By Hayley Lucas
From July 1983 until May 2009 the Sri Lankan Sinhalese security forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fought a civil war that disrupted the once-peaceful nation. The conflict began when, after gaining independence from Great Britain, the Sinhalese majority came to power. The Tamil ethnic minority wished to have autonomy and, later, independence in a state that would be called Tamil Eelam, located in the North and East of Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan Civil War claimed the lives of approximately 80,000 Sri Lankans and displaced a million. After multiple failed ceasefire attempts, it seems that a permanent peace has finally come to Sri Lanka as the government has regained full control of the disputed regions.
Although the fighting has come to an end, another conflict has emerged. Currently an estimated 280,000 Tamil internally displaced persons “who had earlier fled the war zone have been placed by the government in overcrowded internment camps controlled by the military” according to Amnesty International. These detainees are not allowed to leave the camps and family members may only visit the camps for brief periods of time. Furthermore, the government is not taking steps towards investigating whether the detainees are members of the LTTE or simply Tamils who were caught in the midst of the war zone.
During the war, the LTTE used civilians as human shields against government attacks. It was previously thought that the government attacked these civilian-populated areas of the war zone. Recently, new evidence from satellites has been found to support this claim what was previously only hypothesized. According to Amnesty International, the satellite photos suggest that mass graves emerged soon after government bombing raids on civilian-populated areas. Further evidence is detailed in a report by the United States State Department wrote following a briefing by Amnesty International about its investigations.
Human rights activists and journalists in Sri Lanka are under a constant threat. Amnesty International Reports that “since 2006, at least 14 media workers have been killed in Sri Lanka, with no one held accountable for these murders”. Most recently, Dileesha Abeysundera, a journalist and activist for media rights in Sri Lanka, was threatened when a group of assailants attempted to break into her home in late September. Abeysundera has reason for concern. Many of those journalists who have not been detained have already fled Sri Lanka.
Currently, Amnesty International is running several campaigns surrounding Sri Lanka. The Amnesty International “Unlock the Camps in Sri Lanka” campaign publicizes the detainment of the 280,000 Tamil IDPs held in camps by the Sri Lankan government. Amnesty is effective because it employs local and student groups to write to governments pressuring them to stop committing human rights abuses. In this case, Amnesty asks individuals to write to the Sri Lankan government urging officials to allow the detainees “freedom of movement” and to transfer management of the camps from the military to civilians.
To address war crimes that were committed on both sides, Amnesty is calling upon the United Nations to urge Sri Lankan to allow humanitarian organizations to investigate the war zone. Simultaneously, Amnesty International is employing the same letter-writing technique to encourage the Sri Lankan government to protect journalists and to investigate the deaths of those journalists who have been killed.
Some may claim that Amnesty International’s goals are set too high. However, in addressing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka both by the government and the LTTE, the international community should focus on all of the aspects of these abuses. From military attacks on civilian populations in the war zone, to the detention of 280,000 Tamil civilians against their will, to the unsolved murders of 14 journalists, no one aspect overshadows another. By publicizing all facets of human rights abuses in an unbiased way, Amnesty International has proven, yet again, that it will not allow these violations of the rights of mankind to go unnoticed.
Lucas, a sophomore undecided major, can be reached at lucas.hayley@gmail.com.
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November 18th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
[...] Some may claim that Amnesty International’s goals are set too high. However, in addressing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka both by the government and the LTTE, the international community should focus on all of the aspects of these abuses. From military attacks on civilian populations in the war zone, to the detention of 280,000 Tamil civilians against their will, to the unsolved murders of 14 journalists, no one aspect overshadows another. By publicizing all facets of human rights abuses in an unbiased way, Amnesty International has proven, yet again, that it will not allow these violations of the rights of mankind to go unnoticed. More … [...]
November 18th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Yes, both sides are accused of committing war crimes, however, it must be realized that the government of Sri Lanka that claims Tamils to be “their people” has more responsibility to protect them, and therefore has to set much much higher starndards than the people they consider are their enemies and enemies they were trying to liberate the Tamils from.
This did not happen. What did happen was a genocide of Tamils, no matter how much people dance around it, and play terminology politics, and no matter how much people of the world try to hide and downplay the number of people that were murdered by the Sri Lankan military and government, just in the last few weeks of the war.
Secondly, to try both sides of the war for war crimes is laughable when in fact that the whole world stood by and watched and even supported, including the UN, the Sri Lankan government while they murdered the members of Tigers without allowing a chance for them to defend themselves in court. The Sri Lankan government is guilty of war crimes just on that matter alone. Of course there are the hundreds of thousands of murders of innocent civilians: babies, children, women, elderly by deliberately bombing makeshift hospitals and tents, and bunkers in which mothers were hopelessly trying to protect their children. Lets not forget the chemical weapons that the SL government used to murder countless number of children and women.
Sri Lankan military authorities and the politicians who were driving this murderous force, the SL military, are without a doubt guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide and must be prosecuted.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
[...] concern about the treatment of the displaced civilians. The campaign was also publicized in a college paper [...]
November 19th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions, UNHRC Seventh session, 3 June 2008 : ””In 2005 I sounded the alarm. I said that Sri Lanka was on the verge of a major crisis and I indicated to the General Assembly how to avoid the crisis. But nothing was done. The Sri Lankan government did not try and discuss the recommendations with me and it has not made any serious effort to resolve human rights problems. It only acted in Geneva to avoid the Council taking any measures against it”.
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-19359–6-6–.html
CMAG needs to be reviewed and strengthened By Maja Daruwala, Executive Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, 20 October 2009:
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November 19th, 2009 at 10:10 am
http://www.srilankacampaign.org/quotes.htm
Sri Lanka is the latest example of the world community letting a government get away with denying access, to witnesses, humanitarian relief, protection of civilians …[Responsibility to Protest] was not upheld in Sri Lanka, the heads of state have failed” - Jan Egeland, Former Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, 1/7/09