Truth and consequences Nationalistic fury is good for the government, terrible for Sri Lanka

[ The Economist Apr 28 2011 ]

IN RECENT years the default mode for Sri Lankan diplomats has been a posture of affronted national dignity beneath a mask of outraged, sanctimonious innocence. This week, after the publication of a report by a panel of experts for the United Nations on the final stages of Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war, some were recalled to Colombo for “consultations”. Maybe they are brushing up their indignant-repudiation skills.

The war culminated in May 2009 with the army’s crushing of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Its climax was marked by ruthlessness and callous disregard for human life.

http://www.economist.com/node/18620572?story_id=18620572&fsrc=rss

The UK Foreign Office welcomes UN Panel of Experts report on Sri Lanka

The Foreign Office welcomed the UN Panel of Experts report on the alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law during the military conflict in Sri Lanka.

The UK has consistently called for an independent and credible investigation to address these allegations which is why we fully supported the decision of the Secretary-General to establish the Panel of Experts.

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/news/latest-news/?view=News&id=589066282&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+FcoLatestNewsRssFeed+%2528FCO+Latest+News+RSS+feed%2529

Sri Lanka: UN rights chief urges further investigations into reports of war crimes

(26 April 2011-UN)The United Nations human rights chief today urged further investigations into the conduct of the final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka after a UN panel into those events found there were credible reports that both Government forces and Tamil rebels had committed war crimes.

Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said she hoped that the “disturbing new information” in the report of the three-member panel – which was released yesterday by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon – “will shock the conscience of the international community into finally taking serious action.

“As the report itself says, addressing violations of international humanitarian or human rights law is not a matter of choice or policy; it is a duty under domestic and international law,” Ms. Pillay said, according to a press release issued by her office in Geneva.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=38194&Cr=sri+lanka&Cr1=

Sri Lanka: UN Chief Should Establish International Inquiry

(New York-HRW) United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should act on a UN Panel of Experts' recommendations to establish an international independent investigation into abuses during Sri Lanka's armed conflict that ended in May 2009, Human Rights Watch said today. Ban's statement on April 25, 2011, indicating the need for Sri Lankan government consent or action by an intergovernmental body should not place an unnecessary obstacle to establishing a justice mechanism, Human Rights Watch said.

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/04/25/sri-lanka-un-chief-should-establish-international-inquiry

Panel of experts finds credible reports of war crimes during Sri Lanka conflict – UN

The Report [PDF] - UN

(25 April 2011-UN) The panel of experts set up to adviseSecretary-General Ban Ki-moon on accountability issues with respect to the final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka has found credible reports of war crimes committed by both the Government and Tamil rebels and calls for genuine investigations into the allegations, according to a report made public today by the United Nations.

The decision to release the report, which was submitted to the Secretary-General on 12 April and shared with the Sri Lankan Government, was made as a “matter of transparency and in the broader public interest,” Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=38187&Cr=Sri+Lanka&Cr1=

Rajapakse regime is guilty of war crimes

1)http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/sri-lanka-forces-committed-war-crimes-says-un-2269021.html 2)http://truthdive.com/2011/04/17/un-panel-indicts-srilanka-of-war-crimes.html 3)http://www.channel4.com/news/un-leak-points-to-crimes-against-humanity-in-sri-lanka-war 4)http://www.france24.com/en/20110416-leaked-un-report-urges-sri-lanka-war-crimes-probe 5)http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=23146 6)http://www.innercitypress.com/sriban5panel041511.html 7)http://www.smh.com.au/world/un-accuses-sri-lanka-of-slaughtering-civilians-20110417-1djmw.html 8)http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10720014 9)http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/UN-leaks-Panel-urges-probe-into-Lanka-war-crimes/articleshow/8002830.cms 10)http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/04/sri-lankan-government-retaliates-before-un-war-crimes-report/237339/ 11)http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33423 12)http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/pressure-on-sri-lanka-for-war-crimes-probe/story-e6frg6so-1226039937074 13http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/asia/south-asia/sri-lanka/191%20War%20Crimes%20in%20Sri%20Lanka.ashx 14)http://blog.amnestyusa.org/justice/war-crimes-in-sri-lanka-time-for-un-to-act/ 15http://www.indianexpress.com/news/sri-lankan-military-committed-war-crimes-un-report/777083/ 16http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/976104--un-to-investigate-sri-lankan-wartime-abuses?bn=1 17http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/connectasia/stories/201104/s3194620.htm 18)http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/bric-yard/leaked-un-report-accuses-sri-lanka-war-crimes 19)http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2058044_2060338_2060246,00.html #ixzz1K4Meejg6

Sri Lanka's conduct of war "serious challenge to International Order"

In an interview with Radio Australia, Gordon Weiss, a former UN spokesperson who accused Sri Lankan Government earlier of killing 10,000 to 40,000 Tamil civilians by discriminate shelling during the final stages of war, said that the real impact of the UN-panel's report "really in its absolute clarity that grave crimes were committed and that there must be an international judicial inquiry into it," and adds that he believes these "investigations will lead to a war crimes process." Full text of ABC interview follows:

Audio: Weiss interview with ABC

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=33817

UN leak points to 'crimes against humanity' in Sri Lanka war

[ Channel 4 News Apr 16 2011]

A leaked version of the long-awaited report by the United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) panel reveals "credible allegations" of war crimes which - if proven - suggest a "grave assault on the entire regime of international law". The report estimates that tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the final four months of Sri Lanka's civil war in 2009. http://www.channel4.com/news/un-leak-points-to-crimes-against-humanity-in-sri-lanka-war

Sri Lanka Army killed my son - Dr. Manoharan

(TamilNet, Thursday, 14 April )In a video released by Amnesty International in the wake of the submission of a Sri Lanka war-crimes report by a UN-panel to Ban Ki Moon, Dr Manoharan, father of one of the 5 Trincomalee students extra-judicially executed on 2nd January 2006, tells Amnesty that he will continue to challenge the Sri Lanka Government until he receives justice for the "criminal political murder" of his son. The video was shot during Dr. Manoharan's visit to New York during the last week of February 2011 to present the more than 55,000 signatures Amnesty received as part of Amnesty's campaign to urge the UN to begin investigations into the murder of the five Trincomalee students. http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=33803

Exiled Tamil priest wants peace, truth and justice in Sri Lanka

(By: Paul Dobbyn)President of the Global Tamil Forum, Fr Emmanuel once told the State Department in Washington that he was "father" to these priests. The five were among 10 priests killed in the final bloody battle between Government and rebel forces in Sri Lanka's north in May 2009. Once called the "Archbishop Tutu" of the Tamil struggle by United States human rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson, the 77-year-old priest was recently in Brisbane to spread the message that his people are suffering widespread human-rights abuses in the aftermath of the country's 30-year civil war. http://www.catholicleader.com.au/news.php/features/exiled-tamil-priest-wants-peace-truth-and-justice-in-sri-lanka_72871

2010 Human Rights Report: Sri Lanka

April 8, 2011

Sri Lanka is a constitutional, multiparty republic with a population estimated at 21 million. President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was reelected to a second six-year term in January, and the parliament, which was elected in April, share constitutional power. The government is dominated by the president's family; two of the president's brothers hold key executive branch posts as defense secretary and minister of economic development, while a third brother is the speaker of parliament. Independent observers generally characterized the presidential and parliamentary elections as problematic. Both elections were fraught with violations of the election law by all major parties and were influenced by the governing coalition's massive use of state resources. There were instances in which elements of the security forces acted independently of civilian control.

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/sca/154486.htm

Sri Lanka: Account for Wartime Disappearances

(New York-HRW) The Sri Lankan government should account for everyone who was taken into custody at the end of Sri Lanka's 26-year-long armed conflict in May 2009 and are feared to have been "disappeared," Human Rights Watch said today. Despite numerous requests from families for information about their relatives, the authorities do not appear to have conducted any serious investigations, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch said unresolved enforced disappearances should be part of the mandate of a proposed United Nations investigation into laws-of-war violations by both government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). A Panel of Experts appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to advise him on steps for ensuring accountability for laws-of-war violations in Sri Lanka is expected to hand over its report later in April 2011. http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/04/07/sri-lanka-account-wartime-disappearances