October 6, 2011

Sri Lanka, a beautiful tropical island off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent, famously known as the “Pearl of the Indian Ocean”, is a coveted vacation attraction, and homeland to the oppressed Tamil People.

Some of you may know all about Sri Lanka and many of you may have only heard of this lovely, lush small island shaped like a teardrop in passing, because it did make headline news, chiefly due to the infamous LTTE. Yours truly in effect learned of Sri Lanka barely two years ago, and needless to say, the humanitarian crisis plaguing the minority Tamils is indefensible.

Distinction between ‘Humanitarian Law’ and ‘Human Rights Law’

Humanitarian Law is closely intertwined with Human Rights Law, but it is important to emphasize that it is predominantly “the law of armed conflict or law of war and their effects. The goal of international humanitarian law is to limit the effects of war on people and property and to protect particularly vulnerable persons.”

The minority Tamil People are unquestionably such ‘vulnerable persons’. Their history on the island of Sri Lanka goes back thousands of years and their contributions to the world as a whole is invaluable. They have endured a 26-year long civil war, which ended on May 18, 2009. The loss of innocent life was immeasurable.

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What are the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their additional Protocols?

The Geneva Conventions of 1949 are quite extensive and have been amended due to the changes in deadly force and weaponry utilized by nations in conflict on civilians over the years. However, as in the case of Sri Lanka, they are pointless words not worth the paper they’re written on, because they are not enforced by the United Nations Security Council.

The Geneva Conventions define the rights and protections of non-combatants, i.e. vulnerable, unarmed civilians. They comprise four treaties and three additional protocols agreed upon by all member nations of the United Nations after WWII. Its member nations are bound by the Geneva Conventions and, according to international laws, are obligated to enforce them to protect the lives, civil liberties and human rights of civilians.

One of the most significant provisos of the Geneva Conventions is narrated via the American Red Cross FACT SHEET, which stipulates the following:

“Civilians in areas of armed conflict and occupied territories are protected by the 159 articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention.”

As mentioned above, the Tamil People of Sri Lanka were not only abandoned by the international community during the gruesome civil war, but they were also deserted by the United Nations and the Geneva Conventions.

It must also be mentioned that the regime had banned all international humanitarian organizations from the island, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) prior to their final assault in the Vanni and the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent people.

As if that was not merciless enough, the United Nations evacuated the majority of its personnel when the final days of the war came to a head in May 2009. The few UN workers left were scattered amongst the tens of thousands of Tamil civilians trapped in the Vanni running for their lives from the Sri Lankan military, as well as the LTTE, who were hunkered down in the Vanni and whose final hours of existence had come.

The Sri Lankan Defense Forces attacked by air, sea and land. They annihilated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, while they drove civilians into “NFZs” (No Fire Zones) in Mullivaikal in the Vanni to brutally execute anywhere from 20,000 to 40,000 unarmed men, women and children.

The number of deaths is uncertain, because to this day not all the dead are accounted for. Those who survived and witnessed the massacre insist that the number of deaths is rather higher than 40,000.

Casualties of War and the Exploited

“They” say that civilians are always the majority casualties of any war. However, though this fact is unsettling in itself, it is beyond inhumane corruption, when one’s own government strategically murders its people. This is no longer war, it is GENOCIDE! The absolute worst of war crimes against humanity!

Sri Lanka’s government is strictly ruled by the Sinhalese Peoples, who are the majority Sri Lankans, and, in effect, President Mahinda Rajapaksa dominates and controls all aspects of this so-called democratic regime with his immediate family. Mahinda Rajapaksa reigned as president during the civil war and is the dictator of Sri Lanka for life.

The civil war was between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), whose objective was to become the sovereign state of Tamil Eelam. This hope and ambition never came to pass.

Instead driven by desperation, the LTTE gained the most notorious of reputations as the most brutal ‘international terrorist organization’ in the world. Allegedly, they were the first military corps to ever employ suicide bombers. They are also accused of exploiting and utilizing Tamil civilians as ‘human shields’ during the war. Stigmatized as “terrorists” by the Sri Lankan government, the LTTE’s infamy has empowered the Sinhalese-ruled government to label all Tamils as terrorists. By default, it is sin to be Tamil.

As of June 29, 2011, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (iDMC) reports that more than 220,000 Sri Lankans, i.e. Tamils, are displaced and more than 366,000 people had returned to IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps because they have nowhere to go.

This is not only due to the destruction of homes during the war, but due to the government violently and threateningly forcing Tamils who have returned to their homes off their lands. The government may no longer openly practice genocide against Tamils, but they are still kidnapping and murdering anyone who dares to speak against them.

Sri Lanka’s War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity

The unimaginable criminality implemented by the Sri Lankan government against the Tamil People is impossible to cover in one article.

Briefly summarizing the past two years since the civil war ended, the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE stand accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Since the LTTE has been eliminated, it is the government who has been called upon to answer to these most horrendous of crimes against humanity, specifically during the final stages of the war. Not surprisingly, the regime denies all allegations of war crimes, even after the United Nations’ final 214-page “Report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka”, dated March 31, 2011.

The report irrevocably condemns and accuses the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Sadly, this is as far as it’s come. The Tamil People are subjugated by a tyrannical regime to this day. Most are homeless, sick and starving.

We, the People, owe it to the Tamil People to demand that the Obama Administration support an international investigation into war crimes and other human rights abuses committed in Sri Lanka.

Please, sign and share this urgent PETITION widely. The deadline is October 29, 2011, because at that time: “A diplomatic clash looks likely when Canada and Sri Lanka come face to face in late October at a summit of the 54-member Commonwealth of former British colonies in the Australian city of Perth.”

The island paradise for tourists is a moneymaker sham to expand the economy, and coffers, of the Sri Lankan government. The reality of existence for the Tamil People of Sri Lanka is a living hell.

VANNI mainland area of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka. It covers the entirety of Mannar, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya Districts, and most of Kilinochchi District. It has an area of approximately 7,650 km.

Credits:

International Relations and Tamil’s Affairs Group (IRTAG)

Video: Sri Lanka’s killing fields

Video: Sri Lanka’s killing fields

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