The crisis in Sri Lanka still demands international attention. Here’s the latest statement by an influential group of people: The Elders – a group of eminent global leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela – have made a direct appeal to the President of Sri Lanka to protect the rights of civilians displaced after the government’s…
Showing all posts tagged Sri Lanka
Still pressuring the Sri Lankan regime for justice
As a member on the advisory board of the UK-based Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice, we release globally today the following statement: It is just over 10 weeks since we launched the Campaign. In that time, pressure on the Sri Lanka Government (GoSL) – from this Campaign and from many other directions –…
Sri Lanka will not be treated like a normal country
Resistance lives: Several American Tamil activists protested in front of the midtown Manhattan New York State armory building where Victoria’s Secret catwalk event was being held Thursday evening. While celebrities were arriving to attend the popular event, the protesters highlighted the Corporation’s trade with Sri Lanka as aiding and abetting crimes against humanity, and war-crimes.…
The eyes of the world must remain on Colombo
Sydney University’s Jake Lynch, a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, writes in his weekly column about Sri Lanka and the need to continue pressure over its appalling treatment of the Tamils: The news that the Government of Sri Lanka is to close the internment camps where thousands of Tamils were illegally detained, following the…
Compassionate and anti-war, the sign of true leadership
A fine piece of analysis from leading Australian academic Damien Kingsbury published in Friday’s Crikey. Note the opposition to war, injection of nuance into the debate, avoidance of demonisation and clear moral purpose. In other words, vastly different to most “serious” academics and journalists parading themselves in the media. There’s always a war to support…
Suffering Tamils are languishing
Last night on Australian radio there was one of the first reports about life for Tamils inside the Sri Lankan concentration camps. It’s a grim reality, families held for months against their will. It’s a point constantly hammered by the Washington Post and the clear implication is that festering problems can only lead in one…
Jews coming together on refugees and conflict
The following email was just sent to the list of Independent Australian Jewish Voices: Dear friends, After a brutal civil war that massacred tens of thousands in Sri Lanka, many Tamils are seeking to rebuild their lives in Australia and beyond. We have not only a moral responsibility to listen to their pleas as refugees,…
New Delhi knows why the Tamils are suffering
A fellow adviser on the UK-based Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice, Prof Brahma Chellaney writes on India’s collusion in the Tamil fate: Nearly six months after Sri Lanka’s stunning military triumph in the 26-year-old civil war at the cost of thousands of civilian lives in the final weeks alone, the peace dividend remains…
300,000 Tamils need 30 seconds of your life
An important campaign launched today in Australia: The 300,000 Reasons campaign has been launched to draw attention to the plight of 300,000 Sri LankanTamil citizens – men, women and children who are being forcibly held in military camps in their own country for no reason other than their ethnicity. It is time for all of…
Keeping the Tamils on the front page
A welcome statement by Human Rights Watch on the dire situation in Sri Lanka: The Sri Lankan government’s proposal to create a committee of experts to examine allegations of laws-of-war violations during the conflict between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is an attempt to avoid an independent international inquiry,…