The Interview – with Nimalka Fernando

NIMALKA FERNANDO, HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER, COLOMBO

 

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The Interview – with Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka

On this program Sanjana Hattotuwa talks to Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka, Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to United Nations in Geneva.

The series that gives you insights on Peace and Politics; Business and Development; Society and the Environment; Culture and the Arts.

Featuring diverse views and perspectives; informing people; contributing to the debate on important national issues – The Interview is produced by Young Asia Television.

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New resettlement Mannar District

Sri Lanka: Domestic Inquiry into Abuses a Smokescreen

UN Secretary-General Should Establish International Investigation

(New York) – The Sri Lankan government’s proposal to create a committee of experts to examine allegations of laws-of-war violations during the conflict between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is an attempt to avoid an independent international inquiry, Human Rights Watch said today.

The government made its proposal in response to a report by the US State Department, published on October 22, 2009, that detailed hundreds of incidents of alleged laws-of-war violations in Sri Lanka from January through May. According to conservative UN estimates, 7,000 civilians were killed and more than 13,000 injured during that period, the final months of fighting. “The government is once again creating a smokescreen inquiry to avoid accountability for abuses,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Only an independent international investigation will uncover the truth about this brutal war and ensure justice for the victims. The UN and US should not play along with the government’s pretense that it will conduct its own investigation.” Human Rights Watch urged the United Nations secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, to establish an independent international investigation into alleged laws-of-war violations in Sri Lanka. The United States, the EU and other international actors should emphasize to the Sri Lankan government that because of its proposed committee’s lack of independence and the failure of past government commissions, a government inquiry is unacceptable as a substitute for an independent international investigation. The current political climate, in which the government frequently persecutes critics, branding them LTTE supporters, makes a credible and impartial domestic investigation unlikely, Human Rights Watch said. On May 23, soon after the end of the fighting, the Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, and Secretary-General Ban issued a joint statement that promised there would be credible national investigations. The government had taken no steps to open an investigation until the State Department report was released. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a statement on October 23 calling for an independent international investigation, which Human Rights Watch supported. A spokesperson for the office told reporters: “We still believe that something like the Gaza fact-finding mission is certainly warranted given the widespread concerns about the conduct of the war in Sri Lanka.” On October 26, President Rajapaksa announced that he would appoint a committee of experts to “examine carefully” allegations of violations of the laws of war during the final stages of the 26-year-long armed conflict. On October 27, the European Union, during its foreign ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg, repeated its call for an independent inquiry into violations of international humanitarian and human right law. Since independence in 1948, Sri Lanka has established nine presidential commissions and various other bodies tasked with investigating allegations of human rights violations. None of the commissions have produced significant results, either in providing new information or leading to prosecutions. The most recent Presidential Commission of Inquiry, appointed in November 2006, to investigate serious cases of alleged human rights abuses was a complete failure. A group of international experts, appointed to ensure the investigation was being conducted according to international norms and standards, resigned in 2008 because it had “not been able to conclude…that the proceedings of the Commission have been transparent or have satisfied basic international norms and standards.” The experts included: Justice P.N. Bhagwati (India); Bernard Kouchner (France); Prof. Sir Nigel Rodley (UK), Prof. Yozo Yokota (Japan); and Kamal Hussein (Bangladesh). In June 2009, Rajapaksa dissolved the Commission of Inquiry, even though it had conducted investigations in just seven of its 16 mandated major human rights cases. The president has not published the report.Among the cases it investigated was the August 2006 execution-style killing of 17 Sri Lankan aid workers for the Paris-based humanitarian agency Action Contre la Faim. Despite strong evidence of involvement by government security forces in the killings, leaked findings of the commission exonerated the Sri Lankan army and navy on the basis of limited testimony from witnesses.

Earlier this year the UN Human Rights Council mandated an international fact-finding mission into abuses during the recent Gaza conflict. On October 16, Secretary-General Ban ordered an international commission of inquiry into human rights violations in Guinea after approximately 150 people were killed during anti-government demonstrations. Although the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and other senior UN officials have called for an international investigation in Sri Lanka, Secretary-General Ban has refrained from making such a call. Inexplicably, the US State Department has indicated support for the Sri Lankan government’s committee of experts. “The government’s committee is merely an effort to buy time and hope the world will forget the bloodbath that civilians suffered at the end of the war,” Adams said. “Pretending that this is a serious attempt to investigate would betray the memory of the victims of war crimes and other abuses.”

Source : HRW

Looming humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka camps

Sri Lanka after the „Victory“: Badboll INSD Conference

Press Releases : Sri Lanka after the „Victory“: What about minority rights, democracy and peace?

The conference entitled “Sri Lanka after the ‘Victory’: What about minority rights, democracy and peace?” was successfully held on 2 – 4 October 2009 in Bad Boll, Germany. More than 50 participants, including representatives from different NGOs and civil society organisations, as well as the former German Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan Honorary Consul in Stuttgart, Germany gathered from different European countries to attend this event organized by the International Network of Sri Lankan Diaspora (INSD).

Speakers from among the diaspora, from Sri Lanka and from Germany addressed the audience on the following topics: the general economic, social and political situation in Sri Lanka, especially in the North and East; the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, the future perspectives for minorities, especially for Tamils and Muslim in the current political context; the situation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs); the situation of journalists and the lack of media freedom; as well as the view of the international community and European governments on Sri Lanka.

During the discussions, the conference participants mentioned that a military solution without considering a political solution of the ethnic conflict addressing human rights abuses, media oppression and denial of minority rights will not foster lasting peace and democracy. Indeed, in order to achieve sustainable peace, the rights of all communities, the devolution of power and the need to strengthen democracy has to be recognised. One first step into this direction has to be the immediate resettlement of the IDPs to their home villages and towns.

Statement of clarification : Ranjith Henayaka- Lochbihler

Hon. Mahinda Samarasinha                                                   12.10.2009

Ministry of Human Rights

2, Wijerama Mawatha

Colombo. 07

Statement of clarification

Dear Honourable Minister Mahinda Samarasinha,

In August 2009, a video film showing some armed men summarily executing unarmed, naked victims was aired by British television Channel 4. It was described that this killings happened in Sri Lanka, and was committed by the members of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. This video film was provided by the Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), as it was reported by Channel 4.

This film drew immediate reaction from the Sri Lankan government in general and you in particular as the Minister of Human Rights and Disaster Management, as soon as it became public. While speaking in the Sri Lankan Parliament in mid of September you held me, my wife Barbara Lochbihler, who is a Member of the European Parliament, and the members of the International Network of Sri Lankan Diaspora e.V. (INSD) responsible for the distribution of this film. I herewith state, that we have not been involved at all in any way in acquiring or distributing this film to Channel 4 or any other media institutions. The responsibility of distributing this film purely lies with the JDS and they have issued a statement claiming responsibility and clarifying that the INSD and the persons connected to the INSD have nothing to do with it at all.

The address of the INSD e.V. was given to the JDS according to a request made by the latter, to use as a “c/o(care of)” address,  on a temporary basis, until they find a permanent address for their use. This is not very unusual, as many times in the past I had offered our address to Sri Lankans, whenever they were in need. For example when Mr. Godawatta, the private secretary to the then Minister of Labour, currently President Mahinda Rajapaksa, accompanied him to Geneva in the mid-90`s I offered him a similar help. He fell sick and got hospitalized. I registered him under my address in order to be able to get treatment.

Moreover, I would like to use this opportunity to respond further to certain allegations levelled against me which were deliberately fabricated with the intent of tarnishing our reputation. Throughout the recent past, the Sri Lankan newspaper ‘Divaina’ has repeatedly printed vicious and outrages lies against me and my wife accusing that we have been supporters of the LTTE and involved in various other crimes.

These wrong accusations, manufactured mainly by the journalist Keerthi Warnakulasuriya in Divaina newspaper, started since I organised a study tour for Sri Lankan parliamentarians to Europe to study different federal systems and models for autonomy, with the intention of helping to find a political solution to the conflict in Sri Lanka. This tour took place in January 2003 and visits were made to Belgium, Germany, Austria and Italy. Amongst others the following persons participated and most of them are currently serving as parliament members and some as even ministers: Mr. Sarath Amunugama, Mr. Nimal Siripala de Silva, Mr. John Senevirathna, Mrs. Ferial Ashraff, Mr. P. Candrasekaran, Mr. Rishad Bathurdeen, Mr. Ramaiyah Yogarajan, Mr. Jayalath Jayawardana, Mr. Kabir Hashim, Mr. H.M.H. Harees, Mr. Dr. Thideer Thoufeek and Ven. Baddegama Samitha Thero.

Since its inception, the INSD and I firmly stand for a political solution to the national question in Sri Lanka based on the principal of devolving power and establishing equal democratic rights to each and every citizen of the country. At the same time, we have constantly maintained a clear and open policy of opposition to any version of separatism while vehemently denouncing political violence used by any party to achieve their objectives.

In the above context, I kindly appeal you to take the necessary steps to rectify these wrong accusations while sincerely hoping that the threats against my family in Sri Lanka will end soon.

I would also urge you to table this letter in Sri Lanka’s Parliament in order to make all the other members of political parties aware about the true facts that have been suppressed by venomous hate campaigns carried out by certain sections of Sri Lankan media.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Ranjith Henayaka- Lochbihler

Cc:

His Excellency the President of Sri Lanka

Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs – Sri Lanka

Leader of the Opposition – Sri Lanka

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

The President of the European Parliament

The Sri Lankan Embassies in Brussels, in Geneva and in Germany,

The German Embassy in Colombo.

Ranjith Henayaka Lochbihler

Email: lranjith@aol.com

Mahesh Munasinghe =Kaviya=

The Interview – with Douglas Keh

On this program Sanjana Hattotuwa talks to Douglas Keh, Country Director, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The series that gives you insights on Peace and Politics; Business and Development; Society and the Environment; Culture and the Arts.

Featuring diverse views and perspectives; informing people; contributing to the debate on important national issues – The Interview is produced by Young Asia Television.

Source : YaTV

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What are the future perspectives for the Tamils? the Tamils?

The following talk was delivered by Nadarajah-Suseenthiran Straube at the conference, ‘Sri Lanka After The Victory: What Is The State Of Freedom, Democracy, Peace And Minority Rights?’ organised by the Protestant Academy, Bad Boll, in cooperation with the Association for Conflict Prevention, Democracy and Minority Rights (Gesellschaft für Konfliktprävention, Demokratie und Minderheitenrechte), the International Network of Sri Lankan Diaspora, and the Sri Lanka Association, Stuttgart, held from October 2 – 4, in Bad Boll, Germany.

The Tamils of Sri Lanka, robbed of all hope for the future, find themselves lost and staring into something much worse and threatening than emptiness. A chain of events has shown them that, throughout post-independence history, they have been disappointed, failed, betrayed.  Unfortunately, the reaction to the present state of affairs has been emotional (rather than rational), and bereft of a long-term strategy. Through the establishment of a unitary state in 1948, the subsequent formulation of a succession of discriminatory constitutions (1972, 1978), with the help of majoritarianism, mob violence, and the force of the police and army, Sinhalese-Buddhist hegemony has been established in the island.

Tamil reaction to subordination and exclusion took several forms. The first was to cooperate with the government and, in that way, try to influence its policy and actions, and bring about some degree of development in the north and east. When that brought no results, Tamils tried non-violent resistance within the parliamentary system. That too having failed, Tamil youth, in despair and desperation, chose the path of armed resistance. The resulting fear, suffering and sense of hopelessness made thousands of Tamils to flee the land of their birth. Now, with the final defeat of the armed struggle, around 250, 000 civilians have been placed in concentration camps.

These people in the camps are simple folk who, in economic and educational terms, lived in undeveloped districts, namely, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar and Vavuniya, making a minimum living through hard work. These people did not demand a separate state. These people are not responsible for starting the armed struggle.  The Tigers came into their region and set up their stronghold, first in Kilinochchi, then in Mallavi, and finally in Puthukudiyiruppu (all within the Wanni region).

Lives disrupted

The lives of the people were disrupted, and they were subjected to the fiat of the LTTE. They were exploited and forced to pay “tax” in various forms. A pass system was introduced in 1990 to control their exit. The restrictions imposed by the government on trade resulted in a dire lack of food and proper medical attention, felt by these people on a daily basis. They remained in the region not out of choice, not out of political loyalty, but because they were, in effect, imprisoned. On the one hand, they experienced and endured aerial bombardment; on the other hand, they helplessly saw their sons and daughters recruited into the ranks of the LTTE, and being used as cannon fodder.  It is a cruel irony that it is these people – innocent, blameless and long-suffering -  who are now being held prisoner by a state that (cynical and grotesque as it may be) claims to have come as liberators. The victims are being further victimised.

They whose misery has now deepened, had hoped and believed that, with the end of the war, their suffering would end; that they would have free movement again: after all, there must be LTTE supporters in Jaffna, and yet there is freedom of movement there. Free movement is a more immediate and greater priority for them than so-called “development”. Their hopes have been bitterly betrayed, and those Tamils who clung on to some degree of belief in the government’s good faith are now disillusioned and have to face stark realities. Let me quote from the UTHR(J)  report:

End of war

“The end of war, rather than marking a return to normality or better yet an opportunity to improve inter-ethnic relations and justice in Sri Lanka appears to have been only another political milestone for chauvinist and authoritarian elements in power. They treated the war as an excuse to return to an ideological agenda that sought the debilitation of minorities; presenting them as permanent enemies, purposefully uprooting them from lands that had been their home for centuries and tolerating their existence only under the jackboot of the State.”  UTHR(J): University Teachers for Human  Rights (Jaffna) SRI LANKA, Special Report No:33.

To express it bluntly (albeit also sadly), the present government is lying, busily finding excuses and fabricating falsehood. For example, the state lies when it says that it continues to detain these people because of the presence of landmines. There are no landmines, for this area was never no-man’s-land but was inhabited and cultivated by the people now imprisoned. As the army advanced, the Tigers herded them to other areas. Even if there had been landmines, they would have been cleared by the army in order to facilitate its own progress. Again, the government claims there are about ten thousand Tigers among those detained. However, it is well known that the Tigers have melted away, several having bought their freedom. In a repetitive feature of history, those left behind are the innocent and the poor.

As already stated, what is paramount to these unfortunates is not “development” but freedom of movement. The government, on one pretext or another, is unwilling to release them because they are living testimony to the war crimes committed by the state. This is the reason for the continued imprisonment of so many thousands of children, women and men in primitive conditions. The rainy season has begun, bringing with it greater discomfort, disease and, inevitably, death – particularly to children. It is not surprising that journalists and foreign agencies are excluded from visiting these sites of extreme misery, sorrow and humiliation.

Plight of Tamils

I now move to the plight of Tamils elsewhere on the island. Though the so-called war on terror is over, the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) is still in force, and used to harass and humiliate Tamils; to intimidate not only Tamils but also the rest of the population. The journalist Tissainayagam was charged under the PTA, so that the draconian sentence of 20 years hard labour could be handed down. Though the LTTE has been defeated, their entire leadership wiped out, the fear of the Tigers is deliberately kept alive in Sinhalese minds so that they condone the unjust and cruel acts of the government. The island is artificially, needlessly, kept in a permanent “state of emergency.”

Within the Tamil diaspora there are about 100,000 in India, most of them further scattered in 117 refugee-camps in Tamil Nadu state. Until recently, very little was said about the miserable conditions in these camps. Elsewhere, in Western countries, there are about 400,000 Tamils. Those of the Tiger movement have advanced the idea of a trans-national Tamil Eelam but this seems to me to be unrealistic.

Perhaps, it is an effort to keep alive the sense of oneness and commitment that existed right up to 18 May 2009.  While I discount this idea, I find it also ironic. It is based on the Vaddukoddai resolution (1976), but several of those responsible for formulating this resolution, including the leader, A. Amirthalingam, were murdered by the LTTE! The mandate (1977) of the people was given to the TULF, and not to the LTTE. Further, I would ask for whom are we going to attain a political solution? Is it for minorities in Sri Lanka or for Tamil minorities in the Western countries?

Diaspora

Previously, the diaspora was able to call out thousands in public demonstration and protest, but such a galvanised togetherness is now hard to create, sustain and use. That the diaspora has not succeeded in gaining the freedom of those trapped and imprisoned in the Wanni shows its debilitated, disoriented and scattered condition.

While the war was raging, some members of the diaspora loudly proclaimed and protested the genocide that was taking place, but they did not demand with equal vehemence that the imprisoned population be set free.  Perhaps, their thinking was that the presence of civilians would inhibit the Sinhalese state from waging “total war.” (If so, they miscalculated the nature of the government which, racist and cruel, was willing, even eager, to murder and maim thousands and thousands of innocent, helpless, Tamils in order to get at Tigers.) Whatever the reasoning and motivation, by keeping silent then, the diaspora has lost heavily in ethical, humane, terms.

Initially, the government took the promising step of setting up an all-party, representative conference, charged with the task of suggesting a blueprint for the equitable and harmonious development of the island.

However, there has been no progress, and the realisation grows that it is yet another plan of the government to deceive the people, particularly the minorities, and indefinitely delay addressing fundamental issues. The present government has lost the opportunity to prove its willingness to share power, at least with the full implementation of the 13th Amendment. Observing the present situation, I must frankly confess that I cannot see any glimpse of better prospects for minorities in Sri Lanka.

Unless the present constitution is changed, there will be no real peace, but the government neither has the will nor, indeed, the wish to make changes. Even if it did, the government cannot because its power-base is the chauvinist element among the Sinhalese. The only hope is that like-minded minorities and Sinhalese will work together to change the mind-set of the Sinhalese; allay irrational fears, remove suspicion and hatred, show that the Tamils ever since independence have been unjustly treated, and that, for the sake of the entire island and all its people, a different course must be set. We must learn from the past, objectively examine the present, and so fashion a more just and harmonious future.

— Nadarajah-Suseenthiran Straube

(nsusee@hotmail.com)

Malathi Kalpana Ambros =Kavi=

www.boondi.lk =Kavi=

www.boondi.lk =Kavi=

Interview with Dayan Jayatilleka

Recorded 31 July 2009, Geneva.

Dayan Jayatilleka was Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva from June 2007 to August 2009. This interview was the first he gave after the sudden and unexpected news of the termination of his services in July 2009.

Source : CPA(Centre for Policy Alternatives)

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Broken Pottu ~ Poem by Mahesh Munasinghe

Many thousands of the IDP children have lost both their parents comes news from the Sri Lankan ‘welfare camps’.

Bright red pottu
Every morning
Never missed.
The point of your finger
Right here between our eyebrows
For both of us.

Amma puts hers first
Then sh…e puts mine.
Remember me insisting
Me first, me first!

That day Dad give me a biggest hug, squeezed so tight,
Lifted me so high, laughing so loud.
At midnight he went out of the bunker.
Amma must have known he wasn’t coming back
But still she smiled at me.

The day she went out of the bunker
Her pottu was still shining between her eyebrows.
Then her pottu went right into her head
And red blood came all down her calm, loving face.

Before then I only knew how to cry.
Then I knew how to shriek, to scream
Holding on to your body, Amma,

Scream!
Scream!
Scream!

Here too our school is under the trees
But they don’t take the register.
I don’t mind, I’m used to it.
The only thing different is
There are no bunkers here.
Sometimes my heart beats so hard
It’s louder than the gunshots
And tears just shoot out when I think about you.

Please don’t ask me about pottu
If Amma can’t put it on me I don’t want it.
And please don’t teach us about parents,
I don’t want to hear about them.

It’s not only me; none of us want to hear it.

Poem by Mahesh Munasinghe
Translated by Prasanna Ratnayake

The pottu is the red spot traditionally worn by Hindu married women, more recently also by children. It is believed to protect them from evil. Usually a widow stops wearing her pottu immediately after her husband’s death.