible future action, Tamil politicians with whom we spoke in Colombo, Jaffna, and elsewhere said now was not time and that pushing hard on the issue would make them "vulnerable." END SUMMARY.

ACCOUNTABILITY AS A POLITICAL ISSUE

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

2. (S) Accountability for alleged crimes committed by GSL troops and officials during the war is the most difficult issue on our bilateral agenda. (NOTE: Both the State Department Report to Congress on Incidents during the Conflict and the widely read report by the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) also detailed many incidents of alleged crimes perpetrated by the LTTE. Most of the LTTE leadership was killed at the end of the war, leaving few to be held responsible for those crimes. The Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) is holding thousands of mid- and lower-level ex-LTTE combatants for future rehabilitation and/or criminal prosecution. It is unclear whether any such prosecutions will meet international standards. END NOTE.) There have been some tentative steps on accountability on the GSL side. Soon after the appearance of the State Department report, President Rajapaksa announced the formation of an experts' committee to examine the report and to provide him with recommendations on dealing with the allegations. At the end of the year, the president extended the deadline for the committee's recommendations from December 31 until April. For his part, General Fonseka has spoken publicly of the need for a new deal with the Tamils and other minorities. Privately, his campaign manager told the Ambassador that Fonseka had ordered the opposition campaign to begin work planning a "truth and reconciliation" commission (ref B).

3. (S) These tentative steps notwithstanding, accountability has not been a high-profile issue in the presidential election -- other than President Rajapaksa's promises personally to stand up to any international power or body that would try to prosecute Sri Lankan war heroes. While regrettable, the lack of attention to accountability is not surprising. There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power. In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country's senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka.

THE TAMIL PERSPECTIVE

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

COLOMBO 00000032 002.2 OF 003

4. (S) For different reasons, of course, accountability also has not been a top priority for most Tamils in Sri Lanka. While Tamils have told us they would like to see some form of accountability, they have been pragmatic in what they can expect and have focused instead on securing greater rights and freedoms, resolving the IDP question, and improving economic prospects in the war-ravaged and former LTTE-occupied areas. Indeed, while they wanted to keep the issue alive for possible future action, Tamil leaders with whom we spoke in Colombo, Jaffna, and elsewhere said now was not time and that pushing hard on the issue would make them "vulnerable."

5. (S) The one prominent Tamil who has spoken publicly on the issue is Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, self-proclaimed presidential candidate, and Prabhakaran relative M.K. Sivajilingam. Breaking from both the TNA mainstream and the pro-government Tamil groups, he launched his campaign because he believed neither the government nor the opposition was adequately addressing Tamil issues. Sivajilingam has focused on creating a de-centralized federal structure in Sri Lanka with separate prime ministers for the Sinhalese and Tamils, but he also has spoken about accountability, demanding an international inquiry to get justice for the deaths and suffering of the Tamil people.

6. (S) Other Tamil politicians have not made public statements on accountability and are generally more pragmatic in their thinking. In our multiple recent discussions with TNA leader R. Sampanthan, he said he believed accountability was important and he welcomed the international community's -- especially the diaspora's -- interest in the issue. But Sampanthan was realistic about the dim prospects for any Sri Lankan government to take up the issue. Granting that governments in power do not investigate their own, Sampanthan nevertheless said it was important to the health of the nation to get the truth out. While he believed the Tamil community was "vulnerable" on the issue and said he would not discuss "war crimes" per se in parliament for fear of retaliation, Sampanthan would emphasize the importance of people knowing the truth about what happened during the war. We also have asked Sampanthan repeatedly for his ideas on an accountability mechanism that would be credible to Tamils and possible within the current political context, but he has not been able to provide such a model.

7. (S) Mano Ganesan, MP and leader of the ethnic Tamil Democratic People's Front (DPF), is a Colombo-based Tamil who counts as supporters many of the well-educated, long-term Colombo and Western Province resident Tamils, and was an early supporter of Fonseka. The general made promises that convinced him that if Fonseka were to win, ethnic reconciliation issues would then be decided by parliament, not the Executive President. On accountability, Ganesan told us that while the issue was significant XXXXXXXXXXXX accountability was a divisive issue and the focus now had to be on uniting to rid the country of the Rajapaksas.

8. (S) TNA MP Pathmini Sithamparanathan told us in mid-December that the true story of what happened in the final weeks of the war would not go away and would come out eventually, but she also said now was not the time for war crimes-type investigations. Finally, on a recent trip to Jaffna, PolOff found that local politicians did not raise accountability for events at the end of the war as an issue of immediate concern, focusing instead on current bread-and-butter issues, such as IDP releases, concerns about Sinhala emigration to traditional Tamil regions, and

COLOMBO 00000032 003.2 OF 003

re-developing the local economy.

COMMENT

-------

9. (S) Accountability is clearly an issue of importance for the ultimate political and moral health of Sri Lankan society. There is an obvious split, however, between the Tamil diaspora and Tamils in Sri Lanka on how and when to address the issue. While we understand the former would like to see the issue as an immediate top-priority issue, most Tamils in Sri Lanka appear to think it is both unrealistic and counter-productive to push the issue too aggressively now. While Tamil leaders are very vocal and committed to national reconciliation and creating a political system more equitable to all ethnic communities, they believe themselves vulnerable to political or even physical attack if they raise the issue of accountability publicly, and common Tamils appear focused on more immediate economic and social concerns. A few have suggested to us that while they cannot address the issue, they would like to see the international community push it. Such an approach, however, would seem to play into the super-heated campaign rhetoric of Rajapaksa and his allies that there is an international conspiracy against Sri Lanka and its "war heroes." BUTENIS

source: the guardian uk

Wikileaks: Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa blamed for killings

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 15:01:00 +0000

2 December 2010 Last updated at 12:41 GMT

President Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit to the UK has been disrupted by protesters

A US envoy believed the president of Sri Lanka bore responsibility for an alleged 2009 massacre of Tamils, suggest cables obtained by Wikileaks.

The claim was reported in a message from the US envoy in Colombo.

It comes as Sri Lanka's parliament was suspended after a scuffle between MPs over demonstrations in the UK against President Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit.

More protests are planned later in London outside the hotel where Mr Rajapaksa is thought to be staying.

The demonstrations have been blamed for the Oxford Union's decision to cancel a speech by Mr Rajapaksa planned for Thursday.

Thousands of Tamil civilians are estimated to have been killed during a military bombardment as the 26-year insurgency ended in May last year.

Heathrow protest

The US ambassador in Colombo, Patricia Butenis, said in a diplomatic cable sent on 15 January this year that President Rajapaksa and the former army commander, Sarath Fonseka, were largely responsible.

She said there seemed little hope of accountability given that there were no examples of a regime investigating its own troops for war crimes.

The president's visit to the UK has drawn strong protests from UK Tamils

It is one of more than 250,000 classified American diplomatic cables, obtained by the Wikileaks website and released to several publications, including the Guardian and the New York Times.

On Thursday, parliament in the capital, Colombo, had to be suspended after several MPs tried to attack an opposition Sinhalese member.

Dr Jaylath Jayawardena was accused of instigating a protest by a large group of Tamil demonstrators at London's Heathrow Airport as President Rajapaksa arrived on Monday night.

Dinesh Gunawardena, a cabinet minister, called for an inquiry into the conduct of the United National Party MP.

Several government members then tried to assault Dr Jayawardena, who was protected by a few of his colleagues and some members of the ruling party.

Sri Lanka has repeatedly rejected international calls for an independent inquiry into the war against the Tamil Tigers.

'Shot while surrendering'

At least 7,000 Tamil civilians were killed in a few days of bombardment when the military cornered the rebels in a small coastal strip in May last year, according to the UN.

Amateur footage allegedly shows the extra-judicial killing of Tamil Tiger prisoners by Sri Lankan troops. Its authenticity cannot be verified. It has been edited here only to remove the most disturbing images

Other estimates put the death toll as high as 20,000. Both sides have been accused of crimes against humanity.

The former army chief, Sarath Fonseka, said last year during his failed campaign for the presidency that military decisions had been taken in the final days of the war without his knowledge.

These included the president's brother, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, allegedly ordering Tamil Tiger rebel leaders to be shot dead as they tried to surrender, Mr Fonseka claimed.

The Sri Lankan government said they were shot by other insurgents.

Mr Fonseka led troops to victory last year over the Tamil Tigers, but fell out with the president when he stood unsuccessfully against him in polls; he was charged with corruption and jailed.

Meanwhile, Colombo dismissed the authenticity of footage broadcast by the UK's Channel 4 News, purportedly showing Tamil prisoners being killed.

Channel 4 said the video - apparently showing trussed-up male and female prisoners being shot dead amid taunts from onlookers - was taken shortly before the Tamil Tigers' defeat.

Oxford Union cancels Sri Lankan president's talk as Tamil groups protest

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 14:36:00 +0000

Sri Lanka

The Oxford Union has cancelled a talk by Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa citing security concerns over planned protests by Tamil groups who are trying to have him arrested for war crimes.

Calls for a war crimes inquiry intensified yesterday following President Mahinda Rajapaksa's arrival in Britain Photo: AFP/GETTY

By Dean Nelson in New Delhi and Laura Roberts 6:45PM GMT 01 Dec 2010

Mr Rajapaksa had been due to address the Oxford Union on Thursday night, but protests were expected following the release of a video that purports to show a Tamil Tiger leader under interrogation by army officers despite government claims he was killed in combat.

Pro-Tamil supporters from across the country including students were intending to protest outside the Union and will now gather outside the London hotel where Mr Rajapaksa is staying on Thursday.

“It is no surprise the event has been cancelled given the release of the video. There is some relief that Rajapaksa won’t just be allowed to walk around with impunity,” said James Martin, 33, a student at SOAS.

Sri Lanka accused of 'ethnic cleansing' of Tamil areas 26 May 2009
WikiLeaks: Mahinda Rajapaksa 'responsible for war crimes' 01 Dec 2010
Sri Lanka arrests astrologer for predicting president to be ousted 01 Dec 2010
Up to 30,000 'disabled' by Sri Lankan shells 01 Dec 2010
Commentary: what Sri Lanka's government needs to do now 01 Dec 2010
Sri Lanka president drops out of Britain visit over arrest fears 01 Dec 2010

“The new video that has emerged is devastating and its sad to see the response of the Sri Lankan government. There needs to be an independent investigation.”

In a statement, the Oxford Union said: "Due to security concerns surrounding Mr. Rajapaksa's visit which have recently been brought to our attention by the police, the Union has regretfully found that the talk is no longer practicable and has had to cancel his address."

In the video, which has been seen by The Daily Telegraph, a prisoner who identifies himself as Col Ramesh, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's leader in eastern Sri Lanka, is shown being interviewed by a series of men in army uniform. Colombo has said Col Ramesh was killed at the end of the country's three-decade civil war.

The London-based Global Tamil Forum last night claimed the video confirmed that he had surrendered in the last days of the war and appeared to have been later killed in breach of the Geneva Covention.

A government spokesman said he could not comment on the video or the Global Tamil Forum's claims, but reiterated his government's claim that Col Ramesh had been killed in fighting.

The Ministry of Defence had confirmed Col Ramesh's body had been discovered along with two other Tamil Tiger leaders on May 17 last year.

But according to a spokesman for the Global Tamil Forum, Col Ramesh had surrendered to Sri Lankan forces at a camp for civilians displaced by the fighting along with his niece on that day. They had since been told by their sources in the Sri Lankan military that he was later killed.

"This is a breach of the Geneva Convention. Someone had surrendered and they have killed him while he was in custody," claimed the spokesman.

Mr Rajapaksa expressed regret after the Oxford Union cancelled the scheduled speech by him amid security concerns, his office said in a statement on Wednesday.

“I am very sorry this has had to be canceled, but I will continue to seek venues in Britain and elsewhere where I can talk about my future vision for Sri Lanka,” the president’s office quoted him as saying.

Sri Lanka’s minority Tamil community in London had planned a demonstration to coincide with Thursday’s event. They also staged a protest when Rajapakse arrived in London on Tuesday.

“This (cancellation) is a decision that has been made unilaterally by the Oxford Union, reportedly as a result of pressure applied by pro-LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) activists,” Weeratunga said.

Mr Rajapaksa had been due to appear at the Oxford Union before his recent inauguration for a second term but the visit was postponed on fears that he could be arrested under British laws allowing arrest warrants to be issue for human rights abuse. The government subsequently gave assurances that he would be treated as a head of state and immune to arrest, allowing the visit to go ahead.

The Ministry of Justice on Wednesday published an amendment to a law that puts visiting officials at risk of arrest for alleged war crimes.

The bill, which will be debated in parliament in the coming weeks, proposed that any arrest warrant for war crimes under universal jurisdiction provisions must be approved by the government’s chief prosecutor.

Calls for a war crimes inquiry intensified yesterday following President Rajapaksa's arrival in Britain as up to 50 MPs signed a letter to David Cameron, the prime minister, calling for a war crimes inquiry.

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, has demanded a transparent investigation into war crime allegations against the Sri Lankan government.

Up to 10,000 civilians were killed in the last months of the war.

Tamils for Obama: Keep the Sri Lankan War Criminals Out of the U.S.

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:55:00 +0000

Download this press release as an Adobe PDF document.

A video recently emerged showing Sri Lankan soldiers executing bound and naked Tamil civilian prisoners. The video was broadcast by the U.K.'s Channel 4 news. Tamils for Obama wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, and U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Patricia Butenis requesting them to block the entry of Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa's delegation to the U.N. General Assembly session this fall where he plans to present SL military men to the assembly for the world's approval. Tamils for Obama suggests that these soldiers will be revealed as war criminals and will eventually embarrass the U.N. and the U.S.

New York (PRWEB) August 28, 2009 -- Britain's Channel 4 news aired a video showing Sri Lankan soldiers executing bound and naked Tamil civilian prisoners.

(To see the Channel 4 news report go to: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1184614595?bctid=35256686001)

Tamils for Obama, citing the Channel 4 video as further evidence of war crimes by the Sri Lankan military, requested that the U.S. refuse to allow President Rajapaksa's delegation to enter the U.S. for the U.N. General Assembly session this fall. President Rajapaksa plans to include a number of Sri Lankan soldiers in this diplomatic delegation. Tamils for Obama maintains that most of them are guilty of war crimes like those shown in the video.

The video was made by a Sri Lankan soldier on his mobile phone and then passed along to an independent journalists' group, which supplied it to Channel 4. The video seems to give clear evidence of this Sri Lankan war crime.

"We are pleased that this video emerged," said a spokesman for Tamils for Obama. "It came from independent sources--a Sri Lankan soldier and a European journalists' group--who cannot be called propagandists for Tamils. This is plainly genuine."

Tamils for Obama also mentioned in a letter the Tamil group sent to Secretary of State Clinton, Attorney General Holder and Ambassador Butenis that "according to the U.N., the number of Tamil civilians killed by the Sri Lankan government is over 30,000 between January and May of this year."

The same Tamils for Obama spokesman said that "Stories of Sri Lankan atrocities still horrify us, but they are no surprise. As we wrote to Secretary Clinton and Attorney General Holder 'We have heard stories like this for years. We have heard that thousands of crippled Tamil civilians were buried alive by the Sri Lankan armed forces on May 18, 2009, a story which we expect will eventually be proven and become part of the world's consciousness.'"

The Tamils for Obama spokesman said that independent proof of the mass burials has not yet emerged, but that they are confident that the truth of the matter would eventually be proven.

The Tamils for Obama letter concludes "We consider that these bloody-handed killers are appropriately regarded as war criminals and should be barred from entering the U.S. We urge the U.S. state and justice departments to prevent them from entering the U.S. and exploiting American credulity."

To read the letter, go to: www.Tamilsforobama.com/Letters/SL_UN_Delegation.html

Tamils are an ethnic group living mainly in the northeast of Sri Lanka and southern India. During the final weeks of the recent civil war, the Sri Lankan government killed about 1,000 Tamil civilians per day, according to the United Nations, and about 30,000 in 2009. Tamils are a minority population in Sri Lanka, and have borne the brunt of a civil war they regard as genocide. One-third of the Tamil population has fled the island and formed a substantial diaspora overseas. Tamils for Obama is comprised of Tamils who have settled in the U.S. or who were born in the U.S.

To contact the group, call at (617) 765- 4394 and speak to, or leave a message for, the Communication Director, Tamils for Obama.
www.TamilsForObama.com

News Source: emediawire

"We Don't Want Development, We Want Our Rights!"

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:42:00 +0000

Nimmi Gowrinathan
Posted: August 27, 2009 04:09 PM
huffingtonpost

The message shouted from an elder woman inside Zone 2's internment camps in Sri Lanka was clear as she angrily harassed a humanitarian worker attempting to install latrines that would signal a longer, more permanent, residence in unlivable internment camps . It's a message that is perhaps best directed at the United Nations and donor countries who, in the case of Sri Lanka, have chosen "access" to hundreds of internally displaced civilians over "advocacy" in their best interests.

With small pockets of civilians uprooted by a bloody end to Sri Lanka's protracted civil war resettled in their home districts, the majority of the 300,000 Internally Displaced People (IDPs) from the minority Tamil population remain in sprawling internment camps with dwindling supplies of fresh water, quickly spreading communicable diseases, and up to three families in one tent . The camps are, however, equipped with ATM machines -- reinforcing within the camps what has become obvious outside of the camps. Those with money have power.

The actors with money: The Government of Sri Lanka (2.5 billion US$ wealthier after the approval of a recent International Monetary Fund loan), the UN, and donor countries (primarily China). Since they have neither the money nor the representation to influence their own destiny, Tamil civilians must rely on the UN as their voice. It is an option many in the camps trust less than the promises of a militaristic regime responsible for their captivity. Most of the animosity is directed at Secretary General Ban Ki Moon- who was notably silent as their loved ones perished in the final days of fighting. In a leaked memo, Norwegian Deputy Ambassador Mona Juul says of Sri Lanka, "the Secretary-General's moral voice and authority have been absent."

Why the silence? Perhaps because discussions in the Security Council of Tamil civilian lives were relegated to the basement of the UN, as opposed to Darfurian lives which are allowed consideration on higher floors. Perhaps because Sri Lanka was never an item on the Security Council Agenda, despite having the votes necessary. Some speculate it is the hardline position of the Secretary General's advisors, bolstered by a Human Rights Council debate deeming the Sri Lankan war an "internal matter". Officially, the UN laments that its lack of leverage on behalf of the affected civilians is derived from the growing influence of China and India on the island. In broad macroeconomic terms the Asian powers, capitalizing on the ill-gotten gains of peace, are certainly engaged in a fiscal duel for dominance in Sri Lanka. However, in development aid, most of their funds are dispersed through the UN - and a quick survey of any of the camps will reveal that UN tents far outnumber those provided by the Chinese government. The omnipresence of UN staff on the ground should imply a natural mandate in the debates around resettlement, but it is a power the organization has been hesitant to embrace.

It must be noted that in these internment camps there are sympathetic government soldiers (one lieutenant reportedly consistently siphons off food from rations to ensure children in his care are well-fed), and committed local UN staff -but all are beholden to a leadership which seems deaf to their concerns. While outside humanitarian groups are not (are never) entirely innocent, in Sri Lanka they too have been subsumed under the dominance of the UN (recently accused of not sharing crucial information). What is the message being conveyed by the actions of power players at the UN? That in a "post-conflict" environment, only a victor's justice is available to a marginalized constituency.

Talking heads and a growing number of colored rubber bracelets have tried to convince us that "development" will solve all problems, ethnic or otherwise. But what happens when in order to maintain a presence in a country, and access to displaced civilians, the largest outside "development" actor forgoes its responsibility to advocate for rights guaranteed in the Geneva Convention? While the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are no longer the focal point for Tamil nationalism, separatist sentiments remain high among a population who will no longer accept the exchange of humanitarian aid for political rights.

The assassinated Sinhalese journalist Lasantha Wickrematunga predicted in January of this year, "A military occupation of the country's north and east will require the Tamil people of those regions to live eternally as second-class citizens, deprived of all self respect. Do not imagine that you can placate them by showering "development" and "reconstruction" on them in the post-war era." As Tamils around the world are now being recruited into "power-sharing" discussions and "trust-building" exercises, it is important to recognize that a significant amount of power remains in the hands of the UN, an institution that the minority Tamils once trusted with their lives.

The monsoon rains this fall are predicted to trigger a humanitarian crisis as every existing concern outlined by human rights groups (poor sanitation, collapsing tents, lack of medical care) will be exacerbated by massive flooding. Local and international NGOs have warned that no amount of money poured into the overcrowded camps will prevent the loss of thousands of civilian lives. Logistically, at least 100,000 (approximately 1/3) of the displaced civilians must be evacuated to their original homes in the Northern and Eastern districts before the onset of the rains. It seems that only when the international community recognizes the limits of "development" will Tamil civilians, inadvertently, be granted the most basic of rights- the right of return.

Video that reveals truth of Sri Lankan 'war crimes'

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:40:00 +0000

Phone video smuggled to Europe bolsters claims that Sri Lankan soldiers murdered Tamil prisoners

By Andrew Buncombe

The Independent, Thursday, 27 August 2009NORMAL

- LARGE
- EXTRA LARGE

REUTERS

Sri Lankan Army commandoes

MORE PICTURES

The naked man, his hands bound behind his back, is pushed to the ground. Then a man in military uniform delivers a forceful kick to the back of the prisoner's head with the heel of his boot. As the prisoner slumps forward, another soldier points his automatic weapon and fires a single shot. The man's body jolts. "It's like he jumped," laughs one of the giggling soldiers.

As gunfire rattles, the camera pans left to reveal a further seven bloodstained bodies, all handcuffed and bound, and – with one exception – similarly naked, strewn on the ground. The camera then pans right again, as another naked man is forced to the ground and shot in the back of the head. This time the body falls backwards.

These scenes, captured on video, allegedly show extra-judicial killings of Tamils by Sri Lankan troops earlier this year in the bitter and bloody endgame of the country's civil war. As government forces made a decisive thrust into the stronghold of rebel forces to end the decades-long conflict, a Sri Lankan soldier apparently took this footage, which was then smuggled out of the country by activists. It may constitute the first hard evidence for those who believe war crimes were committed in the effort to crush the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The significance of this footage – particularly shocking for the seemingly casual way in which the killings were carried out – is even greater given the way that journalists and independent observers were prevented by the government from reaching the war zone. The UN has estimated that 10,000 civilians were killed in what was, in effect, a war with no outside witnesses.

Last night the Sri Lankan army dismissed the footage as the latest in a series of fabrications designed to damage the country's image. But campaigners and Tamil politicians said it was vital that a full inquiry be carried out into the alleged killings. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has voiced his support for an investigation into possible war crimes if convincing evidence emerged.

So too has Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director, Sam Zarifi, who said: "We have received consistent reports that violations of the laws of war, as well as international human rights law, were committed by both sides in the conflict and we call once again for an international, independent and credible investigation into what took place during the final days of the conflict."

The footage was obtained by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), an organisation made up of several dozen Sri Lankan journalists who have fled into exile in recent years as the intimidation and killing of media professionals has soared. The group, whose members now live mostly in Europe, said the film was taken by a Sri Lankan soldier in January using his mobile phone as the army was battling to take the LTTE's de facto capital, Kilinochchi.

A spokesman for the group, who asked not be identified, said: "It was as if someone was filming it for fun. This was being circulated by the soldiers. It has been going round for a while. It was taken as if it was a souvenir." He said rumours of such footage had existed for a long time but that this was the first time such film had entered "the mainstream".

There is no way to confirm the authenticity of the footage, first broadcast by Channel 4 News. Likewise, there is no way of proving that the people apparently shot dead are Tamils, as the JDS has claimed. But this is not the first time that images from the war zone, captured on mobile phones, have been circulated within Sri Lanka.

Earlier this year a man in the eastern city of Trincomalee showed The Independent pictures of a naked, dead woman. He said the woman was apparently an LTTE fighter, killed as government troops advanced on rebel positions to the north.

Nor is it the first time that the army has been accused of carrying out summary justice. In May, when the rebels' final position in the north-east was overrun by government soldiers and the LTTE's leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was killed, it emerged that two other leading rebels had been shot dead while trying to surrender. Tamils living outside Sri Lanka said the two men were carrying a white flag when they were shot by troops. A senior government official admitted that the two men had been trying to give themselves up for several days. At the time, the EU called for an inquiry into possible human rights abuses committed during the final months of the war.

A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights (UNHCR) said: "If it can be verified, this footage could be evidence of the sort of war crimes we fear were committed by both sides. We have repeatedly said there should be an investigations into the closing stages of the conflict. There needs to be some sort of accountability."

The final assault on the LTTE ended a war that had raged for almost three decades and cost at least 70,000 lives. The LTTE, fighting for a Tamil homeland, had long waged a brutal insurgency and used suicide bombers to attack both civilian and military targets. Since the war ended, the popularity of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose brother heads the powerful defence ministry, has soared among the country's Sinhala majority.

The resulting peace has also seen a 25 per cent increase in the number of visitors to Sri Lanka, lured by its beaches, tropical forests and gently paced culture. Already about 100,000 visitors from the UK travel to the island each year, according to the Sri Lankan tourist board, and officials are hopeful that the tourist numbers will increase further.

When he announced an end to the war, the president said that Sinhala, Tamils and Muslims must live as "equals". Yet some Tamils say the government has done little to placate its population or to offer them a political "settlement". This summer, in local elections held in the north, the government's party won in the city of Jaffna, but in Vavuniya victory went to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which has previously voiced some support for the LTTE.

Yesterday Sri Lankan opposition MPs urged the government to release nearly 300,000 war refugees held in state-run camps, saying the detentions brought discredit to the country.

"These camps stand as a symbol of shame and disgrace to our proud Sri Lankan history," said Mano Ganesan, an opposition MP and leader of a group calling itself Parliamentarians for Human Rights. "They are like prisons. People are kept against their will and that's illegal."

James Ross: Abuses on both sides must be investigated

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:38:00 +0000

The Independent

Thursday, 27 August 2009,

This ghastly video clip is short but very hard to watch. While there is no way to prove the authenticity of the scene, I and individual experts on the recent fighting, found nothing that would suggest otherwise.

The government rejects the video, calling it a "fabrication." Throughout the fighting against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who were defeated in May, the Sri Lankan government has insisted that its soldiers have not been involved in war crimes.

But Human Rights Watch and other human rights organisations have reported widespread violations of the laws of war by both Sri Lankan government forces and the Tamil Tigers. The Tigers persistently used civilians as human shields, deployed child soldiers, and shot anyone who tried to escape their control. Sri Lankan government forces routinely fired heavy artillery indiscriminately into densely populated areas killing several thousand civilians.

There is an obvious need for serious investigations into possible war crimes during the fighting. It is now up to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to hold President Rajapaksa to the promise he made in May to take measures "to address" the need for an accountability process for violations of international law.

An international commission of inquiry into the war is needed which would investigate alleged war crimes by both sides.

Government denials will not make this gruesome video go away. The truth in Sri Lanka's long war, now over, will out. To build a Sri Lanka in which the rights of all of the country's citizens are respected, real justice is needed.

James Ross, Legal and Policy Director at Human Rights Watch, has written on human rights in Sri Lanka since 1994

Investigating claims of Sri Lankan ‘war crimes’

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:04:00 +0000

source: Channel4 World News Blog

Author: Jonathan Miller|Posted: 8:36 pm on 26/08/09

Category: World News Blog | Tags: Sri Lanka/ Tamil Tigers/ war crimes

On 3 June 2005 I sat in the Channel 4 newsroom watching a video of six young Bosnian Muslim men being taunted and then murdered in cold blood by members of a Serb militia called the Scorpions in a village near Srebrenica ten years earlier.

Their paramilitary tormentors sneered at their captives; they smoked cigarettes and cracked jokes; the cameraman complaining that his handycam battery was dying, urging the others to “get on with it.”

The men and boys were forced to lie down with their hands tied before they were shot in the back. After watching the video, I put together this report:

This video contains images that some may find distressing.

Last night I watched another video in our newsroom, this time from Sri Lanka.

It was sent to us by a group of exiled journalists. It was chillingly reminiscent of the Bosnia video.

The casual banter and laughter of the uniformed killers was what I immediately found so callous and shocking, as they kicked in the head and then shot – point-blank – their bound, blindfolded, naked victims.

The raw footage – one continuous shot lasting one minute and eight seconds – is sickening.

The group Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka – comprised of Tamils and Sinhalese – claim the footage they’d obtained was filmed in January this year and depicts the extra-judicial execution of Tamils by Sri Lankan government soldiers.

This video contains images that some may find distressing.

Today, the Sri Lankan Army spokesman, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, dismissed the footage as a fabrication “made to discredit the armed forces.” He told AFP news agency that the Tamil Tigers also operated wearing the uniforms of government soldiers.

Channel 4 News was sent a second “categorical denial” from the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in London, who branded it “a deliberate and sinister attempt to prevent the reconciliation process that is now taking place…”

In Colombo, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs weighed in, calling our report a “concocted story” intended to “cause embarrassment and bring disrepute to the government of Sri Lanka.”

The Sri Lankan president’s media unit then released a statement saying the government “will make a strong protest to Channel 4 with regard to the contents of this video and also bring the matter to the notice of the relevant authorities…”

It described the footage as “false and doctored.” It promised to “pursue remedies available with regard to the distortion of truth.”

Personally, I think Steven Spielberg would have had a hard job staging this grim scene.

We were unable to verify the authenticity of the footage, but we did our level best to do so and we would not have broadcast our report had we not been confident with the expert analysis we received.

Before we went to air, I watched the video with a leading Sri Lankan human rights investigator – a Sinhalese himself – who provided forensic insights into its authenticity.

This investigator has many years of experience looking into abuses and impunity in his homeland, but he’d never seen anything like this.

Many detractors have made their points of view clear in emails to Channel 4 News or on the websites of newspapers like Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror.

While it’s true that Tamil Tiger insurgents were known to masquerade in government uniforms, what makes the video credible is that telltale casual dialogue between the killers as they dispatch their helpless captives.

In rough provincial Sinhala accents, they jokingly argue over who gets to shoot whom.

They take turns, mockingly play-acting the popular folk game ‘kurupiti gahanawa wage’ – ‘Your Turn, My Turn.’

When the Bosnian Scorpion video emerged in Belgrade in 2005, the then UN War Crimes Prosecutor was in Belgrade and commented: “I have seen the video and there is no doubt about the perpetration of crimes.”

Two years later, a Serbian war crimes court sentenced four members of the group to a total of 58 years in prison for the extrajudicial executions.

Will this happen in Sri Lanka, if this video is indeed authenticated and these killings deemed prima facie evidence of war crimes?

The answer is a resounding “No.”

The Sri Lankan government has summarily rejected all calls for an independent investigation into alleged war crimes.

It is not within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court to investigate alleged war crimes in a state which is not party to the Rome statute (Sri Lanka isn’t) or in the absence of a UN Security Council Resolution, which instructs the ICC to investigate. This extremely unlikely to happen.

On 27 May, the UN Human Rights Council passed a flawed resolution, drafted by the Sri Lankan government, which actually commended the Sri Lankan government for its policies and celebrating its victory over the Tamil Tigers.

The resolution ignored calls for an investigation into alleged war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law.

Because of the clunky mechanics of the UN Security Council and the difficulty of passing unanimous resolutions on countries’ internal problems when many of those voting have awkward internal problems of their own, no resolution censuring Sri Lanka has been passed.

With the UNHRC resolution, the government of Sri Lanka probably thinks it’s off the hook which is perhaps why video footage of the sort that emerged yesterday has so alarmed Colombo.

Sinhalese and Tamil Sri Lankans who want to see impartial investigations into alleged human rights abuse have either had to flee into exile (like the group of journalists who obtained the video), have been arrested, beaten or killed – or remain there, ducking for cover.

Yesterday, an eminent Sri Lankan academic, Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, director of the Colombo-based think tank, the Center for Policy Alternatives, said he’d received an anonymous death threat.

His crime, it appears, was to lambast the UN for its failure to hold the government of Sri Lanka accountable.

“In Sri Lanka,” he’s quoted as saying, “there were a lot of us who had a palpable sense of disappointment with regard to the UN. Perhaps our expectations were too high.”

Sri Lanka’s long and horrible civil war killed as many as 80,000 people.

The Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam pioneered the use of suicide bombers and paid scant heed to the lives of civilians. They trained and used thousands of child-soldiers to fight the Sri Lankan Army.

If we’d obtained a video tape of these atrocities and abuses, we would have certainly sought to authenticate and then aired them too.

Sri Lanka: Execution Video Shows Need for International Inquiry

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:54:00 +0000

AUGUST 26, 2009 Human Rights watch

(New York) - A disturbing video recently provided to the media showing the apparent summary execution of prisoners by Sri Lankan soldiers underscores the need for an international commission of inquiry into possible war crimes committed by both sides during the armed conflict in Sri Lanka, Human Rights Watch said today.

The video shows men in Sri Lankan army uniforms firing assault rifles point-blank at two naked, blindfolded, and bound men sitting on the ground. Eight other bodies are visible on the ground nearby, all but one unclothed. According to Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, a multiethnic exile organization, the video was taken by a soldier with a cell phone in January 2009. While Human Rights Watch could not confirm the video's authenticity, an independent expert consulted found nothing in the video that would dispute its authenticity. The summary execution of prisoners is a violation of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and a war crime.

"The blood, blindfolds, and mud of this apparent atrocity makes nonsense of President Rajapaksa's claims of a clean war against the Tamil Tigers," said Steve Crawshaw, UN director at Human Rights Watch. "An international inquiry needs to get to the bottom of this and other war crimes committed during the past year's fighting."

Human Rights Watch reported numerous violations of the laws of war by both the Sri Lankan armed forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during the 25-year-long armed conflict, which ended with the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in May. Because independent observers, including the media and human rights organizations, were prevented from operating near the war zone, the information available on the fighting and potential laws of war violations by both sides has been limited.

Before the government could launch an investigation, a Sri Lankan army spokesman already labeled the video a "fabrication."

Human Rights Watch has long criticized the government's failure to carry out impartial investigations and prosecutions of those responsible for the numerous human rights abuses committed by both sides during the conflict. There have been serious ongoing violations of human rights, and the backlog of cases of enforced disappearances and unlawful killings runs to the tens of thousands. Only a small number of cases have ended in prosecutions. Past efforts to address violations through the establishment of ad hoc mechanisms in Sri Lanka, such as presidential commissions of inquiry, have produced little information and few prosecutions.

Human Rights Watch called for the United Nations secretary-general or other UN body to create an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate violations of the laws of war by all parties to the armed conflict in Sri Lanka, and to make recommendations for the prosecution of those responsible. On May 23, President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, issued a joint statement from Sri Lanka in which the government said it "will take measures to address" the need for an accountability process for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

In a July interview with Time magazine, Rajapaksa said that during the war, "[t]here was no violation of human rights. There were no civilian casualties."

"Since telling the UN secretary-general three months ago that he'd conduct investigations, Rajapaksa has sat on his hands," said Crawshaw. "Ban should stop relying on the president's promises of domestic action and make it clear that an international commission is needed if the victims of Sri Lanka's bloody war are to find justice."

ALSO AVAILABLE IN:

Español

Video shows purported atrocities in Sri Lanka conflict

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:28:00 +0000

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Video obtained by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka shows apparent atrocity
Video shows men being shot by men wearing what appear to be military fatigues
Sri Lankan official says gunmen in video not Sri Lankan army soldiers, video staged
Reports from survivors of Sri Lanka conflict suggest war crimes were committed

updated 11:36 p.m. EDT, Wed August 26, 2009

From Sara Sidner, CNN

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Naked, bound and blindfolded, a crudely shot video shows a man being pushed to the ground by men wearing what appear to be military, camouflage fatigues.

Sri Lanka's military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara claims the video was staged.

One of the men kicks the blindfolded man in the back. Another man raises a gun, points it at the back of the man's head and pulls the trigger.

A loud crack is heard; the man slumps to the ground.

Off-camera, someone can be heard saying in Sinhala, the majority language of Sri Lanka, "I think he looked back."

The execution-style shooting is repeated with a second man, also bound and naked. Off-camera, a voice can be heard saying, "This is like hitting midgets."

All the while someone is recording the scene, apparently with a cellphone camera. Panning across the open field, the camera reveals nine bodies, some lying in pools of blood. From the video alone, it's impossible to tell who they were or who killed them.

The video was obtained by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, an advocacy group based in Berlin, Germany, that accuses the Sri Lankan government of harassing and intimidating journalists.

CNN could not independently verify the authenticity of the video nor could it determine when or where it was shot, but sources in Sri Lanka told CNN they believe it was shot in January as the army closed in on the remnants of the Tigers.

Journalists for Democracy says it is evidence of atrocities committed during the final months of the 26-year conflict that became infamous for its merciless killing: the jungle warfare between the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Each side has accused the other of atrocities, though evidence surfaced to support the claims has surfaced only rarely.

A Sri Lankan official said the video proves nothing. Watch footage from the video »

"Sri Lankan soldiers never get involved in this kind of a situation," Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told CNN. "We are 100 percent sure it has nothing to do with Sri Lankan soldiers; it is all created and staged."

Asked if he was saying the video was faked, he answered, "This is all fake ... I feel it's not an actual situation, it's a created one."

The Sri Lankan High Commission (Embassy) in London issued a statement to CNN affiliate Channel 4 News, which first aired the video, saying that, "in many instances in the past, various media institutions used doctored videos, photographs and documents to defame the Sri Lankan government and armed forces."

But Journalists for Democracy -- which would divulge neither how it obtained the video nor from where -- said the the men carrying out the executions are wearing Sri Lankan military uniforms.

Independent observers were largely excluded from the conflict zone during the war in Sri Lanka. Even today access remains tightly restricted.

Not everyone is buying the government's assertion that it was not involved in the killings.

"The Sri Lankan government has had a pattern of lying during this conflict," said Yolanda Foster, Amnesty International's Sri Lankan expert.

While the video's authenticity cannot be independently verified, the organization has received reports from survivors of the conflict that suggest war crimes were committed, she said.

"Given the restrictions given on the media, the fact that the government is not allowing people to freely interview the displaced who may be able to share accounts of what happened in the final months of the war, it is urgent that there is an independent investigation," Foster said.

That appears unlikely to occur any time soon. The government routinely rejects calls by human rights groups for independent investigations into its campaign against the Tigers.

But Nanayakkara told CNN the government will try to find out who is trying to discredit the Sri Lankan government by releasing what it called a faked video.

"This is to tarnish the image of Sri Lanka," he said.

Sri Lanka video prompts probe calls

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 08:22:00 +0000

Footage allegedly showing the killing of prisoners. Its authenticity cannot be verified. It has been edited here to remove the most disturbing images

Sri Lanka is facing fresh calls for an international human rights inquiry after video emerged apparently showing extra-judicial killings by troops.

The footage was allegedly filmed in January during the final stages of the bloody conflict with the Tamil Tigers.

It shows a man dressed as a soldier shooting a naked man in the head. Eight other bodies are seen on the ground.

It is impossible to verify the video's authenticity. Sri Lanka's government says the footage was fabricated.

Call for access

It is not clear where the film was shot or when.

The government of Sri Lanka must allow immediate access to the conflict area

Shaista Aziz
Amnesty International

The footage was provided to the BBC and other media organisations by a group called Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, which said it showed "the reality of the behaviour of the government forces during the war".

Government troops finally declared victory over the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) in May after months of fierce fighting.

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka said the video had been taken in January 2009.

The group is based in Europe and was recently formed by Sri Lankan journalists, both Sinhalese and Tamil, who have fled the country.

Heavy fighting between troops and rebels went on for months

Nearly 50 journalists have done so in recent months because of fears of persecution by the government.

Independent media were banned by the government from travelling to the conflict zone in northern Sri Lanka.

Human rights group Amnesty International responded to the release of the video by repeating its call for "an international, independent and credible investigation into what took place during the final days of the conflict".

"Amnesty International has received consistent reports that violations of the laws of war, as well as international human rights law, were committed by both sides in the conflict," a statement said.

"The government of Sri Lanka must allow immediate access to the conflict area so that evidence and documents, as well as testimony from survivors, can be gathered."

'Terrorists'

Sri Lanka's military said the video was aimed at discrediting the armed forces and said the rebels were known to dress in military uniforms.

Sri Lanka denies the execution claim

The government categorically denied that troops had carried out atrocities and suggested the footage had been fabricated by pro-rebel groups.

"The Sri Lankan army never engaged with Tamil civilians. Our fight was with the LTTE terrorists," High Commissioner to Britain Nihal Jayasinghe told the BBC.

He said "well-documented evidence" of human rights violations was needed before there could be any United Nations inquiry.

Both sides in Sri Lanka's conflict have been accused of numerous atrocities and human rights violations over the years.

Many killings have also been blamed on proxy militias said to be working for one side or the other.

The UN estimates that more than 80,000 people were killed in the decades-long ethnic conflict.

The rebels were fighting for a separate state for Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east.

They argued that Tamils had been discriminated against by successive majority Sinhalese governments.

News Source: BBC

Sri Lanka denies execution claim
The Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Britain, Nihal Jayasinghe, has strongly denied allegations by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, who have released footage they claim shows the execution of Tamil Tiger prisoners by the Sri Lankan military.
Speaking to BBC News, Mr Jayasinghe said that it was "common knowledge" that the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) "masqueraded" in Sri Lankan uniforms as a form of "disinformation".
READ MORE: S Lanka video prompts probe calls

Is this evidence of Sri Lankan 'war crimes'?

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:56:00 +0000

Updated on 25 August 2009

By Jonathan Miller, Channel4 News

Channel 4 News shows footage claimed to show Sri Lankan forces executing Tamils earlier this year. Jonathan Miller reports.

Just three months after the Sri Lankan government declared the country liberated from the Tamil Tigers, video footage has emerged apparently showing government troops summarily executing Tamils.

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, which obtained the material, said it was filmed in January - when the international media were prevented by the Sri Lankan government from covering the conflict zone. The images in Jonathan Miller's report contain extremely disturbing images.

Tonight, the Sri Lankan High Commission denied the government had carried out atrocities against the Tamil community. A Sri Lankan army spokesman also called the video a "fake". Read the response here.

Blog: investigating claims of war crimes

"What makes the video credible is that telltale casual dialogue between the killers as they dispatch their helpless captives..."

Read Jonathan Miller's blog in full here.

For Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority, the end of 26 years of war was something to celebrate. The rebel Tamil Tiger army vanquished. It had been a brutal war - upwards of 80,000 dead. Soldiers, civilians, Sinhalese and Tamil traumatised and brutalised by what they has been through.

By January this year, government forces were closing in on a shrinking conflict zone with unknown thousands of Tamil civilians being killed.

But independent journalists and observers were prevented from getting anywhere near the combat. There were rumours terrible things were happening, but this was a war without witnesses.

However one soldier we now know had a mobile phone. And eight months on, his footage of a callous execution has emerged. There is no indication of the ethnicity of the dead men, but the group which obtained the pictures claim the victims are Tamils.

280,000 Tamils remain incarcerated in camps for displaced people. The government says it needs to screen the civilian population for suspected Tamil Tiger militants.

Three months ago Sri Lanka's victorious president Mahinda Rajapaksa promised equal rights for Tamil and said they would be protected.

If the killing field footage is authenticated, it will do little to reassure Tamil civilians.

Sri Lanka High Commission response

"The High Commission of Sri Lanka categorically deny that the Sri Lankan armed forces engaged in atrocities against Sri Lankan Tamil community. They were only engaged in a military offensive against the LTTE.

"The High Commission has noted that in many instances in the past, various media institutions used doctored videos, photographs and documents to defame the Sri Lankan government and armed forces. Therefore, we request you to verify the authenticity of the video footage before the telecast".

In Pictures: Heavy rains compound IDP woes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:43:00 +0000

VAVUNIYA, 17 August 2009 (IRIN) - Heavy rains exacerbated poor conditions for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) in northern Sri Lanka over the weekend.

“We’re not prepared for this. I’m afraid things are going to get much worse,” one international medical officer told IRIN in Vavuniya on 17 August, citing concerns over diarrhoea, dysentery and other waterborne diseases.

“From an epidemiological point of view, this is a public health disaster waiting to happen.”

Heavy rains pummeled residents of Menik Farm camp this weekend. The camp holds more than 200,000 conflict-displaced

More than 280,000 people live in 30 government camps in Vavuniya, Mannar, Jaffna and Trincomalee districts after fleeing fighting between government forces and the now defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May.

Of these, 246,000 are in 14 heavily guarded camps in Vavuniya, mostly in Menik Farm, a sprawling 809ha site divided into six zones about 50km outside Vavuniya, which quickly became a sea of mud and misery when the rains struck.

According to camp authorities, Zone 1 and 4 were the worst affected. Of some 37,000 residents in Zone 4, more than half were badly affected, with tents designed for five and now housing 12 inundated.

Residents in Menik Farm take shelter wherever they can - including latrines
Limited facilities Photo: Contributor/IRIN

Mud and misery

“Within 20 minutes the whole area was flooded. Every tent was affected,” said Ganeshan Sivasundram, 38, from Kanagapuram Village in Kilinochchi District outside his flooded tent in Zone 4. “How are we supposed to sleep like this?”

“Everything is wet,” Singaratnam Ruban, 41, from Jeyapuram Village in Kilinochchi District, who has lived in the camp since March with his family, complained.

In Zone 1, where residents are living in semi-permanent sheds, toilets quickly overflowed.

“All the toilets are flooded. Human excrement is floating everywhere,” said Maniam Yogapragash, 33, a resident.

“The water supply system is minimal, the excrement disposal system is pretty basic and the land is flat so what was once dust has now turned to mud,” said one aid worker, who asked not to be identified. He talked about double amputees trying to get around in the mud and children playing in excrement.

“Yes, there are latrines being dug, yes, there is water being piped and tanked, and yes, the Ministry of Health is making huge efforts. But you have to remember, you have a city of over 200,000 here, most of whom live in tents. It’s simply not enough,” he said.

“We have provided cooked meals for the affected people and we are preparing to relocate the people if the situation becomes worse,” Vavuniya’s government agent, CHM Charles, reportedly said.

Within minutes, the camps became a sea of mud and misery - and a breeding ground for waterborne diseases - “When the [vegetation] was cleared for the camp, little attention was paid to how water might flow in and out of the area,” one resident said. Photo: Contributor/IRIN

But according to international aid workers returning from the field on Sunday evening, that time has come.

“Menik Farm is well named. The place is complete chaos,” one international aid worker who also asked not to be identified, told IRIN. “If you think this is bad, the monsoon rains will be 50 times worse,” he said.

Monsoon rains on this part of the island are expected in September and generally last two to three months, making the weekend’s flooding seem like “a walk in the park”, residents say.

Report by IRIN-a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Posted by transCurrents on August 17, 2009 08:30 AM | Permalink transCurrents.com Contact Email: editor@transcurrents.com

Update on Menik Camp flooding: More images and reports from the ground

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:56:00 +0000

August 16, 2009 at 9:50 am by groundviews

After first breaking news on Friday, Groundviews continues to receive disturbing photos on the flooding in Menik Camp after last Friday’s torrential downpour. No journalists have been allowed to visit the IDP camp even after the floods.

Key points of situation updates received by Groundviews
Groundviews contributor Vidura’s tweets (available here) are one source of information related to the worsening ground conditions in Menik Camp.Though unverified, shared concerns and points in a number of other reports received by Groundviews indicate,

People detained in Zones 4 and 5 are facing severe hardship. Some reports suggest they have moved in to common buildings like schools and hospitals and that this has in turn created other problems over over-crowding and sanitation.
Roofs of tents have have been blown away by strong winds.
As camps are flooded, vehicles have found it difficult to reach the IDPs with help
Toilet pits are overflowing and whole areas are stinking. Huge concerns over health and sanitation.
For over two days there hasn’t been proper food and water for IDPs in Zones 4 and 5. (Zone 5 is newly built to move number of IDPs camp from Zone where 75,000 are thought to be detained)
Tents in Zones 4 and 5 do not have cemented floors. IDPs are forced to sleep on sandy floors, which of course are now too wet to inhabit.
The RDA, responsible for cleaning the ditches, has not done so for months and is yet to start the work.

All reports concur that tensions within the camps over conditions of internment are rising.

Traditional print media and SMS alert coverage
SMS news services update cricket scores minutes after a vital catch, decisive over or match-winning stroke. 48 hours after the devastating floods, Groundviews has not received even a cursory report of the flooding in Menik Camp via any of the SMS news services it is subscribed to, including JNW and Daily Mirror.

Only Uthayan on Saturday carried a news story on the situation in Tamil. English and Sinhala Sunday newspapers are also revealing in this regard.

Amongst the leading English Sunday newspapers, the Sunday Observer, The Sunday Island and The Nation web versions do not report the crisis in Menik Camp. The Sunday Times has a short front page article. Only the Sunday Leader and Lakbima News headline the situation. The Sunday Leader quotes Jeevan Thiyagarajah, Head of the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) in IDPs swimming in human excreta,

… apart from inadequate sanitation facilities and tents meant for an emergency only would also collapse in the event of heavy rains. “My predictions have been proved right,” he said last evening.

Lakbima News notes in IDPs at drowning point notes that “Minister of Resettlement, Rishard Badhiyudeen, when contacted by this newspaper over the phone for a comment, asked us to “call back in 15 minutes”. But the minister remained “un-reachable” since”. Which is frankly unsurprising.

Sunday Times coverage – high resolution screen grab of website, front page
Lakbima News coverage – high resolution screen grab of website
Sunday Observer coverage – high resolution screen grab of website
Sunday Island coverage – high resolution screen grab of website
The Nation coverage – high resolution screen grab of website
Sunday Leader coverage – high resolution screen grab of website, front page

News over KPs arrest and Police brutality dominate Sinhala newspaper coverage on Sunday.

Divaina goes with the headline “Operation to round up foreign operatives of Tigers begun”. No mention of the dire conditions in Menik Camp. Front page photo here.
Unlike its English counterpart, Lakbima goes with the headline “The Police itself opposes the brutishness of personnel in the service”. No mention of the dire conditions in Menik Camp. Front page photo here.
Rivira goes with the headline “KP had prepared atomic weapons!”. No mention of the dire conditions in Menik Camp. Front page photo here.

The denial of access to cover the humanitarian conditions in IDPs camps by government is, sadly, an excuse for leading traditional media to completely erase a growing humanitarian tragedy from their news coverage. A public ignorant of how bad conditions are in these camps for infants, children, women and men will continue to believe in the outrageous braggadocio of the President and his government, claiming to look after these IDPs without the help of any NGO but unable to even agree when, and in what numbers, they will be released.

Even to help government look after these IDPs, we have a right to know what the conditions on the ground are. Simply covering up this humanitarian tragedy is not a viable response. A State that sees fit to keep hundreds of thousands of civilians in these conditions and is blind to the resulting inhumanity, indignity and violence, is not one capable of peace or reconciliation.

IDPs swimming in human excreta - By Arthur Wamanan, The Sunday Leader

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:49:00 +0000

Torrential rains in Vavuniya Friday burst temporary sewage pipes, destroyed make-shift shelters and trapped thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) interned in Menik Farm in Vavuniya causing many of them to undergo severe difficulties as rain waters filled with sewage matter, maggots and human excreta rose in tents sheltering some 20,000 IDPs.

Reports reaching The Sunday Leader yesterday said that IDPs particularly in Zone 3 and Zone 4 of Menik Farm were seriously affected as poorly constructed drainage pipes caused severe flooding within the area.

The situation caused panic and while turmoil raged the Government moved in additional military personnel fearing large numbers of IDPs would escape the barbed wire camps.

The Sunday Leader has over the last three months consistently highlighted serious concerns raised by humanitarian agencies who pointed out that flooding was possible in these camps due to badly constructed drainage and sewer pipes.

Jeevan Thiyagarajah, Head of the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) told The Sunday Leader that apart from inadequate sanitation facilities and tents meant for an emergency only would also collapse in the event of heavy rains. “My predictions have been proved right,” he said last evening.

Thiyagarajah in fact two months ago threatened court action if the tents were not de-congested.

Government officials yesterday confirmed that of some 20,000 IDPs facing this horrendous situation only around 1,000 had been relocated to other locations within Menik Farm.

Vavuniya Government Agent, P.S.M. Charles told The Sunday Leader that around 400 people in Zone 4 of Menik Farm were on low level grounds and faced more risks than the others in the camp.

“Around 1,000 persons have been shifted to locations within the camp premises. The problem in Zone 4 is that the drainage system could not be completed on time. These 400 persons are on lower level ground. Therefore, they face more problems and would have to be shifted to another location if rain continues,” she said yesterday.

She said the government continued to supply them with food and essential items.

Meanwhile, TNA Wanni District Parliamentarian Sivasakthi Anandan told The Sunday Leader that he had received calls from displaced persons on the issue. “IDPs especially in Zone 4 have been shifted to locations within the camp. I am not aware of the actual number,” he said. “In other zones too, those who live on lower level grounds face similar problems.”

By Arthur Wamanan, the sunday leader, Sri Lanka

Flooding of Vavuniya IDP Camps-Possible outbreak of Epidemics: PUCL demands immediate intervention of Gov.of India and International Community

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:18:00 +0000

PUCL expresses concern about reports from the IDP (Internally Displaced People) Camps in Vavuniya area housing Sri Lankan Tamil about severe flooding of the camps following heavy rains for the last 2 days. PUCL apprehends that the IDP camps will turn into `death traps’ unless urgent measures are taken to safeguard lives of the 300,000 inmates.

[pix-by special arrangement]

Zones 2 (Ramanathan Camp), 3 (Ananda Kumarasamy Camp), 4(No name) of Menik Farm Camps house 65,000, 43,000 and 41,000 inmates respectively. These camps are enclosed by barbed wire from which none can leave without permission of security forces. The camps are constructed in low lying areas susceptible to flooding. Toilets for the inmates are not only inadequate but are also temporary structures oftentimes being mere huge pits dug into the soil. Due to the rains the toilet pits have caved in. As though this is not bad, the toilets have also become full and there is severe water contamination. Flood waters mixed with toilet slush is reportedly flooding the living areas.

Zone 0 and 1 alone are the model zones shown to visiting journalists and diplomats. The habitations are built with tin roofs. Housing in Zones 2,3,4,5 and 6 are made from UN supplied tents shared by 2-3 families, with no privacy.

Supply of cooked food stuffs have been stopped two weeks back. The inmates of these camps have to depend on dry rations and have been forced to have individual kitchens. Due to the rains, the firewood have become wet and unusable. Families are therefore starving.

The red soils of the area have made the camps slushy and unlivable. It is reported that the flood waters are waist deep in some parts posing severe threat to personal safety, health and hygiene. Due to the poor road conditions vehicles are unable to move in the area and thus supply of essential commodities has stopped.

The situation of children and elderly is appalling. Equally horrible is the plight of the injured and handicapped people who are unable to compete with able bodies camp inmates for a share of essential commodities and toilet facilities.

Most NGOs are running out of money and unable to supply food to camps. It is informed that World Food Programme (WFP) is planning to close down its operations in these areas soon.

Epidemics and illnesses due to the poor conditions in the camps and flooding will kill as many as the war did unless the international community steps in and initiates remedial steps on a war footing. The world governments, especially the Government of India have a moral duty to the victims Tamils to ensure that all possible safety measures are initiated.

Government of India has announced that they are going to allocate another tranche of Rs. 500 crores. As members of Indian civil society PUCL demands on behalf of other human rights community that Government of India insist that the IDP camps are shifted to a safer place and all possible remedial measures be undertaken under supervision of Indian groups including experts and independent experts. If this is not done, PUCL fears there will be numerous deaths of Tamils and immense suffering.

Under the circumstances, PUCL urges the Government of India and the International Community to immediately intervene in the administration and running of the IDP camps in Vavuniya region of north Sri Lanka housing close to 300,000 Sri Lankan Tamils affected by the war.

Released to the Press in Chennai by Dr. V. Suresh, President, PUCL (Tamil Nadu and Puducherry)

Posted by transCurrents on August 15, 2009 10:38 PM | Permalink transCurrents.com Contact Email: editor@transcurrents.com

‘Sri Lankan government has an obligation to release civilians and provide adequate assistance'

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:48:00 +0000

‘Sri Lankan government has an obligation to release civilians and provide adequate assistance'

Hans van de Weerd, General Director of MSF Holland, has recently returned from Sri Lanka. Here we ask him about the situation in the northern district of Vavuniya, where there are over 260,000 displaced people as a result of the now ended war between the Sri Lankan army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

What is the situation in the camps in Vavuniya?

"More than 260,000 displaced people are living in Vavuniya spread out over many different camps where they still don't have freedom of movement. They are not allowed to leave the camps and are not allowed to possess phones. The size of the camps differ from a few thousand to more than 60,000 people. The conditions vary immensely from one camp to another: in some, the water supply is a problem, in others, the delay in the distribution of food rations is the biggest concern.

"Overall, there is a concerning shortage of medical staff inside the camps and MSF staff still hear stories of people who say it has taken them days to see a doctor. The doctors and nurses of the Minister of Health are working very hard, but with these numbers of people the needs are enormous. There are many people with injuries and amputations and there is a huge need for physiotherapy. Often patients get discharged from overcrowded hospitals and sent to the camps where they do not receive the post-operative care they need, such as physiotherapy.

"Furthermore, in most of the camps, there are no adequate health services functioning at night, so it is down to the soldiers at the gates to judge whether a patient is ill enough to need to go to a hospital outside the camps.

"Mental health problems are another important issue for the people living in the camps, as during the conflict they went through traumatic experiences, many of them have lost loved ones or/and have been injured. Added to this, they are now in a situation where it is difficult to rebuild a normal life. People are living in crowded tents, there are very few jobs inside the camps, there is nowhere to go and very little to do other than wander from one food or item distribution, organised by either the government or humanitarian organisations, to the next. In many camps people cannot cook for themselves but have to rely on communal kitchens, parents worry about their children missing out on their education and the uncertainty about when they will be able to leave or get together with their relatives is a cause of great anxiety."

Apparently people in the camps are not free to leave. Why does MSF work there?

"MSF is working for the people in the camps, where freedom of movement is severely restricted, according to the government because of the concern about the presence of former fighters among the civilians. There are provisions under international law for such restrictions in states of emergency, which the Sri Lankan parliament has declared, but they are meant to be of limited duration. Of course MSF is deeply concerned that the longer these conditions exist, the more difficult life becomes for those who are living in the camps, particularly as they have experienced extremely traumatic events and many are still not sure where their families are or what has happened to them. To date, there has been no clear, systematic release of anyone from the camps, with the exception of children under 10 and adults over 60 who have relatives outside the camps.

"With the rainy season coming up, MSF is also concerned about any acute needs that could arise in the camps.

"It is true that the government has made an effort to set up the camps and ensure that assistance is provided. However, health care services, for example, are still not at the level we would hope to see. MSF has offered to the authorities its assistance in helping expand the existing services. MSF is of the opinion that the government has an obligation to release civilians and ensure that adequate assistance is provided."

What is MSF doing in Vavuniya?

"In 11 of the camps, MSF delivers high energy porridge to supplement the diets of particularly vulnerable people like children under 5, pregnant and lactating women and the elderly. In total MSF is giving out each day more than 23,000 meals to these people and makes sure that sick people and malnourished children will be referred to clinics and special treatment centres for malnourished children.

"In May, MSF set up a 150 bed hospital outside the camps of Menik Farm with two operating rooms and an intensive care unit. Since the opening, over a thousand medical and surgical patients were admitted. People are referred there by the Ministry of Health staff in the camps. We are mostly treating conflict related injuries, respiratory tract infections and paediatric cases. Maternity services have also recently started. We continue to support the Ministry of Health General Vavuniya hospital with MSF staff doing surgery, nursing and physiotherapy.

"Nine nutritional assistants work alongside ministry of health staff in the nutrition department of the paediatric ward and a Mental Health officer is assisting a local NGO with training their counsellors to provide mental health to the patients in the hospital. A team of about 135 caretakers help patients with day to day activities like eating and bathing and some of them are also being trained in physiotherapy and doing wound-dressings. MSF also distributed clothes, towels, water bottles, money, mats, pillows and bedsheets to more than 10,000 patients as most of them arrived with only their clothes on.

"In the Ministry of Health Pompaimadhu hospital MSF staff are taking care of 180 wounded patients, many with amputations. Fifty of them have spinal cord injuries. The main activities are dressings, physiotherapy and surgery.

"We are in a process of negotiations with the authorities to start a programme of orthopaedic and reconstructive surgery in the hospital of Vavuniya."

What restrictions do you face in your work?

"The process to issue visas for international staff is lengthy and very bureaucratic and this has hampered our work. Also the teams having to enter the camps on a daily basis for the feeding activities are often hindered by unclear procedures, which sometimes delays the work by hours or days.

"MSF is not allowed to enter camps where we do not work and we have not been able to carry out an independent assessment of the needs of the displaced people in the camps.

"MSF has the capacity to scale up activities and provide medical and mental health care for the people inside the camps. So far, the authorities have not accepted this proposal for assistance."

Posted by transCurrents on August 14, 2009 01:07 AM | Permalink transCurrents.com Contact Email: editor@transcurrents.com

Let our People Go Home!

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:25:00 +0000

Posted by transCurrents on August 14, 2009 12:51 AM

"Let our People go Home"

by Mano Ganesan

(English translation script of the Sinhala interview appeared in Ravaya weekly on 9th August, 2009)

How do you describe the current situation in the IDP camps ?

President Mahinda Rajapakse’s own advisor Vasudeva Nanayakara referred to the IDP camps as Hell. Former chief justice Sarath Silva called these camps as open prison camps. They commented in Sinhala language. I am looking for more suitable terms beyond these descriptions. It is a fact that these camps are being maintained contravening all accepted national and international laws. These camps symbols of disgrace to our national history, cultural traditions and people.

Do you propose actions beyond sending water bottles, clothing and food packets from the people of south to the refugees ?

Sure. These people are neither beggars nor homeless street people. They are proudful people who lived honorably in their traditional villages, the villages and land of our ancestors who lived and shaped our heritage for thousands of years. It is very true that Buddhism and Hinduism carry the messages of kindness and mercy. But these people do not require mercy. They need no to be at anybody’s mercy. This national problem cannot be restricted to water bottles, clothing, food packets and tents. Government is trying to cover it’s nakedness by using the media excessively to telecast the ‘merciful’ supplies of such goods to the IDPs.

I feel embarrassed as a member Sri Lankan state to note this shameless act of the government. This trend of portraying our people as poor beggars on the breadline should stop at once. Their legitimate rights to live freely in their own traditional villages should be treasured and respected. I am talking this from my heart. I address this to the hearts of my Sinhala Buddhist brethren. I wish to engage myself in efforts to win over the hearts and minds of our Sinhala brethren in view of ending this national humanitarian crisis. Government is trying to wrap this humanitarian problem under the carpet. I call upon the goodhearted Sinhalese people to unite and defeat this efforts of the government.

How do you look at government’s handling of the IDP issue?

The government had blundered from the very beginning. I am telling this because I believe that no lawfully elected government can perform similar to that of a terrorist group. All those human rights violations of LTTE are matched and even surpassed by this government. The violations continue to occur. I believe LTTE’s non state terrorism has come to an end. But this government’s state terrorism is existing widely. I cannot find any streak of humanism anywhere in the so called humanitarian operations of the government. At this very moment over three hundred thousands of our people are being detained behind barbed wires and their movements restricted against their free will. Is it not state terrorism? Governments initial statistics talked about seventy thousand people. But it is now over three hundred thousand. The numbers of people gathered today were not anticipated by the government. This government at that time air dropped leaflets calling the people to come into the government held territory. People accepted the invitation and came into government territory.

But the government had no ability of infra structure basis to house this large number of people. This government will never acquire that ability. Therefore our people are becoming mentally and physically sick patients on a daily basis. The physically sick die. The mentally sick commit suicide. Children, Women and Elders are becoming orphans. Especially the conditions of our women have become very vulnerable. Our people are forced to wait in long queues for toilets, baths, water, food and medicine from dawn to dusk. Our people are becoming members of a 24 hour line-up society. The government is behaving very indecently to cover these realities. Elected Parliamentarians and media personnel are not allowed to visit these sites independently. No such restrictions imposed in any such camps housing displaced people anywhere in the world. This is the reality. They are not welfare villages. I refer to these camps as open prison camps. This is the treatment meted out to our people by this government.

While some sections disapprove, certain others approve government’s handling of the displaced people. How should a responsible government act at such juncture?

Only politically cruel and communally insane persons approve such inhuman conditions. These are small numbers of persons. But through excessive media coverage they attempt to interpret this as the majority opinion. But I do not think that majority of our Sinhala Buddhist people approve this. This is not a private problem of the government. First of all this government should understand this. Therefore the ‘Northern Blossom’ (Uthurata Vasanthaya/Vadakkin Vasantham) program cannot be implemented according the plans drawn as per the government designs. At this hour of national crisis, the government should form an inter party commission powered to take independent decisions. This commission should be authorized to question and receive answers regarding the governmental executive decisions and acts. Need of the hour is transparency.

According to the reports received by us, over two hundred and fifty thousand people demand to go back to their villages independently. These people do not require any governmental assistance. This is the demand of the people who wish to continue living in their traditional village lands where their ancestors lived over thousands of years as an ethnic nationality. Neither this government nor any force on earth can deny this traditional and historical rights of our people. I wish to state this very categorically. We will never accept the efforts of the government to create new townships changing the demography. Government is magnifying this problem to undue proportions to suit it’s own political agenda. The less government we have the better said Emerson. But this government is administering everything from toileting to sleep bed and from birth to death of the displaced Tamil civilians.

This government has made everything government in every aspect of the displaced Tamil civilians by supervising and interfering in every stages of their personal lives. This is nothing but systematic insult and injury to the Tamil civil layers. Government by purposefully postponing the resettlements of the civilians. Government again and again talks about landmines. I will not buy this story. The mined territory is only about 10% of the total land. All knowledgeable civilians know this. Our security forces reached Vanni heartland from all directions well through the territory. Let our people go home. It should occur with immediate effect. It is the need of the hour. Under the circumstances, our priorities number one, number two and number three are letting our people going back to their homes.

Today rights to life and speech are under threat in the north and as well as in the south. What is your intervention in this regard?

I live in the south. But I never gave a round of applause when the rights to life and speech were violated in the north. I am for a undivided Sri Lanka. I always provide my highest most respect to our national flag. But when such rights were publicly violated in the north, I did not raise our national flag. I did not bring insults to our national flag by engaging in such activities. Do not wait until the arm of tyranny taps your door. Be on your alert. Get together. Join hands. This is my call.

Posted by transCurrents on August 14, 2009 12:51 AM | Permalink transCurrents.com Contact Email: editor@transcurrents.com

Sri Lanka: MSF Ready to Help Fill Huge Gaps in Medical Services

noreply@blogger.com (hr Alert) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:44:00 +0000

MSF Ready to Help Fill Huge Gaps in Medical Services

by MSF Field News

Any health system would have difficulties responding to the needs of over 260,000 people who recently came out of a war zone. Facilities in the Sri Lankan camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) are overstretched. People sometimes wait days before they can see a doctor for treatment. At night, non-medical people decide who gets referred to a hospital and who doesn’t. Although the war has ended, suffering for Sri Lankans continues.

An MSF doctor treats a young patient inside the MSF hospital near Manik Farm, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are living in government-run camps.

For the past three months, Ati* has been living in a camp in Manik Farm with her husband and three children. Two weeks ago, her five-year-old son had a fever and was barely responding. She carried him to the clinic in the camp at 5 a.m. and waited to see a doctor until 6 p.m. Like many others that day, she did not get to see a doctor and returned to her tent with her sick child and no treatment. She went back the next day and again failed to see a doctor after waiting for another 13 hours. It wasn’t until the third day that she finally managed to see a doctor who gave her some antibiotics.

300 patients a day

Even though medical services are gradually expanding in those camps with Ministry of Health clinics, and medical staff doing what they can in all the camps, the needs remain vast and facilities are overstretched. Some doctors are seeing 200 to 300 patients a day; there is little capacity to carry out tests or follow up with patients; and only the most urgent cases get transferred to hospitals outside the camps.

Maruthani,* a 24-year-old woman, arrived in Manik Farm at the end of May. She is badly disfigured from a bomb shell fragment that cut her lips, cheeks, and chin during the conflict. Her mouth is always open, and her tongue is badly affected; she can barely drink and cannot speak. She is in need of reconstructive surgery—something impossible to get inside the camp. When her wounds became infected, she went, in pain, to the clinic in the camp. There they were unable to do anything for her and she was not transferred to a hospital outside the camp because she was not considered to be an emergency case. She spends her days lying in the sand outside her tent, waiting for the day to pass.

Some emergency cases are referred by the Ministry of Health staff to the MSF hospital outside Manik Farm, where MSF medical teams are mostly treating patients for conflict-related trauma, respiratory tract infections and skin diseases. Problems come at night. “In many camps, if someone gets sick at night, they have to rely on the soldier at the camp gate to make the decision on whether they get referred to a hospital or not,” said Karline Kleijer, MSF emergency coordinator. “This works for those who are obviously ill, in convulsions, or with a bleeding wound. But when it is a dehydrated child with a fever, the average soldier will not see that they are in urgent need of medical attention because they are not easy things to diagnose.”

Breakfast at night

Another concern for those in the camps is access to clean water and food. In most camps, people do not cook for themselves but rely on community kitchens and rations distributed daily by the government or nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). “Sometimes, especially in the newer camps, the food doesn’t get delivered until late in the evening and the first meal of the day is at 10 o’clock at night,” said an MSF aid worker. Every day, MSF distributes high-energy porridge to 23,000 children under five, pregnant and lactating women, and people over 60 in 11 of the camps. “It is difficult for our staff to turn people away when they do not fit into our target group,” she said.

Outside of the camps, hundreds of people are still hospitalized, receiving treatment for injuries they incurred during the conflict. Working with Ministry of Health staff in Pompaimadhu hospital, MSF is treating 180 patients with spinal cord injuries, fractures that did not heal, and infected wounds. The MSF surgeon does an average of 16 to 20 surgeries a week and physiotherapy is a big component of the program. “To see someone walk again thanks to the physiotherapy is amazing,” said MSF surgeon Tim Pruchnic.

MSF medical staff examines a baby at the MSF hospital near Manik Farm.

Traumatized with no support

Traumatized by what they experienced during the conflict, many of the patients in hospital are struggling to cope with their grief and worry about their future and the fate of their loved ones. “A young mother admitted to Pompaimadhu hospital has lost her husband, her parents, her sister, her sister’s husband and children,” said an MSF worker. “She is alone now in the hospital, recovering from her injuries; she is the sole survivor of her family and she is pregnant. She feels very lonely and is still in shock. It has only been two-and-a-half months since she lost everything and everyone. She worries about how she will cope as a single mother. As long as she stays in Pompaimadhu, she can get help, but when she is discharged to the camps she will no longer get any support.”

In the camps, people are dealing with the trauma they experienced during the conflict, and it is difficult to rebuild any semblance of a normal life. There are very few job opportunities inside the camps. People are not allowed to leave the camps, and parents worry about their children’s education. People have difficulties searching for relatives, making plans, or taking control of their futures. With nowhere to go, there is little to do other than walk from one distribution to another. The uncertainty of how long they have to remain in the camps is difficult to live with. Therefore, there is a huge need for psychological support for people living in the camps and currently none is provided.

MSF ready to start

In addition to the high-energy porridge the MSF teams cook and distribute in the camps, MSF has the capacity to scale up activities and provide medical support to the Ministry of Health staff inside the camps. “We have two whiteboards in our office,” said Kleijer, the MSF emergency coordinator. “One with a list of planned activities for the coming weeks—supplementary feeding, surgery, etc. And another is a list of activities waiting for approval, including mental health, basic health care, and physiotherapy in the camps. We are ready to start!”

MSF continues to pursue discussions with the authorities in Colombo.

*Name has been changed

MSF medical staff examines a baby at the MSF hospital near Manik Farm.

Hans van de Weerd, general director of MSF-Holland, answered questions about MSF's work in Vavuniya District.

Apparently people in the camps are not free to leave. Why does MSF work there?

MSF is working for the people in the camps, where freedom of movement is severely restricted. According to the government, there is a concern about the presence of former fighters among the civilians. There are provisions under international law for such restrictions in states of emergency, which the Sri Lankan parliament has declared, but they are meant to be of limited duration. Of course, MSF is deeply concerned that the longer these conditions exist, the more difficult life becomes for those who are living in the camps, particularly as they have experienced extremely traumatic events and many are still not sure where their families are or what has happened to them. To date, there has been no clear, systematic release of anyone from the camps, with the exception of children under 10 and adults over 60 who have relatives outside the camps.

What restrictions do you face in your work?

The process to issue visas for international staff is lengthy and very bureaucratic, and this has hampered our work. Also the teams having to enter the camps on a daily basis for the feeding activities are often hindered by unclear procedures, which sometimes delays the work by hours or days.

MSF is not allowed to enter camps where we do not work and we have not been able to carry out an independent assessment of the needs of the displaced people in the camps.

MSF has the capacity to scale up activities and provide medical and mental health care for the people inside the camps. So far, the authorities have not accepted this proposal for assistance.

source: Transcurrents

Sri Lanka's Genocide on Tamils

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields - Channel4 News Documentary

War crime suspect in Rajapaksa entourage plans charted flight escape

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 December 2010, 00:44 GMT]

Tamils call for Rajapaksa's arrest

Rajapaksa 'linked to Tamil deaths'

Sri Lanka - Evidence for war crimes published by GTF and Channel 4 UK

WikiLeaks cables: 'Sri Lankan president responsible for massacre of Tamils'

US embassy cables: Rajapaksa shares responsibility for 2009 Sri Lankan massacre

Summary

Wikileaks: Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa blamed for killings

Oxford Union cancels Sri Lankan president's talk as Tamil groups protest

The Oxford Union has cancelled a talk by Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa citing security concerns over planned protests by Tamil groups who are trying to have him arrested for war crimes.

Sri Lanka accused of 'ethnic cleansing' of Tamil areas 26 May 2009

WikiLeaks: Mahinda Rajapaksa 'responsible for war crimes' 01 Dec 2010

Sri Lanka arrests astrologer for predicting president to be ousted 01 Dec 2010

Up to 30,000 'disabled' by Sri Lankan shells 01 Dec 2010

Commentary: what Sri Lanka's government needs to do now 01 Dec 2010

Sri Lanka president drops out of Britain visit over arrest fears 01 Dec 2010

Tamils for Obama: Keep the Sri Lankan War Criminals Out of the U.S.

"We Don't Want Development, We Want Our Rights!"

Nimmi GowrinathanPosted: August 27, 2009 04:09 PMhuffingtonpost

Nimmi Gowrinathan

Video that reveals truth of Sri Lankan 'war crimes'

Phone video smuggled to Europe bolsters claims that Sri Lankan soldiers murdered Tamil prisoners

Related articles

James Ross: Abuses on both sides must be investigated

The Independent

Thursday, 27 August 2009,

Related articles

Investigating claims of Sri Lankan ‘war crimes’

source: Channel4 World News Blog

Sri Lanka: Execution Video Shows Need for International Inquiry

No Action on Government Promises of Investigations to United Nations

Video shows purported atrocities in Sri Lanka conflict

Sri Lanka video prompts probe calls

Sri Lanka denies execution claim

Is this evidence of Sri Lankan 'war crimes'?

Updated on 25 August 2009

Blog: investigating claims of war crimes

In Pictures: Heavy rains compound IDP woes

VAVUNIYA, 17 August 2009 (IRIN) - Heavy rains exacerbated poor conditions for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) in northern Sri Lanka over the weekend.

Update on Menik Camp flooding: More images and reports from the ground

IDPs swimming in human excreta - By Arthur Wamanan, The Sunday Leader

Flooding of Vavuniya IDP Camps-Possible outbreak of Epidemics: PUCL demands immediate intervention of Gov.of India and International Community

‘Sri Lankan government has an obligation to release civilians and provide adequate assistance'

‘Sri Lankan government has an obligation to release civilians and provide adequate assistance'

Let our People Go Home!

Sri Lanka: MSF Ready to Help Fill Huge Gaps in Medical Services

MSF Ready to Help Fill Huge Gaps in Medical Services

Nimmi Gowrinathan
Posted: August 27, 2009 04:09 PM
huffingtonpost