Tamil Justice

For immediate release – 18th June 2010

AUSTRALIAN TAMILS BACK GREENS CALL FOR UN WAR CRIMES PROBE IN SRI LANKA

Tamils for Greens is urging political support for a motion to be proposed on June 21st by Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young asking Australia to back calls for a United Nations investigation into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.

“The United Nations, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and International Crisis Group have all called for an independent investigation into war crimes. Regrettably Australia is continuing to put its trade and economic interests with Sri Lanka before human rights” said Tamils for Greens spokesperson Nathan Sri.

The motion, to be proposed on Monday, follows a damning report by the International Crisis Group which cited evidence, including video footage and testimonies from frontline soldiers, highlighting the complicity of top ranking Sri Lankan Government and military officials in atrocities carried out during its campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The report also condemned the LTTE, who were annihilated in May 2009, for its human rights abuses.

“Despite the Sri Lankan Government’s claims to the contrary, an independent inquiry into war crimes is vital in holding those responsible for the massacre of civilians. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd must start showing leadership and speak out against the injustices which last year alone, left up to 40 000 Tamils dead” said Nathan Sri.

NOTICE OF MOTION
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young
I give notice that, on Monday 21 June, I shall move:
That the Senate
(a)     Notes
i)      The recent report from the International Crisis Group on War Crimes in Sri Lanka
ii)     This report, recommends, among other things, for the United Nations to authorise an independent international inquiry into the alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka during the last year of the conflict
(b)     Calls on the Australian Government, as an active member state of the United Nations, to encourage the UN to investigate the alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.
Tamils for Greens is a national advocacy group endorsing The Australian Greens party.

The group’s formation is a direct response to growing disenchantment within Australia’s Tamil community towards the Government and Coalition’s lack of concern regarding human rights violations in Sri Lanka and continued demonisation of refugees.

For more information or media interviews call Nathan Sri: 0418457837

tamilsforgreens@gmail.com -  www.twitter.com/tamilsforgreens – http://www.facebook.com/TamilsForGreens

Sri Lanka Guardian - The Sri Lankan Government Has Tarnished Its Own Image – Bruce Haigh

The Sri Lanka Government killed press freedom

China and India friendship with Sri Lanka will end in tears with the Sri Lanka losing autonomy

Sri Lankan diplomatic missions have been a partisan disgrace.

Interviewed by Nilantha Ilangamuwa

The Sri Lankan Government has tarnished its own image, without help from anyone else, Bruce Douglas Haig, former Deputy High Commissioner of Australia to Sri Lanka in 1994, said in an exclusive interview with the Sri Lanka Guardian. More

Tamil Justice – A documentary series on ABC Radio National (AM 846) about the aftermath of the war in Sri Lanka and also how it has affected the Sri Lankan diaspora in Australia will begin on “360 Documentaries”. The first program will be at 2 pm on Saturday 19 June. The title is “ The Five Fingers of Sri Lanka” and will visit areas of Sri Lanka blocked to the media for some time during and after the last stages of the war . The documentary will  share stories of anguish and courage. It will also investigate the impact of the war and its ending on the diaspora in Australia.

The five fingers of Sri Lanka – Part 1 – ‘The arm is Sri Lanka and the fingers are the people. They’re all different, but from the same arm.’
In May 2009 when the war in Sri Lanka ended the Tamil and Singhalese communities in Australia tried to make sense of the years of fighting. There was violence and protest on the streets of Sydney as Tamils maintained the rage for relatives and friends in Sri Lanka who were dead or missing. From the war zone of Northern Sri Lanka stories of violence and treachery on both sides of the conflict emerge; a woman whose leg was amputated out of revenge, a hospital filled with traumatised children, the daily threat of suicide bombers. For this program producer Johan Gabrielsson travelled to parts of Sri Lanka where no other media had access.

International Crisis Group  – (09/06) -  Bringing Displaced Persons into Peace Processes: Good for Them, Good for Peace

Some 26 million people have been driven from their homes and forced to resettle into another part of their own country due to conflict, natural disasters, development projects, or other reasons. The United Nations recently launched guidelines for integrating internal displacement into peace processes and agreements. Donald Steinberg, Crisis Group’s Deputy President for Policy, served on an advisory panel for those guidelines, and talks about the plight of internally displaced persons and the importance of empowering them to build lasting peace.

Institute for Economics and Peace – Global Peace Index

Sri Lanka (133 out of 149) comes in the bottom 20 countries in the world according to the 2010 Global Peace Index Released on Monday – lower than Burma!

View detailed report here
View full list here
View details on Sri Lanka here

DNA – Tamil protests keep celebs away from IFAA

by Prithwish Ganguly & D Ram Raj

The organisers of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards could be ruing their decision to hold the ceremony in the Sri Lankan capital this year.

Because of strong protests by Tamil groups against IIFA holding the ceremony in Colombo, the top actors of tinsel town have cited prior commitments to give the occasion a miss. More

BBC - Sri Lankan foreign minister denounces UN rights chief

by Charles Haviland

The Sri Lankan government has hit out against UN human rights chief Navi Pillay, accusing her of hounding the country on rights issues.

The indignation was expressed by new Sri Lankan Foreign Minister GL Peiris.

It came a day after Ms Pillay repeated her view that an international body was needed to look into war crimes allegations in the Sri Lankan context. More

AFP - Sri Lanka needs international probe: UN rights chief

The United Nations human rights chief called on Sri Lanka to allow an international probe into the government’s final offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels last year.

Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, acknowledged that the Sri Lanka government had created a post-war reconciliation commission to look into alleged human rights violations, and provide justice to victims.

“However, based on previous experience and new information, I remain convinced that such objectives would be better served by establishing an independent international accountability mechanism that would enjoy public confidence, both in Sri Lanka and elsewhere,” she told the UN Human Rights Council. More

Tamil Justice: The Bachchans and Shah Rukh Khan support Tamils and the need for a war crime inquiry in SL and boycott the awards but the International Indian Film Academy still hasn’t got the hint. It’s time to listen to the actors that provide its pay check and cancel the awards and financial support of GoSL in continuing to marginalise Tamils which this ceremony will provide.

Timesonline (UK) - Stars respond to Tamil call to boycott glitzy Bollywood awards

Jeremy Page

Bollywood’s annual awards ceremony, which begins in Sri Lanka today, is supposed to be an orgy of glitz and glamour, complete with bling-laden outfits, gushing acceptance speeches and the obligatory song and dance spectaculars.

This year, however, the event has been overshadowed by the withdrawal of several stars — including the Bachchans and Shah Rukh Khan — in protest at alleged war crimes during Sri Lanka’s civil war. More

AFP also covers it here: Organisers reject S.Lanka Bollywood awards boycott

Daily Mirror – Lanka slams Israeli attack

Sri Lanka has deplored the use of force by the Israeli military on boats carrying supplies for Palestinian people in international waters off the coast of Gaza this week resulting in the loss of life and injuries to aid workers.

The Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement, said Sri Lanka deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries resulting from this operation noting that indiscriminate use of force to prevent the carriage of supplies for people under occupation is condemned. More

The New York Times - Justice vs. Impunity

By KOFI A. ANNAN

The establishment of the International Criminal Court followed the gravest of crimes committed in Rwanda and the former Republic of Yugoslavia. In both cases, as we know to our shame, the United Nations and international community failed to take decisive and forceful action to protect the victims.

These terrible events did however, shock the world into action. Ad-hoc tribunals were set up to bring those responsible to justice. The Rome conference in 1998 agreed to establish an International Criminal Court to help end the global culture of impunity. More