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Black July 1983: the Charge is Genocide
Sri Lanka engaged in a cover up and
dishonoured its pledge to the UN to hold an inquiry...
In any case, why did not the government arrange for an impartial
inquiry? This may have resolved the 'confusion' in the mind of the
government. If it was the case that the attack was a left inspired
one intended to destabilise the government, then it was all the more
important that the matter should have been fully investigated and
the culprits brought to book. After all, the Sri Lankan Ambassador,
Mr.Tissa Jayakody, had proclaimed before the Sub Commission on the
Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities at Geneva
on the 22nd of August:
"The Sri Lankan authorities....would leave no stone unturned
to bring to justice all those responsible for killings, violence
and acts of destruction, no matter who they were and regardless
of their status, ideology or political alignments. There would
be no exceptions."
These were soothing words which were intended to allay the fears
that the Sub Commission may have had for the future of the Tamils in
the island of Sri Lanka.
In its Note Verbale dated 30 January 1984, distributed to the
delegates to the 40th Sessions of the United Nations Commission on
Human Rights in February 1984, the Sri Lanka government continued to
reiterate:
"The events of July 1983 were caused by a minority of lawless
elements in particular circumstances. The guilty have been or
are being punished and the Government has initiated a complex
and sensitive political process to deal with the fundamental
issues which led to the events of July 1983. In this context,
the constructive approach of the international community is to
desist from any action or comment on the situation in Sri
Lanka."
However the Sri Lankan government did not honour the pledge that
it gave the UN Commission on Human Rights. No public inquiry was
ever held into the genocidal attacks launched on the Tamil people in
July 1983. The Sri Lanka government took no steps to determine the
identity of the planners of the contingent plan.
The government ignored the recommendation by the International
Commission of Jurists, contained in a statement circulated in August
1983, to members of the UN Sub-Commission on the Prevention of
Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, that:
"It is imperative that the government .. (should establish)
an independent judicial inquiry to investigate the causes of the
recent violence, the events leading to and occurring during the
violence and to assess responsibility for the resulting loss of
life and devastation. The killing of detainees in Welikade
prison should be the subject of a special investigation.Those
responsible for arson and killing should be prosecuted
regardless of any official position."
In March 1984, Paul
Sieghart Q.C., Chairman of Justice, the British section of the
International Commission of Jurists was constrained to remark:
"But, what I find most extraordinary is that, to this day,
there has been no attempt to find out the truth through an
official, public and impartial inquiry, when the situation in
the country cries for nothing less... I regard the appointment
of such an inquiry as one of the most important steps for the
Government to take in the immediate future." (Paul
Sieghart: Sri Lanka-A Mounting Tragedy of Errors
- Report of a Mission to Sri Lanka in January 1984 on behalf
of the International Commission of Jurists and its British
Section, Justice, March 1984)
The continued failure of the Sri Lankan government to initiate an
independent and impartial inquiry led Amnesty International to
comment in June 1984:
"Despite repeated appeals from international human rights
bodies such as the International Commission of Jurists and
Amnesty International, and from regional organisations concerned
with the protection of human rights such as Lawasia, the
government has failed to order independent investigations into
the reports of extra judicial killings"; and further in
reference to the killings in Welikade Jail: ''.. Amnesty
International believes, the need for further investigations to
be conducted by an independent body before which witnesses can
testify in conditions of safety. Amnesty International believes
that the government must order a comprehensive inquiry into the
circumstances of the killings and bring to justice any of those
identified as responsible for them."...
But the government of Sri Lanka took no steps to investigate
the murders and bring the culprits to justice. In the case of
the killings in Welikade jail, the prison guards, who were eye
witnesses to the murders which were committed in broad daylight, and
who were unable to identify any one who had participated in the
attack, were retained in employment - they continued to serve as
loyal and obedient servants of the government of Sri Lanka.
Paul Sieghart Q.C. commented:
''I have now been told that it has not been possible to
find enough evidence to enable anyone to be prosecuted - a
proposition which must stretch credulity.''
(Paul Sieghart: Sri
Lanka-A Mounting Tragedy of Errors - Report of a Mission to
Sri Lanka in January 1984 on behalf of the International
Commission of Jurists and its British Section, Justice, March
1984)
The call by more than 50 British Members of Parliament on 28
July 1984 for an 'impartial international commission
should be set up to inquire into the violence against the Tamils in
July 1983' went unheeded.
"The ethnic violence which erupted in Sri Lanka in July 1983 brought
untold misery to the Tamils. They were beaten, hacked and burnt to death in
a frenzy of racial hatred. Their houses and businesses were selectively
looted and destroyed. The Sri Lankan government had admitted that the
violence was pre planned and well organised and that even sections of the
security forces joined in the attack against the Tamils.
53 Tamil detainees held in a maximum security prison were brutally
killed on July 25th and July 27th. Yet to date no impartial inquiry into
these violent attacks has taken place. Amnesty International (AI) recently
reported a number of cases of extra judicial killings and secret disposal of
bodies without inquest or post mortem. The AI and the International
Commission of Jurists (ICJ) have also reported on a number of cases of
torture and death in custody of persons detained incommunicado for period
upto 18 months under the Sri Lankan Prevention of Terrorism Act.
'No legislation conferring remotely comparable powers is in force in any
other free democracy... such a provision is an ugly blot on the statute book
of any civilised country'(ICJ). The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution has
virtually disenfranchised the country's 3 million Tamils by reason of the
ban imposed on their political parties. This Amendment according to the ICJ,
'constitutes a clear violation by Sri Lanka of its obligations in
international law'. The one million Tamils working in the tea plantations,
who were deprived of nationality, citizenship and franchise in 1948 continue
to remain stateless persons. We are of the opinion that:
* an impartial international commission should be set up to inquire into
the violence against the Tamils in July 1983 including the killing of 53
Tamil detainees held in custody by the government
* the Prevention of Terrorism Act should be repealed and the powers given
to the security forces which facilitate arbitrary killing of civilians and
disposal of their bodies without inquest or post mortem should be rescinded
* the use of torture and incommunicado detention in violation of Sri
Lanka's obligations under International Covenants should be discontinued
* the rights to nationality, citizenship and franchise to the Tamils
working in the plantations should be restored
* the Sri Lankan government should repeal the Sixth Amendment to the
Constitution and take meaningful steps to arrive at a political solution to
the country's ethnic problem by the granting of the legitimate rights of the
Tamil people in Sri Lanka."
- David Alton MP, Paddy Ashdown MP, Norman Atkinson MP, Tony Banks
MP, Prof John Barret, Kevin Barron MP, Alan Beith MP, Tony Benn MP, Gerry
Berningham M.P., Prof Tom Bottomore, Sydney Bidwell MP, Malcolm Bruce MP,
Dale Campbell-Savours MP, Dennis Canavan MP, Alex Carlile MP, Tom Clarke MP,
Bob Clay MP, Anne Clwyd MP, Harry Cohan MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Ron Davis MP,
Eric Deakins MP, Alf Dubs MP, Professor Michael Dummet, Derek Fatchett MP,
Mark Fisher MP, Martin Flannery MP, Roy Hattersley MP, Michael Foot MP,
Simon W.H. Hughes MP, Lord Jenkins, Russel Johnston MP, Sir David Lane,,
Robert Kilroy Silk MP, Archy Kirkwood MP, Ted Knight, Terry Lewis MP, Bob
Litherland MP, Ken Livingstone, Tony Lloyd MP, Eddie Loyden MP, Max Madden
MP, Joan Maynard MP, Willie McKelvy MP, Bill Michie MP, Dr.Paul Noone, Bob
Parry MP, Alan Roberts MP, Ernie Roberts MP, Allan Rogers MP, Aubrey Rose,
Ernie Ross MP, Steven Ross MP, Clare Short MP, Dennis Skinner MP, Prof Peter
Townsend, Jim Wallace MP, Gareth Wardell MP, Dafydd Wigley MP and many
others, The Guardian, 28 July 1984
''President Jayawardene stated in January 1984 that a judge of the Supreme
Court was about to be appointed to carry out an independent judicial inquiry
into the significant and relevant incidents surrounding the prison tragedy to
establish whether any of the prison officers were to blame, and to recommend
what steps should be taken to prevent the recurrence of such incidents. As of
this date, that body of inquiry has not yet been appointed.'' (Statement of
Amy Young, Executive Director, International Human Rights Law Group to the Sub
Committee on Human Rights of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the US House of
Representatives, 2 August 1984)
...continued...
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