MOTION FOR THE ONGOING SITUATION IN SRI LANK-INFORMATION ABOUT RESOLUTIONS

Canadian Peace Alliance Convention 2011
Friday October 14 to Sunday October 16
The Canadian Peace Alliance Convention will take place this October in Toronto. The Convention is a great opportunity for activists to get together, share strategies and plan our work to build the broadest and most effective peace movement in Canada.
Since we last met in 2008, the war in Afghanistan has deteriorated, Canada has extended its troop deployment and anti-war sentiment has grown. We have organized multiple speaking tours with international activists, notably Malalai Joya to tell Canadians the real story about life for the Afghan people. We have also watched as the Harper government has systematically tried to silence voices for peace and social justice in Canada. We have marched to end the siege of Gaza and in solidarity with the Tamil people and the Egyptian Revolution. We have developed a campaign to redirect military spending to human needs rather than war.
Each of these efforts requires more work to shape the political debates in Canada. Join us at the CPA convention to discuss next steps and to share your experiences building the peace movement.
2011-19. MOTION FOR THE ONGOING SITUATION IN SRI LANKA
Whereas the UN Secretary General appointed three member Panel of Experts on Accountability
in Sri Lanka produced a report indicating war crimes and crimes against humanity were
committed during the final stages of the war; and
Whereas the Report of the Secretary-Generals Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka
found credible allegations of indiscriminate killing of civilians, extrajudicial killings of political
prisoners, and the systematic bombings of hospitals were committed by the Sri Lankan
Government and Armed Forces during the final stages of the war; and 
Whereas the Report of the Secretary-Generals Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka
concludes that although both sides committed violations, the Sri Lankan Armed Forces
committed the majority of war crimes and crimes against humanity; and
Whereas the United Kingdom based Channel 4 News broadcast a groundbreaking documentary
entitled “Sri Lanka's Killing Fields” which features devastating new video evidence of war
crimes during Sri Lanka's civil war; and
Whereas certain footage from the documentary has been authenticated by the UN and has been
declared as evidence of definitive war crimes by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial
killings; and
Whereas while the war has been over for more than two years there continues to be a lack of
accountability and fundamental rights in Sri Lanka, as noted by various NGOs, which includes
abductions and disappearances, media restrictions, the militarization in the North-East, forced
detention and slow progress in resettlement of IDPs, a pervasiveness of unaccountable rapes and
murders in the North-East, and the continuation of oppressive and exclusionary policies based on
ethnicity; and 
Whereas despite compelling evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Sri Lankan
government outright dismisses the analysis of the UN Special Rapporteur and the the Report of
the Secretary-Generals Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka, and the Sri Lankan
Government further remains unwilling to engage in a proper accountability process; and
Whereas the Canadian Peace Alliance has stood in solidarity and consistently supported the
Tamil community’s call for justice, fairness, and human rights while being a strong voice for
peace on the global stage.
Be It Resolved that the Canadian Peace Alliance shall endorse the international call to
immediately establish an independent, international, and impartial mechanism to ensure truth,
accountability and justice in Sri Lanka; and
Be It Further Resolved that the Canadian Peace Alliance encourages its members to pressure the
Federal Government to unequivocally call for an international war crimes inquiry to establish
accountability and true reconciliation.
Submitted by NCCT     Information about Resolutions

Update: Click here to see the resolutions for the CPA convention 2011

Full Story>>>

Australian accuses Sri Lankan president of war crimes

October 25, 2011 

Lateline Hamish Fitzsimmons

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

VIDEO: Australian accuses Sri Lanka's president of war crimes (Lateline)

war crimes charges against Sri Lanka's president in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court.An Australian man who says he saw hospitals deliberately attacked by Sri Lankan forces has filed 
Thousands of civilians were killed in the three-decades-long civil war which came to an end when Sri Lankan forces defeated Tamil rebels in 2009.An Australian man who says he saw hospitals deliberately attacked by Sri Lankan forces has filed war crimes charges against Sri Lanka's president in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court.

Sri Lanka's president Mahinda Rajapaksa arrives in Australia for CHOGM today.

Two years ago, retired engineer Jegan Waran left Sri Lanka for Australia, but he is still haunted by what he saw in the hospitals and displaced persons camps at the end of that country's civil war.
Full Story>>>

K. Manoharan et al. v. Mahinda Rajapakse: Complaint, Summons

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 October 2011, 23:13 GMT]As per order issued on the 13th day of October 2011, by the United States District Judge, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the District Court of District of Columbia, with respect to Civil Action No. 11-00235 (CKK) Dr. Kasippillai Manoharan, et al. v. Percy Mahendra Rajapakse, the Court Summons and the Complaint are published here in full. The 29-page complaint is published as a single PDF document, and as 29 separate jpg images, one for each page.

Publication Order:

• Court order: Alternate means of service

Case 1:11-cv-00235-CKK, Summons

Complaint in full as PDF:

• Case 1:11-cv-00235-CKK, Complaint

Complaint pages as JPG images:

[Pages 01-10] Case 1:11-cv-00235-CKK

[Pages 11-20] Case 1:11-cv-00235-CKK

[Pages 21-29] Case 1:11-cv-00235-CKK

SRI LANKA: Witness to a corruption case's home attacked; investigation needed

October 24, 2011
ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION-URGENT APPEAL PROGRAMME

SRI LANKA: Witness to a corruption case's home attacked; investigation needed

ISSUES: Police inaction; denial of justice; witness protection; impunity; rule of law

Dear friends,

A retired public school teacher who gave evidence before an inquiry committee appointed by the Department of Education and Ministry of Education on a corruption case, was attacked on 1 October 2011 at Circular Road, Galavilawatte, Homagama in Colombo District. He was inside his home when he heard shots being fired at two vehicles on his property as well as his house. The retired teacher gave evidence regarding a case of corruption that took place in order to admit students to the first grade of the school that he formerly worked at. The admissions process for grade one continues to be one of the most corrupt procedures in Sri Lanka. This case is yet another illustration of the police’s disregard of their sworn duties to serve and protect the citizens of Sri Lanka.

Full Story>>>
===========================================

Time is of the essence

BRUCE HAIGH

The primary focus of Australian diplomacy towards Sri Lanka is to prevent Tamils from

 getting onto boats and coming to Australia.

To that end there is an AFP presence at the Australian High Commission to liaise and work with the Sri Lankan navy, army and police.

How will they explain these activities at CHOGM? How will Australia explain that its sole cause of concern for the ravaged and defeated Tamils in the north of Sri Lanka is to prevent them seeking refugee status? It is a good look for a country seeking a seat on the UN Security Council.   Full Story>>

Channel 4's Sri Lanka documentary cleared by Ofcom

Mark Sweney and Jason Deans Monday 24 October 2011
Controversial film that featured graphic footage of alleged war crimes did not breach broadcasting code, rules regulator

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields: Ofcom received 118 complaints. Photograph: Channel 4

Channel 4's controversial documentary Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, which featured graphic footage of alleged war crimes, has been cleared of breaching the broadcasting code.

Ofcom said images featured in the documentary, broadcast in June, "whilst brutal and shocking", did not exceed what the Channel 4 audience would have expected, given the pre-transmission warning about the nature of the content and the programme's scheduling at 11.05pm, well after the 9pm watershed.

Full Story>>>

Gaddafi killing and white flag case 'similar'

By Saroj Pathirana
BBC Sinhala service

	There needs to be a very serious investigation into what actually happened, says HRW

There seems to be similarities between the killing of former Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi and Sri Lanka’s ‘white flag case’, says Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril said Col Gaddafi had been 

	Sri Lanka forces are accused of executing surrendering LTTE leaders including B Nadesan

shot in the head in an exchange of fire between Gaddafi loyalists and NTC fighters following his capture in his hometown of Sirte.

“It is not so different from the allegations of the white flag incident in Sri Lanka where LTTE leaders and their families allegedly tried to surrender and allegedly were executed,” Asia director of HRW, Brad Adams told BBC Sinhala service.

Following calls from UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillai for an investigation into the death of Col Gaddafi, the HRW also calls for an urgent probe.

Everybody including Col Gaddafi and LTTE leaders, "no matter how heinous they are and no matter how many people they killed themselves", said Mr Adams, has a right to be “treated properly”.

'War crime?'

“Col Gaddafi had just as much right to be treated properly as anybody else,” said Brad Adams.

Full Story>>>

=============================

Sri Lanka Tamil killings 'ordered from the top'

Jonathan Miller

Tuesday 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.

Full Story>>

'Hundreds tortured' in police custody

An investigation has been launched into the death of a suspect in Dompe police station

	'Even courts have shown that most of these allegations do not constitute torture,' says police spokesman

Hundreds of people were tortured in police custody since January this year in Sri Lanka, international human rights groups say.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) said it has documented nearly 100 cases of torture and killings in police custody.

Panadura based Janasandaya has documented at least 100 more cases, AHRC's Basil Fernando told BBC Sandeshaya.

"There have been cases of torture victims describing their harrowing tales in youtube," he said.

"This is only the tip of the iceberg that is police torture in Sri Lanka," he added.

'12 people killed'

Full Story>>>

===============================

The Continued Militarization of Sri Lanka

 October 22, 2011 by Gibson Bateman

Led by President Mahinda 

Rajapaksa, post-war Sri Lanka is a sad place. In May of 2009, the Sri Lankan government achieved a resounding military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Most of the LTTE’s leadership was killed. For the foreseeable future, it is hard to envision another Tamil nationalist movement taking up arms against the state.

Full Story>>>

Commonwealth at the crossroads

   

By Peter Kellner

 Story Updated: Oct 23, 2011 at 10:40 PM ECT 

Story Created: Oct 23, 2011 at 10:40 PM ECT

Commonwealth conferences used to matter. Their decisions helped to end Apartheid in South Africa and white rule in Zimbabwe. Their debates, especially during the Thatcher era, made big news.

No longer. Apart from insiders and a few obsessives, who knows or cares what Commonwealth leaders decided two years ago in Trinidad, or what they will discuss this week in Australia? The institution is sleep-walking towards irrelevance. As chairman of the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS), a charity devoted to the promotion of Commonwealth links and values, I fear for the future. The Commonwealth could become one of the world's great 21st century networks. It won't unless the Presidents and Prime Ministers who gather in Perth insist on big changes.     Read more »      

============================

Sri Lankan Tamils press for justice

By Michael Perry

PERTH, Australia | Mon Oct 24, 2011 2:31pm IST

(Reuters) - Meena Krishnamurthy still remembers the coloured slippers littered in the dirt around a bombed-out orphanage in Sri Lanka and a legless teenage girl unable to leave her dirt bunker, begging for a drink of nearby contaminated water.

Then there were the bodies, too many to count, including her own stillborn baby which she was forced to bury in a bucket before hastily retreating as Sri Lankan troops advanced.   Full Story>>>

Sri Lanka calls for probe on Gaddafi death

Modern Dictatorships through the Mirror: Time for us to be Conscious

?????????????????????????????????????????????

Sri Lanka: Account for Wartime Disappearances

More Than 20 People Last Seen in ArmyCustody Remain Missing

APRIL 7, 2011

Screengrab of a video obtained by Human Rights Watch shows LTTE leader Colonel Ramesh in Sri Lankan army custody.

(New York) - The Sri Lankan government should account for everyone who was taken into custody at the end of Sri Lanka's 26-year-long armed conflict in May 2009 and are feared to have been "disappeared," Human Rights Watch said today. Despite numerous requests from families for information about their relatives, the authorities do not appear to have conducted any serious investigations, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch has obtained several additional, longer videos of Ramesh, providing further evidence that he was in army custody. In one of the videos, Ramesh is seen lying on a bench in civilian clothes. In four other videos, several soldiers stand around Ramesh while one of the soldiers questions him about where he is from, the whereabouts of the wife of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, and how he received an injury on his back. At one point it seems that the soldiers are telling Ramesh that the date is the 22^nd, suggesting that the video may have been filmed on May 22, 2009. A sixth video shows only Ramesh answering questions about when he joined the LTTE, what his position is, and his family members.

Full Story>>>

==============================

Crime_In_Srilankan_Army_Exc

=======================================================

Sri Lanka calls for probe on Gaddafi death

Colombo: Sri Lanka on Sunday condemned the killing of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and demanded a probe into the circumstances surrounding his death.

A 21-word terse statement by the ministry of external affairs said that "the government of Sri Lanka is of the opinion that the circumstances surrounding the death require an explanation". Gaddafi has been a long standing friend of Sri Lanka.

He visited Colombo in 1976 to attend the non aligned heads of states summit hosted by Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa toured Libya in 2007 and his son Namal, a government parliamentarian was also received by the late Libyan leader last year in Tripoli.

The statement followed concerns raised by government MPs on Friday in parliament condemning the killing of the Libyan leader by the forces of the Libyan transitional council.

===============================================================

War Crime

Ramesh wife interview

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields