Sri Lanka: Stop Shelling ‘No-Fire Zone’

UN Security Council Action Needed to Avert Humanitarian Catastrophe

April 9, 2009

(New York) – The Sri Lankan government should stop firing heavy artillery into the “no-fire zone” in the northern Vanni area where some 100,000 civilians are trapped by the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, causing skyrocketing casualties, Human Rights Watch said today.

Human Rights Watch called upon the United Nations Security Council to take urgent measures, including by sending a special envoy to Sri Lanka, to bring an end to violations of international humanitarian law by government forces and the LTTE.

“Sri Lanka’s so-called ‘no-fire zone’ is now one of the most dangerous places in the world,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Security Council has quibbled over protocol when it should be acting to bring an end to this ghastly loss of life.”

People in the government-declared no-fire zone told Human Rights Watch that several areas have been subjected to heavy shelling since April 7, 2009, resulting in numerous civilian casualties. According to a doctor at the make-shift hospital in Putumattalan, on April 7 the hospital received 133 wounded civilians and 20 dead bodies. He said that all were the victims of a shelling in Pokkanai, a seaside area within the no-fire zone that is crowded with displaced persons.

Two other shelling attacks hit the same area on the morning of April 8. The doctor said the hospital received 296 wounded and 46 bodies on April 8, and 300 wounded and 62 bodies on April 9.  Because of a lack of access to the conflict area, Human Rights Watch is unable to confirm these figures independently.  On April 9 the International Committee of the Red Cross evacuated 230 injured civilians plus their relatives by ferry from Putumattalan.

A witness to the first attack on April 8 said that it took place at 7:30 a.m. near Pokkanai primary health center. Hundreds of civilians were waiting in line near a food distribution center when four or five artillery shells hit the area, killing at least 13 civilians immediately and wounding over 50 others. The doctor, who examined the site two hours after the attack, said that the shells were 120mm rounds and appeared to have been fired from Sri Lankan army positions to the south.

A 35-year-old man told Human Rights Watch that he was waiting in the food distribution line with his wife and 2-year-old child when the shelling started:

“There had been no distribution of milk powder for three months, and so when they announced that there would be distribution today [April 8], hundreds of people lined in queue. It was early in the morning. I heard the first shell, and hit the ground. Then several more landed nearby, after three or four minutes. I survived by miracle, but my 45-year-old uncle died on the spot – he lost both legs.

“I tried to get him to the hospital by bike – there are no cars, and no ambulances, and there were so many people – women, and children – injured in that attack. Now I am staying in the hospital with my wife and child, because we have nowhere else to go and the hospital may be the safest place. But there is also no place to stay here – there are so many injured people, and the new injured are being brought here all the time as we speak.”

Another attack followed several hours later. The doctor said the new patients continued to arrive by the minute.

Human Rights Watch called on the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE to urgently facilitate the safe evacuation of civilians from the conflict area. Approximately 100,000 civilians are believed to be trapped in the roughly 20-square-kilometer area under LTTE control.

Several people who recently managed to flee the no-fire zone reported that escape was becoming increasingly difficult because the LTTE had built an earth mound and posted sentries at regular intervals on the zone’s perimeter. One woman who escaped in mid-March said that LTTE fighters had opened fire on her group as they tried to flee in the dark, but they kept running. A large number spent the night hiding in the Nanthikadal lagoon, which borders the no-fire zone, standing in water up to their necks. Only when it was light enough for government forces to see that they were civilians did the group emerge from the water toward the government side.

A 19-year-old youth who tried to escape with his family on April 1 said that the LTTE had forced his parents to turn back. He and his younger brother made a run for it, however, and eventually made it to the government side.

The Sri Lankan government continues to prevent the media and other independent observers from traveling to the war-affected Vanni region to report on the situation. The doctor told Human Rights Watch that he and other medical staff who have been providing information from inside the no-fire zone have been threatened by the authorities and ordered not to speak to the media.

“We decided that we are beyond the point where we can just complain to the authorities,” the doctor said. “Because we told them a hundred times and they have failed to take any proper steps to stop the attack on civilians and did not send in the necessary amount of medications.

“We have been reporting every day, every day providing reports to relevant authorities and to the international community, and still there are no real steps taken to save these innocent civilians.”

Under international humanitarian law applicable to the armed conflict in Sri Lanka, both the government armed forces and the LTTE are obligated to take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilian life and property. Since January, both sides have shown little regard for the safety of civilians in the Vanni, and more than 3000 civilians are believed to have died in the fighting. The LTTE has violated the laws of war by using civilians as “human shields,” by preventing civilians from fleeing the combat zone and by deliberately deploying their forces close to densely populated civilian areas. The Sri Lankan armed forces have indiscriminately shelled densely populated areas, including hospitals, in violation of the laws of war.

Individuals who commit serious violations of international humanitarian law with criminal intent – that is, deliberately or recklessly – should be prosecuted for war crimes. War crimes include using human shields and deliberately attacking civilians. Evidence as to whether indiscriminate attacks on civilians were deliberate or reckless would include: information on the known number of civilians in the area under attack, attacks striking presumptively civilian objects such as hospitals, and a showing that such attacks occurred repeatedly. In addition to those who ordered or executed unlawful actions or attacks, commanders who knew or should have known of war crimes being committed and failed to take measures to stop them can be held responsible as a matter of command responsibility.

Sri Lanka has an obligation under international law to investigate credible allegations of war crimes, including by members of its own forces, and appropriately prosecuting those responsible.

“War crimes by the Tamil Tigers don’t give Sri Lankan commanders free rein to ignore civilian casualties,” said Adams. “Accountability is a two-way street.”

Source : HRW.ORG

Gaza & Wanniya….

Freedom for Palestine! Cease-fire in Sri Lanka!!

Relying the fond hopes of all those who greeted each other for a ‘peaceful’ and ‘terror-free’ 2009, the New Year has begun on a particularly aggressive note of war and destruction. Armed Israeli forces have mounted an all-out assault on Gaza, killing and maiming hundreds of Palestinians through air strikes, ground offensive as well as sea-borne attacks. Nearer home, the Sri Lankan Army claims to be advancing towards Mulaitivu, after having already captured the LTTE stronghold of Kilinochi. The LTTE claims to have killed more than 50 members of the Sri Lankan armed forces in retaliatory resistance and counter-operations, both around Mulaitivu and in capital Colombo.
Both these campaigns seem to have been timed deliberately at this particular juncture. Busy with the post-election change of guards, neither Bush nor Obama will have to face the heat on account of these wars, and the European Union and all other major players in international relations are preoccupied with the global financial meltdown and economic recession. Israel’s attack on Gaza clearly enjoys the fullest backing of the US which sees Israeli aggression merely as a ‘reply’ to acts of military ‘provocation’ by the Hamas. The Sri Lankan military offensive may not enjoy that sort of explicit endorsement by the US and its allies, but Sri Lanka is out to seek international legitimacy for its action by projecting the whole thing as a crucial victory over “savage terrorism”. The history of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories in Gaza and West Bank goes back to four decades. Notwithstanding periodic changes of guards in both Israel and the US, the two establishments have always had the closest strategic partnership. Every military assault by Israel on Palestinian/Arab territory or people has enjoyed the protective political umbrella of the US and since 2001 the partnership has been reinforced by the US-led global ‘war on terror’. While the US has gone on to invade and occupy countries like Afghanistan and Iraq, Israel has specialised in targeting the backbone of Arab resistance, Hamas in Palestine and Hezbollah in Lebanon. But just as the US has got stuck in Afghanistan and Iraq, two years ago Israel too had to suffer a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Regrettably enough, the US-Israel axis has been emboldened not only by the silence of much of the Western world and big Asian countries like China and India, but also by the complicity and acquiescence on the part of sections of Arab rulers. Egypt and Jordan have already been pushed into so-called peace treaties with Israel, and they now look away, if not play willing accomplices, as the US-Israel axis targets the Palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians. In spite of such a division within the Arab ruling establishment, the Hezbollah had successfully withstood and defeated Israeli aggression two years ago, thanks to overwhelming popular support within the Arab world. This time too, the Hamas and Hezbollah have both called for organising mass protests and resistance across the Arab world and Israel may once again have to pay a heavy price for its military misadventure in Gaza. Reports of communist-led protests are also coming in from within Israel.
Interestingly, the Sri Lankans decry the Israeli action and would like to project their military operation in a different light than the ethnic cleansing unleashed by Israeli armed forces even as President Mahinda Rajapaksa hailed the fall of Killinochi as “the most honourable victory in the annals of military heroism that runs through many centuries” of Sri Lanka’s history. Whatever truth there may be in Rajapaksa’s military claims, the fact remains that Sri Lanka’s aggressive military bid to put an end to the “false Eelam struggle” and unite the whole of Sri Lanka under one single flag and as one single nation smacks very much of the Zionist politics of ethnic hatred and racist domination.
India has traditionally opposed the Israeli occupation of Palestine and since the disastrous IPKF experience in the late 1980s, officially India has favoured a political, and not military, solution of the Sri Lankan Tamil question. But over the last ten years as Indian foreign policy has started revolving increasingly around the US-Israel strategic axis, India too now effectively endorses the aggressive military strategy pursued by Israel and Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, the FBI has virtually taken over the ‘Indian’ probe into Mumbai terror attack and, through the newly set-up NIA, the US now has an ever tighter grip on various aspects of India’s domestic security as well.
The Indian people must therefore come out ever more vociferously against the Israeli attack on Gaza and also for an immediate cease-fire in Sri Lanka. The more India endorses the marauding military expeditions of the US-Israel axis, the more India weakens her own battle against terrorism. A free Palestine remains the most crucial unfinished agenda of the contemporary global battle for peace, justice and democracy and the Indian people must throw their entire weight behind the just forces of Palestinian resistance and for a dignified political resolution of the Sri Lankan Tamil question.

Ravaya ==HOT TOPIC- Raveesa==

Read on>> as_PDF

To read past Letter see the Left  sidebar.

Budget 2009

Clip

Sri Lanka’s civil strife == Al Jazeera ==

Civil war in Sri Lanka is escalating. The ongoing gun battles, artillery attacks and air strikes across the northern part of the country have left tens of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters and government soldiers dead.

The Sri Lankan army, whose forces are pushing towards the Tiger’s administrative capital town of Kilinochchi, has vowed to destroy the LTTE by the end of the year.

Inside Story, with presenter Nick Clark, discusses the chances of the Sri Lankan army achieving this objective and asks whether there should be peace talks between the government and the Tamil Tigers.

Courtesy : AL Jazeera English

Inside Story – Sri Lanka’s Civil Strife – Oct 8 – Part 1

Inside Story – Sri Lanka’s Civil Strife – Oct 8 – Part2

Request to assistance and support to handle the Humanitarian crisis in Wanni

Kilinochchi Medical Association representing the doctors from the Kilinochchi district requested assistance and support to handle the Humanitarian crisis in Wanni Region.They have sent a request letter to the Secretary of GMOA.

Full text of the letter

Dear Sir,

Re: Assistance and support to handle the Humanitarian crisis in Wanni region

We, the Kilinochchi Medical Association representing the doctors from the Kilinochchi district is now seeking your kind assistance and support to handle the Humanitarian crisis in Wanni Region.

Due to ongoing military operations to liberate the LTTE control territories, many civilians are compel to abundant their dwellings and resettle in the areas which are not suitable according to the medical point of view.

Even though significant amount of people are displaced from the Kilinochchi town, the remaining population and the displaced people in this district are dependent on the Kilinochchi District General hospital which is the one and only Tertiary care institution.

This displacement causes a big challenge to our medical sector which is already running with limited carders.

For example, most of the people are living in temporary shelters which are located in the paddy fields and flooding areas. As the monsoon season started already, we are receiving a huge numbers of babies with dysentery and gastro enteritis.

Adding to this worst, Kilinochchi General Hospital premises are hit by the shrapnels of aerial bombs and Glass windows of the ICU smashed by the blast wave.

In order to secure the valuable medical equipments and at the same time to give the medical assistance for the displaced population, RDHS Kilinochchi decided to move the part of the hospital to a Government school known as Visuvamadu Maha Vidyalayam in the area where most of the people are resettled and to a peripheral unit at Tharmapuram. But, you can imagine and understand our struggle to run a General hospital in a periphery.

Currently at this Visuvamadu Maha Vidyalayam 100 displaced families are residing. Further more, eleven displaced schools are attached with this Maha Vidyalayam.

It is clear that before we are starting to function the General Hospital at Visuvamadu, we need to fulfill following two major tasks

1. IDP families need to be resettled outside the school premises

2. Need to facilitate the School administration to continue the functions of these schools without interruption.

We asked local NGOs to help to solve these tasks. At the same time we communicated with ICRC in these regards.

As we are the doctors representing the Sri Lankan Government in the Health sector it is our responsibility to look after innocent Sri Lankan citizens of these areas and we hope that we are having rights to demand our government on behalf of our people.

At this juncture, as a powerful trade union in Sri Lanka, we decided to get your assistance and moral support to over come our hardships.

So could you please assist us to tackle this situation and if possible, send your representatives to visit our District.

Gamini Viyangoda :Hors d`oeuvre_15(Sinhala Artical)

Read on>> as_PDF

To read past Letter see the Left  sidebar.

Sri Lanka: Blocking aid workers endangers trapped civilians

9 September 2008

The Sri Lankan government’s order for United Nations (UN) and non-governmental aid workers to leave the war-torn northern Wanni region could further endanger tens of thousands of displaced persons trapped between the two parties to the conflict, Amnesty International warned.

National staff of international aid agencies now left behind in the Wanni fear that the withdrawal of international staff will make them more vulnerable to abuses by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Amnesty International has received credible reports that the LTTE has prevented civilians from moving to safer places in government controlled areas. The LTTE is also actively recruiting minors in camps for the newly displaced.

“Aid agencies provided a lifeline to tens of thousands of trapped civilians. If aid workers are pulled out of the region, food, shelter and sanitation supplies have even less chance of reaching civilians most in need,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific Director.

Aid workers in the Wanni told Amnesty International that they feared the government lacks the capacity to provide basic essentials and safety for those who have had to flee their homes as fighting has intensified between Sri Lankan forces and the LTTE. Seven international aid agencies, including the World Food Program, were providing emergency food assistance in the Wanni.

“The Sri Lankan government has now assumed total responsibility for ensuring the needs of the civilian population affected by the hostilities are met. If the government is telling aid workers to pull back, then it must show it has the capacity to feed and protect its own citizens left behind,” said Sam Zarifi.

Amnesty International called on the Sri Lankan government to allow independent international monitors into the Wanni to oversee and ensure that convoys with food, medical and other essential supplies enter into the area, as well oversee the distribution of such supplies.

“Independent monitors are essential to help ensure that basic necessities are reaching those in need, without discrimination. Without independent monitors in the region, there will be a complete void of information about any casualties or the state of shelters,” said Sam Zarifi.

Despite government claims about setting up humanitarian corridors allowing for the safe passage of civilians out of the Wanni, Amnesty International has only received reports of unrestricted passage through the Omanthai checkpoint. Under international law, the government should ensure that people know where these corridors are and how they can reach them.

Background
The government announced yesterday, 8 September, that it could no longer ensure the safety of aid workers in the area and requested that United Nations and humanitarian agencies staff move out to government-controlled territory.

Under international humanitarian law, both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE are obliged to treat those not taking active part in the hostilities humanely at all times, and without discrimination. In addition to prohibiting directing attacks at such people or carrying out indiscriminate attacks, this provision includes the obligation to ensure that humanitarian supplies reach all of those who need it.

The United Nations has begun shifting international workers from Kilinochchi to government-controlled Vavuniya. The International Committee of the Red Cross has issued a statement that it plans to continue assisting those in need, regardless of location.

The Sri Lankan military has launched a major offensive to reclaim areas of the north and east previously controlled by the LTTE. Families have been displaced several times while fleeing from aerial bombardment by government forces.

Source : AI