current crisis - btf

8/14/2019 Current Crisis - BTF

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Furtherinformation

on

02.03.09


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CurrentSituation

CrimeProxy

Concentration

camps Nopeace,

Justice&

WronglyGoverned

Country

Tamil

Against

Humanity

Military Sinhala

dignity

Open

Prison

Colonisation

HRviolations

GenocideWar

Crimes Censorship

Crime

against

Peace

Ethnic

Cleansing

Strategic&EconomicInterestsofPowers

PersecutionEnslavement

map

&the

rights

of

the

Tamils


3/49

TAMILSETHNICCLEANSINGINDEX 2009

,

,

Unrecordedfiguresarenotincludedinthetable.Actualfiguresaremuchmorehigher


4/49

SriLankahasbeenShellingandbombingday&night1.TamilPeople

NoSafeHavenforTamilsinSriLanka

TheUN

estimates

that ~250,000

Tamil

civilians

are

trapped

in

the

war

zone

Bodieshavebeenpilingupinditches,

2.

Women, children

and

elderly

,

Reportedseeingbabieswithshrapnelwounds,gunshotinjuriesandblastwounds.

3.Civilians

Showingrecklessdisregardforcivilianlife &usingindiscriminateforcepersistently

Killed 1293civilians andwounded4054 ofthem.

4.Hospitalattacks

Targetedand

attacked

Health

Centres

and

hospitals

repeatedly

Killedmedicalpersonnel,sickandthewounded.


5/49

MedicalTreatment

Lackof

facilities

Peoplearesufferinganddyingduetolackofmedicinesandmedicalequipment.

TherearenohealthfacilitiesinMullaitivutotreatmasscasualties.

MedicalsuppliesforVannifor4thquarterof2008&1stquarterof2009havenotarrived.

Bloodfortransfusionisunavailableinhospitals.

Man

areseriousl

in ured

and

limb

am utations

are

necessar

to

save

their

lives.

Medicalsuppliesareacutelylowinhospitals&amputationsarecarriedoutwithoutanaesthesi


6/49

Lifewithonemealofriceporridgeaday.Abandon

b therestoftheworldandd ein fromstarvation.

Including10childrenupto18havebecomevictims.[Saturday28th February06:42pm](T.Sukunan fromVavuniya]

While Sri Lankan forces are advancing and encroaching civilian areas and without any help

from International Nongovernment Organizations the people in Vanni are facing severe

shortage for food. 18 Tamils have died due to starvation in the past 4 days. Among which 10

are young children

up with flu and other diseases. Body resistance has become very low. Puthinam reporter

quoated the doctors in the area pointing to the above reasons as cause of deaths.

Due to the continuous attack from the air and with artilleries by the Sri Lankan forces, people

are unable to go out to get any food. People have died even in the bunkers and houses due to

starvation

In the postmortem and medical inquires of the deaths of the 18 civilians it was established

that the cause of death was malnutrition, lack of immunity and shortage of food.


7/49

ConcentrationcampsCurrently the civilians arriving in Vavuniya from the Vanni are held in 13 camps

.

are separated for screening. Young women have been abused. Young people were

raped & killed. 800 Tamil women were forced to undergo abortion & it is continuing.

ese camps o not ave a equate water, ea t an san tary ac t es.

The Vanni population needs more than 200 lorryloads of food

every month, but in January only 14 lorryloads were supplied by

Relatives and even Members of Parliament have not been permitted to visit them.the UN Food agency World Food Programme

LeaderoftheTamilNationalAlliancehasbeenaskingwhy

Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRC) to visit patients arriving in Vavuniya

and Trincomalee from the Vanni.


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SlavecampsuspectedinKi'linochchihospitalbuilding

Frida 27Februar 2009 17:34GMT

A slave camp consisting male and female members 'chosen' from the

fleeing civilians by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is reportedly setup in the

abandoned Ki'lnochchi hospital building, reported Tamil Netcorrespon ent n ann , c t ng unver e n ormat on reac ng

Mullaiththeevu from males who escaped from the camp. According to

,

women kept in the upstairs for abuse by the SLA soldiers who are ontemporary leave.

Wailing&screamingofwomenarecommonlyheardfromupstairs,sourcesrevealed.

' , .

Manyyoungsterswerereportedlymissingduringthescreeningprocess.

Parentswho

asked

the

military

authorities

about

the

their

children

missing

at

the

tim

ofscreeningwerenotgivenwithanyanswer


9/49

HumanitarianlawIt is vital at this time of rapidly rising tension that all parties observe the

requirements of international humanitarian law, and that other governments take allappropriate steps to insist that they do so.

r s ore gn n s er c ea ar nas e or,an secure agreemen o,

adiscussiononSriLankabyEUForeignMinistersattheEUCouncil. The27

ForeignMinisters

have

called

for

Humanitarian

Ceasefire

in

Sri

Lanka.

It has been repeatedly brought to the attention of the conflicting parties that under

the laws of war, parties to an armed conflict must not make the civilian population

, .

Nor can they launch attacks that they know will cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury tocivilians or damage to civilian objects that exceeds the concrete & direct military advantage

anticipated. Such attacks constitute war crimes. Such attacks by Sri Lankan armed forces are:


10/49

SriLankainitiatedinvasionsoftheTamilEelam&

warsofa ressioninviolationofinternationallaw

usingits

Tamil

people

terrorising

forces

shown

below


11/49

SriLankahasbeenusingweaponscalculatedtocause

intheTamileelam


12/49

BombsusedbySriLankaagainstTamilcivilians

Use

C usterBom s

n

v ages

on

18.02.09

. .

Similarone

UsedFirebombsagainstTamilsincampsforinternallydisplacedpersonson16.02.09

as

inGaza

Thirtyfamiliesinasafetyzonewerekilledbybunkerbusterbombson19.02.09


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SriLankaforcedTamilstogototheNoFireZone

andkilled them


14/49

SriLankaburned,injured&

Tamilsburiedlovedones


15/49

SriLankahasbeenViolatingtheUniversalDeclaration

ofHumanRights,InternationalCovenantonCivil&

politicalRights,

Genocide

Convention

&

Geneva

ofthearmedconflict

or ure Mur ere Rape

Warcrimes Censorship Impunity

Sign

KilledJournalist


16/49

TargetingTamilsfromTamileelam on

MPsShotdead

Interrogated

Leaderof

Tamil

Shotdead:

AllianceNewspaper

editor MP MP MP MP26.02.09 23.02.09

Journalists StudentsBoy Woman


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TamilNationalAlliance(TNA)Leader

[Friday,27February2009,07:27.23AMGMT+05:30]

Tam Nat ona A ance Lea er R. Sampant an n orme Pres ent Ma n a Ra apa sa t at

there was a malicious effort to create an environment hostile to him, in a bid to suppress the

truth.n a e er o e res en , e ea er sa e was summone y e r m na

Investigation Department following a Media conference at the Parliamentary Complex on

February 17. The Conference was pertaining to the position of Tamil Civilians in the war zone

,

controlled territory, he said. Some in your Government, may have been irked by whattranspired at the conference, and this socalled investigation, despite the courtesy extended to

,

action as a democratically elected representative of the people, and the leader of a political

party which very substantially democratically represents the affected people, he said in his

letter.

He also said, You cannot be unaware that the democratically elected representatives of the

Tamil Peo le are revented from havin an direct contact with the dis laced Tamil Peo le

either in the conflict zone or even after their arrival in government controlled territory. May I

please ask what the Government is seeking to conceal by such actions. On Tuesday, CID

recorded a statement from Mr. Sampanthan at the CID office in Colombo.


18/49

GenocideofTamilscontinues:ArtilleryandAirattack:

[Tuesday,February24,2009,09:13pmEelam].


19/49

ViciousattackbytheSriLankanForcesonVannicontinues:

22Slau hteredand 41Severel In ured

(Wednesday,February

25,

2009,

07:27

pm

Eelam

)

T. Sukunanan from Vavuni a


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SriLankanAir,SeaandGroundForcesjoinedbrutalattack

onVanni:143Slaughteredand350severelyWounded.

[Friday,

February

27,

2009:

07:25

pm

Eelam] [

T.

Sukunanan

from

Vavuniya]

In a oint brutal attack b all three Sri Lankan forces esterda and toda on Vanni 143 Tamil

civilians are viciously killed and 350 are severely injured.

In Mullaithivu district where displaced people were living Mathalan, Ambalavanpokkanai,

Valagnarmadam and Mullivaikkal areas from the dawn of Friday morning till late evening. The

ground, air and sea forces of the Sri Lankan Government concurrently did this attack.

In the above attack 98 Tamils were brutally killed and 265 severely injured.

At the same time Mathalan, Ambalavanpokkanai, Valagnarmadam areas where displaced

people had taken shelter was also under joint attack by the three forces the whole day

yesterday.

n t e a ove attac am s were e an severe y n ure n t e attac o t e groun

forces with artillery shelling and MultiBarrel rockets

rom e sea n e avy aunc e ar ery r ng.

Air force was using the M.I 24 type helicopter for the attack


21/49

43Killedand85wounded,01.03.09

rt ery

s

r

an anc v ans

ByKrishan FrancisAt least 10 Sri Lankan civilians were killed and dozens more wounded on Sunday when artillery

shells fell inside a governmentdesignated "safe zone" in the heart of Tamil Tiger rebel

territory, a health official said.

Government forces have driven the rebels from most of their strongholds in recent months

an ave oxe em n o a ny coas a err ory n e nor eas . m ong sa e zone

serves as a haven for tens of thousands of civilians trapped inside rebel territory.

,

and he saw four more bodies scattered among the huts of displaced people.

,

school. Many of the victims suffered burns from the exploding shells, Varatharajah said.


22/49

MakeshiftCampsforthe

TamilsDisplaced

civilians

traumatised

nearthecamp

28.02.09

VavuniyaBarbed

WireCamp


23/49

TamilRefugeesarrivinginTamilNaduManydrowned,killedbySriLankannavy&neverreachedtheshore

P t t t t th i W i


24/49

ProtesttostopthewarinWanninowAustraliaGeneva WhiteHouse Ha ue

Toronto London NewZealanDenmark

Norway Switzerland Berlin Italy


25/49

Hartal inChennaiAgainstGenocidebySriLanka

DemonstrationinNewDelhi

R i T il d Si I i


26/49

ReunionTamilsstagedSitIntoprotestagainst

. .

P t t t t th id f th T il


27/49

SouthAfrica

ProtesttostopthegenocideoftheTamilsTamilNadu

France


28/49

InfrontoftheUNofficeinMalaysia27.02.09

10 T il lf I l t d t


29/49

10TamilsselfImmolatedtosave

MurukathasanSivapirakasam Ravi Amaresan Kokulatathinam

Ravichandran MuthukumarSothiRaja Seenivasan

Parties to the conflict


30/49

PartiestotheconflictWagingWarasillegalmilitaryoperations,usingillegalweaponsorlegalweaponsin

India SriLanka TamilEelamResisting

War

an ega mannerw ou any

internationalmonitoring

Taking

Strongly

believes

in

Leading

TamilFreedom

,

CongressParty

solutionStruggle

Leaderof

FreedomFightersMullaithivu

Presidentof

SriLanka

Focusingon

strategic& CrimeCallingfor

Minister,

ForeignAffairs

economic

interest

rec ng

Defence

Secretary

arzone

negotiation HeadofPolitical

Division

Working Terrorising ProvidingChairmanofaga ns

Tamils

Tamils Intelligence

ServicesArmy

CommanderHead

of

Intelligence

theForeign

AffairsCommittee

Crime directing


31/49

CrimedirectingDefenceSecretary

Warmongering TamilPeople

ofSriLanka

Commander

Tam V ct ms

Enslavement


32/49

Enslavement

SinhalaMilitaryRule

JaffnaDistrict

has

been

kept

as

an

Open

Prison

1Soldierper10Tamils,24hoursperday,last15years

Jaffna

Sri Lankas hardliners have been saying


33/49

SriLanka shardlinershavebeensaying

1.Tamils

should

not

determine

their

political

status

freely

Social DevelopmentinEelamfreely2.Tamilsshould

.

4.After

genocide

Noethnicconflictandnoneedforapoliticalsolution

Sri Lankan government has been doing


34/49

SriLankangovernmenthasbeendoing

1.DismantlingthedefactoStateofTamilEelamTamil

Eelam

2.EvictingtheTamils&colonising theEelamwithSinhalese

3.DestroyingTamilheroscemeteries,buildings,temples,hospitals&etc

.

5.ChangingtheTamilnamesofareas&roadstoSinhalese

6.TamilsdemandingselfruleareinterrogatedorshotdeadPoliticalstatus

7.InitiatingeconomicdevelopmenttosustaincolonisationEconomicdevelopment

8.Forcing

the

Sinhalese

social

&

cultural

habits

on

the

Tamils

Socialandculturaldevelopment

Evicting Tamils from the Tamil areas


35/49

EvictingTamilsfromtheTamilareas

VaharaiTamilRefugees

to

colonise

TheSinhalaBuddhistDimbugalaPriest Colonised

withSinhalaarmedsettlersinMaduruOya,1984

25000 Cemeteries of our Tamil War Heroes


36/49

25000CemeteriesofourTamilWarHeroes

Destroyed

emetery

ChargesBruceFein


37/49

SriLankan

Bruce Fein, counsel for USbased group

Tamils Against Genocide (TAG),

WarCrimes&Torture

Lieutenant

General

Sarath

r an an

Defence

Secretary

05.02.09 Thursday afternoon 3:00 p.m.

submitted to United States Attorney

General, Mr Eric Holder, the ModelIndictment charging U.S. citizen and Sri

Lanka's Defence Secretary, Gotabaya

and Sri Lanka's Army Commander,Sarath Fonseka, for genocide, war

Lanka. The Counsel urged the

Department to open a grand jury

nves ga on n o e cr mes, ase on

evidence amassed in the three volume

1000page document which the

Counsel said "amply satisfies the

Department's threshold forcommencing a criminal investigation."


38/49

HumanRightsExpertMsKarenParker,24.02.09


39/49

Saying it is highly likely that many of Tamil civilians in the LTTEcontrolled areas would be

hesitant to turn themselves over to what they consider an enemy government, as many of

Ms.Parkeralsoim liedhowtheTamil uestionbecameabar ainbetweenColomboandthe

those in the Vanni had come there the past few years after abuses in the government

controlled areas such as Jaffna and Trincomalee

strategicinterestsofpowers.

WhenUS

showed

an

interest

in

Trincomalee

and

was

working

out

adeal

with

J.R.

Jeyawardane,IndiaenteredintoIndoSriLankaaccordof1987topreventthis,shesaid.

TheBushadministrationlookedagainatTrincomaleeandtherearesuggestionsthatPalaly

airfieldwasalsounderconsideration.BothoftheseareintheTamilareas,soinorderfor

possiblebases

to

be

secure,

the

Tamil

question

would

have

to

be

resolved.

Butinsteadofresolvingtheconflict,theBushadministrationconvertedthearmedconflictin

terrorism/counterterrorism,Parkersaid.

ene

resu

accor ng

o

er

s

a

aspreven e

v ew ng

econ c

un er

preva ng

humanitarianlaw;itprolongedtheconflictandhasdamagedthehumanitarianlawitself.

hasdemonizedTamilpeopleworldwide,adding,Inmy27yearsworkingonhumanitarianlawissues,I

havenever

encountered

asituation

where

an

ethnic

group

that

has

been

the

victim

of

the

most

serious

of

humanrightsandhumanitarianlawviolationsbecomestheculprit andinwaysthatareovertlyracist.

F US D t Att G l F i 24 02 09


40/49

FormerUSDeputyAttorneyGeneralFein,24.02.09

Sri Lankas genocide against Tamils has taken place over a number of years and is

more characterized by widespread, prolonged displacement and destruction of the

communitys physical and cultural base than murder. For this and also wider

geopolitical reasons, the destruction of the Sri Lankan Tamils is less wellunderstood

in the world at lar e as a case of enocide

"The Sinhalese Buddhist Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) is the reason we are

reduced to conjecture. It has imposed a media blackout. It has evicted all NGOs. It

has evicted all humanitarian aid workers. It has evicted the Sri Lanka Monitoring

Mission. It has evicted the International Committee of the Red Cross. No

independent news reporter or neutral witness may observe the conflict between the

all Sinhalese Tamil free armed forces and security services of Sri Lanka and the

violence that rains down daily on innocent Tamil civilians whether in hospitals,

temples, churches, schools, or safe zones an Orwellian term to describe the

their physical destruction in whole or in substantial part by the Sinhalese majority.

24.02.09Feinrecommendedtothe


41/49

1. Seek an international arms embargo on Sri Lanka in the United Nations Security Council

.

2. List Sri Lanka (along with Sudan, Iran, Syria, and Cuba) as a state sponsor of terrorism under

United States laws, which would trigger various sanctions .3. Freeze the United States assets of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Sarath Fonseka.

4. Deny visas to the GOSL leadership, including President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

5. Vote against economic aid to the GOSL at the World Bank and IMF.

6. Deny Sri Lankan goods favourable tariff treatment.

. s a n a a apa sa, o a aya a apa sa, an ara onse a as spec a y es gna e

terrorists under Executive Order 13224.

8. Support a One country, two systems political solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.9. Withdraw the United State Ambassador from Colombo until the genocide and

indiscriminate killing of Tamil civilians by the Sinhalese Buddhist GOSL ceases.

. or eca es, t e pr mary orrors n r an a ave een n cte on am c v ans y t e

GOSL. Like triage, their plight should be addressed first though genocide prosecutions orotherwise.

Britain legally obliged to


42/49

Britainlegallyobligedto

preventGenocide

in

Sri

.

Since the British Foreign Minister has now publicly

Sri Lanka (GoSL) is "quite prepared to go ahead with acts",

Convention, the British government has a legal obligation

" " ,said Professor Boyle, professor of international law at the

,

Net, Thursday, 26 February 2009, 20:27 GMT

Solutionsproposedduringlast52years


43/49

2 65 DistrictCouncil

4 79 DictrictDevelopmentCouncil

5 83 ProvincialLevel

Decentralisation

6 85 DistrictCouncilwithoutexecutivepower

7 86 2ProvincialCouncilinNorth&ReconstitutedEasternProvince

8 87 North&

East

merged

Provincial

Councils

9 89 ElectiontodemonstratesupportforLTTE

10 92 ParliamentarySelectCommitteeReports

11 95 DevolutionPackageforalltheprovinces

12 2003 InterimSelfGoverningAdministration

13 2005 PostTsunamiOperationalManagementStructure

Rejectedor

unilaterally

abrogated

or

eye

washed

14 2007 AllPartyConferenceProposal

StopwarandnegotiateinterimgovernmentforTamils

h i l d


44/49

FourthInternational,26.02.09,Amsterdam

"We, the undersigned leaders of workers' parties, demand that thegovernment of Sri Lanka stop attacks that can destroy thousands of

order to install an interim government for the Tamil homeland," said a

resolution assed Wednesda at the International Committee of theFourth International, consisting over 50 political parties and

organisations, spread throughout the five continents of the world met

during 21st and 25th of February in Amsterdam.

, , , ,

the U.K., Italy, the U.S.A., South Africa, Canada, The Philippines, Brazil,

Bel ium, Greece, Portu al, Al eria, Sweden and Denmark, etc.

Dr. Vickramabahu Karunarante of the NSSP of Sri Lanka

mooted the resolution, which was unanimously

accepted.


45/49

TimeforU.N.tostepintohaltthegenocidesofTamilsinSriLankaand

recognize Tamils' right to statehood and self determination


46/49

recognizeTamils'righttostatehoodandselfdetermination

Tamilswouldlike


47/49

, ,

Couldyou

consider

supporting

the

Tamil

Freedom

Struggle?

Flag oftheTamileelamwasraisedforafewhoursinfrontof

UN ffi i G d 15 000 Di E l T il


48/49

UNofficeinGeneva and15,000DiasporaEelamTamils

Sunday,22

February

2009

as

our

vision

WewouldliketothanktheJCFA&theministerforIrish

Foreign Affairs Mr Micheal Martin for their continued


49/49

ForeignAffairsMr.Micheal Martinfortheircontinued

n suppor reques ocons erus ng e r n uence

inEU

&

UN,

to

finish

the

tasks

given

below.

UN EUCouncil

2.Establish fullandunrestrictedaccess"toallowaidtoreachVanni.

1.GettheEUcallon23.02.09foranimmediateceasefireimplemented now&permanently.

4.Kee alltheVanni eo leinvanni and rovidemedicaltreatmenttotheaffected.

3.Providereliefsupplies,food,medicalsupplies,cleanwater,sanitationfacilitiesandshelter

5.Ensurethatcampsforthedisplacedcomeuptointernationalstandards&canbeindependentlymonitored.

7.AllowalltheTamilstodecide,moveandlivefreely.

. nsure esa e yo enso ousan so c v ans n earmycon ro e areas.

8.DeclaresafehavenforTamils. Stopthegenocide&allotherformsofcrimesagainstTamils.

10.Reinstate

the

ceasefire

agreement

breached

by

GoSL

with

LTTE

&

agree

apolitical

solution.

current crisis - btf

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