"The UN wants to know if your torture is up to international standard."
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Monday, May 31, 2010
International Probe Needed By Srilanka -
Amnesty International India
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The United Nations human rights chief called on Sri Lanka to allow an international probe into the government's final offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels last year.
Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, acknowledged that the Sri Lanka government had created a post-war reconciliation commission to look into alleged human rights violations, and provide justice to victims.
"However, based on previous experience and new information, I remain convinced that such objectives would be better served by establishing an independent international accountability mechanism that would enjoy public confidence, both in Sri Lanka and elsewhere," she told the UN Human Rights Council.
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse last Thursday reiterated that he would not tolerate any outside review of the military offensive.
Sri Lankan Attorney-General Mohan Peiris told the council on Monday that Pillay was prejudging the outcome of the domestic commission's work and warned that an international probe would undermine the country's sovereignty.
"We are of the view that the High Commissioner's observations on the Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation, which has just been established, regrettably seeks to prejudge its outcome even before the mechanism has begun its work," he said.
Peiris defended the domestic probe, saying that it was not unusual for countries emerging from armed conflicts to turn first to internal probes, partly because they were closer to the main issues.
"It is in this context that the government of Sri Lanka has consistently upheld and established a domestic mechanism for transitional justice," he said.
The state-run Daily News newspaper reported on May 5 on Colombo's plans to set up a reconciliation commission to foster ethnic unity as the island recovers from nearly four decades of conflict, but gave few details.
According to a document circulated by the Sri Lanka delegation at the Human Rights Council on Monday, the commission was set up on May 15, with eight people "selected for their eminence and independence."
They are required to examine the circumstances around the failure of a 2002 ceasefire agreement as well as lessons learnt from the conflict and how victims can be helped.
The commission should report back within six months.
Pillay assessed that some progress has been made since the end of the conflict in the return and resettlement of displaced people.
"Concrete initiatives must now follow to provide justice and redress to victims and generally to promote accountability and longer-term reconciliation," she added.
Government troops defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels in May last year after killing the guerilla leaders who were fighting for an ethnic Tamil homeland.
The UN estimates that up to 100,000 people died in Sri Lanka's Tamil separatist conflict after the Tiger rebels first emerged in 1972.
The Sinhalese are the majority in Sri Lanka, with the Tamils representing the minority.
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The United Nations human rights chief called on Sri Lanka to allow an international probe into the government's final offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels last year.
Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, acknowledged that the Sri Lanka government had created a post-war reconciliation commission to look into alleged human rights violations, and provide justice to victims.
"However, based on previous experience and new information, I remain convinced that such objectives would be better served by establishing an independent international accountability mechanism that would enjoy public confidence, both in Sri Lanka and elsewhere," she told the UN Human Rights Council.
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse last Thursday reiterated that he would not tolerate any outside review of the military offensive.
Sri Lankan Attorney-General Mohan Peiris told the council on Monday that Pillay was prejudging the outcome of the domestic commission's work and warned that an international probe would undermine the country's sovereignty.
"We are of the view that the High Commissioner's observations on the Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation, which has just been established, regrettably seeks to prejudge its outcome even before the mechanism has begun its work," he said.
Peiris defended the domestic probe, saying that it was not unusual for countries emerging from armed conflicts to turn first to internal probes, partly because they were closer to the main issues.
"It is in this context that the government of Sri Lanka has consistently upheld and established a domestic mechanism for transitional justice," he said.
The state-run Daily News newspaper reported on May 5 on Colombo's plans to set up a reconciliation commission to foster ethnic unity as the island recovers from nearly four decades of conflict, but gave few details.
According to a document circulated by the Sri Lanka delegation at the Human Rights Council on Monday, the commission was set up on May 15, with eight people "selected for their eminence and independence."
They are required to examine the circumstances around the failure of a 2002 ceasefire agreement as well as lessons learnt from the conflict and how victims can be helped.
The commission should report back within six months.
Pillay assessed that some progress has been made since the end of the conflict in the return and resettlement of displaced people.
"Concrete initiatives must now follow to provide justice and redress to victims and generally to promote accountability and longer-term reconciliation," she added.
Government troops defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels in May last year after killing the guerilla leaders who were fighting for an ethnic Tamil homeland.
The UN estimates that up to 100,000 people died in Sri Lanka's Tamil separatist conflict after the Tiger rebels first emerged in 1972.
The Sinhalese are the majority in Sri Lanka, with the Tamils representing the minority.
Sri Lanka: Experiences of a Survivor..
Amnesty International India
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Vasuki is a Tamil refugee now living outside Sri Lanka.* In 2009 she spent several months in the No Fire Zone in Northern Sri Lanka struggling to survive with her 2 small children. Vasuki shares some of her desperate experiences of daily life trapped between the fighting parties – the Sri Lankan security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Vasuki spent several months in detention at Ananda Coomaraswamy camp after the war before leaving the country.
“In December 2008 I was living in Kilinochchi when my home came under aerial attack. We were displaced to Viswamadhu in Mullaitivu. The early days of displacement were not too difficult as Viswamadhu is an agricultural area. It was when we moved to PTK that we started to feel the pinch. We lived in a tent over a bunker. When there was no attack or shelling we could cook outside but when shelling was heavy we had to stay in the bunker for hours cooking and living there. For weeks my kids did not talk, they were so scared. They had to witness people dying from shell attacks and the memory of dead bodies lying all around will probably never vanish.
In March we had to move to Matalan in Mullivaikkal – this was crammed with tens of thousands of people. By now people had finished their supplies and eaten all they had, even their cattle. I had to fast so that I could feed my children and just drank the water I cooked the rice in. Elderly people collapsed around us or slipped into comas. I have to admit I tried to kill myself because I was so depressed but my daughters begged me not to give up. What kept us going was a belief that the UN would intervene to stop the terrible human suffering.
Shelling got steadily worst. Then on 15 May a huge explosion forced us to move towards Vella Mullivaikkal. I can’t describe the horror around us - we had to fight our way across a carpet of dead bodies. We finally made our way to Vatavahal bridge. Along the way the Army fired at us.
I find it hard to talk about this time.... people were also not happy with the LTTE as they forcibly recruited from families. What I know is that people want to live in peace but we cannot forget all those we left behind. You can’t give us back what we lost but you can give us justice”.
Amnesty International has launched a campaign “Justice for Survivors” to put pressure on the UN to open an independent investigation into war crimes committed by both sides. Help Vasuki and thousands like her by signing this petition. Amnesty is targeting atleast 50,000 signatures. Help them get there!
(*Vasuki’s name has been changed to protect her identity.)
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Vasuki is a Tamil refugee now living outside Sri Lanka.* In 2009 she spent several months in the No Fire Zone in Northern Sri Lanka struggling to survive with her 2 small children. Vasuki shares some of her desperate experiences of daily life trapped between the fighting parties – the Sri Lankan security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Vasuki spent several months in detention at Ananda Coomaraswamy camp after the war before leaving the country.
“In December 2008 I was living in Kilinochchi when my home came under aerial attack. We were displaced to Viswamadhu in Mullaitivu. The early days of displacement were not too difficult as Viswamadhu is an agricultural area. It was when we moved to PTK that we started to feel the pinch. We lived in a tent over a bunker. When there was no attack or shelling we could cook outside but when shelling was heavy we had to stay in the bunker for hours cooking and living there. For weeks my kids did not talk, they were so scared. They had to witness people dying from shell attacks and the memory of dead bodies lying all around will probably never vanish.
In March we had to move to Matalan in Mullivaikkal – this was crammed with tens of thousands of people. By now people had finished their supplies and eaten all they had, even their cattle. I had to fast so that I could feed my children and just drank the water I cooked the rice in. Elderly people collapsed around us or slipped into comas. I have to admit I tried to kill myself because I was so depressed but my daughters begged me not to give up. What kept us going was a belief that the UN would intervene to stop the terrible human suffering.
Shelling got steadily worst. Then on 15 May a huge explosion forced us to move towards Vella Mullivaikkal. I can’t describe the horror around us - we had to fight our way across a carpet of dead bodies. We finally made our way to Vatavahal bridge. Along the way the Army fired at us.
I find it hard to talk about this time.... people were also not happy with the LTTE as they forcibly recruited from families. What I know is that people want to live in peace but we cannot forget all those we left behind. You can’t give us back what we lost but you can give us justice”.
Amnesty International has launched a campaign “Justice for Survivors” to put pressure on the UN to open an independent investigation into war crimes committed by both sides. Help Vasuki and thousands like her by signing this petition. Amnesty is targeting atleast 50,000 signatures. Help them get there!
(*Vasuki’s name has been changed to protect her identity.)
Friday, May 28, 2010
Survivors of War in Sri Lanka Deserve Justice
Amnesty International India
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It has been a year since the Sri Lankan government declared victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in a conflict where massive violations were committed by both sides. The scale and nature of atrocities escalated in the last stages of the military assault between January and May 2009. Witnesses say, many thousands of civilians died, caught between the warring parties.
The Sri Lankan government’s armed forces and the LTTE completely disregarded protecting civilians through their appalling military actions. This is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law that prohibits indiscriminate or targeted attacks on civilians and hostage taking.
UN Silence
But where is the outrage? Why is the UN Security Council (UNSC) silent?
Countries like Russia and China have argued that there was no threat to international peace and security since the conflict was contained within Sri Lanka’s borders. But such gross violations of international humanitarian law impact us all if countries are allowed to get away with it. Today it is Sri Lanka. Tomorrow it could be another country and then another and then another. UN General Secretary, Ban Ki-Moon, tried to discuss the situation with the Sri Lankan President directly. But his actions to ensure accountability in Sri Lanka as elsewhere remain very weak and fall short of pushing for an international inquiry that is so clearly needed.
The survivors of the conflict have no closure. In Sri Lanka, they have been offered no recourse to justice, truth and reparations.
It is only international pressure in the form of a UN mandated independent investigation that will ensure that states like Sri Lanka are not allowed to hide from the crimes they commit inside their borders.
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It has been a year since the Sri Lankan government declared victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in a conflict where massive violations were committed by both sides. The scale and nature of atrocities escalated in the last stages of the military assault between January and May 2009. Witnesses say, many thousands of civilians died, caught between the warring parties.
The Sri Lankan government’s armed forces and the LTTE completely disregarded protecting civilians through their appalling military actions. This is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law that prohibits indiscriminate or targeted attacks on civilians and hostage taking.
( Photograph courtesy - Amnesty International)
UN Silence
But where is the outrage? Why is the UN Security Council (UNSC) silent?
Countries like Russia and China have argued that there was no threat to international peace and security since the conflict was contained within Sri Lanka’s borders. But such gross violations of international humanitarian law impact us all if countries are allowed to get away with it. Today it is Sri Lanka. Tomorrow it could be another country and then another and then another. UN General Secretary, Ban Ki-Moon, tried to discuss the situation with the Sri Lankan President directly. But his actions to ensure accountability in Sri Lanka as elsewhere remain very weak and fall short of pushing for an international inquiry that is so clearly needed.
The survivors of the conflict have no closure. In Sri Lanka, they have been offered no recourse to justice, truth and reparations.
It is only international pressure in the form of a UN mandated independent investigation that will ensure that states like Sri Lanka are not allowed to hide from the crimes they commit inside their borders.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Child Labour....Complete Violation Of Human Rights.....
Amnesty International India
In 2006 July a group of 19 adolescent boys and girls from Kherwada block of Udaipur district were hired through a middleman to work in a cottonseed farm in Mehsana district of Gujarat. There, according to the older girls in the group, the owner of the farm and his partners sexually harassed three of them. When the girls resisted, some of the group members including one girl were severally beaten and thrown out of the field. With no money in their pockets, the group had to walk back for three days and two nights to reach home.
Approximately one lakh children from the tribal-dominated southern districts of Rajasthan are trafficked to northern Gujarat to work in cottonseed fields every year. For many years now, there have been reports of sexual harassment, physical and mental torture, long hours and harsh conditions of work, low wages, as well as unsafe and unhygienic living conditions on these farms. Every year there have been cases of deaths of children; in 2009 there were as many as 11 such reports. Some of these are from snake bites and exposure to pesticides; but more gruesome than these are the rape-and-murder reports.
I really dont understand why these cruel people are after the life of poor childrens......dont they have any right to survive in a dignified manner and have education and atleast a medium standard of living....why they are always subject to such humilation everytime...For records , many projects and plans have been made for them but the reality is completely different and horrible ! There should be a strict rule to apply upon until then India,s tomorrow will remain in slums and will depend on begging for its living.....
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Approximately one lakh children from the tribal-dominated southern districts of Rajasthan are trafficked to northern Gujarat to work in cottonseed fields every year. For many years now, there have been reports of sexual harassment, physical and mental torture, long hours and harsh conditions of work, low wages, as well as unsafe and unhygienic living conditions on these farms. Every year there have been cases of deaths of children; in 2009 there were as many as 11 such reports. Some of these are from snake bites and exposure to pesticides; but more gruesome than these are the rape-and-murder reports.
I really dont understand why these cruel people are after the life of poor childrens......dont they have any right to survive in a dignified manner and have education and atleast a medium standard of living....why they are always subject to such humilation everytime...For records , many projects and plans have been made for them but the reality is completely different and horrible ! There should be a strict rule to apply upon until then India,s tomorrow will remain in slums and will depend on begging for its living.....
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Thursday, May 20, 2010
Human Rights....Excuse me ..!
Amnesty International India
Yesterday I went to a nice public school in the city, the extra classes are going on these days in some of the schools, I went in a class filled with around 25 students and asked randomly about Human Rights.....i asked can anybody of you tell me about Human Rights....? what are they ? how you can relate to them.....and there was complete silence....just a small giggle on my left hand side by a group of girls....it was strange for me to know that they were just wondering about...!!I then briefed them up with the topic but all my way to home i was thinking in such a big country where we people are talking about globalisation and technology our coming generation is unaware about such a vital issue....such importants rights ......
Anyways , Human Rights are not just mere some words to mug up but they are to be lived up....but in our country we all every morning read in the news paper about some or the other right being violated....but who will raise the voice....me...or Mr.Gupta in the neighbour or that newspaper hawker who is selling the news paper without being aware about any issue....well we all come across such questions in our daily life and we just ignore them because we know that it will take a lot of struggle to prove the right " Right ".....isint ?
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Yesterday I went to a nice public school in the city, the extra classes are going on these days in some of the schools, I went in a class filled with around 25 students and asked randomly about Human Rights.....i asked can anybody of you tell me about Human Rights....? what are they ? how you can relate to them.....and there was complete silence....just a small giggle on my left hand side by a group of girls....it was strange for me to know that they were just wondering about...!!I then briefed them up with the topic but all my way to home i was thinking in such a big country where we people are talking about globalisation and technology our coming generation is unaware about such a vital issue....such importants rights ......
Anyways , Human Rights are not just mere some words to mug up but they are to be lived up....but in our country we all every morning read in the news paper about some or the other right being violated....but who will raise the voice....me...or Mr.Gupta in the neighbour or that newspaper hawker who is selling the news paper without being aware about any issue....well we all come across such questions in our daily life and we just ignore them because we know that it will take a lot of struggle to prove the right " Right ".....isint ?
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