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Home > Struggle for Tamil Eelam > Sri Lanka Accused at United Nations > UN Sub Commission 1998
UN SUB COMMISSION ON PREVENTION
OF DISCRIMINATION AND PROTECTION OF MINORITIES
50TH SESSIONS: AUGUST 1998
On the 50th Anniversary of the proclamation of the
Universal Declaration of Human RightsTowards the United Nations
- Peace March
by Tamils from Switzerland, France, England, Germany and Italy
10 August 1998 in Geneva
- to condemn Sri Lanka's continued acts of state terrorism in the Vanni province of Tamil Eelam...
- to demand the immediate withdrawal of the Sri Lanka army from those areas of Tamil Eelam where the Tamil people are being terrorised and oppressed by Sri Lanka and in this way stop the continuing genocide of the Tamil people ...
- to call upon world governments to impress upon Sri Lanka the urgent need to recognise the lawful armed resistance of the people of Tamil Eelam and their right to self determination and so pave the way for a stable peace...
- to call upon members of the United Nations to stop all aid to Sri Lanka because such aid though requested by Sri Lanka ostensibly for development, has enabled it to continue its genocidal attack on the people of Tamil Eelam with increasing ferocity ...
- to bring to the attention of the world, the suffering of the people of Tamil Eelam caused by Sri Lanka's continued genocidal attacks and acts of state terrorism...
- to demonstrate to the international community that it is Sri Lanka's war to conquer and rule Tamil Eelam that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of Tamils seeking political asylum in Europe and elsewhere
"We will meet the challenge of the enemy, standing together
as a united people and as one national force"
- Tamil Eelam National Leader, Velupillai Pirabaharanவன்னிப் பெருநிலப் பரப்பில் சிறிலங்கா அரசு மேற்கொள்ளும் அரச பயங்கரவாதத்தைக் கண்டித்தும்...
தமிழீழ மக்களுக்கு எதிரான தொடர்ச்சியான இன அழிப்பை உடன் நிறுத்த வழி கோலும் வகையில் ஆக்கிரமிக்கப்பட்ட தமிழீழப் பகுதிகளிலிருந்து சிங்கள இராணுவத்தை வெளியேற்றக் கோரியும்...
தமிழ் மக்களின் ஆயுதப் போராட்டத்தையும், சுயநிர்ணய உரிமையையும் அங்கீகரித்து நிலையான தீர்வு ஏற்படுவதற்கு சர்வதெச அரசுகள் சிறீல்ங்கா அரசிற்கு அழுத்தம் கொடுக்கக்கோரியும்...
தமிழின அழிப்பிற்காக உலக நாடுகளிடம் அபிவிருத்திக்கென சிறிலங்கா கோரும் உதவிகளை சர்வதேச நாடுகள் வழங்குவதை நிறுத்தக் கோரியும்...
சிறீலங்கா அரச பயங்கரவாதத்தால் அழிக்கபட்டுக் கொண்டிருக்கும் தமிழ் தெசியத்தின் அவலத்தை அகிலத்திற்கு எடுத்துரைக்கவும்...
சிறீலங்காவின் போர்ச் சூழலே தமிழீழ மக்களைப் புலம்பெயர்ந்த நாடுகளில் அரசியல் அகதியாக்கியுள்ளது
என்பதை எடுதுரைக்கவும்...சுவிஸ, பிரான்ஸ, இங்கிலாந்து, யேர்மனி, இத்தாலி வாழ் தமிழீழ மக்கள்
முதன்முறையாக ஒன்றினைந்து...ஐ.நா.வை நோக்கி
அமைதிப் பேரணி
Tamils urge U.N. human rights chief
to probe alleged mass graves
From Associated Press Report, 10 August 1998:
Thousands of Tamils demonstrated outside the United Nations' European headquarters Monday in support of a call for an international probe of alleged mass graves in Sri Lanka. Protestors wearing head bandages splashed with red waved banners and gave out leaflets bearing slogans including ``Stop the genocide of Tamils'' and ``Recognize Tamil struggle for freedom.''
In a letter, protest organizers have urged U.N. human rights commissioner Mary Robinson to investigate the alleged burial by Sri Lankan security forces of several hundred bodies in the country's Jaffna peninsula.
In their letter to the U.N. human rights sub-commission responsible for monitoring countries' protection of minorities, officials of the French branch of the Tamil Center for Human Rights claim the country's human rights situation is deteriorating and say an investigation is urgently needed.
U.N. human rights spokesman Jose Diaz said the sub-commission would need more evidence for an inquiry to be considered. It would also have to be approved by the full U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which meets in Geneva in the spring.
The demonstration was organized by the International Federation of Tamils and timed to coincide with a U.N. human rights meeting currently in session.Organizers estimated a crowd of up to 10,000 people gathered on the square in front of the U.N. building to listen to speeches by activists. Although the protest was peaceful, police mounted a security operation to prevent protesters entering the United Nations' grounds.
``The international community has to recognize that the genocide is going on and has to be stopped,'' said Ponrajah Anton, coordinating secretary for the International Federation of Tamils."
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF TAMILS
Posfach 7908, 6000 Luzern 7, Switzerland. Tel: +41 41 260 9840
PRESS RELEASE 13 August 1998
'We must listen to them', said former South Africa Ambassador in Geneva, after more than ten thousand Tamils brought their cause to the United Nations.
Mr Jacob Selebi, former South African Ambassador to Geneva and former Chair of the Human Rights Commission addressed a packed hall yesterday, where he pointedly focused the audience attention on the thousands of people who had come in front of the United Nations earlier in the week. He said that all present in the hall must listen to them. More than ten thousand Tamils from all over Europe had gathered in Geneva to demand recognition for the Tamils right to self determination in the face of the genocide against them by the Sri Lankan state.
The audience of high-ranking diplomats, UN appointed Human Rights Experts and international non governmental orgainsations, listened as Mr Selebi made an appeal for all in the human rights community to overcome their political inhibitions mid listen to the message that the people gathered wanted to tell. He said that even if it was not possible to respond immediately, listening and people to people diplomacy can make a change.
The event was organised by the International Service for Human Rights in order to present Mr Selebi with the 1998 Human Rights prize. After receiving much praise for his contribution to the advancement of human rights in the world, by Mrs Mary Robinson, High Commissioner for Human Rights and others, Mr Selebi gave a short speech about how as a child he had learnt that changes can come from what he calls now people to people diplomacy. He also said how he had worked behind the scenes with Mrs Robinson and others present, some of them Ambassadors, to advance the responsiveness of the Human Rights mechanisms. As he focused on the next step that had to be taken he poignantly talked of the thousands of people who had come this week to the UN to tell that "I have a pebble in my shoe" (referring to the gross human rights violations taking place in Sri Lanka).
Many newspapers and several radio stations covered the demonstration by Tamil children, women and men who had traveled from all over Switzerland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, United Kingdom, Italy and Norway.
