INDICTMENT AGAINST SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka's Continued Ethnic Cleansing ...
- after Tamil Armed Resistance Ends on 17 May 2009
- the Record Speaks...
- President Obama Urged to Act on Sri Lanka by Six Rights
Groups
Amnesty International USA, 9 July 2009
In a joint letter to President Obama, Amnesty International has
joined five other rights groups to urge him to publicly call for an
international commission of inquiry, including war crimes, for the
mass killings that took place recently in Sri Lanka. They also urged
him to take steps to protect those in government run internment
camps, numbering over 300,000.
There are reports that some in the camps have already died from
starvation or malnutrition said these groups citing UN reports.
Despite repeated denials, government forces repeatedly shelled
densely populated areas, including at least 30 attacks on hospitals,
in the government declared "no-fire area" where it had urged
civilians to take shelter.
Despite repeated warnings by several international organizations of
impending mass killings of civilians and despite strong statements
of concern by you and several other world leaders, more than 20,000
civilians are reported to have been killed. The Times of London and
Le Monde have published investigations, based on reliable data, and
suggested that most of the civilian deaths were caused as a result
of shelling by the Sri Lankan government. Thousands more were
injured and the International Committee of the Red Cross was
prevented by the Sri Lankan government for providing medical
assistance resulting in many more civilian deaths.
The failure of the international community to take concrete action
to protect civilians in Sri Lanka has given the green light to
regimes around the world and has signaled that there is nothing that
the international community will do when a government kills its own
people under the cover of sovereignty.
It is now imperative that the United States assume the leadership
necessary to mobilize the international community to protect the
surviving civilians and to hold accountable those responsible for
mass atrocities. Failure to do so would encourage governments to
commit mass atrocities without fear of consequence. That is why your
immediate action is important at this juncture.
According to Ms. Magdalena Sepulveda, who delivered a statement on
May 26, 2009, on behalf of all UN Special Procedures mandate
holders: "The Government of Sri Lanka, citing security concerns,
after three months continues to detain in temporary camps the more
than 300,000 men, women and children who escaped fighting. This
gives rise to concerns of arbitrary detention. Many have endured
months of terrible conditions in the conflict zone before their
present internment�We deplore that in the camps some have already
died from starvation or malnutrition." According to Amnesty
International, there are consistent reports of widespread and
serious human rights violations facing the displaced people,
including enforced disappearance, extrajudicial executions, torture
and other ill-treatment, forced recruitment by paramilitary groups
and sexual violence.
The groups that sent the letter to President Obama are: The Carter
Center, Freedom House, Physicians for Human Rights, Jacob Blaustein
Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights, International League
for Human Rights and Amnesty International USA.
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