A word of thanks for helping to save the innocent

On behalf of hundreds of thousands of people still suffering in appalling conditions, people we can help, we at the Sri Lanka Peace & Justice Campaign would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to everyone worldwide who has participated in our online petition. People from over 100 nations have already signed. We aim to send the United Nations a new strong petition to reflect the current developments and keep up the pressure on the GoSL! Please take a moment to sign the new petition and forward this email to your friends and colleagues. (continue reading…)

Canadian Tamils vote for sovereign Tamil state within Sri Lanka

99.8% say YES to ‘Tamil Eelam’ in Canada referendum

On Saturday, thousands of Tamils across Canada voted in a referendum that would support a sovereign Tamil state within Sri Lanka.

Historic Decision Day for Canadian Tamils; Polls to Open Nation Wide at 9:00 am

TORONTO, Dec. 19 /CNW/ – Polls are expect to open in few hours across Canada and thousands of Tamils are expected to cast their votes in 31 polling stations across the nation using 62 electronic voting machines. The Coalition for Tamil Elections Canada is conducting the first ever independent nationwide referendum by a Canadian community across major Canadian cities.  This election had been requested and is being facilitated for the Canadian Tamils to reaffirm the political destiny of their disenfranchised relatives, promote human rights and democratic values in Sri Lanka.

Election Coordination Center will be open at the Delta Toronto East Hotel, 2035 Kennedy Road -Canadiana Room for media access from 9:00 am and the results will be carried live once the polls closed at 9:00 pm at the same location.

For more information visit: www.tamilelections.ca

For further information: Anne Selva: Phone Number: (416) 836-6834, anne@tamilelections.ca; Suren Nat: Phone Number: (416) 670-1872, suren@tamilelections.ca

Yes or no to Tamil Eelam, referendum in Canada on Saturday : http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=30811

(continue reading…)

US supports a UN probe on alleged HR abuses in Lanka

The US says that it is fully supportive of the UN investigating alleged Human Rights (HR) abuses in Sri Lanka and also continues to stress to the Government of Sri Lanka on the importance of ending human rights abuses and investigating and holding accountable those who are responsible for past abuses.

Responding to a question posed at the US State Department daily press briefing Philip J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary of the US Bureau of Public Affairs said that the US is also urging Sri Lanka to pursue meaningful steps towards dialogue and cooperation with Tamil and other minority communities. (continue reading…)

SA accused of ignoring Sri Lankan genocide

Human rights activists have accused the South African government of double standards for “flirting” with Sri Lankan government officials and ignoring the genocide in the country.

The accusation follows a visit by the minister of international relations, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, to Colombo last month. During her speech to seal bilateral links, Nkoana-Mashabane said: “Sri Lanka has become a key partner on several international issues such as human rights, poverty alleviation, globalisation and the reform of the United Nations …”  She added that the countries shared a common interest in the promotion of human rights.  

http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article230381.ece

Tamil militants vow new insurgency

 COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Dec. 7 (UPI) — Tamil militants say they’ll start a new insurgency in Sri Lanka unless demands for a separate Tamil homeland are met.

Militants who regrouped four months ago under the name People’s Liberation Army, PLA, are being led by a man who calls himself Commander Kones, The Times of London reported Monday. Kones met with a Times reporter at a hideout last week in eastern Sri Lanka……………. http://www.upi.com/Top_News/International/2009/12/07/Tamil-militants-vow-new-insurgency/UPI-32281260210652/

S Lanka army chief slams president  

Sri Lanka’s former army chief has accused the president of corruption, nepotism and abuse of power ahead of next month’s election. General Sarath Fonseka’s comments on Friday came a month after he resigned from the military, accusing the government of sidelining him after victory in the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), on suspicion that he was plotting a coup.  

He later announced that he would run against Mahinda Rajapaksa, the incumbent, in the election scheduled for January 26. “It is a military victory that we have won, but real peace has to come after the military victory,” Fonseka said on Friday……… http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/12/2009121192212792410.html

Tamil activists demand speedy resettlement of refugees in Sri Lanka

Chennai, Dec 14 (ANI): Activists of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) a regional party, staged a demonstration here on Monday demanding the Sri Lankan Government to speed-up resettlement of the Tamil  civilians displaced by civil war in that country.  The demonstrators appealed to the international community to announce former Srilankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe and former Army Chief Sarath Fonseka as war criminals…………..

 

 

http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/138588

 

Toronto: Sri Lankan Tamils in Canada have called for an international trial of the Sri Lankan President for allegedly ordering the killing of surrendering LTTE leaders during the ethnic war that ended in May.

Former Sri Lankan army chief and Opposition presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka has alleged that Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered troops to kill three top LTTE leaders when they raised white flags to surrender. The Defence Secretary is the brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The killed Tamil leaders included LTTE Peace Secretariat head Seevaratnam Puleedevan, political wing head Balasingham Nandesan, and top military commander Ramesh and their families………. (continue reading…)

Restrictions on United States’ military assistance to Sri Lanka

Washington: A bill passed by the US House of Representative today imposed restrictions on US military assistance to Sri Lanka and sought a report from the secretary of state on the alleged crime against humanity during the last phase of the 30-year-old civil war there. The Senate and House Conference report of the 2010 Appropriations Bill direct the secretary of state to submit a report supplementing her report on October 21 on crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka detailing whether any measures have been taken by Colombo and international bodies to investigate such incidents, and evaluating the effectiveness of such efforts.. (continue reading…)

”Release all Child soldiers” – UN

A senior United Nations envoy has asked the Sri Lankan government to release all detained Tamil Child Soldiers (most of them are Girls)and reunite them with their families.

The UN special envoy on children and armed conflict made the call while on a five-day visit to the island. Maj-Gen Patric Cammaert said that examples from across the world showed that children recovered better from trauma when living with their families. The envoy met nearly 300 children ‘forcibly recruited by the rebels’ and are now held by the Sri Lankan forces under heavy security……………. (continue reading…)

Human-rights and conflict-resolution activists refute US Senate report on Sri Lanka

“The report, which was endorsed by both the Committee chairman, Sen. John Kerry, and the ranking Republican member, Sen. Richard Lugar, came under immediate attack by human-rights and conflict-resolution activists who have long urged Washington to condition any aid to the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa on improvements in its human-rights performance.

“This report is an incredibly shoddy, ill-informed piece of work that grossly overstates the strategic importance of Sri Lanka to the United States and woefully understates the degree of abuses carried out by the government there,” said Robert Templer, director of the Asia programme at the Brussels- based International Crisis Group (ICG).”………. (continue reading…)

Washington, Dec. 4 (ANI): Despite claiming that it has freed all Tamil civilians this week, Sri Lanka is still holding over 11,000 Tamil prisoners, including children without charge in closely guarded “rehabilitation centres.”

According to reports, slain LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran’s parents are being held in the notorious “4th Floor” detention complex in Colombo. Father V. Yogeswaran, director of the Centre for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, in Trincomalee, said: “I’ve got between 30 and 40 cases in which families have been released here from the detention centres, only to have their men folk taken away at the final moment to a so-called rehabilitation centre.

http://news.oneindia.in/2009/12/05/lankastill-holding-11000-tamil-prisoners.html

Sri Lanka Must Aid Refugees Leaving Camps, UN Says

Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) — Sri Lanka must ensure that Tamil war refugees receive assistance now they are allowed to leave transit camps where they were held since the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were defeated in May, the United Nations and human rights groups said. President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government yesterday ended restrictions on people leaving camps in the north that hold about 120,000 civilians. It plans to return all the displaced people to their home towns and villages by the end of January.

“It’s a very mixed picture,” Gordon Weiss, a UN spokesman, said in a telephone interview from Colombo today. “The civilians are from the worst-affected areas where their homes are destroyed, are abandoned, or are infested with mines.” The government must “maintain its responsibility to care” for displaced people, Amnesty International said……….

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=a8uZmh84nO6A

Amnesty International Calls on Sri Lankan Government to Permanently Release All Civilians

Authorities Must Protect Displaced Families and Provide Information for Informed and Voluntary Resettling Decisions

(Washington) – Amnesty International is calling on the Sri Lankan government to permanently release civilians who have been illegally detained in camps since the end of the civil war six months ago.

“The authorities must make good on their declared intentions to free some 120,000 people and must do so unconditionally,” said Yolanda Foster, Amnesty International’s expert on Sri Lanka.  According to the Sri Lankan government today, families living in displacement camps in Vavuniya will be given a choice: remain in camps, seek alternative accommodations or attempt to return home.

However, Amnesty International has received information about possible restrictions on families choosing to leave the camps. Media reports have suggested that they could be asked to return to the camps after only 15 days. “A permanent release from camps must be accompanied by assurances that people are not subjected to further questioning or re-arrest in new locations,” said Foster. “It is also critical that the government maintain its responsibility to care for displaced people wherever they choose to go.”……………….

http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=ENGUSA20091201001&lang=e

The Hela Humbugs and the Killing of Monks!

The Jathika Hela Urumaya or JHU is a bundle of contradictions. In late September 2007 the ruling military junta in Myanmar launched a brutal crackdown on peaceful protests being carried out by monks in that country.

Many including monks were killed in the process and hundreds ended up injured. The usually vocal JHU that takes upon itself the role of guardian angel of the sangha remained largely mum except for a curt statement by its Parliamentary Group Leader, Ellawala Medhananda Thero, who when pushed by mediamen for a comment on the brutal assault said the party did not condone the brutal assault on monks…………. (continue reading…)

“United States has not lived up to its commitment to stop violence as it unfolds. Its response to war crimes in three of the most serious conflict zones of the past two years, Congo, Sri Lanka and Gaza, consists of pressing for “accountability after the crisis rather than stopping or preventing the crisis,”

United States will “press for accountability at the national level, at the level closest to where the crimes were committed,” Washington Post said quoting Stephen Rapp, Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues appointed by President Obama. Rapp told the Post that last month, to a request by Rapp to investigate war crimes by the Sri Lankan military, which allegedly killed thousands of civilians in an offensive against the country’s separatist insurgency, a Sri Lanka diplomat [not named] had told Rapp, “[w]e’re following your [US's] lead. We [Sri Lanka] believe in eliminating these terroristic threats and resolving these issues once and for all.” …………http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=30693

Carter, Tutu: continued detention, clear violation of international law

Group of eminent global leaders, whose members include former US President, Jimmy Carter, and South African Archbishop of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu, has written to Sri Lanka’s President Rajapaksa to say they are “deeply worried” about the humanitarian situation faced by the largely Tamil civilian population who fled fighting in the north of the country, and warn that this could squander hopes for national reconciliation.

The leaders add that the continued confinement of approximately 135, 000 internally displaced people is a “clear violation of international law” and that these people are being denied basic human rights, including the right to liberty and freedom of movement……………..  http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=30694

Amnesty International has called on Commonwealth leaders to press the Sri Lankan government about the plight of the displaced. The organization made the call in an open letter to heads of government attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Trinidad and Tobago this week. The UK government said on Friday that it will oppose Sri Lanka hosting the next Commonwealth summit because of concerns over its conduct in the conflict and its treatment of refugees……………………

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/commonwealth-leaders-must-focus-sri-lanka-crisis-20091127

The Canadian government has followed the United Kingdom in announcing it will oppose Sri Lanka’s bid to host the next summit of 53 Commonwealth countries. “Canada will not be supporting Sri Lanka as the next host of the Commonwealth summit,” Prime Minister’s Office spokesman Dimitri Soudas said. It’s a sharp rebuke to the Asian country’s handling of a brutal and bloody war with Tamil Tiger insurgents that left 7,000 civilians dead and 150,000 displaced………. (continue reading…)

 ‘Sinhala chauvinism’ is intolerant even to democratic expressions and actions of Tamils.

Heroes’ Day Address 2009, released from the headquarters of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Friday, stressed the importance of people evolving elected political bodies in the diaspora for the liberation of their home country and to mobilise international support for the liberation. “We are aware that Tamil people will not accept or forgive structures already formed for achieving the goal of Tamil Eelam and activists of them deviating at anytime from the goal,” the address said, citing in the meantime that “the way ‘Sinhala chauvinism’ behaved even after causing grave human catastrophe has brought in permanent rift between Tamils and Sinhalese.” The address came hard on Colombo for serious human rights violations it is committing on interned LTTE cadres, especially women and mothers, and urged the silent IC to act immediately.

In the meantime, another Heroes’ Day statement addressed as ‘LTTE, Tamil Eelam,’ signed by A.Ram, a commander of the LTTE operating in the island, was distributed through the Internet in text as well as in audio forms. (continue reading…)

The Tamil organization that fought a bloody decades-long war with the Sri Lankan government said it is planning on holding a December referendum in Canada and around the world on the question of an independent Tamil state. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were defeated after a 23-year conflict with the Sri Lankan military in May but continue to operate internationally. In Canada, the federal government has listed the group as a terrorist organization since 2006.

Organizers are in negotiations to hire an outside firm to scrutinize and tally the votes in the electronic referendum, with polling stations planned for the greater Toronto area, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Halifax……………. (continue reading…)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2009/11/20/2749455.htm

Perth’s Tamil community has been affected by the plight of Sri Lankan asylum seekers heading to Australia for refuge.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2009/11/20/2749455.htm

Société Générale tells clients how Société Générale has advised clients to be ready for a possible “global economic collapse” over the next two years, mapping a strategy of defensive investments to avoid wealth destruction.

Explosion of debt: Japan’s public debt could reach as much as 270pc of GDP in the next two years. A bullet train is pictured speeding past Mount Fuji in Fuji city, west of Tokyo. 

In a report entitled “Worst-case debt scenario”, the bank’s asset team said state rescue packages over the last year have merely transferred private liabilities onto sagging sovereign shoulders, creating a fresh set of problems. Overall debt is still far too high in almost all rich economies as a share of GDP (350pc in the US), whether public or private. It must be reduced by the hard slog of “deleveraging”, for years. (continue reading…)

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is likely to exert more pressure on Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to carry out the assurances on IDP resettlements and a political solution for ethnic Tamils given to the Secretary General.

Ban Ki-Moon has decided to send Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, to Sri Lanka on a three- day visit again. John Holmes is scheduled to arrive in Colombo on November, 17. (continue reading…)

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a press statement issued on Monday welcomed all the current democratic moves in the diaspora, such as referendum on Vaddukkoaddai Resolution, Country Councils and Transnational Government and said that even if one of the efforts is at shortfall, it will affect all the others.

http://www.lankasrinews.com/view.php?203mOJJda3dB5Am44d0IOog3a03O4Bda4dc5TmY420eAQMAcae2c4YdZ4cce1lYy3e

COLOMBO, Nov 8 (IPS) – Sri Lanka has reacted strongly to a European Commission (EC) probe on its human rights record, saying it is politically motivated. But beyond the public sparring and rhetoric, informal diplomatic contacts between the two sides are underway to save a crucial trade pact and hundreds of jobs in the garment industry.

Sri Lanka stands to lose its trade concessions from the European Union under the Generalised System of Preferences Plus (GSP+), which has allowed tax- free Sri Lankan exports to Europe since 2005. This, following the release last month of EC’s probe of the island state’s compliance with international treaties on human rights.

On Friday, Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama presented a 48-page government response to the EC mission in Colombo and EU diplomats on the damning report by the EC over Sri Lanka’s alleged breach of international conventions on core human rights, labour rights and conventions on environment and good governance principles.

Highly placed garment industry trade unionists privy to the informal engagement between the government and the EC are eagerly awaiting the outcome of such talks.

“We reliably understand (from our contacts in Brussels) that an EC diplomat arrived last week for consultations on the GSP+ with the government and that the government is seeking technical assistance to help it fulfill these conventions,” said one trade union official, who declined to be named.

“We were informed by an international NGO [non-governmental organisation] to be ready for a meeting with the official, but that didn’t happen as he was authorised only to meet government officials.”

The EC office in Colombo confirmed an EC deputy director was visiting Colombo but that it had nothing to do with the GSP+ trade benefits scheme. Sri Lanka has applied for a second round of concessions for the new scheme, which began in 2009, but must await the outcome of an EC probe on whether Colombo has implemented 27 international conventions, a pre-requisite to approval.

Bernard Savage, EC Head of the delegation to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, declined to comment on the government response. “I cannot comment. All I can say is that we received the government’s observations,” he told IPS from the Maldives where he is on official visit.

Thousands of jobs in the garment industry, the country’s biggest export and the main sector that would be affected if the concessions were called off, are at stake if the concessions are not granted. Savage told IPS in an interview last week that the EC decision on Sri Lanka’s application would be announced by December and effective six months later. Until then, Sri Lankan exporters would continue to enjoy the trade benefits.

The government response, submitted to the probe committee report on the deadline set by the EC, said the probe was “politically motivated and accompanied by a high degree of prejudice.”

Substantiating this claim, the report quotes an incident last year where EC officials had threatened to withdraw GSP+ if the war was not called off.

At a meeting with Sri Lanka’s Minister of Export Development and International Trade on March 13 last year in Brussels, an EC Commissioner said, “this war is never, never, never going to be solved militarily. The only possible solution is a political one. We have been telling you this for a long time. You have ignored us. We now have a powerful weapon in the GSP+, which we will not hesitate to use”.

The EC report was critical of alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka, particularly during heavy fighting in the last stages of the war between government forces and Tamil rebels. The near 30-year-long revolt was crushed by government troops in May.

Garment manufacturers said the concessions are vital to the industry, which is Sri Lanka’s biggest foreign exchange earner along with remittances from migrant workers.

However, one industrialist who was part of a team of officials from the garment industry, other sections of government and lawyers that prepared the government brief, said the EC probe smacked of a strong bias.

“For example, 15 member associations of the Joint Association of Apparel Exporters, which goes by the acronym JAAF and represents the industry, sent submissions to the EC probe team but none of our submissions was cited in the report,” he said.

“The investigations relied a lot on the anti-government submissions,” lamented the businessman, who declined to be named. Submissions from the industry largely supported the government contention that there has been progress in the implementation of the conventions on labour and human rights.

“We now have to contact our friends in Brussels and keep the dialogue going to ensure the concessions continue,” he said.

Separately, Anton Marcus, general secretary of a trade union representing workers in the country’s free trade zones where many garment factories are located, said the union-styled Apparel Industry Labour Rights Movement or ALaRM was going to meet on Nov. 8 to discuss a course of action on the government response.

“We are meeting to discuss a course of action which we will explain to the media on Thursday at a press conference,” he told IPS.

Marcus said trade unions had pleaded with the government to start a dialogue with the EC, which the former had refused, saying it would not take part in any investigation, as it was an insult to a sovereign nation. “Now they want to start a dialogue, which they should have done in the first place,” he said, referring to the report.

The government, while rejecting the EC report, said the government and the EC should continue to have a constructive engagement on the “issues at hand.”

The garment industry has suffered over the years, initially following the end of textile quotas some years back before it was hit by the rising costs of production, which has seen a sharp rise in job losses.

Currently, there are 270,000 workers in the industry, according to government estimates although the industry says it is much less because a number of smaller units have collapsed. From around 400 factories and 500,000 workers in the 1980s, the industry has slumped to less than 250 factories while many are struggling to survive.

“There are many orders, but the problem is costs. Interest rates are high at 22 percent and our return is only 3 percent. We just can’t survive. Many small industrialists have wound up or sold their factories to the bigger players,” noted Cassian Fernando, a garment industry veteran who sold his factories two years ago. He believes the industry will consolidate to just 15 big companies in the years to come.

Some garment industry workers hit by closures are seeking jobs as domestic aides overseas. “There are quite a few who are undergoing training before going abroad,” said W.P. Aponsu, president of the Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agents.

SYDNEY, Nov 8 (Reuters) – Australia on Sunday urged Sri Lanka, having defeated the Tamil Tigers in May, to now embrace political reform and reconciliation to stem the flow of asylum seekers leaving the country.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith will meet his Sri Lankan counterpart Rohitha Bogollagama in Colombo on Monday amid a standoff in Indonesia involving 78 Tamil asylum seekers, who are refusing to leave an Australian vessel that rescued them last month. [ID:nJAK390979]
http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSB232272._CH_.2400?rpc=401

Exclusive Interview with Brad Adams

The solution to the problem of the camps, which we have called for from the very beginning, is for the government to develop clear procedures for screening and registration and clear criteria for detention or release……….

http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2009/11/rajapaksha-lied-to-ban-ki-moon-hrw.html