Tag Archive for 'Sri Lanka'

Christmas Island ‘pressure cooker’ could explode after UN review

Published on 22 March 2010 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

My following article appears in today’s edition of Crikey:

Christmas Island is a “pressure cooker”, according to one recently-returned refugee advocate. And the situation will blow up completely if the federal government is allowed to deport asylum seekers back to strife-torn Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

As more boats arrive at the offshore immigration processing centre — and more accommodation is hastily built for the more than 2000 residents — the federal government will come under more pressure to deny visas after a review of international protection guidelines by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

The agency has hinted at revising its rulings on Sri Lanka. Regional representative Richard Towle told the ABC the humanitarian situation in the country is “moving in the right direction and we think any review of the guidelines needs to reflect these positive changes”.

That could be devastating to those languishing on Christmas Island, according to Sonia Caton. The former director and principal solicitor at the Refugee and Immigration Legal Service is concerned by the possibility of  “refugee politics” within donor countries influencing the guidelines anticipated by the UNHCR, potentially putting asylum seeker’s lives at risk.

“The government is doing the job we signed up to do under the Refugee Convention and it is doing it well. But people need to be brought on-shore –- the place is a pressure cooker,” Caton told Crikey last week after returning from the island.

“It is currently only working because the largely Hazara asylum seeker population see people receive visas, so they sit and wait in crowded conditions because they have hope. Take that hope away and the management of the detention centre will change overnight.”

Caton says she knows of no illegitimate refugee claimants — “maybe there are a few opportunists, but I didn’t come across any” — and hopes the UNHCR will take into account current information from NGOs in Afghanistan to arrive at an accurate assessment of a very volatile and dangerous situation.

“Most of the 2000 asylum seekers in detention are Hazaras,” Caton said. “Those I represented were mostly farmers from the Ghazni Province. The Taliban are increasingly active there and have co-opted the Kuchi and Pashtuns to target ‘infidel’ Hazaras. Hazaras are starving and cannot access medical help because travelling on Taliban controlled roads is a dice with death or serious harm — hence the outflow of asylum seekers fleeing Refugee Convention persecution.”

Caton praised Immigration Minister Chris Evans for greatly improving the conditions of refugees in mandatory detention since 2008 though she still despairs at the increasingly long periods in detention offshore and presence of children in detention, despite departmental denials.

UNHCR does constantly update its country assessments. The last thorough examination of Sri Lanka was nearly one year ago, before the end of the 26-year-long civil war. But a number of other refugee experts have told Crikey it is highly unlikely the UNHCR will recommend the cessation of all refugee claims from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, allowing neither the Rudd government nor Liberal opposition to make credible claims of vastly improved security situations in both countries.

Caton said that the relatively few refugees reaching our shores is insignificant compared to the Iraqi and Afghan refugees sitting in countries like Jordan, Syria, Iran and Lebanon: “The [Australian] migration program has literally exploded over the past six to eight years, yet the humanitarian intake remains static year in and year out at a pathetic 14,000 a year, give or take 500…”

In 2002 Australia contributed more than $19 million to UNHCR and was its 12th largest donor. In 2008 this increased to $28 million but the ranking dropped to 13th. The Immigration Department says about 660 asylum seekers detained on Christmas Island have been given refugee status so far this year — more than half of the total 1,130 offered visas in 2009.

Antony Loewenstein is a freelance journalist and author of My Israel Question and The Blogging Revolution

The leader of Sri Lanka has a serious image problem

Published on 20 March 2010 in General. 0 Comments Tags: .

A cautionary tale of hubris from a man who should be facing war crimes charges in the Hague (here’s why):

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said there is no truth in the perception that he is building a family dynasty and referred to the Kennedys, Bushes and the Gandhis in politics as an example.

In an interview to the Singapore-based Strait Times, Mr. Rajapaksa in response to a question on the oft-heard complaint that there are too many Rajapaksas in his regime has said, “But for that matter how many Kennedys were there in administration. Or Bushes. Or the Gandhis. I have only two brothers in administration.”

…

To a question on the LTTE [Tamil Tigers], Mr. Rajapaksa has said there are sleeping cadres and there are interested parties, especially outside Sri Lanka.

“It has been just nine months since the war ended… Just because the leaders were eliminated, it is not over. The movement will take some more time.

There are sleeping cadres, trained suicide bombers. They were a factory of suicide bombers”.

Asked how he would like to be remembered, Mr. Rajapaksa has said, “As a man who loved his country and his people, and did my best to serve them.”

Being a Tamil Tiger does not preclude seeking asylum in the UK

Published on 20 March 2010 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

A surprisingly progressive decision in Britain and a healthy precedent for other civil conflicts around the world:

Members of a banned terrorist organisation can claim asylum in Britain, the Supreme Court has ruled.

The court ruled that being a member of the Tamil Tigers, which has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the government, should not prevent an individual claiming asylum.

Their ruling was made in the case of “R” who joined the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1992, at the age of 10.

The Tamil Tigers, or Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, have been involved in a bloody struggle in Sri Lanka, that stretches back 30 years.

“R” occupied various positions until, at the age of 18, he was appointed to lead a mobile unit transporting members of the intelligence division through the jungles to Colombo.

He also acted as chief security guard to the leader of the intelligence division and second in command of the combat unit of the intelligence division.

In October 2006 he was sent under cover to Colombo to await further instructions but two months later he discovered that the Sri Lankan government was aware of his presence in the capital.

He fled to Britain and claimed asylum on the basis that if he returned to Sri Lanka he would face mistreatment due to his race and LTTE membership.

The application was refused, saying that there were grounds for considering that he had committed war crimes.

It said the Tamil Tigers had been “responsible for widespread and systemic war crimes and crimes against humanity” and that his membership of an extremist group could be presumed to amount to “personal and knowing participation, or at least acquiescence amounting to complicity, in the crimes in question.”

The decision was quashed by the Court of Appeal which said the government was wrong to assume that the individual, as a member of the LTTE, was guilty of knowing participation in such crimes and that the government should have considered whether there was evidence that he had made a significant contribution to the commission of such crimes.

The Home Secretary appealed against the decision but on Wednesday that was turned down.

The politics of a sport’s boycott over Sri Lanka

Published on 18 March 2010 in General and Israel. 4 Comments Tags: , , , , .

What do Tamils face when they return home?

Published on 18 March 2010 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , .

These comments seem incredibly suspicious, considering the ongoing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka:

Tens of thousands of refugees, who belong to the minority Tamil ethnicity, have lived in camps across India’s Tamil Nadu state for more than two decades and have assimilated into local communities. But many yearn to return and rebuild their lives in their homeland, aid workers say.

“The ultimate reason for being a refugee has diminished,” said Christian Aid’s Gordon Shannon. “Now, more than any other time during the 25-year-old war, is the most positive time…to start preparations for the refugees to go back.”

Mass murder in Sri Lanka is an inconvenience for the New York Times travel section

Published on 14 March 2010 in General. 2 Comments Tags: , .

Back in January the New York Times featured Sri Lanka as its top travel destination of the year. An odd choice, considering the country is a police state and stands accused of murdering tens of thousands of its Tamil minority.

Not to worry, just enjoy a nice cocktail on a beach recently cleared of mines and bodies.

Now, the Times continues its tone-deaf journey, more fully featuring the island and while acknowledging the recent troubles simply sails onto recommending nice holiday spots:

The wounds are still fresh, as The New York Times found out after listing Sri Lanka as its top travel destination for 2010 (as the author of the entry, my e-mail in-box was bombarded with angry letters). The anger stemmed from the brutal way in which the Sri Lankan military ended the war last May. By some estimates, about 7,000 civilians, and possibly thousands more, were killed during the final battle. Hundreds of thousands were put in camps. The government remains in the awkward position of defending itself against accusations of war crimes while also trying to open up the country to foreign investors and vacationers.

…

But it is the country’s tranquil beauty that draws most visitors. “You don’t need to do a great deal to have the good life here,” said Ivan Robinson, a British real estate developer who refurbished a colonial manor in the south. “The rivers are full of fish. Fruit falls off trees.” Water buffalo graze beside Buddhist stupas. Elephants roam freely. And innkeepers warn guests to keep their windows closed to avoid pickpockets — not people, but monkeys swinging from the trees.

Then there are Sri Lanka’s famed beaches, crescent-shaped coves of white sand framed by colorful bungalows and bamboo groves. An unintended consequence of the war is the coastline’s lack of development. You can stroll past beat-up outrigger boats, which look like showpieces from a maritime museum, and past fishermen on wooden stilts. Or hike inland to discover hideaway guesthouses carved from old gem merchants’ homes, with mango gardens and infinity pools tucked into their courtyards.

Hanging refugees out to dry, courtesy of the Australian authorities

Published on 13 March 2010 in General. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

This proposed collusion between the UN and Australia, to remove a potential headache for Kevin Rudd in an election year, should be condemned in the strongest possible sense.

Sri Lanka and Afghanistan remain highly dangerous nations for minorities and dissidents. The idea that the Australian government will be sending refugees back to their nations of origin is morally repugnant and possibly even illegal, especially if the individuals face a serious risk of persecution when back home (as has happened many times before):

The United Nations refugee agency is looking at changing its international protection guidelines for Sri Lankan and Afghan asylum seekers.

The changes would pave the way for Australia to send many more of the detainees on Christmas Island back to where they started.

The Tamil Association is urging against any change to the guidelines, saying it is no safer for Tamils in Sri Lanka.

The protracted civil war in Sri Lanka ended last May with the Tamil Tigers admitting defeat. The UN Refugee Agency has decided it is time to review the guidelines for assessing the international protection of Sri Lankan asylum seekers.

The regional representative for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Richard Towle, says January’s presidential election is a key factor in the UN’s reassessment.

“Well, I don’t want to pre-empt what the guidelines will say, but clearly there has been a significant number of people who’ve left the camp populations in Sri Lanka, and are in the process of returning to their places and regions of origin,” he said.

“There’s a long way to go in terms of a rehabilitation and dealing with humanitarian issues, but it’s certainly moving in the right direction and we think any review of the guidelines needs to reflect these positive changes.”

The UN is a key source of evidence used by Australia to determine refugee claims.

Since the beginning of 2009, 843 Sri Lankan asylum seekers have been intercepted on their way to Australia and sent to Christmas Island. Just over a third have so far been granted refugee status and visas.

Israel and Sri Lanka make love in the only way they know how – violently

Published on 11 March 2010 in General and Israel. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .

Two nations with a blatant disregard for minorities and human rights find each other. So beautiful you want to prosecute them in the Hague:

Israel supported Sri Lanka throughout in its war against terrorism and now that the war is over the Israeli Government is determined to go for a robust economic co-operation agreement with Sri Lanka, Israel’s Ambassador to Delhi and Colombo Mark Sofer told the Daily Mirror yesterday.

He said this would further bolster the ties between the two countries.

Mr. Sofer who was the former policy advisor to Premier Shimon Peres met President Rajapaksa on Tuesday to discuss as to how the two countries should carry forward bi-lateral ties.

During the discussion it has been agreed to explore possibilities of collaboration in several areas including agriculture, employment opportunities, technology sharing and tourism.

“Though the narrative is different, in both Sri Lanka and Israel we believe in the defeat of extremism and terrorism.  As one country which never criticized Sri Lanka during its entire period of war against terrorism we are happy for its victory over terrorism and now look forward to further promote ties especially in the area of economic co-operation” said Mr. Sofer.

Commenting on the peace prospects in the Middle East he emphasized that the challenge that awaits both Israel and Palestine today is ensuring the triumph of moderates over extremists and conceded both countries have extremist elements jeopardizing peace.

When you’re feeling down and need a hand, turn to Beijing

Published on 11 March 2010 in General. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

If you’re a country that enjoys war crimes, rest assured either China or America will come to your aid:

China is to lend Sri Lanka about $200m (£133m) to build a second international airport in the south of the island.

Another $100m from Beijing will help boost the island’s railway network, Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry said.

The new airport will be near a vast sea port which is being largely funded with Chinese money.

China is financing a growing number of such projects in Sri Lanka, which some see as an attempt to undermine Indian influence in the region.

The two countries are vying for contracts in Sri Lanka following the end of more than 20 years of civil war.

Don’t buy anything from Sri Lanka

Published on 26 February 2010 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , .

A new episode in the “No Panties for Sri Lanka” campaign, urging the boycott of goods made in the country:

Tamil independence will happen one day (with a nudge and a push)

Published on 24 February 2010 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Justice in Sri Lanka is a foreign commodity these days while the Tamil Diaspora are still longing for an independent homeland.

This is an interesting move by Britain, a rare sign of actually standing up to dictatorships (unlike Australia, which seems more concerned with maintaining trade relations and ignoring human rights):

Relations between Britain and Sri Lanka are likely to hit a new low after David Miliband addresses a meeting of Tamil activists from around the world at the Houses of Parliament today.

The Foreign Secretary is due to make the opening speech at the inaugural meeting of the Global Tamil Forum, which campaigns for selfdetermination for Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamils and to bring to justice perpetrators of alleged war crimes during the island’s 26-year civil war.

William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, is to make the closing address to the meeting, which will be attended by several other MPs in an unprecedented display of cross-party support for Sri Lanka’s Tamils after the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels last year.

“It’s great support for us,” S. J. Emmanuel, the president of the forum, told The Times. “The British Government, more than any in the world, knows our history and are most competent to understand our situation.”

He said that the group advocated non-violence and an international boycott of Sri Lankan goods and wanted war crimes charges brought against Mahinda Rajapaksa, the President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Defence Secretary, and Sarath Fonseka, the former army chief.

Sri Lanka’s Government is sure to be incensed as it regards many of the forum’s members, especially the British Tamils Forum, as fronts for the Tigers, who are banned as a terrorist organisation in the EU. Sri Lankan officials have long accused Britain of secretly supporting the Tigers.

The Foreign Office defended Mr Miliband’s decision to address the meeting. A spokesman said: “The UK firmly believes that the only way to achieve lasting and equitable peace in Sri Lanka is through genuine national reconciliation. The UK will engage with all members of the Sri Lankan community who share this goal, whether overseas or in Sri Lanka.”

The Tigers launched their armed struggle to create an independent homeland for Tamils in northeast Sri Lanka in 1983 to try to protect them from discrimination at the hands of the ethnic Sinhalese majority.

Backing resistance and terrorism can be a very fine difference

Published on 19 February 2010 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

I recently posted about an upcoming Supreme Court case that might redefine the ability of American citizens to provide advice to “terrorist” groups wanting non-violent means to achieve their goals.

This article expands on what is at stake and focuses on Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers:

The legal dispute arose from advice given by the Humanitarian Law Project to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka. Both groups are listed by the State Department as terrorist organizations.

Recently, Indicted Wall Street hedge fund manager Rajakumara Rajaratnam and his father, J. M. Rajaratnam, knowingly provided financial and other support to the Tamil Tigers, more than 30 victims and survivors of the terrorist group’s attacks alleged, according to a report obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police.

In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark, NJ,  family members of those killed and survivors of bombings committed by the group formally known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE), alleged that Rajaratnam and the family foundation headed by his father provided millions of dollars in funds used for the deadly and destructive terrorist attacks.

The seven-count complaint, the result of a year-long investigation, was filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789 which grants non-U.S. citizens access to the U.S. Courts to seek justice for violations of “the law of nations,” such as crimes against humanity and terrorism, no matter where they occur.

From 2004 through 2009, the LTTF, or Tamil Tigers, conducted hundreds of attacks, including several suicide bombings and political assassination attempts. According to the FBI, LTTE is responsible for the murders of over 4,000 people since 2006. The terrorist organization was the first to use suicide attacks on a widespread basis, a tactic subsequently adopted by al Qaeda and Hamas, among others. Most of LTTE’s funding and weapons procurement came from a network of international front charities and non-governmental organizations controlled by LTTE.

The complaint documents the transfer of millions of dollars from Rajaratnam and his family’s foundation to the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), which was designated by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2007 as a “charitable organization that acts as a front to facilitate fundraising and procurement for the LTTE.” The TRO’s assets were immediately frozen.

According to the complaint, Rajaratnam gave $1 million to the TRO’s U.S. branch in 2004 in response to LTTE’s calls for renewed funding in anticipation of the “final war.” This money was funneled from TRO-US accounts to TRO headquarters in Sri Lanka. Rajaratnam had previously made a $1 million contribution to TRO following the LTTE’s successful “Elephant Pass” guerrilla campaign. These donations “demonstrate Rajaratnam’s contributions were given with the intent of supporting specific LTTE attacks and operations,” the complaint charges.

The complaint also documents donations from the Rajaratnam Family Foundation to the TRO totaling well over $5 million from 2001 to 2007.

As further evidence that Rajaratnam clearly supported LTTE’s campaign of terrorism, the complaint cites allegations that letters introducing Rajaratnam were provided to LTTE founder and leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran between December 2002 and June 2003. The letters of introduction to Prabhakaran, who was killed in 2009, were arranged by Karunakaran Kandasamy (Karuna), a TRO fundraiser and an LTTE operative who pled guilty in U.S. courts to criminal charges of materially supporting LTTE in June 2009.

In letters to senior LTTE leaders in Sri Lanka, Karuna described Rajaratnam as a wealthy Tamil supporter in the United States who was “among the people who provide financial support for our struggle for freedom” and as someone who “has been working actively on the forefront.”

In November 2002, Rajaratnam, speaking at a fundraiser for the Association of Tamils of Sri Lankan USA (ITSA), called those supporting the Tamils’ struggle in Sri Lanka “terrorists,” later adding that they were not just terrorists but also “freedom fighters.”

In addition, Rajaratnam’s father wrote on ITSA’s web site that “Historically, freedom movements have been labeled as terrorist organizations by the oppressors . . . ‘Terrorists’ have in their lifetime become ‘His excellencies.’” He added, “LTTE has not engaged in any killing that is not justifiable in the context of war.”

The counts brought by the lawsuit are: aiding and abetting terrorist acts universally condemned as violations of the law of nations; aiding and abetting, intentionally facilitating, and/or recklessly disregarding crimes against humanity in violation of international law; reckless disregard; wrongful death; survival; negligence; and negligent and/or intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Sri Lanka must pay in Australia for its crimes back home

Published on 15 February 2010 in General. 2 Comments Tags: , .

Following last week’s strong Age editorial on the situation in Sri Lanka, the following letter appeared in Saturday’s edition:

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

Melbourne Age chastises Colombo over rights abuses

Published on 12 February 2010 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Following yesterday’s strong editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald over Sri Lanka, today the Melbourne Age adds its voice to the outcry.

I can’t read these pieces and not think about the gutlessness of the corporate press when writing about the Middle East. Slamming Sri Lanka is risk-free for editors. Seriously challenging Israel’s occupation of Palestine involves dealing with annoyed Zionist lobbyists:

Beautiful country, blighted land: hardly the type of slogan to welcome tourists, but sentiment that sadly sums up life in Sri Lanka. Decades of civil war have sabotaged the economy of what should be a jewel of the Indian Ocean. For the more than 21 million people – Sinhalese and Tamil mostly – squeezed into an area not even a third the size of Victoria, the suffering has been needless and long.

Despite the cautious hope that greeted the end to almost 30 years of war last May, ominous clouds are again gathering. The move by President Mahinda Rajapaksa this week to arrest Sarath Fonseka, his former chief general and subsequent opponent in January’s presidential election, smacks of authoritarianism. Mr Fonseka fell out with Mr Rajapaksa after leading government troops to bludgeon Tamil Tiger remnants last year in the east of the island. Both men, undeterred by allegations of human rights abuses in the final days of the conflict, sought the credit for finishing off the Tigers’ cadres, and Mr Rajapaksa prevailed where it counts – at the ballot box.

Apparently not content with the voters’ decision to return him to office, Mr Rajapaksa appears determined to also crush any future opposition. Mr Fonseka is accused of ”military offences” and though he is no longer a military officer, he faces a court martial. And Mr Rajapaksa has since dismissed the parliament two months ahead of schedule, seeking to ram home his advantage against a dispirited opposition reeling from Mr Fonseka’s arrest. Mr Fonseka had forged an unlikely coalition with Tamil parties, promising to submit to scrutiny for his role in the conflict. The Sri Lankan army is accused of shelling Tamil civilians trapped in a cantonment with the last of the Tigers and Mr Fonseka is also accused of involvement in the death of the newspaper editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, an Australian permanent resident. Mr Rajapaksa remains defiant, intent on keeping the final days of the war secret.

Sri Lanka must honestly account for its conduct of the war if the country is to start on the path to a more stable future. On ABC Foreign Correspondent this week, former United Nations spokesman in Sri Lanka, Australian Gordon Weiss, claimed the last stages of the conflict cost as many as 40,000 civilian lives. His claim sits at odds with the official UN estimate of 7000 killed, fuelling suspicions that the cost of defeating the Tigers was far greater than the government in Colombo has been willing to admit. Without a transparent inquiry, questions over the conduct of the campaign will haunt Sri Lanka, undermine trust in the government and ultimately hold back much-needed development.

Australia has major interests in Sri Lanka, not least because the country is the main source of asylum seekers willing to risk the perilous journey by boat to Australia. The war and instability in Sri Lanka affect all the countries of South Asia – and by extension, Australia, as an Indian Ocean power. If the Rudd government genuinely seeks a reputation for an ”activist” foreign policy, Australia should take a stand against Sri Lanka’s slide from democracy.

Australia has so far merely said it was watching developments closely. This passive attitude could be easily confused with a willingness to pander to Colombo out of fear that any criticism could jeopardise Sri Lankan co-operation with Australia on immigration matters. It would be a greater betrayal of the Sri Lankan people should Australia be seen to abandon support for democracy in order to preserve relations with an increasingly authoritarian ruler.

For a different island nation in the Pacific, Australia did take a strong stand. After Fiji broke from democracy, Australia was at the spearhead of moves to suspend the country from the Commonwealth. Sri Lanka is also a member of the Commonwealth, and should be put on notice that it risks a similar penalty.

Up to 40,000 killed in Sri Lanka’s final days of civil war

Published on 11 February 2010 in General. 0 Comments Tags: .

ABC TV’s Foreign Correspondent reports from Sri Lanka and finds continuing and systematic discrimination against the minority Tamils. And this:

As many as 40,000 civilians could have been killed during the final stages of the Sri Lankan civil war, according to someone with detailed knowledge of the conflict – the former United Nations’ spokesperson in Sri Lanka, Gordon Weiss. Mr Weiss has resigned from the UN after 14 years and returned home to Australia. He’s now free to speak openly about the situation in Sri Lanka, for the first time and does so candidly and unflinchingly in Foreign Correspondent’s return program.

He tells reporter Eric Campbell that between 10,000 and 40,000 civilians died during the final, desperate battles – last year – of one of the world’s longest running and bloodiest civil wars.

“About 300,000 civilians, plus the Tamil Tiger forces, were trapped in an area of territory about the size of Central Park in New York,” says Weiss. “They were within range of all the armaments that were being used, small and large, being used to smash the Tamil Tiger lines … the end result was that many thousands lost their lives.”

Gordon Weiss says his information comes from reliable sources who had a presence inside the battle zone, not Tamil civilians or fighters.

“The Sri Lankan government said many things which were either intentionally misleading, or were lies”, Weiss tells Campbell. He says that after the war ended, a senior civil servant openly admitted that the authorities had deliberately underestimated the number of trapped civilians “as a ploy to allow the government to get on with its business.”

Sydney Morning Herald recognises Sri Lankan anarchy

Published on 11 February 2010 in General and Israel. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

The kind of Sydney Morning Herald editorial that is hard to condemn. In fact, it’s necessarily strong against Sri Lanka’s descent into brutality. Alas, can we dream that one day the corporate press will equally see Israel’s occupation of Palestine in the same way?

War is often the justification for a temporary suspension of normal civil liberties under emergency powers. The test of an established democracy comes when a war ends, and those liberties are promptly returned to the population. This includes the right to stand and vote against the wartime leader in free and fair elections.

Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his army defeated the Tamil Tigers last May. But where is the peace dividend for his terror-racked country? The early presidential election held on January 26 was a textbook case in abuse of incumbency against Rajapaksa’s rival, the former military chief General Sarath Fonseka.

Into the bargain, there are now credible reports that the election commissioner, Dayananda Dissanayake, and his wife were kept captive at the presidential compound on election day and the day after while counting was conducted and a result announced. Dissanayake now appears to have withdrawn the resignation he announced after this detention, again as a result of what appears to have been a threatening meeting at Rajapaksa’s office.

On Monday soldiers arrived at General Fonseka’s office and carried him off into the night amid blows and verbal abuse, after he told a foreign radio station he was willing to testify in any international human rights tribunal about alleged war crimes during the final stages of the war. As a former United Nations official on the scene, Gordon Weiss, said on ABC television this week, there is much that Colombo would want to keep hidden. Although he had resigned from the army before standing for the presidency, Fonseka is being held by the military, and seems destined for a closed court-martial on vague charges.

Meanwhile, organisations such as Amnesty International and Reporters without Borders note that disappearances and intimidation of journalists continue. The respected commentator Jehan Perera, of Sri Lanka’s National Peace Council, talks of a ”climate of fear”. In this vitiated atmosphere Rajapaksa has now dissolved parliament, in preparation for an early election at which his goal will be to achieve a two-thirds majority, sufficient to amend the constitution.

The descent into dictatorship must be watched with alarm by the democratic world, especially fellow members of the Commonwealth. It could easily spark new rebellion, this time among the Sinhalese majority on the lines of previous Marxist insurgencies. Until now Canberra has treated Rajapaksa gingerly, intent on getting co-operation in stopping the outflow of boat people refugees. Now it appears more and more that Rajapaksa is the cause, not the solution.

Israel is more than happy for Colombo to continue its brutality

Published on 11 February 2010 in Israel. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

This is sickening but utterly unsurprising. Israel and Sri Lanka both see the world in the same way; with a complete disregard for civilians in the “war on terror’. Two terror states deserve each other:

Israel President Shimon Peres reiterated that his government was willing to assist Sri Lanka in any area of concern as needed in the future, especially covering the area of Defence Cooperation.

He made this remark when former Chief of Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal (Retd.) Donald Perera presented Letters of Credence as the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Israel President Shimon Peres, at the Office of the President in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, recently.

In a statement the Sri Lankan Mission in Jerusalem said the Ambassador had a brief discussion with President Peres and thanked the President and conveyed the Best Wishes and Greetings from President Mahinda Rajapaksa and briefed on the present situation in Sri Lanka.

President Peres expressed his views that President Rajapaksa was a very popular leader in the world and was confident that he would be very much on top and win the 2010 Presidential Election. He praised the Sri Lankan President for giving the leadership to complete the issue of terrorism in Sri Lanka.

Colombo shuns being welcomed into the civilised world

Published on 9 February 2010 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Sri Lanka is experiencing a very public descent into further instability.

Today we receive news that the recent opposition presidential candidate, Sareth Fonseka, has been arrested for allegedly planning a military coup.

But the real reason may be this (via the Guardian):

Hours before his arrest, Fonseka, who himself has been accused of a range of human rights abuses during the fighting against the Tamil Tigers last year, had said he was prepared to give evidence at international tribunals investigating the 25-year-long civil war. “I am definitely going to reveal what I know, what I was told and what I heard. Anyone who has committed war crimes should be brought into the courts,” the BBC reported him as saying.

To make matters worse, the disenfranchised Tamils remain isolated and ignored by the leading political elites:

Jaffna is a city of ruins. Some are physical, like the overgrown jumbles of mold-streaked concrete where graceful buildings used to stand. But perhaps the biggest ruin of the Tamil Tiger insurgency against the Sri Lankan government is the very thing the Tigers wanted most: any hope of self-rule.

After 26 years of war that ended with a decisive government assault last May, Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority seems no closer to winning a measure of autonomy in a Sinhalese-dominated nation, and Tamil nationalism, the cri de coeur of the Tamil Tiger insurgency, seems all but dead.

“All of this armed struggle, so many dead and wounded, for what?” said P. Balasundarampillai, who leads the Citizen Committee in this city on the claw-shaped peninsula of the northern Tamil heartland. “In many spheres of public life our role is very much reduced. Economically we are weak, and politically we are weak.”

Perhaps most interesting is last weekend’s Sri Lanka’s Sunday Leader editorial, expressing typical bravery, passion and despair over the country’s direction:

Today paupers become politicians to become millionaires and billionaires. Post independence was a time that the little island of Ceylon was a respected citizen of the world, holding its own against the mightiest of nations. J.R. Jayewardene put the country firmly on the world map by eloquently arguing the case of pleading mercy for Japan at the United Nations.

The world nodding its assent to the stance taken by Ceylon at this historic meeting, was an indicator of the high regard the world had for little Ceylon. We were the toast of Japan and the civilised world. Nations were to describe Ceylon as the conscience of the world. What a great decline then, when 62 years later we are reduced to the status of a pariah state with the very same nations calling for probes on human rights violations on our own people and the lack of space for free expression. Yet we organise grandiose ceremonies at huge cost to the emaciated taxpayers to celebrate ‘independence’ as was the case in Kandy last week.

With all the infrastructure at our disposal post independence, when much of the world was in ruin, what did we Sri Lankans do to benefit our fellow human beings?

Did we, like Japan or the West, create anything for the benefit of mankind? After sixty-two years of independence what is our greatest boast when it comes to industry? It is the supply of undies for the West. We have never been able to attract more than half a million tourists to this country even at the best of times. For much of our post-independence survival we have depended on the British created plantations.

Japan, when Sri Lanka was pleading its case in the early fifties, was for all intents and purposes a wasteland, having been bombed to nothing, with two nuclear atom bombs leaving Hiroshima and Nagasaki frightening ghost towns that could not be inhabited for years.

This was also a time that none of the modern day gadgets that we are so accustomed to today had even been thought of. Man had yet to venture into space. It is fascinating to note that all the technology around us today was created post Sri Lanka’s independence and Sri Lanka’s contribution to this has been nil.

How Sri Lanka denies evidence of war crimes

Published on 6 February 2010 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , .

A salutary tale about the use and abuse of British laws by Channel 4’s Jon Snow:

The scandal of Britain’s libel laws and their facility for libel tourism is well known. So too is our cavalier attitude to freedom of speech. But the idea that a country with one of the worst records for press freedom and human rights could use UK broadcast regulations to challenge legitimate reporting of allegations of cold-blooded killings in a brutal civil war surely takes the UK to a new place.

Whatever private individuals and corporations may be able to do, our legal system does at least prevent states, governments and political parties from suing for defamation in our courts. I and my colleagues at Channel 4 News are now emerging from a storm that saw Sri Lanka bypass our libel laws and attempt to use Ofcom, the broadcast regulator, to do what the law would not allow – silence our journalism. Ofcom’s job is to protect “people who watch television and listen to radio from harmful or offensive material” and to further the interests of UK citizens in respect of communication matters. It does this well. Ofcom’s job is not to protect governments or organisations from criticisms or to further their political or commercial interests.

Last year we broadcast a video showing nine bound and naked men, two of whom were shot, on camera, by soldiers who appeared to be wearing Sri Lankan army uniform. On the night in question I made it clear that while we couldn’t authenticate this video, sent to us by a group called Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, it raised matters of such importance that further investigation was warranted. The Sri Lankan high commission immediately denied the atrocities that the video appeared to show.

Two weeks later, at a news conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka said “independent” analysis had declared the video a “fake”. It mounted a high-profile global campaign to discredit the report, protesting outside Channel 4’s London headquarters. The Sri Lankan government opened up a second front in the UK, filing a series of complaints with Ofcom – one for accuracy and impartiality, one for fairness and privacy. What had begun as a media campaign to try to destroy the credibility of our news report had become a private battle using the UK’s broadcast regulator. It was a battle in which they were initially allowed to hide anonymously behind the confidential nature of the procedures.

Battle was spared by the findings of a UN committee which concluded that the tape did appear authentic, and dismissed Sri Lanka’s analysis. Strangely, on the eve of the UN report’s publication the government of Sri Lanka dropped its Ofcom complaints.

The Sri Lankan video affair has revealed how Ofcom procedures are potentially open to abuse that threatens to curb not only investigative reporting, but coverage of countries who would rather hide from public scrutiny. Ofcom has come of age in my reporting lifetime and I regard it as a regulatory success. But we need to look to the very real risk of governments hijacking the regulatory process for their own political ends.

In this case, Ofcom was placed at the centre of an international row over Sri Lanka’s human rights record, for decisions which could have had a major bearing on the country’s attempts to defend its reputation. Before Sri Lanka’s complaints were dropped, we were prepared to put these arguments in front of a court. We felt a clear ruling that denied countries access to Ofcom’s complaints procedures would be beneficial not just to political debate in the UK, but would also help the regulator to avoid being drawn into major international crises.

In the absence of a legal ruling, only parliament can change the basis on which complaints can be brought. Ofcom needs to ensure that Sri Lanka is the last country to be allowed to attempt to ­pervert the regulator’s domestic complaints procedure for its own needs.

To go or not to go to Galle?

Published on 5 February 2010 in General. 0 Comments Tags: , .

What are the ethical questions involved when visiting a cultural event or literary festival in a country like Sri Lanka?

The Galle Literary Festival brings up these very issues. Here’s the brief.