'Tamils in Sri Lanka be given security for their lives to live in peace and harmony.'

Dear Madame

Permit me gracious Madame, to write this letter to you.

I write with the absolute faith that you as the prime authority as the Defender of Human Rights empowered by the World body; shall see that the uncared and defenseless Tamil Race in Srilanka be rescued from fear of death by Torture, persecution, oppression and suppression of their Human rights, to enable them to live as Human beings.

I am writing this letter not just as an insignificant individual, but as the reflection of the collective consciousness of the Tamil Diaspora who are pained by the happenings to their kith and kin back in the home country, but are simultaneously helpless in alleviating the misery themselves, for fear of being branded as terrorists, pardon me by political opportunism and the insensitive bureaucracy.

Several times during the last few months you have expressed your strong feelings about the Human Rights situation prevailing in Srilanka and had called for International monitors for Srilanka. This is a good sign coming from the Head of the apex body dealing with human rights, albeit a small one.

However, my prime reason is to urge you not just monitors who visit for a specific assignment and then return to Geneva ,but a permanent body, similar to the one established in Nepal backed by the United Nations, to give teeth to its operation in Srilanka.

Human rights violations have been occurring from June, 1956 onwards commencing with the Bandaranayake regime. There was a lull from 1965 to 1970, consequent to regime change, but after that ,ie: from 1970 onwards Human rights violations continued unabated for the last 35 years, the only difference being that the intensity of violence increased over time. Sad to say, it is only in the recent period of time, that the situation of the Tamil minority population in Srilanka had been highlighted internationally, especially after the execution style killing of 17 Aid workers of the French Aid group – ACF, which gained International concern, especially from France.

Permit me to digress at this juncture to mention the fact that the Aid workers were members of the minority Tamil population in Srilanka and not anybody else. The difference between these 17 Tamil aid workers executed and the thousands of Tamil civilians murdered was that these 17 were wearing the ACF insignia on their shirt which gained International prominence, while the thousands of Tamils had no insignia and therefore there was no International focus. I am not faulting anyone here but merely pointing out the difference in attitude towards killings in Srilanka in relation to the attitude of the International Community. Unfortunately, it is only when the International Community is galvanized the United Nations agencies react. That is the reality.

Now coming back to the point from where I digressed, the truth of the continued Human rights violations on the minority Tamil population is the result of the very poor quality of the army recruits. They are in the majority, village thugs, petty criminals, the unemployed youths, all of whom are poorly educated or uneducated. The Srilankan Government had made soldiers out of this riff raff from the lower rungs of the Sinhalese society and the result is that they do not care about the status of NGO or an INGO serving in humanitarian causes. These soldiers have been trained to believe that causing the death of an enemy combatant or a civilian is no different. Above all there is no discipline among the recruits and those who come out of training is a thug with a gun and no more. This is the reason for the killing of old men, old women, pregnant women, disabled men, children and even babies. For United Nations agencies or for that matter any agency to operate on the perception that Srilankan army soldiers are similar to Canadian or European soldiers is a serious fallacy. I may add that there isn't much of a difference among the majority of the Unit Commanders as well. A glaring example is the killing of 10 Muslim men in Pottuvil, which you have alluded to in your recent communique.

Finally I wish to mention the fact that insurgencies have sprung in several countries at different periods of time in World History, for example, the IRA in Ireland against the British, the Basque separatists against Spain, the Algerians against the French, the Palestinians against Israel, and now the Sunnis against USA in Iraq. Of these the neither the British nor the French or for that matter the Spanish ever used shelling and bombing of civilians areas for fear of causing the death of civilians, because for all intents and purposes they considered the country as part of their country and the inhabitants as their people irrespective of the insurgency. However, Israel and USA shelled and bombed Palestinians and the Sunnis respectively, because their perception was that neither the country nor the people were theirs.

This is the self same perception the Government of Srilanka, carries to this day causing the death of Tamil civilians. The Government of Srilanka never did shell nor bomb the Sinhalese regions during the 1971 JVP insurgency nor during the 1989/90 JVP insurgency, since they considered them their own. On this very point, the Government of Srilanka has forfeited their rights to rule us.

To add something pertinent to the recent development in Srilanka, is that the Government of Srilanka has degenerated to the level of insolence or impervious to international norms of decency and decorum, which had recently resulted in the Supreme Court of Srilanka, decreeing that Neither United Nations Conventions signed by Srilanka not the directives of monitoring bodies are binding on the country. This is a clear indication that their motives are ulterior, that is subverting the Rule of Law. However, Srilanka went all out in their bid to be elected to the Human Rights Council and pledged to carry out just to bamboozle the United Nations and the International Community to get into a position of authority to subvert the course of the Rule of Law and nothing more.

(a) Take appropriate implementation measures in respect of relevant recommendations made by the Human Rights Treaty Bodies after considering the Periodic Reports submitted by Sri Lanka in the past, through the Permanent Standing Committee on Human Rights Issues, Co-Chaired by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Human Rights. (b) "Build capacity in the Ministry of Human Rights, Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and other independent statutory bodies established as a part of the national human rights protection systems.

(c) "Introduce a Human Rights Charter in line with the policy statement made by the President of Sri Lanka soon after assuming office.

(d)"Invite the Special Rapporteur on the freedom of expression and opinion and also the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture to undertake missions in Sri Lanka.

(e) "Co-operate with Human Rights Treaty Monitoring Bodies by submitting future Periodic Reports on time.

(f) `"Become a party to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography

You are a Canadian and hail from the country which zealously safeguards Human Rights. It was to Canada that countries in turmoil looked to for ˜Peace Keeping" services. You above all were a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ontario, then a Judge of the Appeals Court of Ontario and finally ended up as the Judge of the Supreme Court of Canada. It was due to your distinguished legal career and meting out justice without fear or favor that the United Nations appointed you as the Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Knowing well the caliber of the person you are, I am appealing to you that the ethnic Tamil minority in Srilanka be given security for their lives to live in peace and harmony.

Yours truly
A.G.Ratnarajah
Editor - Tamil Mirror

Published: Oct 10, 2006 14:47:58 GMT

Source: Northeastern Monthly by: J. S. Tissainayagam
Date: 05 October 2006