Editorial in the special issue of
Tamil Voice International to mark the commencement of
the First
International Conference organised by the World
Federation of Tamils, April/May 1988
There come a time in the life of a people, there
comes a stage in their history, when they become
increasingly aware of the links that link them together
and the bonds that bind them together. And today the
Tamil people, living in
many lands and across distant seas, are becoming
increasingly aware of their togetherness.
It is a togetherness which is rooted in a shared heritage, a common language and a
common culture. But
it is a togetherness which is not a function of the
past alone. It is a togetherness which is being pressed
into shape by a continuing discrimination
which seeks to treat separately and which thereby
inevitably nurtures that which is separately
treated.
And it is a togetherness which is given purpose
and direction by a growing resolve and a growing
determination amongst the Tamil people, that they
will build a future where they, and their children,
and their children's children may live with self
respect and with dignity. It is a growing
togetherness which is slowly but surely maturing
and which seeks to cry out openly and aloud, in pain
and in joy: 'Yes, we live in many lands and across
distant seas, but we, too,
are a people'.
The International Tamil Conference which is
scheduled to commence its deliberations in London this
week represents an open manifestation of the growing
togetherness of the Tamil people, living in many lands
and across distant seas. Delegates from more than 100
Tamil Associations and more than 15 countries will meet
to explore the central issues of the national struggle
of the Tamils of Sri Lanka and to examine the extent to
which the Indo Sri Lankan Peace Accord of July 1987
satisfies their aspirations, and in particular their
claim to the right of self determination.
The Conference has been convened at a time when the
so called Indo
Sri Lankan Peace Accord has brought neither peace
nor justice to the Tamil people and at a time when
attempts are being made to silence the voice of the
Tamil people in their own homelands. There is an
imperative need to strengthen the capacity of the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam to give coherence and direction to the Tamil
national struggle and there is an imperative need to
lend support to the efforts of Velupillai Prabakharan
who has emerged as the true leader of the Tamil
national struggle.
The time is opportune, therefore, for the voice of
the international Tamil community to be heard in
London, in support of those rights which spring from
the inherent dignity of man, because the Tamil people
seek to live with dignity amongst their fellowmen. And
foremost amongst these human rights, and from which all
other rights flow is the right of
self determination of a people - a right enshrined
appropriately enough, in Article 1 of the International
Covenant of Civil and Political Rights.
We applaud the intention of the Conference to 'focus
on the interface between
politics and human rights' because we too believe
that 'human rights separated from politics often
becomes the platitudinous expression of utopian ideals:
whilst politics which is unconcerned with human rights
becomes a cynical pursuit of power for its own
sake.'
As long ago as 1984 Professor Leo Kruper warned in
the Minority Rights Group Report on International
Action Against Genocide, that 'the communal massacres
in Sri Lanka, in a context of societal conflict'
threatened a genocidal
situation. He pointed out that claims for greater
autonomy often led to genocidal responses and he urged
that there was 'a great need for delegations of member
States (of the United Nations) with a strong commitment
to human rights, and for non governmental organisations
with consultative status, to continue their efforts to
recall the United Nations to its responsibilities for
international protection against genocide and other
gross and consistent violations of human rights' and
further that 'these efforts should include attempts to
develop norms for the exercise of the right of self
determination in a decolonised world'.
Professor Leo Kruper's words have today assumed an
urgency that can no longer be denied. There is a clear
and urgent need 'to give the thick edge of action' to
the Reports of Amnesty International, the International
Commission of Jurists, the Lawasia Human Rights
Standing Committee, the United Kingdom Parliamentary
Human Rights Group, International Alert, the World
Council of Churches, Australian Parliamentary Group of
Amnesty International, the Emergency Committee on Sri
Lanka, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary
Disappearances, and several other non governmental
agencies and independent observers on the gross and consistent
violations of human rights in Sri Lanka - gross and
consistent violations which have led to a 'threatened'
genocidal situation.
If the Conference can persuade the international
community to address itself to the root cause of
these violations - namely, the failure to develop
norms for the exercise of the right of
self determination by the Tamils in the island of
Sri Lanka, then it would have performed an important
and useful task.
There is an urgent need to persuade member states of the
United Nations and non governmental organisations,
that a reluctance on their part to espouse the division
of the sovereign state of Sri Lanka should not lead
them to deny that there are in Sri Lanka today two
nations - the Tamil nation and the Sinhala nation and
that a political settlement of the conflict in Sri
Lanka can be achieved only on the basis of recognising
this political reality.
We wish this historic International Tamil Conference
in London, every success in its efforts to secure
justice for the Tamils of Sri Lanka - because, apart
from anything else, without justice, peace will not
come to the Indian region. And there can be no justice
without effective implementation of those basic and
fundamental rights which spring from the inherent
dignity of man. We repeat, the Tamil people seek to
live in dignity and with self respect, with their
fellowmen and women - in Tamil we say: thanmaanam
