Tamil Justice

The Australian : Panglossian picture

WHAT extraordinary efforts are underway to airbrush the grim realities of post-war Sri Lanka. Sergei DeSilva-Ranasinghe (“Beware of asylum-seekers bearing tales of woe”, Commentary, 7/4) makes a series of misleading claims, distorting evidence or withholding chunks that do not fit his Panglossian picture.

More than 76,000 internally displaced people languish in illegal internment camps where even the country’s own oppressed media regularly report complaints of rape, mysterious “disappearances” and extra-judicial killings. Where reporters have managed to gather evidence from on the ground, it directly contradicts DeSilva-Ranasinghe’s account. And, of course, he ignores the Sinhala colonisation of Tamil areas, as new Buddhist shrines and permanent garrisons spring up on sites flattened by government bombing.

Far more Sri Lankan Tamils have sought refuge in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu than come to Australia, but the Indian government, which is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention, has no international obligations towards them, so restricts their movements and access to proper housing. Above all, there is no meaningful move towards prosecuting those responsible for war crimes.

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A defeated population, cowering in fear, would recognise no part of DeSilva-Ranasinghe’s travesty.

Jake Lynch and Gobie Rajalingam, Co-conveners, Sri Lanka Human Rights Project, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney

Ramesh Somasundaram from Sri Lanka Human Rights Project (Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, The University of Sydney) responds to article  (24/03) – Mass immigration kills Aussie culture, says demographer Bob Birrell

The incessant debate surrounding migration issues within this country has reached nauseating levels and the various ‘academics’ supporting such strict notions have clearly defined the criteria for people who fit under the category of being ‘Australian’. The thinly disguised veil between such disdain for migrants is mainly due to the discrimination bubbling beneath the surface. Instead of utilising such critical findings to substantiate the tightening of immigration levels. The demographer may have attempted to find amicable solutions, such as developing frameworks to integrate migrants into the ‘Australian’ system more successfully instead of only highlighting ‘social problems’ created by mass migration.

The poignant discussion encircling this issue is going to continue on this distressing trajectory unless more forward-thinking academics and politicians redress the problems afflicting this country. The constant deliberation over migrants’ assimilation into Australia undoubtedly demonstrates that as a country, we are not sufficiently educating and assisting migrants’ integration into ‘our’ system.

The perception of migrants is in dire need of transformation since it is currently plagued by misconceptions and delusions, of which Dr. Birrell does nothing to rectify. Refugees, asylum seekers and skilled migrants have an abundance of knowledge and culture to weave through the Australian tapestry. Their effects on our culture are unmistakeable and have provided our cities with a thriving array of diverse communities that all contribute to the national economy. The exponential growth in population reported is a worrying statistic and as a nation, we hope the states leaders provide adequate structural placements to support such a rise. Alternatively ‘academics’ should enlighten discussions on these vital issues to highlight genuine problems instead of creating an atmosphere of fear and loathing towards migrants.  

An initiative of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Project (Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, The University of Sydney) and Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine.

This letter to the editor were written by the conveners of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Project @ Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, The University of Sydney

The Age (13/02) – Show Your Concern

MANY thanks for your editorial (”Sri Lanka’s ripples go far beyond the island”, The Age, 11/2) on the intensifying repression in Sri Lanka. Canberra has restricted itself to tokenistic responses out of a wrong-headed belief that things will ”settle down” and an overly narrow conception of Australian interests. Instead, it should join the European Union in backing the call, made by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, for an independent international investigation of war crimes allegations and in withholding trade concessions unless there is improvement in the human rights situation.

Meanwhile, the rest of us have a chance to register stronger concern. The 1970 cancellation of apartheid South Africa’s tour of England showed the strength of sporting boycotts in inducing social change. We urge you not to attend the cricket when the Sri Lankan team visits Australia later this year, write to Cricket Australia asking that the tour be cancelled and unite for human rights when official diplomacy fails.

Jake Lynch, Gobie Rajalingam and Brami Jegan, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, The University of Sydney, NSW

Associate Professor Jake Lynch is Director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Convener of the CPACS Sri Lanka Human Rights Project, and is an adviser to the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice

Transcend Media Service – Peace and Justice

“Peace is not the absence of war”, Martin Luther King told us: “it is the presence of justice”. King’s legacy transmitted itself directly into the mantra of African-American activists, outraged over the beating, by LA police officers, of the black motorist, Rodney King, in 1991: “No justice, no peace”, they chanted. It’s an important answer to a familiar question: what is peace? Of course, another, equally tricky question nestles within it, like matryoshka dolls: what is justice?

A Reverend Mpbambami told the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission a story about two friends, Peter and John, who fell out when Peter stole John’s bicycle. Later, Peter said to John: “Let’s talk about reconciliation”. John’s reply resonates still: “We cannot talk about reconciliation until my bicycle is back”.

It so happens that providing bicycles is the aim of a significant ‘people-to-people’ aid effort, now underway here in Sydney, to bring relief to the Tamil people of Sri Lanka, where they are used for the simple but vital job of transporting fish to market; but in Peter and John’s story, the machine is more important for its symbolic value, of course. It captures the sense of restitution that is a precursor to the willingness to live in peace.

In the Sri Lankan case, an unofficial court, set up in Dublin and conducted by the Milan-based Permanent People’s Tribunal, has just delivered its verdict: the Sri Lanka Government is guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The tribunal also concluded that the charge of genocide warrants further investigations. Eye-witnesses included several escapees from the final week of the Sri Lankan offensive in the Mullaitivu ‘No Fire Zone’, at the end of the civil war in May last year, where more than 20,000 Tamil civilians were allegedly slaughtered by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) using heavy weapons on them.

This chimes not only with evidence provided by outsiders, but also allegations that have been exchanged between candidates in the Sri Lankan election, due to be held shortly. A top aide to President Mahinda Rajapakse disclosed recently that Colombo ordered a halt to the use of heavy weapons only in April, two months after a UN envoy was promised that such armaments would not be used.

Former foreign minister and key opposition leader Mangala Samaraweera seized on the disclosure by the aide, Lalith Weeratunga, who said the use of heavy weapons was eventually stopped as part of a political deal with the Indian government.

The disclosure “indicates that despite claims to the contrary, both to the public of this country and to (the) UN… in February 2009, in fact the government had sanctioned the use of heavy weapons until April, when the Indian general election was in full swing,” Samaraweera said in a statement. More

These bags can be purchased from the Sri Lanka Human Rights Project at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Sydney University.

The proceeds of $5/bag will only cover costs.

If you would like a bag – pls leave a msg on this post, send an email to australiansfortamiljustice@gmail.com or get in contact with the Sri Lanka Human Rights Project conveners.

From Associate Professor Jake Lynch, Director, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Chair of Organizing Committee, IPRA conference 2010, Executive Member, Sydney Peace Foundation, Convener of the CPACS Sri Lanka Human Rights Project

The announcement by the Sri Lankan government, that it is closing the internment camps where thousands of Tamils were illegally detained, is testimony to the power of international pressure, from the UN, from governments, civil society and some in the media.

The crisis over the war, the protection of civilians and the human rights of detainees must now become an opportunity to recognise and negotiate over the Tamils’ assertion of their right to self-determination. 

And that must be a signal to sustain and intensify the pressure, not relax it. 

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