Dublin Tribunal finds against Sri Lanka on charges of War Crimes
In Dublin today, 16th January, at 2.00pm the Peoples' Tribunal Chairman Francois Houtart read the preliminary findings of the Peoples' Tribunal on the war in Sri Lanka and its aftermath. There were four findings:
1: That the Sri Lankan Government is guilty of War Crimes;
2: That the Sri Lankan Government is 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.
Harrowing evidence, including video footage, was submitted by eye-witnesses of the use of heavy artillery and phosphorous munitions, and of the continuous violation of human rights by military activity to a panel of ten international jurors over two days.
The Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka welcomed the preliminary findings of the Tribunal. Responding to the findings, the Forum issued the following five demands:
1: We call on the Sri Lankan government to allow the United Nations to conduct an inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated during the final stages of the war between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the LTTE, and during the war's aftermath;
2: We call on the Sri Lankan Government to release all those being detained in concentration camps and the estimated 11,000 people being held secretly at unknown locations;
3: We call on the Sri Lankan government to end the use of extra-judicial killings, sexual violence, and the deprivation of food and water as weapons against the civilian population;
4: We call on the Sri Lankan government to end the suppression of political dissent by violent or other means;
5: We call on the Sri Lankan government to fully implement human rights for all citizens of Sri Lanka, and the political solution involving the full participation of the Tamil population, ending the systematic historical discriminatory measures of the Sri Lankan state against the Tamil people.
The Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka asserts that long term peace and stability can only be established on the basis of full justice and rights for all the inhabitants of the island.
[Press Release]
15 Comments
I am not at all surprised with their findings. Though Sri Lanka did their best to deny any wrong doing, truth has prevailed at the end
LOL! WHAT A JOKE... How can we be found guilty without a TRIAL???
Who are Ireland to us anyway? Tell these Fools to stop wasting their time trying to point the finger at us. WE SIMPLY DON'T CARE...
If they have a problem with what we did and want to do something about it...let them come here and we'll "TAKE CARE OF THEM" like we took care of the LTTE...
Yawn - bunch of geriatric hacks hand down some half baked findings. next
And what is the verdict against the Tamil Tigers? Not guilty?
isn't that wonderful! That's the most outstanding revelation regarding SL national affairs since 1948. A Govt guilty on two counts. Two of the World's superpowers responsible for failure leading to genocide!
What next? In 10 days time the genocidal, the "war criminal" nation's leadership will be held either by the Commander-in-Chief or the Field Commander who is responsible for "crimes against humanity"? Will the World stand by, watching the parade?
Why no one talk about the war ceimes done by USa and UK in Vietnam,Iraq,Chilli and Afganistan ?. Why Dublin tribunal ca not find those ? Are they afraid of them ?
First they should live in Sri Lanka to see and feel the difference present and past ? Sri Lanka or rather third world countries were exploited by them in the past and try even now.
How do you expect to treat ruthless terrorist leaders.This is it.Go on find evidence in Iraq,Afganistan and Gaza which is there to be seen.
This Tribunal's credibility itself is in question with the lack of appropriate credentials among its members.
In any case, the Tribunal should look closely and identify that Sri Lanka hasnt deliberately or carelessly killed innocent people. Sri Lankan forces had used excessive force, but it was directed based on ground intel. The rescued civilians have been provided with basic needs at great cost, and not subjected to mis-treatment.
The 11,000 former LTTE cadres in custody are being rehabilitated, and a batch of intertnational observers themselves have expressed satisfaction.
I see this as part of the Western bloc's attempts to punish Sri Lanka for aligning with China.
Why in the world we have honor any decision by an agency that heeds to the interest of Terrorists. These people solely depended on so called evidence provided by the LTTE elements. What are these concentration camps they are talking about and the rapes.
I am not saying that only because they put blind eye to the crimes against humanity by some Western countries, they have to do the same in SL. They must not use the information provided by the very terrorist group that was beaten by the Sri Lankan government. I suggest that they watch the the Anuradhapura attack filmed by the LTTE over 25 years ago. That video was on youtube for a long time and these people never called it Crimes against humanity.
Are they really demanding the SL government to release detained terrorists?. The hidden agenda is obvious. These people must be barred from entering third world countries for supporting terrorism.
Ruwan
Come on boys, we being Tamils only concern about plight of the Tamils at hands brutal regime and its war crime.
Why should we start investigation Iraq when we have own problem to sort out ?
May be this a 1st of the kind, and there will be more like this against other genocidal regimes.
Now the world can see how important is this independent enquiry in to the genocide. We are hell bend on getting one.
War crime charges will intensify after the election.
This is the beginning of a long process of investigations of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the sinhala state.It might take sometime for the culprits to be brought to the dock.But definitely an correct start.
Profile of the panel of Judges of the People’s Tribunal on Sri Lanka provided by the Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka, follows:
Francois Houtart (UNESCO awardee for non-violence and tolerance, Chairperson of the UN Committee on Economic Recession.,
Prof. Emeritus, University of Louvain, Belgium. Founding Member of the World Social Forum, Honorary Member of the Academy of Sciences of Vietnam and Cuba, Laureate of the Camilo Torres Prize of the National University of Colombia, Bogota)
Rajinder Sachar (Former High Court Judge of Delhi, headed the Sachar Committee appointed by the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to prepare a report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community of India)
Nawal al Saadawi (Egyptian writer, trained as a medical doctor, known for her outstanding work for women's rights in Egypt and in the region. She has been imprisoned for her activities and writings in Egypt.She has been United Nation's Advisor for the Women's Programme in Africa (ECA) and Middle East (ECWA) from 1979 to 1980. She is a prolific author.)
Sulak Sivaraksa (Thai Buddhist peace campaigner and writer, initiator of a number of social, humanitarian, ecological and spiritual movements and organizations in Thailand. He was awarded the Alternative Nobel Prize, Right Livelihood Award)
Denis Halliday (Former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations)
Gianni Tognoni (Secretary General, People’s Permanent Tribunal, Milan)
Daniel Feierstein (Director of the Centre for Genocide Studies at the 'Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero', and Professor in the Faculty of Genocide at the University of Buenos Aires)
Mary Lawlor (Director, Frontline, International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Dublin)
Oystein Tveter (A Scholar in International law and member of the People’s Tribunal on extra-judicial killings and violations of human rights in the Philippines)
Eren Keskin (Kurdish-born lawyer and a human rights activist in Turkey, Vice President of the Human Rights Association, Istanbul. She co-founded the project “Legal Aid For Women Who Were Raped Or Otherwise Sexually Abused by National Security Forces”, to expose the abuses happening to women in Turkish prisons. In 1995, she was imprisoned for her human rights activities and was adopted as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International)
Francesco Martone (An ex-Senator in Italy, a leading activist in the non-governmental sector and an Ecologist)
ISS
Where can one find the Tribunal's full findings adn their website is it has one? Thanks
Please stop talk about the wiped out evils; let’s talk about the living ones. To move forward as a nation carrying both minority and minority it is essential that those who committed crimes are faced the consequence. Let the justice to take its course.
Trying to defend these felons without knowing the seriousness of the crimes they committed is appalling and dangerous for every one, for those who defend here, are doing so willing to share the sin. What GoSL should do is, it should clear its name if it has nothing to hide.
No one is above the law. If a group of Lankan think diffently, it was naïve and at their peril. The counties where its rulers give little respect to law and order are the ones destroy its future. If it is true, just imagine the one who shot, a person, who blind folded, naked, and both hands bound behind. Does this psycho is to be allowed to live and mix with the population.
The more GoSL trying to bash the referees, deeper and wider it digs its hole. It is not cricket, its human lives, can blind fold the mainstream folks in SL with the triumphalism but not the world community. The counter argument the west did that and this is funny, because they are the superpower and one likes it not they should maintain the world order. There were collateral damages, but none the like shooting captured persons.
It is akin of pupils complaining they were not allowed smoking in the school premise because the Principal was. Always try compare with your parallels- there are good examples out there-Serbia, Rwanda, where similar incidents reported but crimes committed were bit less severe in that victims were not made to take off their cloths. What is in the open may be a fraction that was caught in the cameras, there could have been worse that the world has yet to see, may find it to difficult to comprehend.
The reluctance in delay letting people go and settle on the areas where war was waged, was told, nothing like demining and the like, because LTTE has had no time for it as its big shots were on the run with their wives, kids and kgs of gold, but due to the fear of the GoSL that traces at the crime scenes might still be alive and accusations being alleged might be proven with evidence.
I do not want to see my country being ruled by a group of murderers, who has no regards to human decency or right, regardless of races. With the demise of LTTE, we like to see a Singapore emerging here where all communities can live in peace and pride. Should not we all strive to see that, put aside the petty politics and get over the racial mindset we all shall pull together for a better tomorrow for SL. Live and let live others too?
Dumblin determination is not something to be seen in the racial lines, what allegedly happened was a human tragedy and crime against humanity. If a violation committed against humanity it is every one’s responsibility to voice against it rising above the race, it is because you being a human in the first place. Bring race into it thereby letting those did such crimes walk free is like playing with the fire, what we do is we all are playing only into politicians hands.
If it allowed going on, we will not be far from seeing what had happened in Philippine, where a scores of people murdered and buried by a politician in the daylight- at least he is behind the bar now. It is high time that those who did these heinous crimes have their day in the court. It would send some shock waves to the rest.
No one is indispensable, particularly for ruling a country like SL as most of the times it has been ruled by crooks anyway- otherwise it would not be as bad as it is now. They are having their way all the times because we are the normal folks fool enough to be incited by racial hatred. Look who is having friendship with whom?.
Never mind the CV's of the panel as given by Ilaya Seran Senguttuvan. WHAT MATTERS IS HOW MUCH EACH THEY WERE PAID. Plenty of money in LTTE coffers. Ireland has always supported terrorists. First the IRA now the diaspora LTTE.