Tuesday, February 26, 2013

IRC Buddhist Monks Attacks Buddhist

Lawyer - Must Watch

ලැජ්ජයි එත් ඇත්තයි... IRC බොදු බල සේනා අන්තවාදී භික්ෂුන් වහන්සේලාගේ අශෝබන හැසිරීම...... සියලු සත්වයෝ නිදුක් වෙත්වා !

Video: Geneva 2013 By Dr. Nimalka Fernando

February 26, 2013

M.A. Sumanthiran Member of Parliament for the Tamil National Alliance, Dr. Nimalka Fernando of the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism, Attorney at law Sudarshana Gunawardana of Rights Now – Collective for Democracy, Brito Fernando of the Families of the Disappeared, Herman Kumara of the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO) are addressed this press briefing.

Video: Geneva 2013 By M.A. Sumanthiran MP – | English | Sinhala | Tamil

February 21, 2013

Platform for Freedom (Nidahase Wedikawa) conducted a Press Briefing on the forthcoming Human Rights Council Sessions in Geneva, which will be held in March 2013, on the 20th of February 2013 from 3:00 p.m onwards at the CEPA Auditorium
No. 29, Gregory’s Road, Colombo 7. M.A. Sumanthiran Member of Parliament for the Tamil National Alliance, Dr. Nimalka Fernando of the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism, Attorney at law Sudarshana Gunawardana of Rights Now – Collective for Democracy, Brito Fernando of the Families of the Disappeared, Herman Kumara of the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO) addressed this press briefing.

Sri Lanka: Rape of Tamil Detainees
Politically Motivated Sexual Assaults in Custody Continue Since Conflict

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

The Sri Lankan security forces have committed untold numbers of rapes of Tamil men and women in custody. These are not just wartime atrocities but continue to the present, putting every Tamil man and woman arrested for suspected LTTE involvement at serious risk.

Brad Adams, Asia director

(London) – Sri Lankan security forces have been using rape and other forms of sexual violence to torture suspected members or supporters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. While widespread rape in custody occurred during the armed conflict that ended in May 2009, Human Rights Watch found that politically motivated sexual violence by the military and police continues to the present.

The 141-page report, “‘We Will Teach You a Lesson’: Sexual Violence against Tamils by Sri Lankan Security Forces,” provides detailed accounts of 75 cases of alleged rape and sexual abuse that occurred from 2006-2012 in both official and secret detention centers throughout Sri Lanka. In the cases documented by Human Rights Watch, men and women reported being raped on multiple days, often by several people, with the army, police, and pro-government paramilitary groups frequently participating.

“The Sri Lankan security forces have committed untold numbers of rapes of Tamil men and women in custody,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “These are not just wartime atrocities but continue to the present, putting every Tamil man and woman arrested for suspected LTTE involvement at serious risk.”

Most of the rape victims spoke to Human Rights Watch outside of Sri Lanka, and corroborated their accounts with medical and legal reports. All suffered torture and ill-treatment beyond the sexual violence. Because Human Rights Watch was not able to openly conduct research in Sri Lanka or interview people still in custody, these cases likely represent only a tiny fraction of custodial rape in political cases.

Many of the cases followed a pattern of an individual being abducted from home by unidentified men, taken to a detention center, and abusively interrogated about alleged LTTE activities, Human Rights Watch said. A 23-year-old man who had recently returned from abroad said he was abducted, held without charge, and then raped on three consecutive days until he signed a confession. A woman, 32, said she was detained by two plainclothes men who stripped and photographed her naked.

“They told me to confess about everything,” she told Human Rights Watch. “I refused to confess as I thought they would kill me. I was beaten up and tortured continuously. On the second day, a man came to my room and raped me. I was raped by different men on at least three days. I can’t remember how many times.”

Rape and other sexual violence of detained men and women by the security forces during and ever since the armed conflict suggests that sexual abuse has been a key element of the broader use of torture and ill-treatment against suspected LTTE members and supporters, Human Rights Watch said. This torture is intended to obtain “confessions” of involvement in LTTE activities, information on others including spouses and relatives, and, it appears, to instill terror in the broader Tamil population to discourage involvement with the LTTE.

The victims also described being beaten, hung by their arms, partially asphyxiated, and burned with cigarettes. None of those who spoke to Human Rights Watch had access to legal counsel, family members, or doctors while they were detained. Most said that they signed a confession in the hope that the abuse would stop, though the torture, including rape, often continued. The individuals interviewed were not formally released but rather allowed to “escape” after a relative paid the authorities a bribe.

“Two officials held my arms back [while] a third official held my penis and inserted a metal rod inside,” said a man who had surrendered to government forces in May 2009. “They inserted small metal balls inside my penis. These had to be surgically removed after I escaped from the country.” A medical report corroborates his account.

Women and men who alleged rape told Human Rights Watch that they had generally kept silent about their abuse, fearing social stigmatization and reprisals from perpetrators if they reported the crime. The reluctance to report sexual abuse also stems from institutional barriers imposed by the Sri Lankan government to block effective reporting and investigation of rape cases.

“The government has hindered medical and psychological treatment for rape victims,” Adams said. “In the largely Tamil areas in the north, the army has effectively prohibited local and international organizations from providing services for sexual violence survivors.”

No member of the security forces has been prosecuted, let alone convicted, for rape in custody in the final years of the conflict or since the war’s end, Human Rights Watch said.

Interviewees told Human Rights Watch that military and police personnel seldom made any effort to disguise being members of state security forces. These included the military, military intelligence and the police, including specialized units such as the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Terrorism Investigation Department (TID). Victims frequently reported that members of several state agencies would together conduct abusive interrogations. They also identified the specific camps and detention sites where the abuse occurred.

Human Rights Watch said that the cases suggest that the use of sexual violence was not just a local occurrence or actions of rogue security force personnel, but a widespread practice that was known or should have been known by higher-level officials. The cases reported to Human Rights Watch were not just in battleground areas of northern Sri Lanka, but occurred in military camps and police stations in the capital, Colombo, and other locations in the south and east far from any fighting. These included the notorious fourth floor of the CID headquarters and the sixth floor of TID headquarters in Colombo.

Acts of rape and other sexual violence committed as part of armed conflict are war crimes. The Sri Lankan government has an obligation not only to prevent such violations, but also to investigate credible allegations of abuse and prosecute those responsible. Officials who knew or should have known of such abuses and failed to take action are criminally liable as a matter of command responsibility.

In February, the United Nations Human Rights Council will be examining whether the Sri Lankan government adequately followed up on it commitments in a March 2012 resolution to provide justice and accountability for wartime abuses. The council should direct the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to conduct an independent international investigation, Human Rights Watch said.

“The government’s response to allegations of sexual violence by its security forces have been dismissive, deeming them as ‘fake’ or ‘pro-LTTE propaganda,’” Adams said. “It’s not clear who in the government knew about these horrific crimes. But the government’s failure to take action against these ongoing abuses is further evidence of the need for an international investigation.”

Accounts From “We Will Teach You a Lesson”:All initials are pseudonyms and bear no relation to the person’s actual name.

Case of JHJH, a 23-year-old Tamil man studying in the United Kingdom, returned to Colombo in August 2012 for family reasons. A month later, while returning home from work, a white van pulled up and several men jumped out. Telling him he was needed for an investigation, they blindfolded him and drove him for over an hour to an unknown site. He told Human Rights Watch:

They removed my blindfold [and] I found myself in a room where four other men were present. I was tied to a chair and questioned about my links to the LTTE and the reason for my recent travel abroad. They stripped me and started beating me. I was beaten with electric wires, burned with cigarettes and suffocated with a petrol-infused polythene bag. Later that night, I was left in a smaller room. I was raped on three consecutive days. The first night, one man came alone and anally raped me. The second and third night, two men came to my room. They anally raped me and also forced me to have oral sex with them. I signed a confession admitting my links with the LTTE after the rapes.

Case of TJTJ, 19, returned to Sri Lanka after completing his studies in the UK. One evening in August 2012, TJ was returning home after visiting a friend in Vavuniya when a white van stopped near him and around five or six men in civilian clothes jumped out. They forced TJ inside the van, blindfolded him, and drove him to an unknown destination. He told Human Rights Watch:

They removed my blindfold and I found myself in a room. There were five men and one of them was in a military uniform. They started questioning me about my work with the LTTE in the UK. They asked me about my connections with the LTTE abroad. I did not respond and they started torturing me. First, I was slapped and punched. Then they began to torture me severely. I was beaten with batons, burned with cigarettes, and my head was submerged in a barrel of water. I was stripped naked during interrogation.

The beatings and torture continued the next day. I was only given some water in the morning. The next night, I was given my clothes and left in a small, dark room. One person entered my room that night. It was dark, I couldn’t see him. He banged my head against the wall, pushed my face against the wall and raped me

Case of GDIn November 2011, GD, a 31-year-old Tamil woman, was at her house in a Colombo suburb when four men in civilian clothes arrived. GD told Human Rights Watch they introduced themselves as CID officials and asked to inspect ID cards of all family members at her home. She said that they confiscated the ID card of her husband, who was abroad, and asked her to accompany them for questioning. She said:

I was taken to the fourth floor of the CID office in Colombo and kept in a room. I was not given any food or water. The next day, the officials, who included a uniformed armed official, photographed me, took my fingerprints, and made me sign on a blank sheet of paper. They told me that they had all my husband’s details and kept asking me to disclose his whereabouts. When I told them my husband was abroad, they continued to accuse him of supporting the LTTE. I was beaten with many objects. I was burned with a cigarette during questioning. I was slapped around and beaten with a sand-filled pipe. Throughout the beatings, they asked me for my husband’s details. I was raped one night. Two men came to my room in civilian clothes. They ripped my clothes and both raped me. They spoke Sinhala so I could not understand anything. It was dark so I couldn’t see their faces clearly.

Case of DSDS’s father owned a photocopy shop in Jaffna and helped the LTTE by printing propaganda leaflets and distributing them. In 2005, when he was 13, the LTTE forcibly took him away for 10 days of compulsory military training. After returning to Jaffna, he worked for the LTTE by distributing pamphlets and participating in LTTE cultural festivals. In November 2009, when he was 17, a joint team of police and army officials arrested him when he was returning from school. He was blindfolded and taken to an unknown detention site. DS told Human Rights Watch:

They asked me to tell them all about my activities with the LTTE. They said that if I told them everything about my work, they would let me go. I refused to admit to anything. Then they started beating me. I was stomped with boots and punched. They then forced me to undress completely. I was hung upside down and burned with cigarettes. I was beaten with sand-filled pipes and wires. The officials beat the soles of my feet with rubber and forced a petrol-infused plastic bag on my head and tried to asphyxiate me.

One officer performed sexual acts in front of me. He then raped me. I lost consciousness. I was bleeding heavily from my anus. There was no toilet and I had to use a plastic bag. The officials who were questioning me did not let me sleep. They did not give me any food for the first two or three days. They fingerprinted and photographed me. I finally signed a confession document in Sinhala and admitted to everything they said.

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Taliban modeled Buddhist extremists arming themselves : cache of weapons seized –Vihara chief incumbent enjoys impunity

(Lanka-e-News-25.Feb.2013, 11.30PM) A cache of weapons allegedly belonging to the Taliban modeled monks (Taliban nikaya) and religious extremists led by individuals like Champika Ranawake, Atureliya Rathane and Gologodaaththe marauder had been seized by the police, confirming that this group has started to illegally arm themselves. Yet due to the pressures exerted by defense secretary , this discovery is being suppressed.

Based on reports reaching Lanka e news , the truth unfolds as follows :

Following a tip off to the Panamura police in the Ratnapura district on 17th February early morning, when a house at Panamura ,Walalgoda was searched , a quantity of weapons had been seized. This search operation was conducted on 17th night at about 11.40 and concluded on 18th morning at 2.00.

The weapons seized are given hereunder :
One T56 ; 8 T 56 bullets; one hand grenade; C 4 explosives grams 350; one 6 m.m. secret pen model pistol ; one 11 inch pistol longer than the locally made single barrel pistol ; one T 56 bullet case ; two T 56 magazines; and 17 bullets 9 mm.

A suspect , 37 year old Sunil Shantha along with these weapons were taken into custody.

The Walalgoda Tampita purana Rajamaha Vihara is situated very close to the suspect’s house. The suspect is a supporter of the extremist fanatical religious organization. When the police interrogated him , he had disgorged that these weapons were given to him by the chief incumbent , Rathugahayaya Gunaratane of the Raja maha Vihara for safekeeping

This suspect spends most of his time in this Vihara. The residents of the area have confirmed that Athureliya Rathane M P and monk is a very frequent visitor of that Vihara. With him some other unidentified persons too come in Black defender vehicles , the residents have further confirmed.

Despite such a large cache of arms having been seized along with the suspect and the new legislation permits the suspect to be kept in custody for 48 hours by the police and interrogated , the suspect had been produced before court and remanded without any questioning the very next day itself due to the pressures applied by Gota, it is learnt. The most curious and repugnant part of this investigation is , the chief incumbent of the Vihara who had allegedly supplied these illegal arms to the suspect had neither been questioned nor taken in for questioning.

Moreover, when a large quantity of weapons are seized in this manner, what ought to be done duly is , forward the weapons to the Govt. analyst dept. for investigation . Such a procedure had not been followed.

All these blatant violations had been committed on defense secretary Gota’s pressures. Nevertheless , the residents of the area who are aware of these criminal activities had staged a demonstration on 22nd at the Panamura Walalgoda junction , demanding that the ancient Raja maha Vihara be rescued from its chief incumbent Gunarathane . The fanatical extremists and defense Secretary had however taken steps to suppress these developments from the media.

Several weeks prior to this seizing of ths cache of arms , a youth was arrested with arms at Mawanella. Among those weapons there were three secret pistols pen model type which can be loaded with 9 mm bullets. A businessman of some standing moved heaven and earth on that occasion to get this youth released. This businessman is one who had been heavily funding the Buddhist extremist organizers.

On February 2nd night , Athureliya M P , the monk conducted a secret camp at Pilikuthuwa raja maha vihara , Attanagala. During the sessions, the residents of the area and the police laid siege to the camp. Following a phone call from the defense secretary , not only the police were made to desert their duties , but those officers who came forward to provide security to the residents were transferred.

Recently in Parliament, Mangala Samaraweera M P , a politician of a rare breed in SL ,who has a reputation for outspokenness and truthful revelations exposed that these Taliban modeled extremist monks are being provided with funds from the secret fund of the defense Ministry.

Mannar farmers protest against the government

[ Tuesday, 26 February 2013, 05:54.15 PM GMT +05:30 ]

Mannar district farmers are facing death due to starvation, hence by submitting three categories of demands, were engaged in a massive hunger protest today.

The protest was organized by the Mannar District Agriculture Association was held at the Murungan Semmantheevu Sports grounds today morning from 7.00 a.m until 3.00 p.m.
Rice must be purchased at a fixed price and fuel subsidy should be given to farmers, to provide farmers with the drought and flood relief and immediate cancellation of bank loans granted to farmers are the three demands submitted for the hunger protest.
Tamil National Alliance Vanni district parliament member Selvam Adaikalanathan concerning this hunger protest, said, the Vanni cultivators are facing death by starvation. But government is indifferent.
In this situation, the Mannar district farmers by submitting three categories of demands are engaged today in a hunger protest. Tamil National Alliance has given its utmost support for this protest. Today's protest will be attended by the three parliament members attached to Vanni district and the local government members of Alliance.
We are inviting all to participate without race, religion and party differences. Today's hunger protest is the massive protest organized for the first time in the history of Vanni farmers. This is organized by the Mannar district farmers and in future similar protests will be organized in the districts of Vavuniya and Mullaitheevu. He said, the Vanni farmers facing starvation may get a settlement through this hunger protest.

Dockyardgate, Returns To The SC Seeking Full Bench Hearing

By Colombo Telegraph -February 26, 2013 |

Dockyard case which was initially refused leave to proceed on 01^st February 2013 is scheduled for today (26th February 2013) again before Bench presided over by the Supreme Court Judge, Shiranee Thilakawardae. In this application Petitioner states that the Submission made by his Counsel to the Court that the Supreme Judge Hettige had been reported by the Counsel for abuse of office of the Supreme Court Judge to the Chief Justice Dr Shirani Bandaranayake and therefore, Hettige Judge’s taking part at the hearing was strenuously objected by his Counsel, but his Counsel’s submission were plainly disregarded by the Bench of two Judges headed by Hettige Judge himself and leave to proceed for his rights violation petition was refused without granting him fair trial also punished him with an order granting cost claim made by the Respondent Dockyard Ltd.

Mohan Pieris

In this case the Petitioner challenge the alleged dishonesty and gross misconduct of the 7th Respondent,Mohan Pieris, the then Attorney General who had abuse his office to facilitate misappropriation 619 million rupees of public funds by the 6th Respondent, Colombo Dockyard Ltd, and requests a five Judge bench to hear this case, considering the public importance of this case.

The Petitioner states in his application to the Court that the Respondents, Attorney General and the Dockyard Ltd have evaded the presenting of this case for 19 occasions, since September 2010, and Colombo Telegraph learned that Respondent Colombo Dockyard has again filed a motion informing the Court that the date fixed for the case is not suitable for them and hence requesting the postponement of the matter.

LTTE hoodwinking Intl community

Propaganda by the LTTE rump groups has a dominating influence at the UNHRC. This has been the case ever since the end of Humanitarian Operations in Sri Lanka. The international community is being conditioned by a well thought out strategy by these groups, and unfortunately, many international players don't seem to realize that they are being deceived, Military Spokesman, Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya stated in a media release.

He said: “Take the case of the current Channel 4 video and photo ‘exhibition.’ These photos (alleged to be those of Prabhakaran’s son) have been published a long time ago in open domains and were available for any interested party to view. If anyone really wanted to, the pictures could have been published then. The fact is they never wanted to publish them at the time, nor did they hand them to any authority with the relevant information (that they claim they know for certain beyond any reasonable doubt) for investigation. This indicates their objective is to keep the tempo going before each HRC session.”

“Obviously, this is part of a major campaign focused on Sri Lanka by all interested groups. It is very clear that publishing photographs of alleged violations in Sri Lanka at the most opportune time -- well timed and spaced, is a good marketing strategy and the LTTE rump do not want to lose that leverage. That’s why such propaganda is timed to coincide with certain international events,” he further noted

The release also stated the unfolding of events prior to each HRC session is very similar and at every time the LTTE rump has focused on:

a. Campaigns organized before the HRC meets with book launches, conferences, media campaigns, and other activities.

b. Influencing decision makers through mass email, petitions, use of social media, visits, media releases, and other avenues.

c. Strengthen arguments/allegations by releasing reports - TGTE, AI, HRW, ICG, amongst others.

d. Last minute emotional touch release of photos, videos - Channel 4, and other propaganda.

This sequence is visible on the following two occasions:

Activities prior to 2012 HRC 19

19 May 2011 - Gordon Weiss released his book “Cage”

24 February 2012 – HRW released report “Sri Lanka: No Progress on Justice”

26 February 2012 – TGTE released book “We Accuse: War Crimes & Genocide”

13 March 2012 – Amnesty International released report “Locked away: Sri Lanka’s security detainees”

14 March 2012 – Channel 4 released film “War Crime Unpunished”

23 March 2012 - HRC 19/2 Resolution Passed…............................

Activities that have been taken and will take place targeting 2013 HRC 22

4 October 2012 – Frances Harrison released her book “Still Counting the Dead: Survivors of Sri Lanka's Hidden War”

10 February 2013 - UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released her report calling for an independent and credible international investigation into alleged violations of international law in Sri Lanka

13 February 2013 - Amnesty International welcomes UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ repeated call for an independent and credible international investigation into alleged violations of international law in Sri Lanka

19 February 2013 - HRW urges HRC 22 to launch an inquiry on Sri Lanka:

22 Feb 2013 - HRW released report “We will teach you a lesson: Sexual violence against Tamils by Sri Lankan Security Forces”

27 February 2013 - Channel 4 will release its new film “No Fire Zone”

22 March 2013 – HRC 22/... Resolution ……………………… ???

Do not be surprised if a similar pattern becomes apparent in 2014 as well.

The LTTE rump’s demand is to have international intervention. In spite of the fact that Sri Lanka has a well established system of investigation, those who claim to have evidence will not hand over anything that they claim to possess to the relevant authorities.

They will keep their cards well concealed and use only one at a time.

2013-02-26

Lawyer’s Collective Wants Harassment Of Lawyers Immediately Stopped!

By Lawyers Collective -February 26, 2013

Lawyers’ Collective has been following the incidents of harassment and threats on lawyers, who actively challenged the unconstitutional impeachment of the 43rd Chief Justice of Sri Lanka. As previously disclosed several lawyers, senior and junior, have come under threats. Series of incidents of surveillance on the lawyers were also reported in Colombo as well as outside.

Lakshan Dias

Mr. Lakshan Dias a well known human rights lawyer and activist who was a leading figure in the anti- impeachment activities has come under strict surveillance making his life vulnerable for physical attacks. He had also been followed by a white van, which incident has been reported to the Moratuwa Police on 25th February 2013, under reference CIB-1- 232/442.

We remind the Government of its constitutional duty to protect and respect the citizen’s right to dissent and to engage in critical governance activities. The lawyer’s struggle was a discharge of their
constitutional duty to protect independence of judiciary, which they will continue to do, despite threats.

The Lawyers’ Collective therefore urges the Government to investigate into these incidents and ensure that the Lawyers, who have stood up against the illegal impeachment of the highest judicial officer of the Country, will not be subjected to any further intimidation.

Did Chagi Gallage leak the photographs?

Tuesday, 26 February 2013

There are doubts whether the photographs of the killing of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran’s 12 year old son, Balachandran had reached the Tamil Diaspora through Major General Chagi Gallage’s lover who is an Indian journalist, sources from the army said.

Sources say that Gallage, who during the period of the war was a brigadier playing a key role in the battle front had had in his possession a Sony digital camera during the period of May 15th to the 20th.

Technical information has revealed that most of the photographs that have been revealed so far by the Tamil Diaspora had been taken from a Sony digital camera.

Army personnel say that Gallage has in his possessions photographs of the killings of LTTE leaders carried out by other senior army personnel at the time and that Brigadier Gallage had met his Indian journalist lover when she was reporting from the frontlines.

Gallage had been a frequent visitor to this Indian journalist’s residence in Bambalapitiya, Colombo 4. The army officer who gave us the information said it is believed that the Tamil Diaspora had used this Indian journalist as a “Mata Hari.”

Sri Lanka Opposes UN Screening of Critical Film

By FRANK JORDANS Associated Press

BERLIN February 25, 2013 (AP)

Sri Lankan diplomats are working to block a British-made documentary about the Asian country's civil war from being shown on the sidelines of a United Nations human rights meeting this week, arguing that it is part of a concerted campaign by the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels to destabilize the peace.

In a letter obtained Monday by The Associated Press the island nation's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva said the film contained a narrative that was "discredited, uncorroborated and unsubstantiated."

The letter sent Sunday by Sri Lankan ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha to the head of the U.N. Human Rights Council, warns that the global body could be violating its own rules if the film is screened March 1 in Geneva at a meeting hosted by rights groups.

The 90-minute documentary, titled "No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka," alleges government troops and Tamil Tiber rebels engaged in war crimes during the final stages of the conflict in 2009.

The film shows interviews with eyewitnesses and original footage of alleged atrocities against civilians including summary execution, sexual violence and torture. Its backers include the non-profit Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and Britain's Channel 4 television, which aired two previous documentaries on the Sri Lanka's civil war.

"The timing and the venue of this screening clearly demonstrates that it is aimed at influencing the debate in the council on Sri Lanka," Aryasinha said in the letter, citing the two previous films that were also shown during meetings of the Geneva-based rights body.

He said the film contained "morphed and diabolical" material aimed at undermining the process of reconciliation between Tamils and the nation's ethnic Sinhalese majority.

The film's director Callum Macrae acknowledged that the documentary's release had been timed to coincide with one of the council's three regular annual meetings, but denied that it distorted the facts.

"We believe that our film contains very important evidence about the terrible events in the last few months of this war and we believe we have a duty to make that evidence available to the diplomats and country missions at the U.N. Human Rights Council who must make important decisions about how to ensure accountability and justice in Sri Lanka," Macrae said.

Earlier this month the U.N.'s top human rights official faulted Sri Lanka for failing to properly investigate reports of atrocities during the war and said government opponents continue to be killed and abducted.

The United States has said it will introduce a resolution at the meeting urging a full accounting of what happened at the end of the war. A U.N. report says tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the final five months of the fighting.

———

Sri Lanka ambassador's letter: http://db.tt/PdRoYQlN

The Commonwealth - Don McKinnon and Kwasi Kwarteng

Duration:

43 minutes

First broadcast:

Monday 25 February 2013

LISTEN
On Start the Week Bridget Kendall discusses the role and future of the Commonwealth. As its Secretary-General at the turn of the century, Sir Don McKinnon reveals its inner workings. But the journalist Frances Harrison is critical of the organisation for failing to challenge human rights abuses. The MP Kwasi Kwarteng questions whether the Commonwealth can ever shed the baggage of Empire, and Sir Ronald Sanders asks if it can survive the rise of China.
Producer: Katy Hickman.

Secularism And Communalism In The UK

By Chetan Bhatt -February 26, 2013

Prof. Chetan Bhatt

During the period of the mass black, Asian and antiracist movements of the 1970s and 1980s, a common slogan that was used in a number of campaigns was ‘We are here because you were there’. That very simple slogan was necessary because it said that migration in the 1960s and 1970s – against which there was a powerful mobilisation by some mainstream politicians and neo-fascist movements – was part of an historical process. The histories of migrants did not begin in Britain but were shaped by Empire, plantation slavery, expansion and exploitation.

This demand that black and Asian migration to the UK should be seen as part of an historical process that includes colonial history was important because racism effectively denies that history. However, some varieties of UK anti-racism and multiculturalism also remove minorities from historical processes. Histories have many consequences that travel well beyond the mono-dimensional characterisation of people simply as victims of racism, producers of colourful cultures, or people who only become significant when they need help.

The human and political geography of movements of people across the globe today is very different from that of post-Second World War postcolonial migration. It often occurs through the paths and enclaves that sanctuary seekers are forced to use or because of other varied movements of people. What used to be called ‘settlement’ is a dynamic and transnational process that can include further and complex movements and transnational family associations. However, our political languages are still controlled by concepts, some from the 1950s and 1960s, regarding ‘immigration’, ‘host’, ‘minority’, ‘tolerance’, ‘integration’, ‘assimilation’, ‘accommodation’, ‘incorporation’ and the like. Read More

Rape used as tool against Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan Forces: HRW

In a shocking exposure based on factual accounts of the victims, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday said that the Sri Lankan Security Force personnel have used and continue to use ‘rape’ as a tool against Tamil men and women while in their protective custody.

Claiming that such sexual abuses were not just the action by a rogue solider, but “systematic and widespread”, the US-based rights watchdog said “it may have been part of a broader government effort to instil terror in the Tamil community to discourage involvement with the LTTE”.

Releasing a damning 140-page report in London on the worsening human rights situation in Sri Lanka, the HRW said that its report focusing “on rape and other sexual violence committed by members of the Sri Lankan security forces from 2006-2012 against women and men in state custody” has documented 75 cases of rape - 31 of men, 41 of women, and 3 of boys under age 18.

In the cases documented by Human Rights Watch, men and women reported being raped on multiple days, often by several people, with the army, police, and pro-government paramilitary groups frequently participating.

Systematic and widespread

According to the report, the use of sexual violence was “not just a local occurrence or the action of rogue security force personnel, but a practice that was known or that should have been known by senior officials” with many victims knowing well the security establishment to which one or more of the perpetrators belonged to.

“The relatively large number of sexual abuse cases we were able to document among a group of former detainees using both similar methods and occurring in a number of locations across the country strongly suggests that these abuses were widespread and systematic during the final years of the conflict and in the years since. Eight of the cases of rape that Human Rights Watch documented occurred in 2012, and new cases continue to be reported,” the HRW said.

The HRW has compiled this report based on in-depth interviews conducted over a 12-month period with former detainees now living in Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia as the incumbent Rajapaksa regime has repeatedly refused permission to rights organisation to enter the country and carry out independent investigations.

A number of cases involved individuals who were returning to Sri Lanka from abroad either because they had been deported or had returned.

Claiming that the victims in the report were able to identify camps and detention sites where the abuse occurred, the HRW said that soldiers, police, and members belonging to specialized units like the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) were all involved in this organised brutal campaign.

Often the perpetrators have came from more than one branch of the security forces, and included members of the Sri Lankan army, police, and pro-government Tamil paramilitary groups.

Not so secret locations

“Cases involving Tamils in custody were reported not just in battleground areas of northern Sri Lanka, such as Vavuniya, the Vanni region, and the Jaffna peninsula, but in Boosa and Kalutara prisons in western Sri Lanka, and in Trincomalee police station in the east”.

“And former detainees told Human Rights Watch that they were abused at various official as well as secret detention sites in and around the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, including Welikada prison, the fourth floor of the CID headquarters and the sixth floor of TID headquarters, and at Kotahena, Dehiwela, and Wellawatta police stations. In short, many branches of the security forces, operating throughout the country, often in official places of detention, were involved in the sexual abuse of detainees,” the HRW report said.

Rape accompanied by sexual torture

Quoting male and female former detainees, it said that they were “forced to strip, their genitals or breasts groped, and they were verbally abused and mocked” prior to being raped.

It said that many of the medical reports examined by HRW show evidence of “sexual violence such as bites on the buttocks and breasts, and cigarette burns on sensitive areas like inner thighs and breasts”.

“Two men interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that they had a sharp needle inserted in their penis. In one case, this was used to insert small metal balls into their urethra by army personnel; the metal balls were later surgically removed by doctors abroad after the victim complained of discomfort and pain,” the report said.

Claiming that the names of all victims quoted in the report were withheld in order to protect their privacy and avoid potential retaliation by the Sri Lankan authorities against them or their relatives, the HRW said that in all of the cases documented in its report, “the acts of rape and sexual violence were accompanied by other forms of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by state security forces”.

“In the cases we investigated, most of the detainees were interrogated by Sinhala-speaking security officials with Tamil interpreters. Most were forced to sign a confession in Sinhala following their abuse, though the torture often continued after they signed confessions. Detainees were normally not released but rather allowed to ‘escape’ after a relative paid a bribe,” it said, adding that detaining the individuals without access to judges, defense lawyers, relatives, or doctors - violated fundamental due process rights.

Photo courtesy: HRW

Tamil activists urge India to co-sponsor anti-Lanka resolution

Tuesday, February 26, 2013
New Delhi: Tamil rights activists on Tuesday urged India to co-sponsor a US resolution against Sri Lanka in the forthcoming session of United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva and make it stronger.

UK-based British Tamil Forum (BTF)and Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), a US-based Tamil advocacy group, today said that they hope India will not only co-sponsor the US based resolution but also bring out a stronger resolution.

"We urge India to not just support but also co-sponsor the US based resolution against Sri Lanka and also push to make it stronger. We also hope that India brings out a stronger resolution," Kana Nirmalan, Human Rights Coordinator, BTF said.

Calling for independent international inquiry into the allegations of war crimes committed by Sri Lanka, the groups said that they want creation of an International Commission of Investigation.

"We have no faith in the local judicial system in Sri Lanka. It has failed. We urge India to advocate the creation of an International Commission of Investigation to bring justice to the victims," Nirmalan said.

Henrietta Briscoe of TAG said that India should push to make the US based resolution more stronger. "India should take leadership and push for a stronger resolution. Co-sponsoring the resolution is needed," Briscoe said.

She also emphasised the need for an independent international investigation into the alleged human right violation by Sri Lanka.

"An independent international inquiry is important. We also want that any investigation should not limit itself to just the last few months of the war but should look at the context and the atrocities committed on Tamils since decades," Briscoe said.

PTI