Ramanisblog

Tag: Human Rights

  • Navaneetham Pillai Indicts Sri Lanka Human Rights ,UN Report

    Navaneetham Pillai. the Human Rights Commissioner, after a visit to Sri Lanka to study the ground realities post Civil War, Post-LTTE era.

    Tamils Raped in Sri Lanka.
    Tamils Raped in Sri Lanka.

    Her Press briefing on 31 August , 2012 was candid to such an extent that the Sri Lanka Government was forced to protest that she exceeded her brief.

    She was earlier abused by the Government and the Sri Lanka Media , calling her ‘Tamil Tigress‘, accusing her of bias, raking her Tamil origins.

    Story:

    Sri Lanka refutes:

    ”

    Issuing a statement, the Govt information department says that she is only an agent of a Civil organization, hence she cannot make such statements regarding Sri Lanka.

    Govt has issued this statement with regards to the statements made by Ms. Navi Pillay at the media meeting held on the 31st in Colombo, in conclusion of her week’s tour in Sri Lanka.

    The complete statement is as follows..

    President Rajapakshe apologised for his minister’s out burst against her earlier.

    Her report, as stated  by her in the Press Meet , in short, is as under.

    1.Developmental activities. post the civil war , is sluggish and definitely not as it had been portrayed by the Government of Sri Lanka.

    2.The Missing Persons of Tamil area are not being investigated.

    3.Tamil women are being molested and no visible action.

    3.The Military, even after four years of the conflict coming to a close, still has an iron grip, on the Tamil areas, hampering return of Normalcy.

    The presence of Military in the North East is worrying.

    4.The Military is controlling areas where it has no business, like Education, Agriculture.

    5.The Military is grabbing private Tamil lands for converting them into barracks, with no compensation.

    6.Systematic racist attacks are being carried out against Tamils and Muslims.

    As a parting shot, she said,

    ““I am deeply concerned that Sri Lanka, despite the opportunity provided by the end of the war to construct a new vibrant, all-embracing state, is showing signs of heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction,” Pillai said, a remark that was to be broadcast around the world in minutes.”

    Well, that’s pretty candid and accuses Sri Lanka, in real softer terms, its Genocidal and Ethnic cleansing Policies!

    Sri Lanka Refutes:

    ”

    On the opening remarks by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Navanetham Pillay at the Press Conference on 31 August, 2013

    The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms Navanetham Pillay was on a week-long visit to Sri Lanka on an invitation extended by the Government of Sri Lanka in April 2011. This invitation is a part of Sri Lanka’s consistent engagement with the UN System.

    As is well known, the High Commissioner’s visit to Sri Lanka was extensive, which she herself has described, as the longest ever country visit undertaken in her current position. The GOSL provided unfettered access for the High Commissioner to meet all those whom she sought to engage with, besides providing briefings on the part of the GOSL, on the continuing post conflict developments, a fact that she has acknowledged.

    It is significant to note the High Commissioner’s acknowledgement of the true nature of the LTTE, and her call to those in the diaspora, who continue to revere the memory of the LTTE, to recognize that there should be no place for the glorification of such a ruthless Organization.

    While noting that the High Commissioner has paid respects “to all Sri Lankans across the country who were killed during those three decades of conflict”, a disturbing fact that emerged during the visit, which had also come up during her media conference, was the surreptitious effort made by the visiting delegation to pay a floral tribute during the visit to Mullivaikkal. It was pointed out by the Sri Lankan side to the OHCHR delegation that if such a gesture needed to be made it should be done at a venue common to all victims of the 30 year terrorist conflict and not on the grounds where the LTTE leader met his death. It is significant that at no point of time during the discussions in formulating the High Commissioner’s programme, that the holding of such an event was indicated. This was brought to the attention of the Government side, only a few hours before the unilaterally scheduled event. On inquiry it became evident that the UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, who represents the UN Secretary General, was unaware of this planned event.

    With reference to the High Commissioner’s assertion that the new Ministry of Law and Order “is at best a partial separation as both Ministries will remain under the President, rather than under a separate civilian Ministry”

    http://www.lankasrinews.com/view.php?2024Y5B220eYmBd34eaKmOlR4cadQWAAcddcySMQMdac4TlOmae42dBmY2e033B5Y402

    Now read the UN commissioner:

    Reprisals

    The fact that the remarks were addressed to Pillay while she was on a high level diplomatic mission on the explicit invitation of the Government was extraordinary. But more extraordinary, for the visiting UN Rights Chief was the fact that persons who had made representations during her tours of the former conflict zones had been visited by police and military officials. “This to me is just completely over the top – this kind of thing simply does not happen on my missions,” Pillay charged during the question and answer session. “The UN takes reprisals against those who speak with UN officials very seriously. I will be reporting on any reprisals against those who spoke with me back to the Human Rights Council,” she warned.

    On every critical issue falling within her mandate the UN Envoy pulled no punches. She had her own assessment on virtually every current challenge to democracy and freedom in post-war Sri Lanka. “The war may have ended, but in the meantime democracy has been undermined and the rule of law eroded,” she said, reading from one of the more electrifying sections of her statement.

    On the hot button issue of religious intolerance, with attacks against the Muslim community intensifying in the last few months, the UN Envoy said the Government had downplayed the issue. “They said it was an isolated incident, but the information pouring into my office indicates otherwise,” she said.

    Disappearances being the overarching theme of her visit, Pillay told journalists after her briefing that she had never witnessed such uncontrollable grief as when people begged her to help bring their loved ones home.

    “The fighting may be over, the suffering is not,” the UN Human Rights Chief said, as she prepared to leave Sri Lanka.

    The High Commissioner took great pains to address repeated questions on alleged UN bias put to her by the state media during the briefing. She urged journalists to “read the published material” to learn how vocal her office was being about human rights issues around the world, including those violations committed by powerful countries. “Sri Lanka is one of 193 states reviewed by the UNHRC. The US in its review had almost 300 recommendations made to them by other states,” Pillay explained.

    She added that UN independent experts were currently examining Extraordinary Rendition procedures, the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and drone strikes against civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan – all violations Washington has been accused of by human rights activists.

    http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/25159

    See more gruesome Images at.

    http://ramanisblog.in/2013/03/29/rape-of-tamil-women-in-sri-lanka-photos/

  • Mass Grave In Sri Lanka JVP ,Tamils Or Marxists

    Sri Lanka is fast turning out to be a Uganda of Idi Amin of Asia.

     

    A mass grave was discovered by Archaeologists in  Matale,Sri Lanka.

     

    The problem is not the killing per se; it is de facto.

     

    But the victims?

     

    It is estimated that the remains are 25 years old.

     

    It could be the result of the standoff between  JVP and The Government, LTTE and Government, or The Marxists  or innocent Tamils.

     

    Over 200 bodies were found at the last count

     

    As fate would have it ,that another activist who played the role of the ombudsman to the grieving parents, whose offspring had been snatched away by the State military apparatus and deadly para- military groups’ is now the President of Sri Lanka. When Mahinda Rajapaksa went to Geneva, he attempted to smuggle, concealed in a false compartment of his suitcase, the gory pictures of headless corpse of State terrorism in 1989-90. He was stopped at the airport and the photographs were confiscated…:

    Ceylon Today covered this extensively and has a Leader on this.

    ”

    On Sunday, the Judicial Medical Officer of Matale urged the family members of the disappeared youth of that era (1989-90) to come forward to identify the remains of the 154 nameless victims that had been buried at the site.

     

    The general tendency at the conclusion of brutal and costly civil wars and insurgencies is to forget the past, ostensibly to look forward to a much better future. The common argument, which is put forward in defence of this practice – and against retributive justice – is that investigations into past brutalities blamed on the security apparatus would complicate the reconciliation process. In some of the highly polarized and unequal societies in Latin America, the wheels of justice turned exceedingly slowly. In places like Guatemala, where nearly 200,000 people were killed and 40,000 disappeared during the US- supported counter insurgency campaign against a populist and largely indigenous rebellion, the victims had to wait until 2012 to put ex-dictator Gen Ríos Mont on trial for monstrous atrocities he and his forces had committed.

     

     

    However, in some better enlightened and relatively prosperous places in Latin America, such as Argentina, the process had been much faster, though it too had to overcome numerous hurdles, including uprisings in the barrack by soldiers and officer corps who were complicit in past atrocities.

     

    Mass Grave in Sri Lanka
    Mass Grave in Sri Lanka

     

    Skeletons in The Mass Grave, Sri Lanka
    Skeletons in The Mass Grave, Sri Lanka

     

    Successive Sri Lankan Governments, including that of previously activist President Chandrika Kumaratunga, let past military atrocities be swept under the carpet, despite the fact that she herself led the campaign for the excavation of the suspected mass grave in Suriyakanda. That highly emotive campaign was the catalyst in Kumaratunga’s speedy rise to the Presidency of Sri Lanka.

     

     

    Mass Grave, Sri Lanka.
    Mass Grave, Sri Lanka.

     

    Skulls in Mass Grave,Sri Lanka.
    Skulls in Mass Grave,Sri Lanka.

    However, barring a handful of cases, the majority of nearly 30,000 victims, who were documented as missing and disappeared by the Truth Commission instituted by President Kumaratunga’s administration did not receive justice. Their killers are roaming freely, and their ilk, momentarily resurface in white vans, which continue to haunt this country.

     

    Sri Lanka has repeatedly shied away from instituting due legal mechanisms to punish the perpetrators of grave human rights violations, which characterized the nation along with its famed Ceylon tea during various phases of our history: 1971, 1983, 1988-89, and the three-decade-long Northern conflict.

    The indifference of the political leadership towards the human rights violations of monstrous proportions and the lack of courage and political will to act decisively was instrumental in cementing a climate of impunity in the country.

    http://www.ceylontoday.lk/52-28791-news-detail-make-a-decisive-move-on-mass-grave.html

     

     

     

     

     

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  • Tamils Rape Audio, Human Rights Watch Director Interview

    An interview of David Mepham, UK Director of Human Rights watch with Tamil net is posted here

    The way he presents the case leaves no room for the Sri Lankan Government no room to dispute the 141 page Report of Human Rights Watch on the Rape of Si Lankan Tamil Women by The Sri Lankan Armed Forces.

    This report is published both in Tamil and English at my site.

    Genocide and and rape of the Tamils in Sri Lanka
    Sexual Violations of The Tamils in Sri Lanka

    Above is the audio: if it does not work, follow the link at the end of the post.

    Rape of a Tamil Woman
    Rape of a Tamil Woman
    Brutal Killing Of The Tamils
    Brutal Killing Of The Tamils
    Gruesome Killing
    Gruesome Killing

    The Transcript.

    TamilNet: Now, this report has compiled several individual cases of violations. You have also told that there is a pattern in it and it has been conducted in a systematic manner. TamilNet and many other Tamil media organizations have been arguing that these patterns indicate genocide and that this charge must be investigated. What is your opinion on this?

    Mepham: Well on that particular issue, Human Rights Watch has not taken the view that this is genocide. We have certainly taken the view that systematic human rights abuses have been perpetrated by the Government of Sri Lanka against elements of the Tamil population. We’ve documented that in considerable detail over the years. But we’ve also…I mean we’re an independent impartial human rights organization, we’ve also documented abuses committed by the LTTE over the years as well. So our job as a human rights organization is to look at rights abuse, to document it, to expose it wherever it happens.

    We’ve been very concerned that in the final months of the Sri Lankan civil war and early 2009, the best estimates are that something like 40,000 civilians were killed, mostly at the hands of the Sri Lankan military. That was the finding of the UN Panel of Expert’s report, the report given to the UN Secretary General. There’s been a complete failure on the part of the Sri Lankan government to investigate that, to hold anybody accountable, for anyone to face justice for those crimes and that’s why Human Rights Watch and others are urging, very strongly, that there needs to be an international mechanism to investigate and hold people accountable because the so called Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission is frankly a bit of a farce. It’s not a serious body, it doesn’t have real power, it is not interested in investigating and holding anybody accountable.

    The Sri Lankan government was still cut a bit of slack by the international community on that one with people saying “well let them have their chance to sort of address this”. I think it’s pretty clear now, they are not prepared to use that mechanism or indeed any other mechanism to properly get to the bottom of what happened and the involvement of Sri Lankan military and security forces in that abuse.

    Hence, the need for more concerted international action including at the upcoming meeting and discussion on Sri Lanka at the Human Rights Council, which will take place in a few weeks time. It’s very important that governments around the world come together, and demand that there is a strong resolution and strong international follow up action, that there is an international mechanism to investigate abuses in Sri Lanka and to hold people responsible for those abuses to account.

    TamilNet: By international mechanism do you mean an independent international investigation?

    Mepham: Yes, yes. That was essentially what was called for by the UN Panel of Expert’s report, he said that the panel, three people on the panel said, there needed to..there was evidence that around 40 000 civilians may have died but there needed to be a proper international investigative mechanism, international investigation to look into what happened, to identify who was responsible for abuse, who committed the crimes and to hold those individuals accountable. And of course, the Sri Lankan government goes to great lengths to dismiss all that, to deny the abuse, to say they are not prepared for that to happen.

    It will only change if there is really concerted international pressure on Sri Lanka, of the kind that we have not seen up to this point. Which is why it is kind of particularly shocking that lots of governments around the world are going to go off to a glitzy summit in Sri Lanka in November and sit down and eat and drink with Mr. Rajapaksa, at the same time as that government has completely failed to address the problem of impunity for war crimes.

    TamilNet: Now as regards the cases of sexual abuse. Many months back last year, TamilNet came out with a feature which showed that women, especially former fighters belonging to the LTTE were being systematically targeted by the Sri Lankan state, by the military and by its police and many of these extreme cases included forcible impregnation which even led to many of them committing suicide. Do you think that this needs to be addressed very clearly at international fora?

    Mepham: Yes. All of these kinds of…I can just talk with more authority about the abuses that we’ve documented in the report we’ve launched this week. There are lots of other allegations and claims of abuse that have taken place as of the last few years. All of them need to be properly investigated. Claims of that kind that are made, it is incumbent on the Government of Sri Lanka to investigate them and hold people accountable.

    When it’s not prepared to do so, then there should be an international investigative mechanism. Because I think there is powerful evidence that this is not, as I said in the remarks at the press conference, this is not sort of random or just criminal elements. There is method in this abuse, it’s directed, it’s targeted, it’s designed for a purpose which is to intimidate and to inflict suffering and terrorize and to extract information. On that note, sexual violence of that kind is a war crime under international humanitarian law and needs to be treated as such and the people responsible for it need to be held to account.

    TamilNet: What is the responsibility of the Co-Chairs and the world powers which managed the peace process? Do you think that they have a moral and political responsibility to step in and address the question of the Tamils now?

    Mepham: Yes. They all have a responsibility. I mean, governments around the world have a responsibility to uphold international human rights, that’s what they’ve signed up to. Not only in terms of their domestic practice but in terms of the influence and pressure they bring to bear internationally. So all of these governments, particularly those that are involved in this process have an obligation to press on human rights concerns, to ensure proper accountability in the way we haven’t seen up until now and to ensure that people responsible for war crimes are held to account and that’s, there is a culture of impunity in Sri Lanka which really needs to be addressed and that’s one of the things that we are calling for as a sort of central recommendation from our report.

    * * *

    While welcoming the attempt of the HRW to document systematic sexual violence perpetrated against the Eezham Tamils by the Sri Lankan state, political observers expressed regret at the refusal to term genocide as genocide.

    More than the Tamils, the International Community of Establishments know the full nature and extent of the structural genocide being perpetrated on the Eezham Tamil nation. While organizations still try to give a picture of ‘war crimes of both sides’, what is brushed under the carpet is the war crimes of all sides, especially that of the Establishments in giving legitimacy to Sri Lanka’s genocidal war on the Eezham Tamil nation, they said.

    The Sri Lankan government will definitely deny this report as is expected from a genocide perpetrator, but it was the refusal of the ICE to recognize the nationhood, sovereignty and territoriality of the Eezham Tamils which is the core reason why Sri Lanka was able to commit such crimes with genocidal intent on the Tamil nation and foster the “culture of impunity” with abandon regime after regime, they further opined.

    Ack.Tamlinet.

    Audio Link:

    http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=36082

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  • All Is Not Well In Bahrain

    Bahrain seems to be idyllic.

    But there seems to be simmering discontent among the populace about the repressive rule .

    It is a ticking time bomb, it might explode at any time.

    The same applies to Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

    Under the glitter they are boiling.

    Read On.

    Violence in Bahrain
    Violence in Bahrain
    The second anniversary of Bahrain’s popular uprising was marked by renewed violence, resulting in the death of a 16-year old boy. In the video, filmed right after the teenager’s death, a desperate protester can be seen risking his life to stand up to the police.
    The victim’s name was Hussein al-Jaziri. According to opposition websites, the teenager was killed by fragmentary bullets. Overwhelmed by this death, which he had just witnessed, a protester walked up to police and screamed at them. The policemen tried to intimidate him, but seemed thrown off balance by the protester’s daring.
    This footage exemplifies the standstill at which the Bahraini opposition finds itself, faced with unyielding government repression. Since the start of the uprising, the confirmed death toll has risen to 82 protesters, including nine children.
    Bahrain, a primarily Shiite country (Shiites make up about 75% of the population), is ruled by a Sunni monarchy. Since February 2011, members of the Shiite community, who claim they are discriminated against, have frequently protested in the streets.

    Human Rights Violations.

    ‘

    Publication of a Judicial Observation Mission Report

    19 Feb 2013

    The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), publishes today a report, which presents findings of a judicial observation mission conducted on the trial in appeal of prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab. The report concludes that a series of violations of the right to fair trial marred the judicial process and that Mr. Nabeel Rajab is suffering judicial harassment for merely advocating for and exercising the right to peaceful assembly in Bahrain.

    Read full report

    While February 14, 2013 marks the second anniversary of the start of pro-democracy protests in Bahrain, Mr. Nabeel Rajab, Deputy Secretary General of FIDH, President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) and Director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), remains detained in Jaw Prison, serving a two-year prison sentence. On December 11, 2012 the Appeals Court in Bahrain confirmed his conviction on charges of calling for and participating in peaceful gatherings on three occasions. As of today, he has been in detention for 217 days.

    The Observatory sees the detention and sentence of Mr. Nabeel Rajab as arbitrary and solely aimed at sanctioning and preventing his human rights activities. Indeed, Mr. Rajab has been targeted for his tireless efforts at highlighting gross human rights violations in Bahrain, in particular since the beginning of the popular uprising in the country in February 2011 through the use of Twitter, Facebook, and other social network tools and media outlets as well as his participation in public gatherings.

    “Mr. Rajab’s trial reflects Bahrain’s policy and practice of criminalising the exercise of the right to freedoms of association, expression and peaceful assembly and silencing human rights defenders and other dissenting voices” declared Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General.

    Between September and December 2012, the Observatory carried out four missions to Manama to monitor the hearings of Mr. Rajab’s trial. The report recounts the details of these missions and demonstrates that the trial in appeal against Mr. Nabeel Rajab failed to comply with international standards of fair trial. “The entire procedure was fraught with serious human rights violations from the time of arrest, through detention, trial and conviction” said Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President.

    Mr. Nabeel Rajab was initially detained on July 9, 2012 for his participation in “illegal” assemblies in January, February and March 2012 during which the authorities alleged that acts of violence were committed by some participants. Said gatherings were organised to call for the release of human rights defenders and political activists, to denounce corruption, to call for political and economic reforms, to denounce human rights violations and to call for a fair distribution of wealth and an end to torture.

    http://bahrainrights.hopto.org/en/node/5648

  • Terrorism Kidnap, Detain Torture US Rendtion Had 54 Countries

    In what is euphemistically called ‘rendition’ is nothing but total disregard for Intentional Law and an authoritarianism to  kidnap,intern,torture of those suspected of terrorist Links.

     

    The US was not alone.

     

    The Countries who were crying foul on Guantanamo were secretly in cahoots with the US!

     

    Read On.

    US Rendition Flights shown by Google Earth.
    US Rendition Flights shown by Google Earth..

    As many as 54 countries have been complicit in the CIA’s extraordinary rendition operations in which terrorism suspects were held in secret prisons overseas or turned over to foreign governments for interrogation, a human rights organisation has said in a report.

    The report, released on Tuesday, claims that foreign governments in Europe, Asia and Africa have been secretly involved in global kidnap, detention and torture of at least 136 people on behalf of the United States after September 11, 2001 attacks.

    “By engaging in torture and other abuses associated with secret detention and extraordinary rendition, the US government violated domestic and international law, thereby diminishing its moral standing and eroding support for its counterterrorism efforts worldwide as these abuses came to light,” the report said.

    The report by the Open Society Justice Initiative said its information was based on “credible public sources” and “reputable human rights organisations”.

    The CIA declined comment on the report.

    The governments accused of helping the CIA programmes included some staunch US allies such as Australia, Israel, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Finland and Ireland, and some not usually viewed as US-friendly such as Iran and Syria.

    The report said Tehran had transferred 15 individuals to Afghanistan, which transferred them to the US government.

    Amrit Singh, author of the report, described the involvement of foreign governments as “a continuum” which included the hosting of secret CIA prisons, providing intelligence and capture and detention of prisoners.

    Speaking to Al Jazeera from New York, Singh said there was “a wide variety of complicity” from all involved.

    ‘Globalising Torture’

    “Responsibility for these violations does not end with the United States. Secret detention and extraordinary rendition operations, designed to be conducted outside the United States under cover of secrecy, could not have been implemented without the active participation of foreign governments. These governments too must be held accountable.”

    While Barack Obama, US president, after taking office in 2009 ordered the closing of secret CIA detention facilities, the
    executive order “did not repudiate extraordinary rendition,” the report said.

    The New York-based rights group has called for the United States to end the controversial programme, close all secret prisons and investigate human rights violations that resulted from the practice.

    The 256 page report, “Globalising Torture”, comes ahead of the confirmation hearing of John Brennan as director of the Central Intelligence Agency on Wednesday.

    In reference to a December 2005 statement by Brennan that rendition was “absolutely vital” to countering terrorism, Singh said he “has some serious questions to answer”. Singh went on to say she hopes the report will compel the Senate “to ask what he meant by that statement”.

    Internationally, OSJI wants other governments to end their involvement in the practice and take steps to ensure that counter-terrorism efforts do not violate human rights.

    Source:
    Al Jazeera and agencies
    “We are used to Drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan by US  ,in the wake of 9/11 attacks by Al Qaeda.

    The US Justice department has built a Legal case for felicitating the attack on persons.organisations out side the US by US forces.

    A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” — even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S…(open channel)

     

    http://ramanisblog.in/2013/02/05/us-white-paper-use-lethal-force-in-foreign-countrydocument/