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TAMIL CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - TCHR/CTDHCENTRE TAMOUL POUR LES
DROITS DE L'HOMME
(Established in 1990)(UN accredited NGO to the World Summit on
Information Society and the
Warsaw Conference)
www.tchr.net
07 March 2011The PresidentMembers and DelegatesHuman Rights
Council - 16th SessionUnited Nations1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Distinguished Sirs / Mesdames
First of all, we extend our congratulations to your presidency
of the Human Rights Council.
We have regularly reported on the human rights situation in the
Island of Sri Lanka, since ourorganisation was founded in 1990. Our
reporting is based on indisputable facts. The United Nations
human rights monitoring bodies have appreciated the veracity of
our reporting.
Although it is now nearly two years since May 2009 when the
government launched a massiveonslaught on the people in the North
of the island, and won the war - the situation is far from
normal.
The situation of the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in the
North and East remains critical. There arestill at least 70,000
people who have not been permitted to leave the concentration camps
created bythe government after May 2009. International human rights
law is still being violated by Sri Lanka.
The disappearances, arbitrary killings, violence against women
continue with impunity, colonisation istaking place on a massive
scale.
The speech made by Mr Mahinda Samarasinghe, the Sri Lankan
Minister of Plantation in this forum on28 February 2011, glosses
over some of these realities. For example, he said that only a
total of12,000 IDPs remain in 3 welfare villages.....
In the same speech he also stated that:
According to the statistics in his own speech, 739 ex-combatants
who were, in the Ministersterminology, submitted to custody, remain
unaccounted for.This is a serious matter that weurge you and the
working group on enforced disappearances to verify from Sri Lanka,
toascertain what has happened to these people.
As far as disappearances are concerned this small island with so
called democratically electedgovernment still has the highest
number of disappearances. This is on the UN records.
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Herewith we attach a few statistics on disappearances in Sri
Lanka. These figures do not include the600 who are alleged to have
gone missing from Jaffna during and after the Riviera Operations in
1995.The Presidential Commissions of Inquiries in 1997 received
12,000 additional complaints ofdisappearances which were not
inquired into as they did not come within their mandate. The
latterfigure includes 7000 disappearances from the Batticaloa
district submitted by Fr. Miller of the BatticaloaCitizens
Committee in 1991.
There is no official confirmation of the figures of
disappearances that are taking place sinceMahinda Rajapakse took
office in November 2005. There were estimates of 5000 to 6000
alleged tohave disappeared; this is excluding those who have gone
missing during the last days of the conflict.
The figure of last days of the conflict varies from 40,000 to
60,000. However the UN has put the figureat 7000.
At the same time, the Minister uses the Tamil diaspora as a
pretext for the extension of the EmergencyRegulations which have
been in force for decades.
Mr President, distinguished members, Sri Lanka has committed war
crimes and crimes againsthumanity and these have not been
investigated either locally or internationally. Several
distinguishedmembers of Parliaments, Senates and spokespersons of
many foreign ministries have called forinternational independent
investigations in Sri Lanka.
Press freedom and freedom of expression are still in peril in
Sri Lanka. The editor of the SundayLeader, Mr Lasantha
Wickeramatunga was assassinated on 8 January 2009 and his assassins
enjoy
impunity. The journalist Pregeeth Ekanaliyagoda was abducted on
24 January 2010is still missing. Thegovernment has turned a blind
eye to the assassination of Wickeramatunga and the abduction
ofPregeeth Ekanaliyagoda and others. This has led to suspicions
that the government is behind theseviolations. So far neither an
independent inquiry nor any serious attempt to find the culprits of
theseserious violations has taken place. From time to time the
government comes out with tactics to fool, andcontinues violating
press freedoms.
Therefore, once again we call upon the members of this 16 th
session of the Human Rights Council toexert pressure on the Sri
Lankan government to investigate the Genocide, cultural genocide
andmultiple displacements that have occurred.
Accountability for wars crimes and crimes against humanity is a
critical factor if there is to be a stablesituation in the
island.
A political solution is also urgently required, addressing the
legitimate aspirations of the Tamil people, inorder that there be a
durable and just peace.
Years ago, the security forces created High Security Zones in
the densely populated residential areasof the Northeast and
continue to occupy civilian homes and public buildings. People
continue to live inabject fear.
The colonisation of North and East continues with the support of
the government. Gradually the villagenames become Sinhala and
Buddhist statues appear in every nook and corner, a trend we
havereported on for some time to this forum.
Misinformation is disseminated locally and internationally by
the Sri Lankan government, to
distort the real picture of what is happening in Sri Lanka.
We appeal to you to take immediate action on Sri Lanka, during
this session.
Thank you.
Yours sincerelyS. V. KirubaharanGeneral Secretary
HEAD OFFICE:Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR/CTDH
9, rue des Peupliers - 95140 Garge les Gonesse - FRANCEContact
person : S. V. Kirubaharan General SecretaryTel/Fax: + 33 1 42 67
54 36 - Email: [email protected]/[email protected]
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