Sri Lanka: live up to your promises

The Sri Lankan President said last Saturday that no members of the Sri Lankan military would be charged for any crimes during the recent war with the opposition Tamil Tigers.  Amnesty International has been calling for an international investigation into violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, including war crimes, committed by both sides during the fighting.  (For background on this topic, please see our Sri Lanka page.)  The Sri Lankan government promised the U.N. last May that it would address the need for accountability for past abuses during the war.  The Sri Lankan government should live up to its promises to the U.N. and should facilitate an independent, international investigation now.

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23 thoughts on “Sri Lanka: live up to your promises

  1. Simple answer !!

    There were interrogations done within the country and found no guilty party to take any action against….

  2. Beginning to strongly feel the futility of these calls from Amnesty International and other international agencies. All these calls have started to become rhetorical since we all know that the SL government has done nothing so far and will do nothing in the future. Unless the world puts some kind of economic pressure that affects the country, the government simply does not care for all these calls. The world has turned a blind eye and the suffering of the Tamils only continues unabated.

  3. Simple answer !!

    There were interrogations done within the country and found no guilty party to take any action against….

  4. Beginning to strongly feel the futility of these calls from Amnesty International and other international agencies. All these calls have started to become rhetorical since we all know that the SL government has done nothing so far and will do nothing in the future. Unless the world puts some kind of economic pressure that affects the country, the government simply does not care for all these calls. The world has turned a blind eye and the suffering of the Tamils only continues unabated.

  5. In response to Jim Pappa's comment of Oct. 6, 2:54 A.M., I'd be interested in learning whether the Sri Lankan government has publicly issued the results of any investigations undertaken by the government concerning possible violations of human rights and humanitarian law during the war, especially its final months. I don't recall seeing any articles in the media on this topic.

  6. Promises are nothing 4 sri lankan leaders. When over 350,000 Tamils were in the so called safe zone, sri lankan leaders said, only 65,000. On final days of battle, sri lanka said only 200 ltte remain, on the last day they killed over 20,000 tamils, some were buried alive in the bungers, now sri lanka say, 15,000 ltte in their custody? still vomiting worms of lies.

  7. South Asia has never witnessed such a large scale, state-organized crime as one committed on Eezham Tamils by the government of Sri Lanka. Perhaps the world has never witnessed hitherto that such a crime of internment camps for civilians could be initiated collectively by all the powers of the world and the UN, and could be left like this without anyone being able to do anything about it. A civilian woman who was a captive in the Zone 3 of the internment camp of Menik Farm for four months, and managed to come out by ‘other means’ a month ago, writes on her experience in the camp – an indelible shame for the so-called civilised world.

    "The fate of a quarter of a million interned Tamils is poisoning Sri Lanka’s hopes of ethnic reconciliation….So long as Tamils feel abused by a racist Sinhalese state, the conflict may resume. Economic development of their shattered regions, which the government is planning, is unlikely to change that. Hence the government’s continued war-footing—but this is in turn also reinforcing Tamil grievances," a feature in the 1st October edition of The Economist said,

    Sri Lanka’s failure to rapidly resettle nearly 300,000 Tamils who survived the government’s final onslaught against the Tamil Tigers and their further suffering under harsh conditions in militarised camps could result in growing bitterness, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake Tuesday – the same day, the UN issued its strongest criticism yet of Sri Lanka’s continued internment of the hundreds of thousands of displacedTamils. Mr. Ban also stressed the need to expedite “a serious, independent and impartial accountability process to look into alleged violation of international law during the conflict as a critical part of moving forward and building peace in Sri Lanka,” a UN statement said.

    A whole world is duped in what Colombo is machinating in the name of resettlement of IDPs, Tamil circles in Jaffna commented, citing Sri Lanka Navy’s new internment camps around its installations in the island sector of Jaffna. Colombo’s aim is threefold: a human shield of civilians for its occupying forces, prevention of rightful owners reoccupying houses and lands around its military installations and eventually confiscating those lands in strategic areas for its expansion and other demographic conspiracies in the very heart of Tamil homeland, pointed out Tamil circles adding that a paranoid Sri Lankan state can never deliver justice to Tamils. The core truth is that the barbed-wire camps came up because the world powers wanted it. But some powers by not directly taking responsibility and some others like India by sitting on international action continue injustice, Jaffna circles said.

    Five Tamil and Muslim party leaders in a joint communique issued Wednesday stated that "the forcible detention of hundreds of thousands of Tamil citizens of Sri Lanka in camps for Internally Displaced Persons is illegal, without basis in the Constitution and in gross violation of international human rights norms," and called for immediate action to "end to military administration and restrictions placed on civilians, and we urge the restoration of full civilian administration to facilitate return to economic and social normality."

  8. In response to the last comment above, I'd ask that people commenting here please stick to the subject under discussion. My entry above was about the need for an international investigation into the violations of human rights and humanitarian law by both sides during the war. It wasn't about the conditions in which the IDPs are being held in the camps; there are other blog entries on that topic. Thanks for your consideration.

  9. In response to Jim Pappa’s comment of Oct. 6, 2:54 A.M., I’d be interested in learning whether the Sri Lankan government has publicly issued the results of any investigations undertaken by the government concerning possible violations of human rights and humanitarian law during the war, especially its final months. I don’t recall seeing any articles in the media on this topic.

  10. Sri Lankan S L) leaders are vomiting worms of lies
    Thanks for your informative comments

  11. Promises are nothing 4 sri lankan leaders. When over 350,000 Tamils were in the so called safe zone, sri lankan leaders said, only 65,000. On final days of battle, sri lanka said only 200 ltte remain, on the last day they killed over 20,000 tamils, some were buried alive in the bungers, now sri lanka say, 15,000 ltte in their custody? still vomiting worms of lies.

  12. South Asia has never witnessed such a large scale, state-organized crime as one committed on Eezham Tamils by the government of Sri Lanka. Perhaps the world has never witnessed hitherto that such a crime of internment camps for civilians could be initiated collectively by all the powers of the world and the UN, and could be left like this without anyone being able to do anything about it. A civilian woman who was a captive in the Zone 3 of the internment camp of Menik Farm for four months, and managed to come out by ‘other means’ a month ago, writes on her experience in the camp – an indelible shame for the so-called civilised world.

    “The fate of a quarter of a million interned Tamils is poisoning Sri Lanka’s hopes of ethnic reconciliation….So long as Tamils feel abused by a racist Sinhalese state, the conflict may resume. Economic development of their shattered regions, which the government is planning, is unlikely to change that. Hence the government’s continued war-footing—but this is in turn also reinforcing Tamil grievances,” a feature in the 1st October edition of The Economist said,

    Sri Lanka’s failure to rapidly resettle nearly 300,000 Tamils who survived the government’s final onslaught against the Tamil Tigers and their further suffering under harsh conditions in militarised camps could result in growing bitterness, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake Tuesday – the same day, the UN issued its strongest criticism yet of Sri Lanka’s continued internment of the hundreds of thousands of displacedTamils. Mr. Ban also stressed the need to expedite “a serious, independent and impartial accountability process to look into alleged violation of international law during the conflict as a critical part of moving forward and building peace in Sri Lanka,” a UN statement said.

    A whole world is duped in what Colombo is machinating in the name of resettlement of IDPs, Tamil circles in Jaffna commented, citing Sri Lanka Navy’s new internment camps around its installations in the island sector of Jaffna. Colombo’s aim is threefold: a human shield of civilians for its occupying forces, prevention of rightful owners reoccupying houses and lands around its military installations and eventually confiscating those lands in strategic areas for its expansion and other demographic conspiracies in the very heart of Tamil homeland, pointed out Tamil circles adding that a paranoid Sri Lankan state can never deliver justice to Tamils. The core truth is that the barbed-wire camps came up because the world powers wanted it. But some powers by not directly taking responsibility and some others like India by sitting on international action continue injustice, Jaffna circles said.

    Five Tamil and Muslim party leaders in a joint communique issued Wednesday stated that “the forcible detention of hundreds of thousands of Tamil citizens of Sri Lanka in camps for Internally Displaced Persons is illegal, without basis in the Constitution and in gross violation of international human rights norms,” and called for immediate action to “end to military administration and restrictions placed on civilians, and we urge the restoration of full civilian administration to facilitate return to economic and social normality.”

  13. In response to the last comment above, I’d ask that people commenting here please stick to the subject under discussion. My entry above was about the need for an international investigation into the violations of human rights and humanitarian law by both sides during the war. It wasn’t about the conditions in which the IDPs are being held in the camps; there are other blog entries on that topic. Thanks for your consideration.

  14. Sri Lankan S L) leaders are vomiting worms of lies
    Thanks for your informative comments

  15. If Sri Lanka and its supporters want the world to believe in their story,.
    a) why are they not allowing free media?
    b) why are not they allowing all aid workers?
    c)Why sri lanka not letting go tamils to their Home even after keeping over 5 months as hostage?
    Mass graves fear prevents Colombo from seeking demining help

    Of course this is a democratic country doing a ethnic cleansing in a post 9/11 era.

    Sri Lanka says it wants money to look after IDP? http://harpers.org/archive/2009/04/hbc-90004852
    The least we could do:
    — stop buying "Made in Sri Lanka"
    — stop flying "Air Lanka"
    — minimizing visiting / tours to Sri Lanka
    — say NO to Sri Lankan Tea

  16. If Sri Lanka and its supporters want the world to believe in their story,.
    a) why are they not allowing free media?
    b) why are not they allowing all aid workers?
    c)Why sri lanka not letting go tamils to their Home even after keeping over 5 months as hostage?
    Mass graves fear prevents Colombo from seeking demining help

    Of course this is a democratic country doing a ethnic cleansing in a post 9/11 era.

    Sri Lanka says it wants money to look after IDP? http://harpers.org/archive/2009/04/hbc-90004852
    The least we could do:
    — stop buying "Made in Sri Lanka"
    — stop flying "Air Lanka"
    — minimizing visiting / tours to Sri Lanka
    — say NO to Sri Lankan Tea

  17. If Sri Lanka and its supporters want the world to believe in their story,.
    a) why are they not allowing free media?
    b) why are not they allowing all aid workers?
    c)Why sri lanka not letting go tamils to their Home even after keeping over 5 months as hostage?
    Mass graves fear prevents Colombo from seeking demining help

    Of course this is a democratic country doing a ethnic cleansing in a post 9/11 era.

    Sri Lanka says it wants money to look after IDP? http://harpers.org/archive/2009/04/hbc-90004852
    The least we could do:
    — stop buying "Made in Sri Lanka"
    — stop flying "Air Lanka"
    — minimizing visiting / tours to Sri Lanka
    — say NO to Sri Lankan Tea

  18. If Sri Lanka and its supporters want the world to believe in their story,.
    a) why are they not allowing free media?
    b) why are not they allowing all aid workers?
    c)Why sri lanka not letting go tamils to their Home even after keeping over 5 months as hostage?
    Mass graves fear prevents Colombo from seeking demining help

    Of course this is a democratic country doing a ethnic cleansing in a post 9/11 era.

    Sri Lanka says it wants money to look after IDP?
    http://harpers.org/archive/2009/04/hbc-90004852
    The least we could do:
    — stop buying “Made in Sri Lanka”
    — stop flying “Air Lanka”
    — minimizing visiting / tours to Sri Lanka
    — say NO to Sri Lankan Tea

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