Sri
Lanka: Plausible Deniability
By Chandi Sinnathurai
14 March, 2007
Countercurrents.org
Hundreds
of thousands of indigenous Tamils from both the East and the North in
Sri Lanka are fleeing to relative safety from the indiscriminate air
attacks and multi-barrel rocket launchers from the Sri Lankan Armed
Forces even as we write. A public statement released on 9 March by the
Amnesty International reported:
Many civilians are caught
up in the fighting between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam and urgently require effective protection. More
than 220,000 civilians have been displaced by the violence. Amnesty
International is concerned that the parties to the conflict are not
doing all they can to protect the civilian population.>> see appendix
[1]
Today even as we write, Media
reports from the capital Colombo draws even a bleaker picture. News
from there estimates that over 100,000 people have evacuated themselves
from Tamil Tigers territory in the East (Batticaloa District) owing
to the continued indiscriminate shelling from the state forces for the
last three days. See appendix [2]
At the end of the day, it
is the civilian population – especially the poor and the vulnerable,
women and children, who find themselves sheltering under trees, in open
spaces or in churches and in schools as “internal refugees”
struggling for food and clothing without any proper social welfare services.
The worrying pattern is that, as the above Amnesty international statement
suggests they have no protection from either side. If you happen to
be a young Tamil aged anywhere between 16 and 35 you could be a prime-suspect
for arrest or even killed as a “Tamil Tiger”. If you happen
to be in the right place at the wrong time you are dead!
In the heat of the battle,
there are calls from various quarters for international intervention
with the hope of kick-starting the defunct peace process. The five-year
old Oslo inspired Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) is well and truly dead and
buried. In fact, the CFA was lamentably only a cosmetic exercise. It
was during the CFA the Sri Lankan state engaged in a so-called “Shadow
war” against the leading Tamil citizens. The state systematically
liquidated most if not all credible and articulate voices among the
Tamils: Legislators, intellectuals, writers and journalists including
human rights activists and humanitarian workers were abducted and murdered.
In the Sri Lankan conflict both the systematic silencing of dissenting
voices and the use of human shields of innocent civilians have been
the primary crimes. When confronted, parties to conflict have taken
cover in plausible deniability. The worst crime of all is that the international
community has shown less interest in the crimes against humanity in
Sri Lanka. Geo-political and other mercantile interests including Western
investments have overshadowed.
It is believed that there
will be no military solution to this conflict. However, the past 5year
Oslo peace process has been generally viewed across the board, understandably
with much cynicism. If there is to be a peace formula, there has to
be a new peace broker and it has to bring about a humane solution; putting
people in the centre than other vested interests.
As for today, we will do
well to remember the caveat of Noam Chomsky (Speaking in 2006 on the
plight of Palestine):
“The process of preventing
a diplomatic settlement has a name. It’s called the ‘peace
process’”
Fr.Chandi Sinnathurai
is a Christian priest. He has written extensively on the Sri Lankan
conflict.
APPENDIX
[1]
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Public Statement
AI Index:ASA 37/006/2007
(Public)
News Service No:047
9 March 2007
Sri Lanka: Amnesty International
writes to Minister of Human Rights
Amnesty International has
written to the Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights, Mahinda
Samarasinghe, on the occasion of the fourth session of the UN Human
Rights Council in 2007. Amnesty International welcomes the commitment
of the Government of Sri Lanka to continue to brief the UN Human Rights
Council in a comprehensive manner1 and has encouraged Minister Samarasinghe
to include the following issues in an overview of the human rights situation
when he addresses the Council at its fourth session on 12 March 2007.
According to Amnesty International’s
information, the human rights situation in Sri Lanka continues to deteriorate
seriously. It is important for the international community to learn
what the Government of Sri Lanka is doing and will do to stem further
deterioration of the situation, bring about improvements, and end impunity
for past human rights violations. Many civilians are caught up in the
fighting between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam and urgently require effective protection. More than
220,000 civilians have been displaced by the violence. Amnesty International
is concerned that the parties to the conflict are not doing all they
can to protect the civilian population. Humanitarian access to civilians
has been severely curtailed and humanitarian personnel have been attacked
and killed. The Jaffna Peninsula remains isolated with a lack of food,
dwindling medical supplies and severe restrictions on travel. Reports
of political killings and enforced disappearances by the government
and armed groups are re-emerging and increasing. A climate of impunity
persists.
A mechanism is urgently required
to address the current lack of protection for civilians. In light of
decades of impunity for perpetrators of violations of international
human rights and humanitarian law in Sri Lanka, characterised by the
failure of the authorities to investigate and prosecute such perpetrators,
there is a need for effective and sustained international monitoring
and investigation of human rights abuses. Given the deteriorating situation
it is critical that the Human Rights Council is briefed on what action
the Government of Sri Lanka is taking in response to the High Commissioner
for Human Rights’ recommendation that ‘a broader international
mechanism is still needed to monitor, ultimately prevent, human rights
violations in the longer term.’2
Of particular concern are
the increasingly numerous reports of enforced disappearances and unlawful
killings in Sri Lanka, including over 1,000 reported extrajudicial executions
and unlawful killings in 20063 and hundreds of disappearances across
the country. Amnesty International welcomes the acknowledgement by the
government of Sri Lanka on 7 March 20074 that some defence personnel
may be involved in abductions, killings and disappearances and urges
the government to investigate all such allegations, above and beyond
the small group that have been arrested so far. Amnesty International
notes the Government of Sri Lanka's recent statement entitled 'Baseless
Allegations of Abductions and Disappearances'5 and welcomes the findings
of a number of police investigations that have identified the safe whereabouts
of a number of persons reported to be disappeared or abducted. However,
Amnesty International emphasises that the nine cases highlighted in
this statement are a selected few and do not address the 5749 outstanding
cases in Sri Lanka being reviewed by the Working Group on Enforced and
Involuntary Disappearances, several hundred of which have been reported
since 2006, and include many which implicate members of the security
forces. The Government must ensure sustained investigations into all
alleged unlawful killings and enforced disappearances, with a view to
identification of suspects and prosecution in proceedings that fully
respect international fair trial standards. This was a need also identified
by the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
following this visit to Sri Lanka in 2005.6 Without such measures, the
killings and disappearances will continue unabated and many cases will
continue to be left unresolved. It will be important for the government
to update the Council on steps taken to act on the recommendations made
by the Special Rapporteur.
Amnesty International is
also concerned about reports of the increasingly arbitrary nature of
detentions taking place in Sri Lanka. The organization has received
numerous reports of cases where no receipts or records of detention
are being made available to family members of those who have been arrested,
despite the Presidential warrant of July 2006 requiring such notifications.
Compounding this, a lack of clarity about where significant numbers
of detainees are being held exposes them to increased risks of torture
or ill-treatment as well as becoming victims of enforced disappearance.
Amnesty International has strongly encouraged Minister Samarasinghe
to provide information to the Council about measures by the Sri Lankan
government to ensure that the detention procedures fully adhere to national
and international legal standards. In light of the escalation of these
reports Amnesty International has suggested that the Government of Sri
Lanka should consider inviting the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
to Sri Lanka and facilitating the visit of the Working Group on Enforced
and Involuntary Disappearances as a matter of urgency.
Amnesty International has
also urged Minister Samarasinghe to consider updating the Human Rights
Council on how the Victim and Witness Protection Unit of the Commission
of Inquiry and the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons,
announced by Commission Chairman Justice N. K. Udalagama in January
2007,7 will ensure the safety of not only victims and witnesses but
also those conducting the investigations and others involved with the
Commission in any way. Amnesty International is concerned that this
Unit is not fully functional despite the fact that the Commission has
already publicly called for representations from the public.
Amnesty International looks
forward to the clarification of the issues highlighted in this statement,
by Minister Samarasinghe when he addresses the Human Rights Council
on 12 March.
Footnotes:
1. Statement by Delegation
of Sri Lanka following update by High Commissioner of Human Rights at
the Human Rights Council on 29 November 2006.
2. UN Press Release, High
Commissioner for Human Rights Hopes New Inquiry Commission on Killings
and Disappearances in Sri Lanka Will Prove Effective, 6 November 2006.
(www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/
67DAEA0611B7C3D0C125721E005F3EA4?opendocument)
3. Home for Human Rights;
open letter to Philip Alston 8 September 2006
4. http://today.reuters.com/news/
CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=COL285170
5 http://www.peaceinsrilanka.com/peace2005/
Insidepage/SCOPPDaily_Report/SCOPP_report080307.asp
6. Report of the Special
Rapporteur, Philip Alston; Mission to Sri Lanka (28 November to 6 December
2005) E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.5 27 March 2006.
7. Daily Mirror, 10 January
(
http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/01/10/news/1.asp).