 UN SUB COMMISSION ON THE
PROMOTION & PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
58th SESSIONS: AUGUST 2006
Statement by International Educational
Development [also in PDF]
HUMANITARIAN LAW PROJECT
International Educational Development 8124 West Third
Street, Suite 105 Los Angeles, California 90048
Email: [email protected]
General Assembly
Human Rights Council
Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human
Rights
Fifty-eighth session
Agenda item 2
Statement of International Educational Development,
Inc.,
A non-governmental organization on the Roster
(Secretary-General's list)
International Educational Development is pleased by
the attention by the Sub-Commission to military
operations directed at medical facilities, transport
and personnel entitled to protection as expressed in
its resolution 2005/2. We are also pleased by the
attention to other persons entitled to protection from
military operations as expressed in its resolution
2005/12.
The widespread attacks on medical facilities in
Falluja Iraq in November 2004 invoked strong
condemnation by the High Commissioner and prompted the
head of the British Red Cross to comment on the
potential demise of the Geneva Conventions and
humanitarian law. Due to the utter contempt of the
Geneva Conventions and human rights law shown by these
attacks, our organization joined the Association of
Humanitarian Lawyers in submitting a Petition against
the United States to the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights of the Organization of American States.
Unfortunately, the United States does not seem to be
deterred by international condemnation of these attacks
and continues to target protected medical facilities
and personnel in Iraq. This needs to be condemned by
the Sub-Commission.
While we welcome the action undertaken by the Human
Rights Council in regards to attacks on protected
facilities and persons under the Geneva Conventions and
humanitarian law as a whole in Lebanon, the Council has
not called for action regarding several other conflicts
in which targeting of protected facilities and persons
is equally serious. One of these is the conflict in Sri
Lanka, where since the elections in November there has
been the worst levels of fighting since the 2002 Cease
Fire Agreement. In the past few weeks, the level of
fighting has increased dramatically, as have the
numbers of military operations of the government armed
forces flagrantly targeting protected facilities and
persons.
For example, on 6 August 2006 17 humanitarian aid
workers from the French NGO Action Contre le Faim were
brutally massacred in the government-controlled areas
in Trincomalee, prompting 3 independent experts of the
Council (H.Jilani, human rights defenders; P. Alston,
extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary executions; J.
Ziegler, the right to food) to issue a press release on
11 August 2006 in which they state: "the deliberate
targeting of humanitarian workers is a serious
violation of the basic principles of international and
humanitarian law and the Declaration of Human Rights
Defenders." Also on 6 August 2006, several members of
the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission narrowly escaped
attacks from the government forces in Maavil Aaru. On 9
August 2006 government forces attacked an ambulance
belonging to Nedunkerni hospital killing a doctor, 2
nurses and the driver. On 14th of August, the government forces deliberately bombed a
girl's orphanage killing 60 girls and wounding 120 who
were between the ages of 15 and 18. An attack on
St. Philip Mary church in Allaipiddy left 15 dead and
more than 100 injured.
Since the renewed fighting, there are more than
100,000 newly displaced, many without food or water.
UNICEF and the UNHRC report the continued blockage by
the government forces of urgently needed aid to the
rapidly increasing numbers of displaced, prompting the
UN officer in Sri Lanka to express concern. UNHCR
reports that of the over 40,000 newly displaced in
Muttar, more than half are women and children, but in a
statement on 8 August 2004 indicated they were not
allowed access.
The situation of Tamil civilians is made much worse
because so many Tamils are still displaced by the
Tsunami and because most of the international aid
raised on their behalf was not allowed to be delivered.
For example, the American Red Cross, that received
hundreds of thousands of $$US for Tsunami victims in
Sri Lanka, was told by US authorities that they could
not distribute it in the Tamil areas.
The Sri Lankan government also severely restricted
aid to the Tamil Tsunami victims, only allowing aid
raised by the Tamil diaspora and then restricting that
as well. In addition to the hundreds of thousands of
Tamil refugees who have sought and obtained asylum
outside of Sri Lanka, the current figures of internally
displaced indicates nearly 1/3 of the entire Tamil
population is displaced or in exile.
We have long indicated to the Sub-Commission that
the United States geopolitical interests in ports and
airfields in the Tamil areas has been a major
impediment to resolving this long conflict and we
invite you to consult our written statements in this
regard that we submitted to both the Sub-Commission and
the Commission. In light of this we were alarmed by
recent pronouncements in Colombo and elsewhere by high
State Department officials: in our view the US has
given the government of Sri Lanka a "green light" to
undertake actions that violate humanitarian law under
the pretext that due to the unabated demonization of
the Tamils by Sri Lankan and US authorities, no one
will dare defend them, and in any case, no one will be
able to do anything about it.
However, because now the UN independent experts,
UNICEF and UNHCR have spoken up, and because the UN is
in a process to reform its work, we hope that the
Sub-Commission, which as rightly undertaken to address
attacks against medical and other protected persons in
time of war, will inform the Council of its concerns
regarding Sri Lanka and the situation of the Tamil
people and will request that the Council act.
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Intervention by Deirdre McConnell, Interfaith
International, Geneva, Switzerland
- Agenda item 5(a) Racism, racial discrimination and
xenophobia
Mr Chairperson,
Interfaith International is happy to note that the Sub
Commission has prevention of discrimination as one of its
agenda items, especially at a crucial time of this august
forum.
In today's world various types of discrimination have
paved the way towards Civil war, Ethnic Conflict, Armed
conflict, and so on. Many of these conflicts, fought in
exercise of the Right to self-determination, have as
their ultimate goal, a durable solution to the political
problems which are based on discrimination and
xenophobia.
In the past, this august forum has heard much about the
discriminatory application of law and practise of the Sri
Lanka government against the Tamil people, therefore we
do not need to go into much detail.
Since Independence, Sinhala dominated governments brought
much systematic discriminative legislation against Tamil
people.
As soon as Sinhala leaders obtained power in 1948, the
Tamils working on the tea plantations were disfranchised
and their citizenship was denied. A one language Act
(Sinhala only) was forcefully introduced by the Sinhala
politicians and nine (1956, 1958, 1961, 1974, 1976, 1977,
1981, 1982 and 1983) state sponsored anti-Tamil pogroms
destroyed the economy and the cultural heritage of the
Tamil people. In the meantime, the Tamil politicians of
the day protested - against these denials of political
rights, Sinhala colonisation in the Tamil regions and
destruction of Tamils properties, demanding justice, by
non-violent methods, for nearly thirty-five years.
However these struggles in and outside of the parliament
were continuously suppressed by the Sri Lankan security
forces made up of 95% Singhalese. In 1972, discrimination
in the education system (standardisation) where Tamil
students had to gain more marks than the Singhalese
students for University entrance, gave birth to the
Tamils' militancy in the island.
During this period, in the 1977 general elections, the
Tamil people in the North East overwhelmingly voted to
exercise their right to self-determination. As the
Singhala dominated government ignored this democratic
mandate and continued to implement their racist policies,
an armed conflict was born in the island in 1983.
After a long struggle and massive civilian casualties, a
defacto government covering 70% of the Tamil hereditary
land has been in existence, that is, for the last 15
years. Since 2002, this has been well acknowledged by
many foreign dignitaries and diplomats who have visited
the NorthEast.
The Tsunami natural disaster which struck mostly the
Tamils areas, caused severe casualties to the Tamil
people. Again the people in the North East received
discriminatory treatment by the Sri Lankan government.
The aid which was sent by the international community was
never distributed equally and even the P-TOMS
Post-Tsunami agreement for reconstruction of the Tsunami
affected areas was blocked by the Sinhala judges in the
South.
Mr Chairperson,
It is now four and a half years since the Ceasefire
Agreement was signed between the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam - LTTE and the government of Sri Lanka. There
are still 800,000 internally displaced people who are
prevented from resettling due to the Sri Lankan military
occupation of their land.
The current situation in the island is alarming, human
rights violations over the last 10 months have increased
disturbingly. A further 60,000 displaced people in the
Trincomalee area are being denied food and aid in an
embargo imposed by the government. More than 700 Tamil
civilians have been killed by the security forces and the
paramilitaries working with them since November 2005. In
the last week it appears that once again the government
has declared war on the Tamil people. The ceasefire
agreement has been violated several times, especially
since last April with the beginning of Aerial bombardment
of Tamil areas by the Sri Lankan air force.
On Monday 14 August 2006, sixty-one school girls were
killed and 129 seriously injured in the brutal and
callous deliberate bombing of a children's home in
Mullaitivu in broad daylight, by the Sri Lanka Air Force.
Soon after this bombing the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission
(SLMM), and UNICEF personnel, visited the spot and
confirmed that it is a children's home known as Sencholai
and not a military installation as claimed by the Sri
Lanka Government.
The shelling and bombings from land, air and sea by the
Sri Lankan security forces in the Tamil regions have
caused severe destruction to Tamil homes and lives,
property, public buildings, and cultural places. These
and many other actions of the Sri Lanka government are
persistently in serious breach of the Geneva
Conventions.
On Saturday 5th August, 17 Tamil humanitarian workers,
from the French International Non-Governmental
Organisation Action Contre la Faim, were massacred at
point blank range by government security forces. UN VIPs
in the field of human rights, the Special Representative
of the Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders, Hina
Jilani; the Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial,
arbitrary and summary executions, Prof Philip Alston and
the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean
Ziegler, jointly made a statement on 11 August,
expressing serious concerns and calling for a vigorous
independent investigation to be held and the perpetrators
to be brought to justice. They urged the government to
render the findings public.
Attacks on Tamil journalists, parliamentarians and human
rights defenders have escalated. Journalists following up
human rights violations have been killed with impunity,
by the security forces. Those defending Civil and
Political rights and those defending Economic, Social and
cultural Rights are also being killed by the Sri Lanka
armed forces.
In a stark incident on 06 August 2006 the SLMM was nearly
bombed by the government Air Force which attacked,
despite an agreement being in progress concerning the
irrigation issue in Trincomalee. This shows how the
international monitors are being treated.
When speaking from Colombo about the killing of the 17
humanitarian workers, the SLMM Head, Maj. Gen. Ulf
Henricsson, told Reuters on 11 August:
"I have experienced this in the Balkans before. When
you're not let in, it's a sign that there's something
they want to hide. You have a lot of time to clear it
up"……….."They are denying us access to
the whole area, so we cannot monitor. There were
journalist trips arranged to Muttur last Saturday and
Sunday. That was possible, but we had no access. Why? For
security reasons? Of course not. There are other reasons.
I have recommended to the facilitator -(Norway) to at
least consider a withdrawal."
SLMM's monitors say there is evidence that Sri Lankan
troops have been involved in extrajudicial killings of
Tamils in the North and East. According to information
coming out of the latest fighting in Jaffna, the Tamil
people are being prevented from fleeing to safety, by the
Sri Lanka security forces.
Mr. Chairperson,
The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka started because of the
Sri Lankan government's discriminatory policies and
refusal to accept the Tamils as equal citizens of the
island.
The present attitude of the Sri Lanka government clearly
indicates that this is a war of aggression with
destructive and genocidal intent against the Tamil people
in the island.
We appeal to the dignitaries and members of civil society
internationally to monitor and pressurise the Sri Lankan
government not to carry out genocidal attacks on the
Tamil people.
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