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Toronto, Ontario,

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

One Year Remembrance of 40,000 Killed in Sri Lanka – Thousands gather in Queen’s Park

Dear Sir/Madam,

Canadian Tamils will be joining the global Tamil Diaspora and Human rights and peace activists to remember the victims of the final offensive by the Sri Lankan forces in May, last year that resulted in up to 40,000 Tamils being killed and leaving over 280,000 incarcerated in ‘concentration camps' in North-East Sri Lanka.

One year on... Tamils unite to call for justice for the victims of war crimes in Sri Lanka .

EVENT DETAILS: Mullivaikal Remembrance - War Crimes against Eelam Tamils

There are events organised since May 1st throughout GTA. Prayer services in Temples and churches. Daily gatherings in front of the US consulate in Toronto from 4 pm to 8 pm. Weekend events across GTA by cross-section of the community, Culminating a Larger Gathering on May 18th, From New Zealand to Canada in over 35 countries.

DATE:      Tuesday, 18 May 2010

VENUE:   Queen’s Park, Toronto

TIME:       5pm-8pm

"As many as 40,000 civilians could have been killed during the final stages of the Sri Lankan civil war" - Former UN spokesperson in Sri Lanka , Gordon Weiss, ABC, 9 Feb 2010

"An average of 1,000 civilian deaths every day." - The Times, UK , 29 May 2009

Background

In a report released Monday, a year after the war’s end, the International Crisis Group cited “reasonable grounds to believe the Sri Lankan security forces committed war crimes” by intentionally shelling civilians, hospitals and humanitarian operations in a final push to destroy the Tamil Tigers. Canada , the United States , India and other countries with significant Sri Lankan populations should insist on such a probe, the group said, and impose sanctions on Sri Lanka – which is not a member of the International Criminal Court – unless it complies.  “I would like to see Canada encourage the [UN] secretary-general to launch an international investigation,” Ms. Arbour, the crisis group’s president and former chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the Balkans and Rwanda , told The Globe and Mail. Ms. Arbour, a former Supreme Court of Canada justice.

We hope that you will be able to attend this event and provide the coverage it warrants. Your presence will do a great deal to support growing calls for an independent international investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka .

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require any further information regarding the event or other related matters.

Thank you for your time.

Yours faithfully,

Senthan Nada

Media Contact

Coalition to Stop the war in Sri Lanka

E-Mail: senthan@gmail. com, ctswsl@gmail. com,