Writing in the Guardian, Geoffery Robertson QC, who served as an appeal judge for the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone, has commented on the Charles Taylor verdict, noting that as the former Liberia leader is jailed, more "despots" will follow. Excerpts have been reproduced below. See his full piece here . “ International criminal justice grinds slowly, but it can grind exceedingly small. Charles Taylor was first indicted in 2003 for crimes against humanity, in a UN court over which I presided. Then, he strutted the world stage as a head of state. Ghana refused our request to arrest him when...
Speech by Jan Jananayagam of Tamils Against Genocide at the Mullivaikal Remembrance event at Traflagar Square, London on the 19th of May 2012. Vanakkam, We are here today to honor a people who have, to us, become symbols of strength and courage - a people who overcame unimaginable odds to forge a life of freedom; who taught us the nature of a courage beyond our imagination. I am particularly proud to attend this memorial event, here in London, in my home city where our fellow Londoners stand in solidarity with us. Today I want to remember what the de-facto Tamil state in the Vanni symbolized...
The Tamil Youth Organisation UK's address at the third Mullaivaikkal remembrance event held in London on 19th May 2012. On this day, we the Eelam Tamil nation around the world, gather together to remember one of the darkest days in our nation’s past. Three years ago, on May 18th 2009, decades of brutal and systematic oppression and killing of our children, our men and our women, reached a peak. Three years ago, we the Tamil diaspora, watched the horrors unfold, distraught and unable to put an end to it. Three years ago, the pleas and cries of the Tamil nation in the North-East, here in London...
The British Tamils Forum speech at the third Mullivaikal remembrance event in London on 19th May 2012. Ladies and Gentlemen We are gathered here to remember the Tamil people, who were massacred by the Sinhala state, three years ago, in Mullivaaikkaal. More than 147,000 of our people disappeared from the face of this earth in that genocidal war that ended on 18th May 2009. It was a war without witnesses – so believed the Sri Lankan state. We now have video-graphic, photographic and satellite evidence, as well as eye witness accounts to show how our people were made to disappear. Today as we...
Statement by the leader of the UK Labour Party, Ed Miliband MP, in remembrance of Mullaivaikkal 2009. The statement was published on the website, Tamil Canadian, on 18th May 2012. Mullivaikal Remembrance Day: Message from Rt. Hon Ed Miliband MP Today we commemorate the third anniversary of the end of the armed conflict in Sr Lanka. My thoughts are with you all, as you remember the appalling loss of life and as you honour the memory of family, friends and loved ones who died. The terrible events that took place in 2009 resonate to this day. Three years on, no credible accountability process...
When Prof. G. L Pieris, Sri Lanka’s External Affairs Minister, meets Mrs. Clinton, US Secretary of State tomorrow, he will have in his hand a piece of paper. The ‘Action Plan’ he will present was hastily put together in an attempt to deflect growing international criticism of Sri Lanka’s treatment of the Tamil people. However, the title of the document is misleading. The ‘Action Plan’ is not actually a blue print for forthcoming action. Instead, and as Sri Lanka’s past record of promised ‘action’ on the Tamil question indicates, all the ‘action’ in the ‘Action Plan’ will be done with its presentation. In other words Sri Lanka’s ‘Action Plan’ to resolve the Tamil issue is simply to present the ‘Action Plan’ and then carry on much the same as before.
The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) joined President Jacob Zuba, ministers and senior government officials of South Africa to pay tribute to the late activist and minister, Roy Padayachie, at his state funeral in Durban on Wednesday. See here for further details. Introducing the spokesperson of the GTF, Mr Suren Surendiran, South Africa's Minister of Economic Development Trevor Manuel said: "Amongst the big passions in Roy's life, was a passion for justice and you've heard earlier, it was not just a passion for some in South Africa. It was about justice for all in South Africa, but also justice for...
Gary Anandasangaree, monitor for Sri Lanka at Lawyers' Rights Watch, and legal counsel for the Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC), writes in the Sunday Leader on the recently passed resolution at the 19th session of the UN Human Rights Council. The armed conflict maybe over in Sri Lanka but peace has not been won since the brutal end to the 27-year-old war three years ago. Credible allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity have been levelled against both parties to the conflict. The underlying grievances of the Tamil minority remain outstanding with no clear proposal for long term...
Writing in his online blog, the British news anchor, Jon Snow from Channel 4 questions whether the England cricket team should be playing in Sri Lanka on tour, whilst war crimes and crimes against humanity remain unaccounted for. See here for original article. The text has been reproduced in full below: Cricket’s vast achievement in Sri Lanka today is to have conjured a blanket of turf, leather, and willow that saves most of us from having to think of Sri Lanka in any other light. But elsewhere on this sumptuous isle there is a bad light that stopped play altogether – play amongst the...
As the England cricket team commences its 2012 tour of Sri Lanka, the Tamil Youth Organisation UK (TYO UK) and the undersigned UK university Tamil societies continue to call on the England and Wales Cricket Board to suspend all bilateral arrangements with Sri Lanka's national cricket team until there has been meaningful progress on ensuring accountability and justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity. We call for an immediate end to the on-going human rights violations being committed by the Sri Lankan Government and its security forces in the North-East of the island. Almost three years after the end of the armed conflict, and a year since we first called for a boycott of Sri Lankan cricket - in line with wider trade sanctions, and economic isolation as a means to urging Sri Lanka to act - there has been no significant progress on human rights or accountability. Instead, the time and space afforded to Sri Lanka by the international community, in the name of development, reconciliation and international engagement, have led to an ever increasing and brazen disregard for human rights by the Sri Lankan state and fiercer attempts to prevent accountability and justice. Instead of repealing emergency laws, scaling down the military, and working to protect and safeguard individual rights and freedoms, the Sri Lankan state has been emboldened by the international community’s continued sanctioning of impunity. It is pursuing an agenda of increased militarisation and colonisation of the Tamil areas, as well as widespread, and systematic human rights abuses. Reports published by international human rights organisations over the past year, have detailed evidence of on-going human rights violations against Tamil civilians in the North-East of the island, including abduction , illegal detention , torture , the torture of asylum seekers deported from the UK , extra-judicial killings , sexual violence , and the relentless clamp down on media freedom . Sri Lanka’s on-going disregard for human rights is against a back drop of impunity. Three years post-conflict the credible allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity, resulting in the deaths of at least 40,000 Tamil civilians as detailed within a UN Panel of Experts report , remain unaccounted for. The past year has seen nothing but the failure of Sri Lanka’s internal inquiry and continued indignant resistance towards an independent process.