http://www.trendcounter.com/live/pf6s4w4m.htm

Genocide the Tamil people in Srilanka

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Sri Lanka war general ready to fight US court summons

A Sri Lankan general serving as a UN diplomat in New York is prepared to face a US court to deny charges his men committed war crimes during the island's civil war, reports said Monday.

A civil case has been filed in New York on behalf of two people whose relatives were killed in the final stages of the conflict, which ended in 2009 when the army launched a military onslaught againstTamil separatists.

A New York court served a summons last Friday at the New York residence of Major General Shavendra Silva, who is Sri Lanka's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations

http://news.yahoo.com/sri-lanka-war-general-ready-fight-us-court-205112871.html

Monday, September 12, 2011

Sri Lankan "peacekeepers" sent home over sex-for-pay scandal in Haiti

"Every two months a Tamil woman is gang-raped and murdered by the Sri Lankan security forces." Statement by NGO, Women Against Rape, at United Nations Commission on Human Rights

An occupying army of 9,000 UN military troops are currently posted to Haiti representing countries from around the world. This week, headlines announced that 114 Sri Lankan troops have been sent home in a sex-for-pay scandal where food was the currency and hungry young Haitian girls were the victims. These are not the first accusations of sexual exploitation and rape by UN forces in Haiti .As in the Congo, Kosovo, and elsewhere that UN "peacekeepers" operate, this is but the latest in an epidemic of sexual exploitation and trafficking by UN troops.

Just who are the Sri Lankan troops in Haiti? Blue helmets can't disguise the origins of troops who compose UN military forces. A commentary in Haiti-Cuba-Venezuala Analysis states, "Over the last thirty years, back home in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), soldiers used rape to subjugate a separatist group known as the Tamil. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam or “Tamil Tigers” challenged the Sri Lankan government and armed forces over the right to their own homeland in the north and east of the country. In March 2000, a UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women expressed “grave concern” over lack of proper investigation into allegations of Sri Lankan soldiers’ gang raping women and children. Also, in 2000, the Asian Human Rights Commission stated that the rapes against Tamil women were systematic in nature and were used as a weapon of war.

http://www.haitisolidarity.net/article.php?id=206

Canada calls for Sri Lanka boycott

The Canadian prime minister has called upon heads of state to consider Sri Lanka's human rights record before attending the Commonwealth leaders' summit (CHOGM) to be held in Colombo.

Answering a question by a journalist in Toronto, PM Stephen Harper said he has expressed his reservations on Sri Lanka hosting the 2013 summit.

"I intend to make clear to my fellow leaders at the Commonwealth that if we do not see progress in Sri Lanka in terms of human rights and some of the issues that you raised, I will not as Prime Minister be attending that Commonwealth summit," he said.

PM Harper's remark at a round table with a group of journalists who questioned Canada's stance on allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka, is the first indication by any head of state to boycott the summit hosted by Sri Lanka.

Earlier, a group of countries including Canada, Australia and UK objected to Sri Lanka holding the 2013 summit due to allegations of serious human rights violations.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2011/09/110912_canada_commonwealth.shtml

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Jaffna University students agitate against ‘grease devils’

[TamilNet, 08 September 2011] Openly accusing Sri Lanka government and its military for staging the ‘grease devil’ attacks on Tamils and Muslims of the North and East, and especially their women, the agitating students of the University of Jaffna called upon the International Community to take note of what is happening. More than a thousand students of the university with full support of the Teachers Union and Employees Union of the university staged the demonstration on Wednesday. Even animals resist when they are attacked, but we don’t have even that freedom against the cowardice ‘grease devils’ set by SL government with ultimate intentions of continued genocide, the demonstrators raised voices. It was a major demonstration in Jaffna in the last couple of years, news sources said.

Sri Lanka: Open Letter to Commonwealth Foreign Ministers

[ HRW- Sep 09, 11]

We are gravely concerned about the ongoing discussions on holding the 2013 CHOGM in Sri Lanka.

At the 2009 CHOGM, Sri Lanka’s candidature for hosting the meeting was deferred from 2011 to 2013 because of concerns about human rights abuses by the Sri Lankan government. While war-time abuses have ended, the situation in Sri Lanka continues to be characterised by serious human rights violations, including assault on democratic institutions, such as the media and trade unions. The Panel of Experts appointed by the UN Secretary-General to advise him on the status of allegations of war crimes during the last weeks of the conflict in Sri Lanka has concluded that serious abuses were committed by the government and by the LTTE, and warrant an international investigation.

Consideration of Sri Lanka as host of the next CHOGM appears grossly inappropriate in the above context. Awarding the next CHOGM to Sri Lanka would not only undermine the fundamental values on which the Commonwealth is based, but also has the potential to render the Commonwealth’s commitment to human rights and the promise of reforms meaningless.

application/pdf iconSri Lanka: Open Letter to Commonwealth Foreign Ministers (PDF)

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

SRI LANKA: INQUIRY INTO ARMED CONFLICT FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED

[ Amnesty International Sep 07 ,2011]

Sri Lankan government's inquiry into the country's civil war is fundamentally flawed and provides no accountability for atrocities, according to a new Amnesty International report. When will they get justice? exposes the shortcomings of the inquiry, the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). These include its failure to properly pursue allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity levelled against both government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). "The Sri Lankan government has, for almost two years, used the LLRC as its trump card in lobbying against an independent international investigation. Officials described it as a credible accountability mechanism, able to deliver justice and promote reconciliation. In reality it's flawed at every level: in mandate, composition and practice," said Amnesty International's Asia Pacific Director, Sam Zarifi.

Sri Lanka: When will they get justice? Failures of Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission

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Index Number: ASA 37/008/2011 Date Published: 7 September 2011 Categories: Sri Lanka