Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird has warned that the UN’s significance is endangered when it fails to act on its founding principles, stating Sri Lanka’s war crimes as one such issue.   

Addressing the UN General Assembly, Baird said,

“The U.N.’s relevance and effectiveness are imperilled when the Founding Principles are observed in word but not in deed... when objection is taken, on petty, procedural or process-based grounds, to reporting that speaks about credible allegations of war crimes committed in Sri Lanka.”

The Foreign Minister also mentioned Iran’s refusal to allow entry to UN observers for human rights into the country, as another such example.

He went on to say,

“The greatest enemies of the United Nations are not those who publicly repudiate its actions.

The greatest enemies of the United Nations are those who quietly undermine its principles and, even worse, by those who sit idly, watching its slow decline”.

Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper called for other nations to join him on boycotting the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to be held in Sri Lanka.

See our earlier post: 'Canada calls to boycott Sri Lanka CHOGM' (Sep 2011)

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has appointed former Under-Secretary-General Thoraya Obaid to conduct the review into the UN’s activities during and after the war in Sri Lanka, as suggested by the UN Panel of Experts.

The Panel made following recommendation to the UN in their comprehensive report released in April 2011, which is now being examined by the Human Rights Council:

“The Secretary-General should conduct a comprehensive review of actions by the United Nations system during the war in Sri Lanka and the aftermath, regarding the implementation of its humanitarian and protection mandates.”

Ms. Obaid, a Saudi National, is the former head of the UN Population Fund.

Although her mandate is to examine the actions of the UN and its staff in Sri Lanka, it is expected that the conduct of the Sri Lankan government will also be commented on.

The review, starting in October, is expected to last 4 months.

September 26 is the anniversary of the death of LTTE Lt. Col. Thileepan in 1987 during his hungerstrike appealing for the Indian government of Premier Rajiv Gandhi to honour the security undertakings it gave to the Tamil people alongside its 1987 Accord with Sri Lanka. Click image for details.

September 26 is the anniversary of the death of LTTE Lt. Col. Thileepan during his 1987 hungerstrike appealing for the Indian government of Premier Rajiv Gandhi to honour the security undertakings it gave to the Tamil people alongside its Accord with Sri Lanka.

Catholic priest, Fr GA Francis Joseph, amongst the population being massacred by Sri Lanka's bombardment, says in a letter to the Pope sent on May 10, 2009:

“Last night's toll of the dead is 3318 and of the injured more than 4000.

“It was a barrage of artillery, mortar, multi-barrel shelling and cluster bombs, weapons which Sri Lankan government denies using on the civilians in the no fire zone.

“It is unfortunate that the Church in Sri Lanka does not have the wisdom and guts to air her views forcefully and unequivocally regarding the ongoing war.

“Knowing that diplomacy comes so perilously near deceitfulness, that our trust in those who are proficient in its exercise, dwindles as time passes.”

See BBC Sandeshaya’s report here.

The UK is preparing to deport more than 100 Tamils on Wednesday, while pressure by human rights organisations is mounting to stop all deportations until the safety of Tamils can be guaranteed.

An event on the sidelines of the Labour Party conference, organised by Freedom from Torture and Human Rights Watch, highlighted the systematic targeting of Tamils being deported from other countries.

Hosted by Channel 4’s Jonathan Miller, the event focussed on ‘the desperate need for justice and accountability in Sri Lanka and to cover lessons that can be drawn from the Sri Lanka “case” for the protection of human rights within UK foreign policy.’

Freedom from Torture, a British medical organisation for victims of torture, has several Tamil clients who were tortured by the Sri Lankan state.

Keith Best, a member of the organisation, presented footage of one Tamil youth who was held by police, beaten and burned with hot irons after returning to Sri Lanka from the UK.

The organisation pointed out that this is only one of many cases that they are dealing with at the moment.

“What does the UK government know about the fate of those people it forcibly removed to Sri Lanka back in June? Nothing. There is no sign of monitoring in place to assess the safety of those returned.

With the evidence we and others continue to highlight demonstrating that torture continues in Sri Lanka – and the high numbers of Tamils who remain in an “at risk” category in the country according to international sources, often due to suspected or proven links to the LTTE - this Government needs to be very, very sure it is not exposing those it removes to a risk of torture on return.” said Best.

Jonathan Miller added,

“I've been blown away by the sheer number of Sri Lankans who are on Freedom from Torture's books and the organisation's role in publicising removal flights from the UK which raises very serious concerns about the Home Office and its vetting process for refugees going back to places with such a grim record."

UK Director for Human Rights Watch, David Mepham, slammed the British Government’s decision to wait for Sri Lanka’s own inquiry, before pushing for an independent international investigation as recommended by the UN Panel of Experts.

Sri Lanka’s inquiry, due in November, has already been rubbished by many organisations, including Amnesty International who described it as ‘flawed at every level’.

 

The Tamil Youth Organisation (TYO-Canada) and the Canadian Tamils Arts and Culture Association commemorated the 24th anniversary of Lt. Col. Thileepan's death on Sunday.  

“Thileepan Anna is a symbol of peace and determination. Never in the history of the world has there been iconic figure like Thileepan Anna. As an aspiring doctor he had given up his dreams so that our people of Tamileelam can live in peace, dignity and honour,” said TYO spokesperson Priyanth Nallaratnam.

The event was marked by cultural performances, dramas, speeches, and poems performed by Canadian university and high school students.

He died on the 26th of September, after none of his demands were met.

Tens of thousands of Tamils descended on Jaffna for his funeral and a memorial was erected behind Nalloor Temple.

The memorial was destroyed by the Sri Lankan Army in March 2010.

“by deporting the convict herein, there is every apprehension that he will become a victim of genocide, and thus the State of India would have failed to live up to its commitment of preventing genocide under the convention.”

“How can the court become a party to the persecution of an individual? The court cannot retrograde itself to the position of a mute spectator... Handing over a refugee to Sri Lanka where he fears persecution will make us nothing short of abettors.”

“These cannot be diluted or distorted under the guise of human rights, by the imposition of attitudes or approaches which are characteristics of alien cultures.

If this were done, it would amount to a violation of human rights in a fundamental sense."

"My country has reason for concern with approaches tainted by an unacceptable selectivity, which we have brought to the notice of the organizations in question in recent weeks."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon stressed the need for a "credible national accountablity process" in a meeting with Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday at the UN General Assembly.

Drawing attention to measures previously agreed upon in a joint statement with Rajapaksa in 2009, Ban reportedly "underlined the need to find a political solution to the underlying factors of the past conflict".

The meeting comes amid widespread condemnation and impatience with Sri Lanka's attempt at acocuntablity, the LLRC, and increasing calls for an international, independent investigation.

US Assistant Secretary of State, Robert Blake, recently stated,

“When the whole of Tamil Nadu is demanding that India have no relations whatsoever with Sri Lanka, it is improper for the Indian Navy to engage itself in joint naval exercises with the same country”.

"Sri Lankan Navy has always worked against the Indian interest. After the Katchatheevu agreement in 1974, so far 540 Indian fishermen have been killed by the Lankan Navy. People of Tamil Nadu are feeling whether the joint exercise is a gift given by India to Sri Lanka for the killing of Tamil fishermen,"

“These egregious violations of international and domestic law have gone unanswered for over two years now, as survivors continue to suffer in suffocating silence on the island.

Finally, after years of waiting for someone to answer for the loss of loved ones, the voices of Tamil victims  and survivors have been granted their day in court.

Today, U.S. courts provide a forum for justice and accountability, where there would otherwise be continued impunity for Sri Lanka’s crimes against Tamils.”

"This lawsuit  seeks damages  for violations of international, Sri Lankan and domestic law under the Alien Torture Claims Act (ATCA) and Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA).

These statutes grant jurisdiction to U.S. courts  over human rights  violations committed  abroad, and serve to ensure that the U.S. does not become a safe haven for war criminals.

"We received orders from the top to kill some of those who surrendered. All regiments received the orders unofficially - from the top."

“Sri Lanka still denies the extent of the crimes committed. As long as no impartial investigation is carried out in Sri Lanka, the authors of these crimes may be punished abroad”.

“After this judicial decision, the time has now come for the politics to send a clear message to the Sri Lankan government: impunity for war crimes is not an option any more”.

“When asked why can't [Tamil] refugees go back to the villages that they originally came from, the government said that it is not possible because those areas are now special economic development areas, uncleared minefields or on land the military wants to keep.”

- ANI news agency. See the report here.

The decision to air the documentary “Lies Agreed Upon” (and not Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields) was made by the UN Correspondent’s Association President, Giampaolo Pioli, who also covered the event.

It has now been revealed that he was Sri Lanka’s representative to the UN, Palitha Kohona’s former landlord.

“But undisclosed at the time was that Pioli collected money as rent from Kohona for years. When this obvious conflict of interest was raised, the response was that the monetary relationship began when Kohona was a UN staff member.

But in a sense that's worse: how can a reporter ostensibly covering the UN objectively have a monetary relation with a senior UN official?”

See the full report from Inner City Press here.