A person is abducted every five hours!

"……It has been reported by local and international human rights organisations that a person is abducted every five hours. Kidnapping, abductions, killings have now become common incidents. No matter who does it, as a government we are responsible for it." – Letter written on 23 January 2007, by Mangala Samaraweera, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Port and Aviation Minister.

"Sri Lanka faces international isolation for failing to pay close heed to human rights issues", former foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera warned. AFP, 15 February 2007 - Mangala Samaraweera and two other Ministers were sacked by the Executive President Mahinda Rajapaksa on 9 February 2007.

Now it is apparent to the International Community that the Tamils will never get either political rights or justice regarding the systematic human rights violations that they have been undergoing for decades. The Sri Lankan security forces enjoy maximum impunity. The military commanders and Police officers who were responsible for torture and thousands of killings, disappearances, rapes and looted assets and properties have become Political leaders, Ambassadors and Defence Secretary. In Sri Lanka , it is the practice that those who violate human rights have been promoted and court martials have no place.

Except one case on High Security Zone in Sri Lanka , all other cases have not received judgement based on law, rather than ethnic identity. The law in Sri Lanka doesn’t meet the minimum international human rights standards. In many cases where security personnel were found guilty in the High court, judgements have been reversed by Sinhala judges in the Supreme Court.

There is an obvious problem! Massive human rights violations are taking place in the North East – more than 79,000 killed or “disappeared”; more than 12,500 women raped and killed; more than 2500 buildings of religious places of worship (Churches and Temples ) have been destroyed in aerial bombings and artillery shelling and billions of rupees worth of material damage done. But until today only very few individual complaints have been made to the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies – Human Rights Committee (HRC) and Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Woman (CEDAW), to which Sri Lanka is a signatory. Human Rights Treaty bodies examine individual complaints which have not found fair justice in the member states which are signatory to relevant Human Rights instruments. These complaints could be made either by the victim or by relatives.

Therefore we encourage those who have been tortured and raped, and the relatives of those who have been disappeared, killed or faced any other violations, to make use of this available UN mechanism. Victims who never had a fair trial can lodge their individual complaint to these Treaty bodies. The main requirement for this individual complaint to be made is that, "The individual has exhausted all available domestic remedies. This shall not be the rule where the application of the remedies is unreasonably prolonged." In Sri Lanka , there are thousands of cases which have not even had an inquiry for years and the victims have no other judicial organ where they can file an appeal. Therefore any case that is older than a considerable period (a year), has no available domestic remedy. Also the Prevention and Terrorism Act – PTA and the Emergency Regulations – ER do not permit any remedies. Since 12 December last, it has been even worse. The elements of the PTA were incorporated into new provisions known as ” Prevention and Prohibition of Terrorism and Specified Terrorist Activities Regulations (PPTSTAR).

In the North East, Colombo and Up- country there are thousands of victims who have never received justice for what they have suffered and continue to suffer. They all should send their complaints to the following address with details (Full name; Address; Date of birth; Nationality; Sex; Description of the incident with dates and place of incident; Include information about the alleged perpetrators their names (if known), and an explanation of the reasons why you believe they are the perpetrators. Include information about the steps taken by the victims or their families to obtain remedies, including complaints filed with the police, other officials or independent national human rights institutions; Date, signature and contact details of the author of the communication. Also enclose copies of all relevant documentation.) If possible, this can be done through a Lawyer.

The Name of the Treaty Body
(either HRC or CEDAW)
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Fax : + 41 – 22 – 917 9006

5th year of the Ceasefire Agreement - CFA

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) mediated by the Royal Norwegian government and signed by the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), on 22 February 2002, includes the terms for the Ceasefire Agreement – CFA. This CFA came after twenty years of bloody conflict in the North East. Under the MoU, the Sri Lanka government accepts the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as an equal partner. Today this CFA has reached its fifth year.

Since the signing of the CFA, the economy took a turn for the better in the South. The concept and hope for peace, entailing a physical peace, was fulfilled. Physical peace still prevails in the South.

In the North East where high hopes for peace were held, a very different situation is experienced. It is true that for a while after the signing of the CFA, the aerial bombing stopped and the systematic arbitrary arrests, rapes, torture and disappearances of Tamil people decreased. The economic embargo was lifted and many including diplomats were able to visit the devastated areas in the North East.

However, except in the LTTE administrated areas, there was absolutely no amelioration in living conditions. Furthermore the constant threat to the people by the Sri Lankan armed police and soldiers in parts of the North East continued.

The situation of the people who had been Internally Displaced (IDPs) for nearly fifteen years did not change at all. It remained the same during the CFA period as it had been during the war-time. Hundreds of thousands of displaced people still remain in temporary shelters. Sri Lankan armed forces in the High Security Zones (HSZs) continue to oppress and intimidate the Tamil population. Under the pretext of HSZs, which occupy many residential areas, IDPs are prevented from returning to their villages and towns to resettle.

Since President Mahinda Rajapaksa came to power in November 2005, the situation has dramatically changed. Rajapaksa openly declared war on 25 April 2006 ordering deliberate military attacks by Air, Sea, and Land on the Tamil population in Trincomalee. He completely ignored the articles – 1.2 & 4.4 of the CFA.

Under article 2.12 of the CFA, carrying out search and arrests under the PTA were to cease. But since 6 December 2006, the Rajapaksa government re-instated the PTA.

Under article 1.8 of the CFA, the Tamil paramilitary forces (mercenaries) should have been disarmed. But various high profile evidence shows that the paramilitary forces continue to be armed and funded by the Sri Lankan government.

These three serious breaches of the CFA made it crystal clear, that the government of Sri Lanka has withdrawn from the CFA – tantamount to an official declaration of Eelam War IV.

The massive military onslaught on the Tamil people since Mahinda Rajapaksa came to power; the arrests, torture, rapes, abductions, disappearances, killings and displacements starting all over again, leaves no doubt that the Sri Lankan government is taking the option of a military solution to the ethnic conflict.

Presently thousands of Tamils have been arrested, detained and tortured in various detention centres and prisons in Colombo , Trincomalee, Amparai, Batticaloa, Vavuniya, Mannar and Jaffna .

Within the last fifteen months, nearly three thousand Tamils including humanitarian workers, journalists, parliamentarians, academics and others have been abducted and killed in the North East and the other parts of the Island .

Presently there is an economic embargo to the North East and its impact on the people in those areas, especially in Jaffna and various other places in the East is devastating, causing starvation and death.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been made homeless and displaced in the recent months. The killings of innocents, including children and women still continue under the leadership of President Rajapaksa.

In Sri Lanka , there is an Ethnic conflict which resulted in twenty years of bloody war. This still continues, even though there is a Cease-fire Agreement – (CFA). Despite the fact that the cease-fire has been in place for the last five years, many of the clauses have not been implemented. Disturbingly, no proper peace negotiations have taken place and the government’s chosen option of a military solution prevails.