A French aid agency that operated in conflict areas in Sri Lanka and lost 17 of their local workers in a single incident two years ago has labeled the massacre as a ‘war crime’ and decided to withdraw from Sri Lanka.
Action Contre la Faim (ACF or Action against Hunger) in a press release issued on Friday, April 18 said the execution style killing of the aid workers, mostly Tamils, could not be considered as collateral damage and the massacre is a war crime in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
“The Muttur slaughter can't be considered only as a "collateral damage" during the Muttur battle: our team has been specifically and deliberately targeted, their death has been organised execution style with bullets shot in their head. Everything was consciously and brutally planned: the victims were kneeling, unarmed and defenceless. The culprits of this massacre are the ones who were carrying the arms. We can assert that this massacre is a war crime in violation of the Geneva Conventions”, the ACF statement read.
The 17 local aid workers were killed when the military was taking over the LTTE controlled area of Muttur, 260 kilometres north east of the capital on August 4, 2006.
Explaining its decision to quit Sri Lanka the aid agency said, the decision by International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), a group of international experts observing the proceedings of a presidential commission probing 15 violent incidents including the killing of the aid workers has made them lose confidence in the dragging inquiry process.
The Paris based ACF added, it considered the presence of the IIGEP as an essential condition for the credibility in the investigations into the killing of its staff in Muttur and now doubted whether the Commission of Inquiries would respect international standards.
Last month, the IIGEP, headed by P N Bhagwati, former Indian Chief Justice, told the Sri Lankan government they were withdrawing from the inquiry because of official interference and lack of internationally acceptable standards.
In a statement released at the time, the IIGEP said: "The IIGEP is of the opinion that there has not been the minimum level of trust necessary for the success of the work of the commission and the IIGEP,"
Declaring that a massacre of so many NGO workers has never happened in the history of humanitarian organizations, the ACF said its overall aim was to help the affected population particularly during crises like natural disasters, wars or internal conflicts and to avoid humanitarian crises and massive displacements.
“ACF carries out its role in regions like Darfur and Chechnya, but no accident such as the one that happened in Mutur has ever been reported,”
Founded in 1979, the non-profit-making organisation has programmes in 43 countries worldwide and its vocation is to save lives by fighting hunger, especially those of malnourished children, and to work with vulnerable populations to preserve and restore their livelihoods with dignity, ACF added.
Nordic truce monitors, from the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission at the time blamed Sri Lankan security forces for the massacre - at the time the worst attack on aid workers since a 2003 bomb attack on the United Nations office in Baghdad.
Action Contre la Faim (ACF or Action against Hunger) in a press release issued on Friday, April 18 said the execution style killing of the aid workers, mostly Tamils, could not be considered as collateral damage and the massacre is a war crime in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
“The Muttur slaughter can't be considered only as a "collateral damage" during the Muttur battle: our team has been specifically and deliberately targeted, their death has been organised execution style with bullets shot in their head. Everything was consciously and brutally planned: the victims were kneeling, unarmed and defenceless. The culprits of this massacre are the ones who were carrying the arms. We can assert that this massacre is a war crime in violation of the Geneva Conventions”, the ACF statement read.
The 17 local aid workers were killed when the military was taking over the LTTE controlled area of Muttur, 260 kilometres north east of the capital on August 4, 2006.
Explaining its decision to quit Sri Lanka the aid agency said, the decision by International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), a group of international experts observing the proceedings of a presidential commission probing 15 violent incidents including the killing of the aid workers has made them lose confidence in the dragging inquiry process.
The Paris based ACF added, it considered the presence of the IIGEP as an essential condition for the credibility in the investigations into the killing of its staff in Muttur and now doubted whether the Commission of Inquiries would respect international standards.
Last month, the IIGEP, headed by P N Bhagwati, former Indian Chief Justice, told the Sri Lankan government they were withdrawing from the inquiry because of official interference and lack of internationally acceptable standards.
In a statement released at the time, the IIGEP said: "The IIGEP is of the opinion that there has not been the minimum level of trust necessary for the success of the work of the commission and the IIGEP,"
Declaring that a massacre of so many NGO workers has never happened in the history of humanitarian organizations, the ACF said its overall aim was to help the affected population particularly during crises like natural disasters, wars or internal conflicts and to avoid humanitarian crises and massive displacements.
“ACF carries out its role in regions like Darfur and Chechnya, but no accident such as the one that happened in Mutur has ever been reported,”
Founded in 1979, the non-profit-making organisation has programmes in 43 countries worldwide and its vocation is to save lives by fighting hunger, especially those of malnourished children, and to work with vulnerable populations to preserve and restore their livelihoods with dignity, ACF added.
Nordic truce monitors, from the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission at the time blamed Sri Lankan security forces for the massacre - at the time the worst attack on aid workers since a 2003 bomb attack on the United Nations office in Baghdad.
