Why does the world ignore Sri Lanka’s crimes?

[akootha]

No one knows how many thousands of people died in Sri Lanka in 2009, the year that marked the end of a decades-long struggle between the Sri Lankan government and the secessionist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (known more commonly as the Tamil Tigers). Certainly, it was one of the bloodier conflicts that the world has witnessed in recent decades. But no one outside Sri Lanka really seems to care.

 

After years of bitter conflict between the two sides, one that witnessed the inaugural use of the suicide belt in the 1980s, the Sri Lankan government launched a no-holds-barred offensive against the Tigers in the latter years of the last decade, resulting in enormous carnage. Both sides committed serious war crimes and crimes against humanity. But the United Nations did little to help. (A recently leaked internal inquiry report commission by the UN Secretary-General produced an admittance of the UN’s “grave failure” during the conflict.) Only with the death of the Tigers’ leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was the conflict finally brought to a close.

In her new book, Still Counting the Dead, former BBC correspondent Frances Harrison details the events that occurred in Sri Lanka during the final few months of civil war. She kicks off the collection of heartbreaking survivors’ stories with a chapter titled “The War the United Nations Lost.”

 

Harrison maintains that in a post-9/11 world, the Sri Lankan government found it easy to rebrand its struggle to eradicate the Tigers as just another extension of the war on terror; not the protracted, deeply entrenched ethnic conflict that it truly was. Thus, the Sri Lankan army was able to secure the unflappable support of UN member states including the United States, Canada, China, India and Israel. She cites China as the largest arms seller to Sri Lanka by 2008.

An earlier UN report cited an estimated 40,000 dead during the final stage of the conflict, when the Sri Lankan government was laying siege to the small sliver of land still held by the Tigers. But the true number may well have been closer to 70,000.

 

In Still Counting the Dead, Harrison compiles accounts from 10 Tamil survivors. If history is written by winners, the author sought out the ones who she believed lost the most.

She uses chapter titles such as The Priest, The Nun, and The Rebel Mother; punctuating the highly emotive prose with bullet-point war statistics meant to validate their stories. Her rendering of these tales is elegant and grim — but also makes for difficult reading. Harrowing accounts of dead infants hanging from trees, reports of rape at government checkpoints, and speculations of attacks on hospitals in prescribed “no fire” zones are commonplace throughout the book.

 

Ultimately though, the reader is left with a collection of tales of horror that likely will have little consequence on a global level — because few global actors have taken much interest in this area of the world.

The book is not one-sided. While highlighting the horrific methods employed by the Sri Lankan military, she also describes the Tigers’ recruitment of child soldiers and their use of extortion and threats on the Tamil diaspora in an effort to raise funds.

 

Harrison participated in an interview for TamilNet, a pro-Tiger media outlet, in which she consistently refused to label the final few months of the conflict as a genocide of the northeastern Tamils, despite the blatant coaxing of the pro-Tiger anchor to do so. “There are huge implications. Academics and lawyers should debate it,” she recently commented.

Aparna Sundar, a professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University, is less reluctant about that designation: “If genocide is the intentional of wiping out of a community, directly or through long-term means, was this genocide? I would say yes.”

 

Sundar also is appalled at the corruption and inefficiency of the Sri Lankan government, which has had something of a free hand since the war ended: “It’s now not just a Tamil or a Sinhalese thing, it’s a suspension of basic civil rights. Nepotism is rampant, elections are unfair. There are no grounds to test the government. It’s repressive and quite brutal. The general population is beginning to recognize how deeply rotten the system is.”

In a world that has raised the hue and cry about Palestinians and Syrians, it seems odd that there is so little concern about the even greater carnage in Sri Lanka. It is a disparity that reflects poorly on the state of the West’s conscience.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s threat to boycott next year’s Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka is a start, but it’s essential that the rest of the world open its eyes to the country’s bloody deeds as well.

National Post

 

Elizabeth Haq is a Toronto writer.

 

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/12/11/elizabeth-haq-why-does-the-world-ignore-sri-lankas-crimes/

[akootha]

to: asundarpolitics.ryerson.ca

 

Subject : Thanks for NP contribution and saying "Yes" 

 

Dear Professor,

 

I just finished reading an article on National Post and would like to say thanks for saying, " I would say yes.”.

 

We Tamils have been trying UN and IC to recognize the agenda of Sri Lanka's rulers that of genocidal nature and Tamils did use to all options to prevent as any other nation would have done. 

 

One would hope UN and IC also recognize that Tamils in Sri Lanka face genocide and act swiftly.

 

Thank You!

 

Sincerely,

[akootha]

கீழே வேறு ஒரு பேராசிரியருடன் 2009ல் மாசியில் செய்த கருத்துப்பரிமாற்றம்.
மீண்டும் அவருடன் தொடர்பு கொள்ள உள்ளேன்.

====================================================================

 

Dear Xxxxxxxx Yyyyyyyy,

I recently got back from Sri Lanka so I am aware of what is going on there.

 

Let me explain the legal definition of Genocide.

The “crime of genocide” is a violation of estalished international law. The UN members signed on to the Convention that outlawed Genocide back in 1948.

 

Genocide includes the following acts committed with the intent of eliminating, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group: killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, inflicting in a deliberate fashion certain harsh conditions of life calculated to physically destroy the group in whole or in part, imposing measures that would prevent births within the group, forcing a specific group out of its homeland, and forcibly removing children from that group to another group.

Genocide is one of the four core crimes that can be dealt with by the International Criminal Court.

 

Having said this, the threshold for accusing a state or people with genocide is very high. In other words, not every mass killing is genocide. Although mass killings can fall under another category of crimes -- crimes against humanity, or war crimes.

In the case of Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers, one has to draw a distinction between the Tamil Tigers, an organized group of militants (or freedom fighters - depending on who one is talking to) and the Tamil people. I realize that this is not always an easy disctinction to make. But within international legal circles, this separation will be important. For instance, while I was in Sri Lanka and in Tamil Nadu region of south India, I met many Tamils. Those individuals have (and do not want anything to do with the Tamil Tigers). Many of them considered the Tamil Tigers cause as important, but felt that the organization had basically dug its own grave. On the other hand, I met some Tamils who are very sympathethic to the Tamil Tigers and felt that the majority Sinhalese in Sri Lanka was intent on keeping the Tamil people repressed. This was not the majority view, but nonetheless it is one position.

 

You are right to suggest that the Sri Lankan government is using the so-called "war on terror" as a justification for wiping out the Tamil Tigers. But the government is careful not to declare that its intent is to wipe out Tamils. So, if the matter was brought to the ICC today, there is no way that the Sri Lankan government (for all its faults -- and I personally think that it is a terrible government) would be indicted for genocide. I think you might be able to make the case that the government is supressing freedom of expression. There are accusations that it may have been involved in the assassinations of high profile journalist who simply criticized the government's handling of the war against the Tamil Tigers. I think a case could be made against the government for war crimes or crimes against humanity. But, to give you my honest opinion -- and I just got back from giving a talk at Harvard Law school on this issue of "core crimes" -- I don't think that the Sri Lankan government will be charged with "genocide".

The systematic elimination of 6 million Jews was genocide. The systematic killings of 800,000 Tutsi in Rwanda was genocide. The millions of Cambodians killed by Pol Pot's regime was genocide. What is happening to the Darfurian today is genocide. Note that in every case, the victims were considered defenseless. I don't think you can consider the Tamil Tigers a defenseless group. They have military training, they have weapons, they have the means to conbat the Sri Lankan government forces. So you can't place them in the same category as the ones I mentioned above.

 

So, in conclusion, the answer is "NO" - the assault on the Tamil Tigers is not Genocide. But what the Sri Lanka government is doing is also unacceptable and if it is not careful, it can be charged with crimes against humanity, or war crimes, one day.

I hope this explanation helps. From an international law perspective, one has to be very careful with the way terms like genocide are used.

 

Best wishes to you.

Andy

Dr. W. Andy Knight
Professor
Director, Peace and Post Conflict Studies Certificate
http://www.ois.ualberta.ca/ppcs.cfm

Governor, International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

[akootha]

Dear Professor,

It is been more than three years since we have communicated.

 

I would like to bring to your attention a National Post article in which a Professor says the followings:

 

Aparna Sundar, a professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University, is less reluctant about that designation: “If genocide is the intentional of wiping out of a community, directly or through long-term means, was this genocide? I would say yes.”

 

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/12/11/elizabeth-haq-why-does-the-world-ignore-sri-lankas-crimes/

Would love to hear your feedback.

 

Thanks,
 

[இசைக்கலைஞன்]

அகூதா,

 

நீங்கள் தொட்ர்புகொண்ட பேராசிரியரின் பார்வையில், தெற்கில் தமிழர்களுக்கு எதிராக நடத்தப்பட்ட இனவெறித் தாக்குதல்கள் (புலிகள் காலத்திற்கு முன்) எந்த வகையில் வருகிறதாம்?

 

• நிச்சயமாகப் போர்க்குற்றம் அல்ல..
• மானுடத்துக்கு எதிரான குற்றச்செயல்?
• இன அழிப்பு?

 

[akootha]

அகூதா,

 

நீங்கள் தொட்ர்புகொண்ட பேராசிரியரின் பார்வையில், தெற்கில் தமிழர்களுக்கு எதிராக நடத்தப்பட்ட இனவெறித் தாக்குதல்கள் (புலிகள் காலத்திற்கு முன்) எந்த வகையில் வருகிறதாம்?

• நிச்சயமாகப் போர்க்குற்றம் அல்ல..
• மானுடத்துக்கு எதிரான குற்றச்செயல்?
• இன அழிப்பு?

அந்த பேராசியரை சிங்களம் கூப்பிட்டு 'கவனித்து' அனுப்பியது. அதனால் எனது விவாதங்களை அவர் நிச்சயம் ஏற்கவில்லை.

எம்மிடம் கொஞ்சம் பசை இருந்தால் இவ்வாறானவர்களை கவனிக்கலாம். 

 

ஆனால், இப்பொழுது மாற்றங்கள் ஏற்படுகின்றன. பார்க்கலாம் என்ன பதில் கூறுகின்றார் என.

[akootha]

 

அகூதா,

 

நீங்கள் தொட்ர்புகொண்ட பேராசிரியரின் பார்வையில், தெற்கில் தமிழர்களுக்கு எதிராக நடத்தப்பட்ட இனவெறித் தாக்குதல்கள் (புலிகள் காலத்திற்கு முன்) எந்த வகையில் வருகிறதாம்?

 

• நிச்சயமாகப் போர்க்குற்றம் அல்ல..
• மானுடத்துக்கு எதிரான குற்றச்செயல்?
• இன அழிப்பு?

 

 

I am on administrative leave until January 1, 2013, but will be monitoring my e-mail from time to time. On 1 January 2013, I will be assuming the position of Director of the Institute for International Relations (IIR) at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad.

--

W. Andy Knight, PhD, FRSC

Professor

Department of Political Science

11-27 Tory Building

University of Alberta

Edmonton, AB T6G2H4

1-780-492-9970 (O)

1-780-492-2586 (Fax)

 

------------------------------

 

Latest publications:

----------------------

Towards the Dignity of Difference? Neither 'End of History' nor 'Clash of

Civilizations' (Ashgate 2012)

Edited by Mojtaba Mahdavi & W. Andy Knight

http://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&calcTitle=1&isbn=9781409439561&lang=cy-GB

 

The Routledge Handbook of the Responsibility to Protect (Routledge, 2012)

Edited by W. Andy Knight & Frazer Egerton

http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415600750/

 

Global Politics (Oxford University Press, 2010)

W. Andy Knight & Tom Keating

http://www.oupcanada.com/catalog/9780195417173.html

[இசைக்கலைஞன்]

மேற்கிந்தியத் தீவுகளில் வேலை..   ம்ம்ம்.. வாழ்வுதான்..

[akootha]

இவரது பெயர் Andy Knight.  ஆனால் இவர் வெள்ளையர் அல்ல.

[இசைக்கலைஞன்]

??

[akootha]

ஆம். அவர்தான்.

[வந்தியத்தேவன்]

அப்ப பணம் விளையாடியிருக்கும்.

 

என்ன மனிதர்கள்;  மனிதத்தை விற்று கேவலமான பிழைப்பு

[akootha]

Sri Lanka’s Tamils deserve to be heard

Re: Why Does The World Ignore Sri Lanka’s Crime?, Elizabeth Haq, Dec. 11.

As tens of thousands of Tamil lingered under fire on a narrow strip of beach in Sri Lanka, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon did nothing and then made a trip to war zone after war ended and issued utterly forgettable statements. Then under the guise of examining the situation — an earnest quest turned ridiculous, when UN released many statements of blatant denials that Tamils were ever subjected to such horror.
 

This case brings to mind the old legal maxim, inter arma enim silent leges, essentially, in times of war, the law falls silent. Those with conscience who tried to protect Tamils from unimaginable savagery during the last stage of the war — the few righteous ones, represent a flickering spark of humanity in a world that had gone dark. To kill the innocent in a vast scale is horrifying; to deny the horror is simply inhuman. We must show a fidelity to history and humanity. Let us not wait until the Museum of Human Rights curates a history of the persecution of Tamils in Sri Lanka to tell the their story. Tamils in Sri Lanka deserve to be heard by the international community, at least now as the pendulum of oppression has clearly moved against them. If we cannot do that, then the tyrants have shaped not only these victims view of the world, but their humanity.
 

Roy Ratnavel, Vancouver.

 

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/12/12/todays-letters-aussie-djs-also-victims/