Responsibility to protect starts right here at home

On January 15th 2006 I was trying to feed vitamin D drops to my then 23 days old son. At one point he was choking and stopped breathing - at least that is what I - a first time father - thought. I immediately called 911 and was giving first aid to my son as the operator instructed me. While I hang up the phone I heard the ambulance siren - that is when I fully decided to stay in Canada rather than going back to Sri Lanka after finishing my graduate studies.

The ER team decided to take my baby to the hospital considering he is only 23 days old. After a day at hospital my wife and I realized that we overreacted.

I couldn't stop recalling this story while sitting in a lecture hall at the University of Ottawa listening to Allan Rock - the president of the same University - giving a passionate speech on "Responsibility to protect(R2P): a Doctrine of Humanity".

A rights group in the Democratic Republic of Congo smells that a mass Genocide is going to happen within the next fortnight. The R2P in Geneva is alerted through a satellite phone. A diplomatic team arrives in Kinshasa (Capital of DRC) within 24 hours. Fast reacting troops have been mobilized to the African command showing that R2P would be honored if the G is not averted. The pressure works well. The oppressor agrees to observe imposed conditions and everyone in DR Congo lived happily ever after.

R2P is like an emergency response. When there is an emergency of adverse consequences such as genocide, war crimes or crime against humanity, we will respond appropriately and prevent it from happening and punish the adversary. Can we make this happen? Yes we can. We are the country of Lester B. Pearson. We helped found the United Nations.

Coming back to the United Nations, the UN has to obtain permission from India even to issue a statement regarding the ongoing Genocide in Sri Lanka. Woops! UN still can't call it a Genocide. India won't allow that. Nowadays everybody in South Asia wants to be a super power: China, India and last but not least, Pakistan. How do you become a super power? By preventing the UN from acting on its mandate. It is identified as the so called veto power.

As I write this more than quarter of a million people are cornered in a jungle of 40 square kilometers in Sri Lanka. The government insists there are only 70,000 people and the UN (with the permission from India) kind of agrees it. Why 70,000 the magical number? Already some 35,000 people crossed the border to the government side. The government will wait for some time hoping another 35,000 to cross. Either more people cross the border or not, the government will declare “all 70,000 people have crossed into the area controlled by them” and are rescued. Follow-up to that will be the execution of mass Genocide consisting of some 200,000 people.

For those 200,000 Tamil people left to die in that jungle there is no UN. The UN has already walked away from the area. No international NGOs. Not to mention there is no media to record the genocide. Those 200,000 people are sure to die in the coming weeks due to hunger, disease, and carpet bombing of Sri Lankan forces. We have received all the warning signals.

Now we are busy here in this country creating another historic mission – R2P. It feels good to be part of protecting innocent civilians around the world. But are these going to protect anyone? Or is it just words on paper? We can only wait and see.

In July 1983, a massive ethnic cleansing of Tamils was attempted by government assisted by the paramilitary forces which resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 Tamil civilians in one week. As a humanitarian response Canada has opened its doors for Tamil refugees to settle in Canada. As a result some 250,000 Tamils escaped Sri Lanka and found a safety in Canada. Today Tamil Canadians are proud Canadians contributing to this Country in many ways.

We did not wait for UN approval to save those 250,000 Tamil Canadians from danger. We Canadians assessed that Tamils in Sri Lankan face annihilation in the hands of the Sri Lankan government and decided to step in and save them. And we did save them. There are nearly half a million Tamil Canadians today in this country as a living proof of that.

Now, there are 200,000 Tamils trapped in a small jungle. All indicators including the human rights watch and genocide watch have repeatedly warned that the situation is tragic. It is going to be a matter of time before we hear the “news” that all have died. Every attempt to take this matter to the Security Council was blocked by Sonia Ghandi – the de facto leader of India. Her husband ordered the killing of more than ten thousand Tamil civilians during a three year period from 1987 to 1990. Now she has taken the seat and the number is 200,000.

What can we do to save those innocent lives?

We can accept them into Canada as asylum seekers. But there is no way they can leave that jungle and come to Canada. If they ever leave that tiny jungle they will be sent to concentration camps run by Sri Lankan para-military. And we know enough about concentration camps.

We can approach those people in a different way. We still treat the Sri Lankan government as a Government. May by we can do something about it. We can list the Sri Lankan government as a terrorist government. We can try to bring its leader to the international criminal court. On the other hand we have banned the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organization for eatie bitie reasons. We treat Al-Quaeda and LTTE as the same. That is something unfair.

And how will it save those innocent civilians. It sure will. This is how.

The Sri Lankan government thinks it can do anything in the name of war on terror thanks to the era of George W. Bush. They think that they can do all the atrocities in the name of war on terror.

The LTTE on the other hand has shown many signs that it will listen to us. They have stopped recruiting children. They stopped forceful fundraising in Canada and they have absolutely reduced the use suicide bombing. All the signs indicate that they will become a dependable democratic movement.

When we remove the ban on LTTE as a terrorist organization – even on a conditional basis – Sri Lankan will realize that its plans are not working. It will realize that the atrocities in the name of war on terror will no longer be tolerated.

We should also realize that now the Sri Lankan government sits on a stronger stand against the Tamil rebels compared to previous stages. If we start to recognize LTTE as freedom fighters then the Sri Lankan government will realize that it will become politically weaker and weaker as the time goes on. They will realize that the best time to negotiate a solution is right now and not later.

This is how we can save the innocent Tamil lives in Sri Lanka.