Robert Halfon MP-pic: BBC
Today there was a major debate in Westminster Hall. With many other backbench Conservative MPs, I urged the Government to speak out against the persecution of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
As many ConservativeHome readers know, the years between 1983 and 2009 saw a bitter civil war between the Sri Lankan Government and the Tamil Tigers.
During that long and bloody conflict, both sides were responsible for atrocities. But following the ceasefire three years ago, Tamil civilians have been subject to outrageous abuse of their basic human rights. In 2009, for example, 300,000 Tamil civilians were displaced or caged up in barbaric internment camps.
As late as November last year, 7,000 remained in these camps. Many more are unable to return home. Thousands are forced to live in tents without access to basic health care, sanitation and education. Even worse: the Sri Lankan military is still occupying 7,000 square miles of Tamil land in the North and East, where they have no credible property rights.
The UN Committee Against Torture has said that the military behaves as if it was above the law; threatening and harassing human rights workers, defence lawyers and journalists. There are reports of violent suppression of Tamil dissidents, disappearing civilians, and secret executions.
The Committee to Protect Journalists have said that Sri Lanka still has the 4th highest unsolved rate of journalist murders in the world. For far too long, Sri Lanka has assured the world that they are making improvements, but refused to give concrete details of the Tamil families still detained in camps. Very limited access is given to foreign journalists. It is without doubt a hideous regime.
Of course there will be many who say “Sri Lanka is the other side of the world. What can Britain do?” But the truth is that Britain is in a surprisingly powerful economic and political position to ask Sri Lanka to respect the human rights of all its people. After China, we are Sri Lanka’s largest trading partner, and their main source of Western tourism.
In 2009, Britain imported over £600 million worth of goods and services from Sri Lanka. The UK should be ready to look elsewhere for these imports, if Sri Lanka refuses to improve their tragic record on human rights.
Britain also holds a unique place within the Commonwealth. This is relevant, as Sri Lanka is due to host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in 2013. The Canadian Prime Minister has already said that he will boycott the summit if Sri Lankan authorities continue to brutally oppress the Tamils.
As I said in Parliament today, this is an action that the British Government should seriously consider. I believe that the international community must now outline a clear set of expectations for Sri Lanka, and give them a firm deadline to comply.
First, if Sri Lanka does not implement the recommendations of the “Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission” (LLRC) by the time it meets again this September, I believe that Britain should boycott the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in Sri Lanka.
Second, Sri Lanka must prove that it is making clear progress towards the following, before the Heads of Government Summit:
-Persecution of the Tamils and other minorities must stop – once and for all
-Concrete steps must be taken to demilitarise the north and east of Sri Lanka
-Civil administration must be restored
-Tamils and other minorities must have basic human rights: the right to life, a fair trial, freedom of expression, movement and assembly
-The Sri Lankan Government must publish a list of all prisoners, and where they are being held
-The International Committee of the Red Cross must have access to all detention centres
-A neutral Commission must be appointed, by the UN, to safeguard property rights in Tamil areas, and to oversee resettlement programmes
-Above all, Sri Lanka must comply with the recommendations of the UN panel of Experts report, and arrive at a durable justice for the Tamil-speaking minority
If the above goals are not met by the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in 2013, the international community must then consider what further legitimate and peaceful pressure that it can put on the Sri Lankan regime. Economic sanctions must remain on the table, including sanctions on overseas investment and tourism.
We must make it very clear to the Government of Sri Lanka that they cannot continue to act like a rogue nation. Enough is enough. Clearly the Tamil Tigers were highly dangerous, but they are no longer a threat. And yet persecution continues. The excuse of “security” must not be used as a cover to wipe out the inheritance of the Tamil-speaking minority
(Robert Halfon is the Member of Parliament for Harlow in the United Kingdom.This article about the UK debate on Sri Lanka was written by the MP for the Conservative Blog “conservative Home” which reflects grassroots conservative opinion)
Mr. Robert Halfon, do you really understand what’s going on in Sri Lanka or you are just putting this garbage out to satisfy whoever paying you. These demands were clearly written by a Tamil Diaspora group.
Mr. MP,
Your statement is totally wrong. Because its your nation that robbed others wealth since the history, conquered contries, divided the nations and robbed their wealth to build the Empire of Sun never sets down.
Please take back your statement as its is irrelevant to us. We sinhela are ethical and moral nation only who on th earth even gives food and water to enemy, that quality and morality is does not avail in your nation.
Westerners are the roughs, not we.
Shame is on you !
Need of the hour has been clearly explained. I wonder why this Hon.MP failed to include the most important thing which is bringing the war criminals to the Hague.
An extremely hard hitting presentation displaying deep emotion and patent sincerity. The author certainly draws inspiration from the best of English minds that mould current consciousness. Who can fail to be influenced by Edmund Burke who said that the best assurance for the triumph of evil is for good men to remain quiet. In a video interview in 1971 on Bangladesh, Indra Gandhi was unable to control her emotions when she spoke of the persecution and massacres leading to India’s intervention. She asked plainly and sternly whether UK could have just looked on at the holocaust. Tamils of Sri Lanka are most grateful to the Hon. MP Robert Halfon for the direct, forceful and no nonsense report.
Precise courses of action and economic sanctions that are urged are certainly a blow on the solar plexus. After the rogue gets civilised, admittance to the comity of nations will be favoured. The MP has shown that there is no escape route otherwise.
Haa Haa another preacher, trying to earn few bucks from terrorists.
What matters is the senior government officials opinion. This is what he super senior Foreign Secretary said
“British Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Alistair Burt, in a statement at the debate said that the British government still supports a domestic mechanism to probe the human rights allegations in Sri Lanka as opposed to an international mechanism.
He also said that Britain has not yet taken a stand on next year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Sri Lanka although Canada has warned it may boycott it unless Sri Lanka shows progress on investigating some of the human rights allegations.
Burt also said there was no proof that failed asylum seekers who are deported back to Sri Lanka from Britain are abused by Sri Lankan authorities on their return.”
Rohan, Caesar and Rasu please note. The thing that really matters is whether the information and arguments presented in the article are respectively correct and valid or not. It is irrelevant to focus on whether the writer has a hidden motive or the right to present his views or whether he has been prodded by someone else to write that report. Try to meet his arguments fairly and squarely, point by point. But then, none of you possess the intellectual capacity to do so!
No doubt ! This MP is lavishly paid by LTTE !
Those who accuse Sinhela as rouges and uncivillized must be talking from rectum. When are where we went to attack any other country? We only defended against invaders. Why not the MP, you learn about LTTE crimes and their rouge acts and then talk?
well said bomman
Mr. Robert Halfon,
You said, “But following the ceasefire three years ago, Tamil civilians have been subject to outrageous abuse of their basic human rights.”
What have you been smoking man? To start with; don’t you know that there was no ceasefire three years ago. Only, your man Milliband and his neo-colonialists of the so called IC did their best to impose a ceasefire for their own goals in mind. Majority of Sri Lankans know very well that you westerners aim to establish military bases in Sri Lanka through a Tamil Eelam.
When Millibands failed to force our President to give the terrorist gang a chance to surrender to a third party and thereby continue their fight, you guys have gone mad for you knew that your chance to establish military bases in Sri Lanka through a Tamil Eelam is doomed.
Now before you talked about 300,000 displacing of Tamil civilians and 7,000 remained in camp, go in front of a mirror and ask yourself; how many thousands of civilians have been send by her majesty’s government in those so called rendition flights to dungeons of nasty third countries to be tortured and killed. How many hundreds of thousands of civilians you and your buddies have killed in Iraq while looking for non-existent chemical weapons. How many wedding and funeral congregations killed your buddy the US in drone attacks in Afghanistan?
We have finished our war and, slowly but surely all the displaced people are being settled. In spite of what separatists write from afar, we have absolute peace in this country. One could travel the breath and the width of the country day or night much safer than, say, South Africa. We have less rapes, robberies, arson and murders than not SA but Johannesburg. Don’t take my word check it out yourself, but don’t act like a hypocrite. We see no end to your wars and killings?
One more thing; we remember your GSP threats and what have to do with it in the end, but don’t you ever think you can do the same with general trade. You’ll end up in front of the world community as jokers just like at the UNHCR in Geneva.
@ Kattabomman
Useful observations Kattabomman, then marred by the gratuitous personal insult in the last sentence.
you know? prabha and other idiots live in “Apaya”.They try to Suicide and spread Terrorism in the new place.
The international community should come together to find a permanent,justifiable solution to the tamil ethnic problem .The tamils of Srilanka has been butchered by the buddhist srilankan state from the independence 1948.International community joined together to wipe out tamil terrorism in srilanka but they failed to find a justifiable solutions to the tamils .VIOLENCE BEGTS VILOLENCE .If srilanka wants to be a pearl of the indian ocean,
srilankans should join together irrespective of race,religion or caste or language to create a country where all the citizens are treated equally by the constitution.
First of all there should be a leadership change in Sri Lanka. This is a must and soon. Thereafter the following should be addressed.
1. Full details of the detainees in government custody.
2. A list of those missing and unaccounted.
3. De-militarize North and East and the establishment of civil adminstration.
4. Financial compensation for all survivors or those who lost their lives and property.
5. Ensuring access to places of worship inclusing those in high security zones.
6. Removal of High security zones.
7. devolution of power to the provinces with police, land and financial powers.
These are the basic demands the Tamils are asking and could be achieved only when there is a leadership change.
Tamils will wholeheartedly welcome Robert Halfo’s sentiments. But for Tamils to take politicians of whatever hue seriously there is a simple test to answer:
1. Will you publicly call the British government to de-proscribe the LTTE – after all the LTTE is no more in existence? [Tamils know that the proscription is a way of psychological blackmailing of homeland and Diaspora Tamils].
2. Will you publicly proclaim the right of self-determination of Tamils?
If the answer is in the negative we know you haven’t a principled position but personal gain in mind.
Sellam, since the people in SL do not want a change in leadership, how will you change the leadership?
Dear David Blacker,
Sellam intend to change the leadership of Sri Lanka
Well… David Blacker, People can’t speak while the country is being dictated…..
Rohan… Robert Halton is representing his people… by now, everyone one this world know what is Sri lanka is…. so do Robert… The SLG is build up by bunch of idiots and you are one backing up it’s genocide against Tamils
Former Malaysian Leader Mahathir Mohammed said:
“Anglo-Saxon Europeans” — as proponents of “war, sodomy and genocide”.
People should not take what the UK MP Robert Halfon writes so seriously. His remark about the conflict with the Tamil Tiger terrorist group ending in a ceasefire shows that in order to maintain the support of the older generation of Tamil migrants in his constituency he is clearly pretending that he knows little about the outcome of the conflict there. Unless of course he really does believe the war ended with a ceasefire.
It will also be interesting to see if he appears alongside the Tamil Tiger flag in May this year in London, as he has done in previous years to commemmorate the deaths of Tiger cadres. This is especially interesting as Robert Halfon tells us on his website that he is of Jewish ethnic origin. Yet he appears to have no qualms about appearing with members of a terrorist group whose leader, Prabakharan, was an admirer of Hitler and the Nazis and would study and quote from Tamil translations of Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’. Those interested in exposing UK Parliamentary hypocrisy should be ready with their camers in May this year in London.
On the subject of hypocrisy, it’s also significant that while the UK Parliament can set aside time to discuss allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka, it has no time to discuss far better documented allegations against its own allies in Libya. How convenient!
Obviously MP Robert Halfon is following for British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband. A diplomatic missive originating from London exposed by Wiki Leaks quoted Miliband as having said in early 2009 that he spent 60 per cent of his time on SL Tamil Diaspora for political reasons. Check Wiki Leaks…shamindra ferdinando
Sellam
I am a Srilankan Tamil I met so many sinhalese who are amazing folks, kind, loving and value friendship
They are also patriotic to Srilanka
I want to add some more to your list
(a) Govt should pass LAW to sue or arrest the monsters who speak or write against race, cultcure or religion
(b) I am a tamil and I beg Tamils in Srilanka to be patriotic to the motherland
Hoist Lankan Flag , sing srilankan national anthem . we are Srilankans show it in actions please
(c) compulsory pschiatric treatment for all srilankans who are divided for the last 60 years
There is too much hatred among Tamils and sinhalese
this should stop. The only way is thro meditation and councelling
let us have it for many years till the racisim disease disappear
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.