|
Sri Lanka military attack on Tamil party’s poll campaign |
 |
 |
 |
|
Sunday, 19 June 2011 00:00 |
Media Release 20 June 2011
Sri Lanka military attack on Tamil party’s poll campaignThe Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA) wishes to draw the attention of the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, the media and the human rights organisations to the last Thursday’s reported attack by the Sri Lanka’s military on Tamil party’s poll campaign. AFTA condemns this uncivilised, undemocratic, terror tactic of the Sri Lankan forces unleashed on the Tamil citizens of that country, whom the Sri Lankan government claims its armed forces had liberated from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). AFTA expects every democratic government and human rights organisations also to condemn this dastardly action.
On last Friday, Reuters reported that “Legislators of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which backed the now defeated Tamil Tiger rebels, have said supporters were chased away at a meeting in the main town of Jaffna by the military at the start of the first election campaign for 52 local bodies in northern district.” The July 23 polls are the first local government elections in the former war zone in 26 years due to a three-decade war.
"Despite our security guards telling them that we are members of parliament, around 30 military personnel in their uniforms attacked with batons," E. Saravanabawan, a Jaffna district Tamil legislator told Reuters. "This is designed to create a fear psychosis among the Tamils to prevent them from attending our election campaigns" he added.
"There is no point in holding elections if there is not a level playing field," Keerthi Tennakoon, spokesman for Campaign for Free and Fair Election, a non-government organisation which monitors polls in the island nation told Reuters. "This proves that there is no environment for people in the north to exercise their political rights freely. There is a semi-military administration in the north. The government has a responsibility to allow to have a free and fair election with equal playing field", he added further.
AFTA feels that it was a calculated demonstration by the occupying army to tell the Tamils of the north and east of the island that they are under military rule. By this action Sri Lankan forces have demonstrated to the international community that Tamils in Sri Lanka need to be protected from the occupying armed forces of Sri Lanka.
In this context, AFTA welcomes the call from Mr. Thankabalu, the Indian Congress Party leader of the southern State of Tamil Nadu requesting the Prime Minister of India to intervene and stop this attitude of the Sri Lankan administration.
AFTA feels, in the wake of the UN Secretary General appointed panel’s report and the last week British Chanel 4 documentary on “Killing Fields” of Sri Lanka (http://www.channel4.com/programmes/sri-lankas-killing-fields/4od#3200170)
Tamils in Sri Lanka need protection from a multi-national force until an internationally supervised political solution is reached respecting the right to self-determination of the Tamils, to save them from genocide in the hands of the Sri Lankan state.
AFTA calls on the International Community in general and the Australian and New Zealand governments in particular, to condemn this tactic of intimidation by the Sri Lankan armed forces and facilitate to provide a system of protection in consultation with other democratic nations in the world, including the Indian Government. AFTA would like to request the Australia-Sri Lanka parliamentary relationship committee that visited Sri Lanka recently to use any influence it may have with the Sri Lankan government to ensure the physical security of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka and to restore normalcy, democracy, political authority and dignity for the Tamil people.
AFTA calls on the Independent Media in Australia and New Zealand to highlight this undemocratic terror tactic being unleashed by the Sri Lankan forces which continues its subjugation of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka.
Media inquiries:
Queensland: Prof Selva Selvanathan 0402 960 439 Sydney: Dr Victor Rajakulendran 0402 484 209 Melbourne: Mr Siva Sivakumar 0404 894 591 New Zealand: Dr. Siva Vasanthan 021 023 51 007
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Web: www.tamil.org.au |
|
Last Updated on Sunday, 19 June 2011 23:07 |
|
|
On the Official Release of the Report of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Panel on Sri Lanka |
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, 27 April 2011 00:00 |
Media Release 19 April 2011
On the Official Release of the Report of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Panel on Sri Lanka The Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA), the umbrella body of the peak Tamil Associations in Australia and New Zealand welcomes the official release of the above report by the United Nations on Monday 25 April. AFTA earlier appealed to the UN Secretary General (UNSG) to release the report in full without further delay, to end Sri Lanka’s partial release of the report and the mischievous media speculations that followed.
AFTA is satisfied to see that the three member panel has said in its report that there were "credible allegations, which if proven, indicate that a wide range of serious violations of international humanitarian law and international rights law was committed both by the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, some of which would amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity". AFTA is also contended that the panel in their report has urged the Sri Lankan Government (SLG) to acknowledge formally and in public its responsibility for the extensive civilian casualties in the final stages of the conflict.
AFTA, whilst welcoming the panel’s recommendation that the Sri Lankan government should respond to the serious allegations "by initiating an effective accountability process beginning with genuine investigations" which would meet international standards, wishes to register its grave doubts on SLG taking any genuine effort on this matter. The blatant failure of the several commissions of inquiry appointed by the SLG in the past to investigate crimes committed by its security forces and that of the latest Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), stand testimony for this pessimism.
The SLG had earlier dismissed the report handed to them for their review as "fundamentally flawed" and "biased". Subsequently their foreign miniser Hon. G. L Peiris had asked the United Nations system to consider “whether this report will be useful. Is it going to contribute to the building up of national unity? Or will it do the opposite, really to accentuate differences, bitterness, acrimony? Which are the many things that we want to get away from.” But the past experience gained from many conflicts around the globe including in South Africa shows that genuine reconciliation can be achieved only through establishing the truth, acknowledging wrong doings, bringing perpetrators to books, compensating the victims and implementing a lasting political solution and not through sweeping the crimes under the carpet as Hon. Peiris wants.
AFTA is encouraged by the decision of the UNSG to respond positively to the Panel's recommendation for a review of the United Nations' actions regarding the implementation of its humanitarian and protection mandates during the war in Sri Lanka – particularly in the last stages.
AFTA is disappointed by the UN statement that “in regard to the recommendation that he establish an international investigation mechanism, the Secretary-General is advised that this will require host country consent or a decision from Member States through an appropriate intergovernmental forum.” This means the Security Council, General assembly or the UN Human Rights Council only can initiate such an International investigation mechanism. However AFTA wishes to point out that whilst the UN Charter describes the UNSG as "chief administrative officer" of the Organization, the Charter also empowers the Secretary-General to “bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”.
AFTA is also encouraged by the recent Security Council decision to be more proactive in the name of human rights, authorising military intervention in Libya to protect civilians.
AFTA therefore appeals to the UNSG to bring this matter to the urgent attention of the UNSC and urges the UN member nations, especially the power wielding nations in the UNSC, US, Britain, France, Russia and China to help the UNSG to implement the panel’s recommendation to bring sustainable reconciliation and lasting peace and prosperity in Sri Lanka.
Media inquiries:
Queensland: Prof Selva Selvanathan 0402 960 439
Sydney: Dr Victor Rajakulendran 0402 484 209 Melbourne: Mr Siva Sivakumar 0404 894 591 New Zealand: Dr. Siva Vasanthan 021 023 51 007
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Web: www.tamil.org.au |
|
Last Updated on Wednesday, 27 April 2011 09:12 |
|
Leaked UN Report Says War Crime Allegations in Sri Lanka are Credible |
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, 19 April 2011 00:00 |
Media Release 19 April 2011
Leaked UN Report Says War Crime Allegations in Sri Lanka are Credible The Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA), wishes to draw the attention of the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, the media and the NGOs to the sections of the UN report leaked to Sri Lanka's Island Newspaper that accuses both the Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebels of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. This 3-member expert panel was appointed by the UN Secretary General (UNSG) to examine the modalities, applicable international standards and comparative experience on how to provide accountability for reported violations of international humanitarian law and advice him how to proceed with the accountability process. This report that was presented to the Sri Lankan Government prior to its intended release to the public is reported to have been leaked by a government official aimed possibly to trigger opposition to the report from Sri Lanka’s allies.
The Sri Lankan government had earlier responded to the report by calling it "fundamentally flawed" and "biased". A foreign ministry official confirmed to AFP that the leaked document was genuine. The UN spokesperson for the UNSG had expressed regret over the leaking of the report to the media.
The newspaper quoted the report as saying, "the Panel found credible allegations, which if proven, indicate that a wide range of serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law were committed both by the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, some of which would amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Among those alleged crimes were "(i) killing of civilians through widespread shelling; (ii) shelling of hospitals and humanitarian objects; (iii) denial of humanitarian assistance; (iv) human rights violations suffered by victims and survivors of the conflict, including both IDPs and suspected LTTE cadre; and (v) human rights violations outside the conflict zone, including against the media and other critics of the Government," the leaked text said. The report also rapped UN political bodies for not doing enough to protect civilians during the final stages of the brutal war.
The UN spokesperson in Sri Lanka at the time of Sri Lanka’s last phase of the war, Gorden Weiss in an interview to the British Channel 4 TV on 16 April 2011 had said that the death toll of the civilians could be “shockingly high.” “I believe a modest estimate of the number of civilians [killed] is probably 20-40,000. Others have said the figures may well be far higher” said Mr Weiss.
Reacting to the contents of this report, Professor Boyle, expert in International Law, and Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law has called for the support to the recommendation in the report that U.N. Secretary General set up an International Commission of Inquiry on Sri Lanka to investigate the government of Sri Lanka for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against the Tamil people by reference to and in accordance with, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Given that the war crime allegations directed against the Sri Lankan government and its armed forces are credible, the Sri Lankan President appointed local Lessons Learnt and Recociliation Commission (LLRC) has now, no credibility. AFTA strongly feels that the UNSG has to now either ask the Security Council to request the ICC to initiate its own investigations or appoint a Special War Crimes Tribunal for Sri Lanka, similar to the one created for the former Yugoslavia. AFTA appeals to the UN Member Nations, Australian and New Zealand governments in particular, to persuade the UNSG to take immediate action on this matter to bring the perpetrators of the war crimes and crimes against humanity to book. AFTA also calls upon the independent media to give prominance to this matter in the days and weeks to come to mount pressure on the member nations of the UN to render justice to the victims and help restore rule of law, normalcy, dignity and peace for the Tamil people in Sri Lanka.
Media inquiries:
Queensland: Prof Selva Selvanathan 0402 960 439
Sydney: Dr Victor Rajakulendran 0402 484 209 Melbourne: Mr Siva Sivakumar 0404 894 591 New Zealand: Dr. Siva Vasanthan 021 023 51 007
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Web: www.tamil.org.au |
|
Last Updated on Wednesday, 27 April 2011 09:16 |
|
Tamil parliamentarian narrowly escapes Assassination |
|
|
|
|
Thursday, 10 March 2011 00:00 |
Media Release 10 March 2011
Tamil parliamentarian narrowly escapes Assassination
The Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA), the umbrella body of the peak Tamil associations in Australia and New Zealand, condemns in the strongest term the assassination attempt on Mr. Sivagnanam Sritharan, a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian from Northern Sri Lanka.
Mr. Sritharan told Australian Tamil Broadcasting Corporation (ATBC) - a 24 hour Radio broadcasting from Sydney - on Tuesday night that he narrowly escaped from a group of attackers who lobbed two hand grenades targeting his vehicle and fired at the vehicle using pistols from behind at Nochchiyaagama in the north central Anuradhapura district on Monday 7 March. When he was attacked, the parliamentarian was on his way from north to Colombo in the south to attend the Tuesday’s sittings of the Sri Lankan Parliament. “The armed men fled the site when my security guard opened fire in self-defence”, the parliamentarian told the ATBC radio from Colombo by telephone. According to the police in Anuradhapura district, no one was hurt in the attack and the shaken parliamentarian was escorted by them to the capital Colombo.
His party colleague in parliament and the General Secretary of TNA, Mr. Senathirasa has told that this attack on the parliamentarian has been carried out as a threat to silence Tamils’ democratic voice. If the perpetrators of this dastardly act are not identified and dealt with, it will be construed as the government is accepting responsibility for this crime, he added.
Even after this attempt on his life, Mr. Sritharan declared publicly on Tuesday that his constituents are being photographed and forced to register with the military, despite the fact that there was a court ruling that it is illegal for the military to be involved in such activities.
AFTA feels that the experience Mr. Sritharan has just gone through on Monday could be the beginning of a new series of assassinations of democratically elected Tamil leaders to undermine Tamil voice seeking a just political solution to the long standing ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. It should be noted that after Mr. Rajapakse took over the presidency, three Tamil parliamentarians were killed in cold blood and the perpetrators of these crimes are yet to be brought to justice.
In a written statement to the sixteenth session of the Human Rights Council (28 February – 25 March 2011) the Amnesty International has pointed out that “Sri Lanka’s human rights record has not improved since Amnesty International last addressed this Council in May 2010. Impunity persists for past violations and abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law, and new and serious violations of human rights continue to be reported.” The full AI statement can be accessed at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA37/002/2011/enAFTA
AFTA calls on all the Australian and New Zealand parliamentarians and the governments to condemn this terror tactic outright and bring pressure on the Sri Lankan authorities to identify and bring to books the perpetrators of this crime.
Media inquiries:
Queensland: Prof Selva Selvanathan 0402 960 439
Sydney: Dr Victor Rajakulendran 0402 484 209 Melbourne: Mr Siva Sivakumar 0404 894 591 New Zealand: Dr. Siva Vasanthan 021 023 51 007
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Web: www.tamil.org.au |
|
Last Updated on Wednesday, 27 April 2011 09:34 |
|
Mass Rally in front of Parliament House in Canberra!! |
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, 23 February 2011 00:00 |
Media Release 23 Feb 2011
Mass Rally in front of Parliament House in Canberra!!A repeat of General Mantiri saga haunts Australian government Australian Tamils from Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane will assemble on the lawns of the Parliament House in Canberra, on Thursday, 24 February 2011 from 11.00 am – 3.00 pm, under the leadership of the Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA), an umbrella organisation of the peak Tamil organisations in the States and territories of Australia and the cities of Wellington and Auckland, in New Zealand, that has served the Tamil community in the region for the last 27 years. AFTA is organising this rally primarily to express the Australasian Tamil community’s objection to the proposed appointment of the Ex-Navy Commander, Admiral Thisara S.G.Samarasinghe as the next High Commissioner for Sri Lanka. Admiral Samarasinghe was the Director General Naval Operations in Sri Lanka from 2006 was sent in 2007 to command the Eastern naval area and in 2008 to command the Northern naval area. The Sri Lankan Navy is known for their shelling of coastal villages killing and displacing civilians and for harassing and killing hundreds of fishermen (including from Tamil Nadu) and civilians fleeing by sea. During the final phase of the war navy gun boats carried out indiscriminate shelling on civilian targets in the coastal town of Vaharai in the east and Puthumathalan area in the north. Even hospitals have come under attack from the sea. Even though Admiral Samarasinghe has not fired the guns himself, obviously he had command responsibility for these crimes committed against humanity. The news about Adm. Samarasinghe’s nomination for appointment reminds us the incident when Canberra had already accepted General Herman Mantiri’s nomination as the Jakarta’sambassador to Canberra, before a storm of protests arose over remarks General Mantiri had once made in defence of Indonesian troop behaviour during the Dili massacre of East Timorese in 1991. As a result of these mass protests, the then Foreign Minister Gareth Evans publicly criticized General Mantiri and privately sought his withdrawal. Eventually Jakarta conceded. AFTA urges the Foreign Minister Hon. Kevin Rudd to take a principled position on this matter and not to entertain the appointment of alleged war criminals as diplomats to Australia and be sensitive to the genuine concerns the Australian Tamils have over the Sri Lankan government’s political motive – seeking diplomatic immunity on the one hand and to intimidate the vocal Tamil Diaspora on another - and avoid unnecessary strain developing in the relationship between the Australian Tamil community and the labour government.. The protesting Australian Tamils will also be demanding an investigation into the alleged involvement of the dual Australian/Sri Lankan citizen and former DFAT official, Dr. Palitha Kohona’s, alleged involvement in an obvious war crime committed during the last phase of the war. During 2008-09, Dr Kohona was secretary of the Sri Lankan foreign affairs ministry and played a role in negotiating the surrender of Tamil Tigers in the last days of the war. Among those who surrendered were three senior Tiger members. On May 18, the day after the Tigers admitted defeat, the three men, along with at least a dozen others were killed in cold blood when they surrendered holding a white flag as negotiated with the Sri Lankan Government through external parties. According to Marie Kolvin, the UK Sunday Times correspondent, Dr. Kohona guaranteed their safety. It was subsequently revealed by Major Gen Sarath Fonseka that the orders to kill all surrenderees came from a top ranking government official. AFTA has conveyed these community concerns to our Foreign Minister at a meeting with DFAT officials recently and through this rally AFTA is taking this matter to the Federal Parliament and the media. AFTA appeals to the media to be in attendance at this rally at the lawns of the Parliament House on this day to hear from the Australian Tamils and carry their urgent plea to the federal parliamentarians and to the wider Australian community. Media inquiries:
Queensland: Prof Selva Selvanathan 0402 960 439
Sydney: Dr Victor Rajakulendran 0402 484 209 Melbourne: Mr Siva Sivakumar 0404 894 591 New Zealand: Dr. Siva Vasanthan 021 023 51 007
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Web: www.tamil.org.au |
|
Last Updated on Wednesday, 27 April 2011 09:36 |
|
Australian Tamils Request Australia not to Accept Retired Navy Commander of Sri Lanka as its Future High Commissioner |
|
|
|
|
Thursday, 27 January 2011 00:00 |
Media Release 14 Jan 2011
Australian Tamils Request Australia not to Accept Retired Navy Commander of Sri Lanka as its Future High Commissioner The Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA), the umbrella body of the peak Tamil associations in the States and Territories of Australia and New Zealand, is highly concerned about the news that a former Sri Lankan Navy Chief, Admiral Thisara S G Samarasinghe, has reportedly been nominated to fill the vacant position of High Commissioner to Australia. President Maintha Rajapaksa the Commander in Chief of the armed forces, commanders of the 3 armed forces and several other area commanders have been alleged to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity due to their involvement in giving orders to bomb and shell civilian areas including the use of cluster bombs and chemical weapons.
United Nations, NGOs and human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International (AI), International Crisis Group (ICG) and many in the International Community including Britain, France, Germany and Canada have asked for an Independent International Investigation (III) into these alleged war crimes. UN Secretary General has appointed a 3 member panel of experts to advice him on the accountability process that has to be carried out regarding these alleged war crimes committed in Sri Lanka by both sides to the conflict during the last phase of the armed conflict and Sri Lanka is not cooperating with this commission.
The fact that the final war in the East and the North of Sri Lanka was fought without allowing Independent Media, the only evidence available is from civilian eyewitnesses. The lack of witness protection system in Sri Lanka has resulted in witnesses coming forward in front of the Sri Lankan President appointed “Leason Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC)” to give evidence are intimidated by being photographed by plain clothed security forces personnel. LLRC is not an alternative to an III as Amnesty Internatioanl, HRW and ICG have already rejected the invitation by the LLRC to appear before it, saying that LLRC fails to meet basic international standards for independent and impartial inquiries.
After the end of the war, Sri Lanka is trying to replace its Diplomatic Corps with armed service personnel with the aim of not only hiding these war criminals under diplomatic immunity and rewarding them for the attrocities they have committed against innocent Tamil civilians the way President Rajapaksa’s administration wanted and also to curtail the freedom of expression of the Tamil Diaspora, by extending the highhanded tactics of intimidation and illegal surveillance carried out in Sri Lanka to silence the Tamil Community there, to the countries to which they are posted.
Admiral Thisara S.G. Samarasinghe who was Director General Naval Operations in the head quarters was sent as Commander of the Eastern Naval Area during Eastern operations in 2007 and later as Commander of the Northern Naval Area during Northern offensive in 2008, possibly for a special task. Therefore, there is no doubt that any violations of International law governing war time operations committed during the final war in both the Eastern and the Northern theatres by the Sri Lankan Navy were committed under Admiral Samarasinghe’s command. Although there are no media reports available, as independent media were not permitted into these areas, there are Australians who have witnessed these violations and people amongst the recent arrivals to Australia from the northern theatre of operations who have gone through horrific experiences are in Australia now to bear witness to these. If the news that Admiral Samarasinhe has been nominated as the new High Commissioer to Australia is true, it is not acceptable by any standards, for the Australian government to accept a person like him with a clowd of alleged war crimes hanging over his head.
AFTA appeals to the Australian government, particularly to our Foreign Minister Hon. Kevin Rudd MP, not to accept his nomination until and unless he is cleared of any alleged war crimes committed by the Navy in the region of war under his command, by an III.AFTA appeals to the media in Australia and New Zealand to follow this matter up and help the Tamil community in Australia and New Zealand to live without the same fear of intimidation our brotherens in Sri Lanka are subjected to.
Media Enquiries:
Sydney: Dr. Victor Rajakulendran 0402 484 209
Melbourne: Mr. Siva Sivakumar 0404 894 591
Queensland: Prof. Selva Selvanathan 0402 960 439
Auckland: Dr. Siva Vasanthan 021 023 51 007
Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Web: www.tamil.org.au |
|
Last Updated on Saturday, 29 January 2011 10:40 |
|
|
