Sri Lanka to be 'tried' for genocide against Tamils
By Ron Ridenour
November 11, 2012 – Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal – An unprecedented move by internationalists and activists for human rights and justice, one that could inspire controversy among left-oriented governments and peoples´ solidarity committees, will take place next spring.
In April 2013, a panel of international experts will be convened as"Judges of the Permanent People's Tribunal to examine reports submitted by many specialised working groups on the accusation of the crime of genocide against the government of Sri Lanka and on the accusations against various international actors who had supported and prepared the conditions for the Sri Lankan government to implement this alleged crime”, stated the Rome-based Permanent People's Tribunal (PPT) on November 3, 2012.[1]
This decision is supported organisationally by the Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka (IFPSL), based in Dublin, and the International Human Rights Association (IMRV), based in Bremen.
In mid-January 2010 the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lankan held its sessions in Dublin. There were four findings:
1: That the Sri Lankan government and its military are guilty of war crimes;
2: That the Sri Lankan government and its military are guilty of crimes against humanity;
3: That the charge of genocide requires further investigation;
4: That the international community, particularly the UK and USA, share responsibility for the breakdown of the peace process.[2]
It also found that member states of the United Nations had not “complied
with their moral obligation to seek justice for the violations of human
rights committed during the last period of the war” [the Sri Lanka government's war against the Tamils].
The PPT was
referring to Human Rights Council Resolution S-11/1 of May 27, 2009.
Cuba led the majority of members to vote for the Sri Lanka government
drafted resolution. The resolution only praised the Sri Lankan government for
ending the hostilities and for the “liberation” of tens of thousands of
Tamils (who were, in fact, up to 300,000 internally displaced persons incarcerated for many months and even years in
concentration camps). It only condemned the Tamil Tiger guerrillas
(Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam) for terrorism and made no mention of
the long-endured suffering, pogroms, indiscrimination and inequality
suffered by the Tamil people at the hands of the Sinhalese majority
governments and military, and Buddhist monks. Since the time of the
resolution, Cuba has stepped up closer ties with the Mahinda Rajapaksa
family government, even inviting him to Cuba as a guest of honour for
four days.
The case for genocide
Here are excerpts of the PPT statement concerning the need to investigate the possibility that Sri Lankan governments have been committing genocide against the Tamil people for decades.
“This possibility has become a necessity now, due to the mass of new evidence (substantial, quantitative and qualitative) that has come to light since [2010 session]. At the time we held the 'Dublin Tribunal', the real casualty figures remained largely hidden. The official UN figure did not exceed 8000 civilian casualties, while some of the British and French press carried reports estimating the total number of casualties at 'up to 20,000'. In fact, the Sri Lanka Government maintained a position of ‘zero civilian casualties’for the full period of the final military offensive!
“However, soon after the Dublin Tribunal, like a dam bursting, details of terrible atrocities and a more realistic estimation of the magnitude of the massacre started surfacing in media. The effective embargo in the international media that existed during the eight months of the military offensive – which had helped to prevent a humanitarian opposition to the war to emerge – was starting to break down, eight months after the end of the military project. One month after the Tribunal – in February 2010 - appearing on Australia’s ABC Television, the former UN spokesman in Sri Lanka Gordon Weiss contradicted the UN estimate of 'no more than 8,000 casualties' stating that ‘anything between 10,000 to 40,000’ civilians may have died during the final siege. Sometime later the Experts’ Panel appointed by the UN Secretary General used the 40,000 figure as its own estimate.
“On January 2011, the Catholic Bishop of Mannar made a submission to the Sri Lankan Government's own 'Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission' (LLRC) that according to his calculation, 146,679 people are unaccounted for (he used the Government's own statistics to show this)… The casualty figure issue is just one factor – which we have highlighted to emphasise our point. Various other factors – such as an examination of the historical background which had laid the basis to the events that led to the military operations in 2009, as well as, whether or not the continuing issues that the Tamil people in the area concerned are facing at the moment are related to this history, needs to be carried out properly to deal with the overall reality.
“Due to the fact that substantial, quantitative and qualitative new evidence has become available, we believe that there are compelling reasons to organise a follow up to the 'People's Tribunal on Sri Lanka' to examine the case of Genocide against the Tamil people.”
This follow-up session will be held in Germany.
The Permanent
Peoples’ Tribunal was initiated in 1979 by the left socialist and
anti-fascist resistance fighter Senator Lelie Basso. He had been a judge
on the International War Crimes Tribunal, also know as the Bertrand
Russell-Sartre Tribunal, in 1966-7, concerning war crimes committed by
the United States against Vietnam, and the 1973-6 investigations
regarding war crimes committed by Latin American dictatorships, assisted
by the USA. One of Cuba’s few women guerrilla fighters, Melba
Hernandez, was one of the judges when she was chairwoman of the Cuba
Committee for Solidarity with Vietnam.
The PPT
has held more than 40 sessions on war crimes and crimes against
humanity, as well as genocide, in many parts of the world: US war crimes
against Nicaragua, national dictatorship war crimes (usually with the
assistance of US military forces and the CIA) against Argentines,
Guatemalans, El Salvadorans, Filipinos, the Western Sahara, Eritrea… It
has investigated and condemned Turkey for committing genocide against
the Armenian people. In 2006, it ethically sanctioned the economic
neo-liberal model and multinational corporations for violations of
international principles respecting human rights.
Among the many prestigious PPT panelists have been Nobel Prize winners: Adolfo Perez, Sean MacBride and George Wald. Many judges and associates have either come from Latin America and/or been close to the Cuban revolutionary process, as well as its allies in the ALBA alliance, among them are: Francois Houtart and Miguel D’Escoto.
Notes
[1] http://www.tamilnet.com/
[2] http://www.tamilnet.com/