Thursday, May 27, 2010

Sri Lanka video;show war crimes CNN.(youtube)

Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations. (youtube) www.youtube.com/nelvely

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Call on UN to investigate Sri Lanka rights violations .Please sign the online petition

Posted 25 May,2010

Dear all

Amnesty International are asking people to sign their online petition that will be sent to the UN Secretary General. It will call on the UN to investigate human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.

To sign the petition, see:

http://www.amnesty.o...ghts-violations

Circulate to all your friends and family

17 May 2010

Call on UN to investigate Sri Lanka rights violations

One year after the end of the conflict in Sri Lanka, thousands of victims of human rights violations committed by both government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are being denied justice, truth and reparations.

The complete failure of the Sri Lankan government to genuinely address this impunity means that the United Nations must step in and conduct an independent international investigation as a first step towards international justice.

In particular, the truth must be established about the extent of violations that occurred in the final stages of the war, when the government prohibited independent monitoring and reporting by the United Nations and other observers.

Disturbingly, the United Nations has so far failed to take any effective action to establish the truth and demand accountability for violations committed in Sri Lanka.

For lasting peace in Sri Lanka, there must be accountability. Allegations of war crimes and other crimes under international law must be fully investigated and those found to be responsible must be prosecuted before competent, impartial and independent criminal courts.

Survivors and the families of those killed must be provided with full and effective reparations to address their suffering and to help them rebuild their lives.

Impunity will continue in Sri Lanka unless the United Nations establishes an independent international investigation.

Image: Civilians, in between Kilinochchi and Mulathiv, Sri Lanka, May 2009, during the last few months of the war. Copyright: Private

Please sign Amnesty International’s petition below to the United Nations Secretary-General and circulate it to your friends, families and networks:

I call on the United Nations to establish an independent, international investigation without further delay to investigate human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Congressman's war crimes call to Clinton to dog Peiris's visit

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 May 2010, 20:39 GMT]Congressman Steve Driehaus (D-OH), a senior member of the United States National Security and Foreign Affairs Committee, in a letter to US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, asked her to "urge the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to conduct an investigation into reported human rights violations," in Sri Lanka. The Congressman points out in the letter that "[t]he pain assoicated with this [Sri Lanka's] conflict was further exacerbated as a result of alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious crimes committed during the final phase of the Sri Lanka's civil war." Sri Lanka’s External Affairs Minister G.L.Peiris is expected to visit the US this week, and his visit and his meeting with State Department officials are widely believed to be on accountability issues of Sri Lanka's war crimes, according to knowledgeable sources in Washington.

Cong. Dreihaus of Foreign Affairs Subcommitte, letter to Secretary of State

Congressman Steve Driehaus (D-OH)

US Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton

"One year ago, 25 of my collegues and I wrote to you expressing our concerns with the Government of Sri Lanka's poor treatment of internally displaced persons as a result of the government's then ongoing effort to defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam.

"Unfortunately, poor treatment of IDPs was only one of the grave human rights violations committed at the end of the war. The Government of Sri Lanka has delayed its investigation into the occurrence of these human rights violations, thus leaving the accountability for those actions in question," the Congressman said, and added that he urges Hon.Clinton's assistance in influencing Secretary General Moon to conduct an investigation into the violations.

The Congressman also noted in the letter that while UN estimates that at least 7000 civilians in the no-fire zones were killed, "other estimates have reported that the number of deaths exceed 30,000 men, women and children."

On 10th of May, US's UN Ambassador Dr. Rice, said that she welcomed Colombo's appointment of a commission to investigate the crimes. However, a senior UN official, pointed out that "[Sri Lanka's] own commission will be a sham" and commended Dr Rice for attaching the conditions,

"to be effective in advancing accountability and reconciliation, commission members should be and be perceived as independent, impartial and competent; their mandate should enable them fully to investigate serious allegations of violations and to make public recommendations; commission members and potential witnesses must enjoy adequate and effective protection; the commission must receive adequate resources to carry out its mandate; and the Government should undertake to give serious consideration to its recommendations," and added that Colombo will never be able to meet these conditions.

Inner City Press which covers closely UN actions on Sri Lanka questioned if "the re-emergence in State Department of Samantha "Problem from Hell" Power, who wrote the book on the lack accountability for war crimes," would have any impact on the US Ambassador's position related to Sri Lanka war crimes.

Chronology:

22.05.10 Congressman's war crimes call to Clinton to dog Pe..

21.05.10 Peiris US bound amid war crime calls in US Congres..

UNDISPATCH:		Samantha Power to the NSC
Wiki:		A Problem from Hell
Atlantic:		Bystanders to Genocide by Samantha Power

Email this article

Print this article

Feedback on this article

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Sri Lanka Tamil killings 'ordered from the top'

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/sri+lanka+option/3652687

by Jonathon miller (Channel 4 News)

Updated on 18 May 2010

Exclusive: a senior Sri Lankan army commander and frontline soldier tell Channel 4 News that point-blank executions of Tamils at the end of the Sri Lankan civil war were carried out under orders.

In August 2009 Channel 4 News obtained video evidence, later authenticated by the United Nations, purporting to show point-blank executions of Tamils by uniformed Sri Lankan soldiers.
Now a senior army commander and a frontline soldier have told Channel 4 News that such killings were indeed ordered from the top.
One frontline soldier said: "Yes, our commander ordered us to kill everyone. We killed everyone."
And a senior Sri Lankan army commander said: "Definitely, the order would have been to kill everybody and finish them off.
"I don't think we wanted to keep any hardcore elements, so they were done away with. It is clear that such orders were, in fact, received from the top."
Despite allegations of war crimes, Sri Lanka's government has managed to avoid an independent inquiry. But the evidence continues to mount.
'Body blows to humanitarian law'
So decisive was Sri Lanka's victory over the Tamil Tigers last year that other nations facing violent insurgencies are now citing the "Sri Lanka option" as a model for crushing rebellion, writes Channel 4 News foreign reporter Jonathan Miller.

International lawyers, human rights and conflict prevention groups are alarmed, accusing the Colombo government of riding roughshod over international law.
Last night Louise Arbour, a former chief prosecutor in international war crimes trials, told an audience at Chatham House – the foreign policy think tank – that "the [Sri Lankan] government's refusal to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants" and the "sheer magnitude of civilian death and suffering" dealt what she called "the most serious of body blows to international humanitarian law".
Now, the International Crisis Group, of which Ms Arbour is the president, has joined forces with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to demand an independent international investigation into what they brand "massive human rights violations" and "repeated violations of international law" – by both sides.

Channel 4 News reports on the end of Sri Lanka's civil war
- 12 May 2009: thousands flee Sri Lanka bombardment
- 25 Aug 2009: is this evidence of 'war crimes' in Sri Lanka?
- 26 Aug 2009: Sri Lanka calls 'war crimes' video a fake
- 01 Sep 2009: UN probing Sri Lanka 'executions'
- 11 Sep 2009: Sri Lanka steps up death video rebuttal
- 16 Sep 2009: Tamil medic describes camp conditions
- 07 Jan 2010: Sri Lanka video 'appears authentic'
- 27 Jan 2010: Sri Lanka's Rajapaska wins re-election

The Sri Lankan government has repeatedly rejected the charges of civilian deaths as grossly exaggerated and has denied that any of its security forces have committed war crimes or violated international humanitarian law.
Ms Arbour appeared live on Channel 4 News to outline options available to the international community to prevent the "Sri Lanka option" gaining currency. A new ICG report entitled War Crimes in Sri Lanka defines this option as "unrestrained military action, refusal to negotiate, disregard for humanitarian issues, keeping out international observers including press and humanitarian workers".

'War Crimes in Sri Lanka'
- Download the International Crisis Group report in full (.pdf)

Ms Arbour also responded to dramatic new evidence contained in a film broadcast by Channel 4 News. The fresh evidence, detailing extremely serious allegations of possible war crimes, has been gathered in an extended undercover investigation in Sri Lanka. Testimony from soldiers interviewed by Channel 4 News corroborates persistent allegations aired by this programme since the end of the war a year ago.
Chief among these: the accusation that Sri Lankan soldiers were responsible for extrajudicial executions - as graphically illustrated by the disturbing video we aired last August. The video – long dismissed as a fake by the government in Colombo – was authenticated by the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions in January this year.
The clamour from international rights groups for an impartial investigation into alleged atrocities contrasts sharply with the failure of the UN to demand accountability from the Sri Lankan government. Last year, the Sri Lankan president promised the UN Secretary General that he would look into the question of accountability.

On Monday President Mahinda Rajapaksa named an eight-member panel to glean lessons learned from the war. But members of the group say they have no legal power to investigate alleged abuses. "If this is 'it'," Louise Arbour said last night, "there's no reason to expect from the government's past record that it's got any intention to investigate or put in place an appropriate accountability mechanism."
The UN Human Rights Council seems to provide little hope of investigating war crimes, having congratulated the Sri Lankan government on its victory, within days of the war ending.

Channel 4 News blogs on events in Sri Lanka
- Blogs by Jon Snow, Jonathan Miller and Nick Paton Walsh

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council holds out no hope at all. The Sri Lankan issue has failed to force its way onto the UNSC agenda – and were it to do so, China and Russia would likely stand in the way of any unlikely referral to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
The secretary general has also so far failed to appoint international experts to investigate – as he's previously promised he might.
Amnesty and the ICG have taken the UN to task for its failure to act decisively to push for accountability. Crisis Group went so far as to recommend that the UN should open an inquiry into its own conduct in Sri Lanka. Last night Louise Arbour – herself a former UN human rights commissioner – talked of the UN's "silence – verging on complicity" with the Rajapaksa regime.

A statement from the Sri Lankan high commission
The High Commission of Sri Lanka in the United Kingdom totally deny the allegations made against the Government of Sri Lanka and its armed forces. As it has been repeatedly stressed and supported by evidence, Government’s security forces were engaged in a humanitarian operation with the objective of rescuing the civilians held as human shields by a terrorist outfit: the LTTE, which was banned in many countries including the UK. All internationally accepted standards and norms of such operations were followed in the prosecution of the humanitarian operation by the security forces which were under strict orders to follow a zero civilian casualty policy.

The government of Sri Lanka is now in the process of rebuilding and reconciliation. The President of Sri Lanka has established the "Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission" of eight eminent persons reflecting all ethnic groups in Sri Lanka to inquire and report institutional administrative and legislative measures which need to be taken in order to prevent any recurrence of such concerns in the future, and to promote further national unity and reconciliation among all communities.

This High Commission is not in a position to make comments on specific allegations said to have been made in the video without viewing it. Therefore, we appreciate it if you could forward the said video to the High Commission for viewing and for verifying its authenticity prior to the telecast.

High Commission of Sri Lanka
The United Kingdom
18 May 2010

In January 2009, as the final chapter opened in the 30-year-long Sri Lankan civil war, I was in Gaza, picking over the humanitarian disaster left after Israel's three-week war there. Between 1,200 and 1,400 civilians were killed during the aerial bombardments and subsequent ground offensive. In the final weeks of the Sri Lankan government offensive on the "no-fire zone", Ms Arbour believes a figure of 30,000 civilian deaths "is not implausible".
Within months of the Gaza conflict, the UN Human Rights Council had dispatched Judge Richard Goldstone to investigate possible war crimes. He produced a damning report.
There has been no investigation in Sri Lanka. Local journalists who've raised their heads above the parapet have been jailed or disappeared or killed. The UN has done nothing concrete in moving towards an impartial inquiry. There has been no Goldstone in Colombo. Even the UN rapporteur for extrajudicial executions has been denied a visa for the past four years.
You can kind of see why the "Sri Lankan Option" might just catch on.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Witness of Sri Lankan Govt. warcrimes.

http://www.warwithoutwitness.com/

Posted on: Sat, May 8 2010 5:23 PM

PETITION TO BRING SRI LANKAN WAR CRIMINALS TO JUSTICE

By twonations

[Your First & Last Names]

[Your City], [Your Province]

[Today's Date]

Dear Respectable Canadian Parliamentarians and Media officials,

Verdict: Sri Lanka Found Guilty of War Crimes

Permanent People’s Tribunal, Dublin Ireland

PETITION TO BRING SRI LANKAN WAR CRIMINALS TO JUSTICE

International human rights laws and fundamental freedoms are being routinely violated by Sri Lanka with impunity while being witnessed by the international community. Ethnic Tamils are being arrested, detained, abducted, tortured, raped, summarily executed, and are being illegally confined in the hundreds of thousands inside internment camps lacking sufficient aid or care. The Sri Lankan government continues its adamant obstruction of justice and despotism of press freedom of which you are well aware.

Former UN spokesperson for Srilanka, Gordon Weiss told Australia's ABC news that up to 40,000 civilians have been killed the final days of May 2009. Prof Philip Alston, the United Nations Human Rights Council's Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions also recently told Australia's SBS news that the video's which were broadcasted in Channel 4 UK is Genuine and it is a Crime against humanity.

Scholars, human rights organizations, NGOs, eye-witness accounts, satellite imagery, videos and credible evidence held by the UN and your countries pointed to heinous war crimes which have now been proven true by the Permanent People’s Tribunal verdict on January 16, 2010. This must be used as a basis for International Criminal Court trials and further detailed investigations which are overdue.

It is historically understood justice must be served before the advent of peace. Without punishment of masterminds and perpetrators of war crimes, there are no assurances that the carnage of Tamil civilians will not repeat in the future. We must remember knowledge makes us accountable. The direct or indirect abetting of war crimes and understating the death toll or grievances are unacceptable at all levels. Therefore, considering

I. That the Sri Lankan Government is guilty of war crimes

II. That the Sri Lankan Government is guilty of crimes against humanity and

III. omnipresence of evidence of war crimes and knowledge thereof,

I urgently call upon you to:

1. Act responsibly and ethically to promote human rights by supporting all efforts and take initiative to bring Sri Lankan war criminals to justice.

2. Join scholars and human rights organizations to support and recommend to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to trial the Sri Lankan government political leaders and military commanders for the crimes against humanity.

3. Grant asylum to all genuine ethnic Tamil refugees fleeing persecution from the Sri Lankan government.

4. Implement sanctions in concert with the European Union GSP+ trade benefits termination and suspension from the commonwealth until the Sri Lankan human rights record substantially improves and ethnic Tamil civilians are freed from internment camps to express their rights and desires without persecution.

Thank you,

Yours Truly,

[Signature]

PENALIZE THE WAR CRIMINALS