“Now, she [Damilvany Kumar] says that there had been all these alleged rape and murder and all these things. Now she is one person who will get attracted by soldiers, because she is so different from others.
I want to know whether she was raped. She was there for one year. She came with the IDPs, and she was in the IDP camps.”
“We received a report that a soldier went into a tent at 11pm and came out at 3am. It could have been sex for pleasure, it could have been sex for favours, or it could have been a discussion on Ancient Greek philosophy, we don’t know.”
On another occasion when asked by a Sky News reporter about the allegations of sexual violence within the camps, Mr Wijesinha replied:
“There are a few blue eyed children in that camp, so you know that some of the NGOs have had a jolly good time when they were up in Vavuniya, so when you go up just have a look and try and identify them.“
In the run up to the ESVC summit, we have been revisiting the mounting evidence which documents the widespread, systematic and on-going use of sexual violence by Sri Lanka’s military against Tamils, that occurs with absolute impunity.
The summit follows the Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, tabled by the Mr Hague and endorsed by two-thirds of UN member states, which condemns the on-going use of sexual violence in conflicts and pledged to ensure justice for victims.
Sri Lanka was highlighted by the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a key country where rape was used as a tactic of war, in October 2009, only a few months after the armed conflict ended.
Addressing an UN Security Council focused on rape in war, she said:
“Now, reading the headlines, one might think that the use of rape as a tactic of war only happens occasionally, or in a few places, like the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Sudan.
That would be bad enough, but the reality is much worse. We’ve seen rape used as a tactic of war before in Bosnia, Burma, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere.
In too many countries and in too many cases, the perpetrators of this violence are not punished, and so this impunity encourages further attacks.
…
Much of the photographic and video evidence of sexual violence in the final stages of the armed conflict emerged in the form of ‘trophy videos’, filmed by Sri Lankan soldiers themselves whilst committing the crimes.
One of the latest videos to emerge depicts soldiers performing acts of sexual violence on the stripped, dead bodies of Tamil LTTE fighters.
Citations. and for more check the following Links.
Sri Lanka LTTE Joni Mine (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It is obvious that both LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka were equally engaged in inhuman practices.
While the one,LTTE,is reported to have been wiped out(claimed by the Sri Lankan Government),The Government is going scot-free.
It has to be punished by the International Community.
Report:
The following allegations with respect to children and armed conflict during
the reporting period have been reported:
February 16 – An organization reported that the LTTE was attempting to
recruit by force all boys and girls aged 14 years or older in the LTTEcontrolled territory.
February 23 – Several organizations reported to Embassy Colombo that their
sources reported ongoing LTTE forced recruitment of children. Another
source stated that a young person who resisted being forcibly recruited had
both his arms broken by the LTTE as punishment.
March 3 – An organization received a report from a source in the NFZ that
the LTTE was recruiting children as young as 12-years-old.
March 7 – An organization reported that a source in Mullaittivu witnessed
the LTTE abduction of children ages 12 to 16. The source saw the LTTE
marching many children away.
March 16 – An organization’s source in Mullaittivu reported that those
recruited by the LTTE included male and female children as young as 14.
March 17 – A Human Rights Watch (HRW) source in the Vanni reported
that an angry mob formed following the death of two children caused by an
LTTE recruitment unit. In a similar story, the nationalist daily newspaper
Island reported that LTTE cadres shot the parents of a child whom they
made an abortive bid to abduct, and then shot the child. This incident
sparked violent protests by the civilians, who forced the cadres to retreat.
Embassy Colombo noted that this report is consistent with earlier
information regarding retaliation against the LTTE by civilians in the NFZ.
March 18 – A source who escaped the conflict zone reported that anyone
aged 12 or older was eligible for forced labor and recruitment by the LTTE.
March 21-24 – HRW sources in the conflict zone reported that the LTTE
rounded up over 400 youths who had sought refuge in Valaiganar Catholic
Church, and immediately took the children to training camps by bus. A
similar account was reported by another organization’s local source on
March 23; this source estimated the number of youths taken at over 250.
March 23 – An organization received a report from a local source that the
LTTE was recruiting children aged 12.
March 23 – Organizations with sources in the conflict zone provided to
Embassy Colombo some details on communications from the NFZ,
including reports that the LTTE forcibly recruited individuals, including
children, and killed those who resisted orders. They noted that for the
LTTE, ―age is not an issue anymore for recruitment/building defenses.‖[13]
Report to Congress on Incidents During the Recent Conflict in Sri Lanka
March – A source reported that the LTTE forcibly recruited people
regardless of gender or age, including those in their early teens. …….
A number of sources alleged that the GSL committed unlawful killings.
There is video footage showing purported evidence of GSL soldiers killing captive
Tamils in January. Separately, multiple reports alleged that in the final few days of
fighting, between May 14 and May 18, senior LTTE leaders contacted
international representatives via satellite phone in an effort to broker a surrender
but were killed after they allegedly reached a surrender agreement with the GSL.
As reflected in common article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, IHL prohibits
all violence to life and person, including murder, of armed forces who have laid
down their arms or are in detention.
The following allegations of killing of captives or combatants seeking to
surrender have been reported:
January – In late August an organization received a video clip from January
which allegedly showed the summary execution of nine bound and naked
Tamils by SLA soldiers. The video was supposedly filmed by a soldier
present at the scene. Since the video’s release, the GSL has analyzed the
clip and issued a statement identifying specific aspects of the video which it
claims proved it to be forged. However, there has been no independent
analysis of the footage.
February 1 – An organization received reports from local sources that young
men who managed to reach the government-established safe zones with their
families were being picked up by the military; their bodies were found
several days later. The organization opined that with no international or
independent third party presence in the camps, the military was able to act
with impunity, which was a reason why Tamil civilians were afraid to move
to government-controlled areas.
May 14-18 – An organization reported information from its sources that ―all
the LTTE persons remaining in the NFZ were massacred.‖ The GSL
maintains that these senior LTTE leaders in fact did not raise white flags or
give any indication to the SLA soldiers in their vicinity that they intended to
surrender, but instead continued fighting and were subsequently killed in the
ensuing final battle.
May 18 – Embassy Colombo, as well as press and foreign governments,
received reports that LTTE political leaders Nadesan and Puleedevan, along
with other LTTE leaders, were killed while surrendering to GSL forces……
The GSL pledged to provide sufficient food and medical supplies to people
in IDP camps and to those people still trapped in the NFZ. On February 17, the
Senior Presidential Advisor announced a commitment to provide 80-100 metric
tons (MT) of food per day to civilians, and that medicine would be included in the
next shipment of supplies. In early March the GSL Presidential Secretariat issued
a statement saying that there had been no case of any citizen in the north of Sri
Lanka dying from starvation and that the GSL would take all measures to prevent
such a tragic occurrence.
12
Later that month the Minister of Health Care and
Nutrition stated that the GSL continued to send enough medical and essential food
supplies and ―won’t stop sending medical and food supplies‖ despite the possibility
that the LTTE was confiscating supplies for its own cadres.
13
However, while some incidents reported in this section cite deliveries of up
to 500 MT of foodstuffs to the NFZ, the majority point to significant gaps between
food, medicine, and clean water needs and the available supplies in the NFZ and
IDP camps. These reports include instances of severe food shortages, malnutrition,
particularly among the very young and old, as well as surgeries being performed
with little or no anesthetic. (See Appendix A, photo 9.)
NFZ Estimated Population, Food Needs, Food Delivered, and Food Deficit
Month GSL Pop
(estimated)*
Food
needs**
Food
delivered
Accum
Food
deficit
International
pop estimate
Food
needs
Food
delivered
Accum
Food
deficit
February 70,000 980 150 -830 250,000 3500 150 -3350
March 50,000 775 1080 -525 230,000 3565 1080 -5835
April 50,000 775 1119 -181 150,000 2325 1119 -7041
May
(20 days)
20,000 200 50 -331 80,000 720 50 -7711
* It has been alleged that the GSL used low civilian estimates in the NFZ to reduce the amount
of food disbursed in an effort to pressure civilians to escape.
** Food needs and deficit estimates are based upon the estimation of several organizations that
one MT of food per day is needed for 2000 IDPs.
International humanitarian law recognizes that relief organizations may offer
their services in relation to victims of armed conflict, and the United States.
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