International Humanitarian Law & Sri Lanka's Inhumane War still.

by Tamiya | June 24, 2009 at 09:12 pm

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The International Humanitarian Law (IHL) was agreed in Geneva, Switzerland in 1949 covers the rules of war; It is also known as part of the Geneva Conventions as it constitutes the rules of war to protect civilians trapped in war.

Sri Lanka has observably has violated the basic rules of the International Humanitarian Law, and obliviously is still doing so to the Tamil population in Sri Lanka.

Few of the basic rules of the IHL regarding war says that:

(1) Protection of all civilians, who must not be targets in war.

Sri Lanka has violated this rule in daylight, bombing and shelling thousands of Tamils Civilians, and causing deaths of close to 30,000 Tamils civilians in just 3 months.

Sri Lanka has detained close to 300,000 Tamils in indefinite detention for a suspectiable crime that they may commit in the future, not for something they have done, but for something they might do in the future. As for the rule, the civilians can not be targets in a war, but as for Sri Lanka the IHL should add a clause saying "and not after war too."

(2) civilians must be allowed humanitarian assistance.

The Sri Lankan governement denied food, and medical assitance to the trapped civilians over 3 months and still doing so to the close to 300,000 Tamils civilians IDPs forcefully kept in the internment camps by barbed wire fences and loaded Sri Lankan Army guns.

Aid agencies are denied access to the over 41 camps, while the IDPs suffer from lack of food, shelter and medical care. A sense of normalcy is forcefully denied to these IDPs, most of then have just lost their loved ones and already struggleing to make sense of what has been happening to them. 80,000 children are suffering in the jail like camp settings under interrogation and extortion.

(3) protection of humanitarian workers.

Sri Lankan Army shelling and bombing has killed ICRC local workers while they were trying get aid to the trapped civilians and trying to get injured civilians out from the "safety zones" during war.

In 2006, the Sri Lankan Army has killed aid workers at close range.

On 5 August 2006, 17 workers from French NGO, Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger, ACF) were shot dead at Muttur town allegedly by the Sri Lanka Army soldiers who entered the town in the early morning on that day. The aid workers wearing ACF agency T-shirts were reportedly trapped inside their Muttur branch office residence located close to Muttur Cultural Centre. The bodies were all face downwards on the front lawn of the ACF office, seemingly lined up and shot at very close range.

"The bodies [of Muttur massacre victims] were all face downwards on the front lawn [of ACF office], seemingly lined up and shot at very close range. The sight was too much to handle," said a Fact Finding Mission of the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies that visited Muttur town 6 August 2006.

Bodies of 15 of the slain aid workers were recovered at the front lawn of the ACF office. Bodies of two others were recovered in a car that suggests that they have apparently been killed while trying to flee the scene of the attack. The two were obviously killed in an attempt to destroy evidence. Out of 17 killed, 16 were Tamils while one was Muslim. Four of the slain were women.

The targeting of aid workers belonging to the Tamil minorities allegedly by the Sri Lankan soldiers exposes one of the main reasons of the failure of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. The Sri Lankan authorities and the mainstream Sinhalese political parties perceive the humanitarian agencies as pro-LTTE. The international monitors have often been criticised as partial.

(4) the use of force must not be more than needed.

Sri Lankan Army has used extensive, and banned weapons on Tamils civilains during the 3 months of war, not even begin to mention what has been happening to Tamils for over 50 years. During the 3 months, the Sri Lankan government also intentionally subjected the Tamils civilians to lack of food and medical care.

Even after the UN brokered announcement of LTTE "silencing their guns" in May 17, the Sri Lankan Army killed close to 20,000 Tamils civilians and around 2000 surrendering, white flagged LTTE cadets.

Unknown, but large number of Tamils are in Sri Lankan Security forces jails for interrogation including children as young as 10. Lack of records and independent monitoring make it unable to document the atrocities these people are facing. However, using extraploation, one can see what the Tamil IDPs are facing in the internment camps, and what a "suspected" pro-LTTE person may face in the detention of Sri Lankan Security forces.

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Uncle Sam (not verified)

at 04:07 on June 25th, 2009

..........at the same time the tamil tigers (freedom fighters) were fighting with tooth-picks and catapults against Goliath like giants. When accidentally a stone falls on a civilian bus which would explode it killing the all the passengers.

As such is the case how can poor ltte 'silence their guns' ?

SriLanka-peace at last! (not verified)

at 09:35 on June 25th, 2009

This article fails to look at the child soldiers the ltte (tamil tigers) employed, the sucide cadres, the murdering of politicians willing to provide them with a political situation.

Sri Lanka as a sovereign state has a duty to fight against terrorists who commit inhumane acts of violence and cruelty in the name of establing 'freedom' for their people.

The Sri Lankan army has brought back peace to the country while rescuing the many people trapped by the terrorists in the war zone and used as human shields.

the Sri Lankan soldiers are the TRUE HEROES for restoring unity and peace to one country under one national flag!!!

Tamiya

at 10:13 on June 25th, 2009

What the Sri Lankan Government has perperated on previous so called rehabilitation of LTTE child soldiers or suspects !!!

Bindunuwewa massacre - October 25, 2000 [Source - NESOHR]

Bindunuwewa Rehabilitation Centre was one of three centers run with substantial overseas funding to rehabilitate LTTE suspects and surrenders. The government of Sri Lanka ran these centers. It was shown off as a model for the rehabilitation of former LTTE members thus accumulating a lot of merit points for the government.

On Oct 25th in 2000 a mob of Sinhalese stormed the camp and massacred the inmates while 60 police officers stationed that night to protect the inmates stood by. 28 inmates died and another 14 were seriously injured. There were nine survivors. Two inquiries, one by the Sri Lankan Human rights Commission (SLHRC) and another Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCI) followed. A criminal proceeding also was initiated. In June 2005 the court proceedings were completed. No one was convicted for any offense.

The massacre as told by the survivors to Sri Lanka Human Rights Commissions (SLHRC)

On October 24, the detainees were raising some complaints they had with the Officer in Charge. Their complaints were that letters to and phone calls for them were not being passed onto them; and they were being detained for more than a year rather than the three-nine month period. There were some arguments and seeing that the detainees were agitated a policeman fired in the air. The situation calmed down and the detainees went to bed.

Next morning when the detainees woke up they saw large crowds and a large number of policemen outside. The crowd started to attack the detainees and set fire to their residences. 28 Tamil detainees died and 14 were injured at the end of the carnage. Nineteen victims were identified and nine victims were not identified because their bodies were burned beyond recognition.

Interim Report by the SLHRC on November 1st 2000

This report by the SLHRC through its name suggests that there will be another report following it but there was no further report from SLHRC on this matter.

Major points raised in this report are:
1. When the detainees who were being attacked tried to run for safety one of them was shot down by police officers. His body had three bullet wounds. One of the survivors lost two fingers as a result of the shooting by the police officers.
2. The 60 odd police officers at the scene failed to take any action to stop the carnage. Yet the SLHCR did not lay any criminal responsibility on the police officers rather they were found guilty for the minor offense of dereliction of duty.
3. There was substantial organizing and poster campaign against the inmates between the time the detainees protested and the time they were attacked by the mobs.

Report by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCI)

The report by the Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed in March 2001 handed its report to the President in early 2002. It was never made public. In any case it was not mandated to inquire and recommend any prosecution. Other papers written on the topic however, have published parts of the findings in this report.

The Commission found clear evidence that a significant degree of organizing took place in the twelve to fourteen hours between the initial protest in the camp and its violent destruction.

The crowd outside initiated the violence as stones were thrown at the inmates.

The inmates reacted to the provocations by exploding a gas cylinder within the camp. While this initially succeeded in frightening the crowd, its ultimate effect seems to have been to further inflame things, as the crowd soon thereafter stormed the camp as the police looked on.

That there was an utter failure on the part of the police stationed around the camp is beyond dispute. The Commission report strongly criticized the two most senior police officers in the area – ASP Dayaratne and HQI Seneviratne for a series of failures. Even at the last moment, the inmates could have been evacuated from the camp.

The prosecution

Criminal Investigation Department (CID) carried out its own inquiry and indicted 41 suspects including 10 police officers. There were flaws in the prosecution at many levels. Some of which are:
1. Although both inquiries have strongly criticized that there were substantial prior organizations before the mob stormed the camp there was no attempt to investigate the “organized nature of the massacre”.
2. There was no attempt to lay charges for the criminal conduct of the police in allowing the massacre to continue while they stood by. Nor was the police shooting of the fleeing inmates investigated.
3. There was a systematic destruction of evidence. A bullet from the body of the detainee who was killed by police shooting was removed and was not available as evidence.
4. Though two higher-ranking officers were clearly identified in the inquiries they were never charged of any crime. All the police officers who were charged are middle and low ranking officers.
5. The charges that were brought on the suspects were for murder and attempted murder. The prosecution did not lay any lesser charges for which there would have been a greater possibility of conviction.

Despite such blatant criminality the Sri Lankan justice system has allowed all the culprits to go free. This is also not the only time this has happened. Indeed, this failure of the Sri Lankan justice system to punish security persons for crimes against Tamil civilians has a very long history.

Source: NESOHR

What else is new this time around? How do you propose this time it is going to be different without any independent monitoring, media and aid agencies ?!!

So it goes the Sri Lankan government propaganda as saying it is the savior of Tamils while keeping them under atrocities and oppression over decades now.