to: missionun@jordanmissionun.com

cc: basheer_Zoubi@jordanmissionun.com, khald_shaw@jordanmissionun.com, Omaish@jordanmissionun.com, adi_khair@jordanmissionun.com, szibdeh@jordanmissionun.com, jboor64@yahoo.com,

alouran@jordanmissionun.com

Subject: NAM on Sri Lanka regarding UN panel

H.E. Mr. Mohammed F. Al-Allaf

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

Permanent Representative for Jordan, UN

Your Excellency;

Tamils in Sri Lanka appeal to you to join Chile, Colombia, Guatemala and Peru in insisting on R2P for supporting the UN panel for investigation of war crimes in Sri Lanka. Tamils have been oppressed from the time of independence(1948) but successive governments have been doing damage control at the UN for decades.

We hope more and more nations from NAM also join to support the R2P concept to protect much needed peace and stability in the member states. By supporting UN investigation into Sri Lanka, we also help to prevent future tragedies, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and genocides. I hope NAM sets an example on Sri Lanka, thereby giving hope to our youth in prosperity!

Yours sincerely,

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

Cc:

Mr. Basheer F. Zoubi

Fifth Committee, Counsellor - Adminstrative & Budgetary

Deputy Permanent Represenatative

Mr. Khaild Abdullah Shawabkah

Second Committee, First Secretary - Economic & Financial

Mr. Eihab Sami Omaish

Sixth Comittee, Second Secretary - Legal

Mr. Adi Ghassan Khair

Fourth Comittee & Security Council

Third Secretary - Special Political & Decolonization

Miss Samar Al-Zibdeh

Third Committee, Third Secretary - Social, Humanitarian & Cultural

Col. Mohammad Salameh Al Jboor

Counsellor, Military Advisor (Peacekeeping Affairs)

Col. Saeb Nayef Al Ouran

Counsellor (Police Advisor)

பலன் தர கூடிய இணையதளங்கள் :

ஐ நா நாடுகள் பட்டியல் : http://www.un.org/en/members/

: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_Permanent_Representatives_to_the_United_Nations

சிறிலங்கா : http://www.slmission.com/

To: geneva@mission.mfa.gov.az, info@jordanmission.ch, mission.afghanistan@bluewin.ch, info@bahrain-mission.ch, mission.uae@ties.itu.int, mission.indonesia@ties.itu.int, uzbekistan@bluewin.ch, mission.iran@ties.itu.int, mission.brunei@ties.itu.int, mission.bangladesh@ties.itu.int, mission.turkey@ties.itu.int, mission.tchad@bluewin.ch, mission.tunisia@ties.itu.int, mission.algerie@mission-algerie.ch, mission.djibouti@djibouti.ch, saudiamission@bluewin.ch, mission.senegal@ties.itu.int, mission.sudan@bluewin.ch, mission.syria@ties.itu.int, mission.somalia@ties.itu.int, mission.iraq@ties.itu.int, missionoman@bluewin.ch

His Excellency Mr. Murad N. Najafbayli

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, Azerbaijan

His Excellency Mr. Shehab A. Madi

Ambassador, Permanent Representative, Jordan.

Mr. Obaid Khan Noori

First Secretary, Chargé d'affaires, Afghanistan

Ms. Muna Abbas Radhi

Deputy Permanent Representative, Chargé d'affaires, Bahrain

His Excellency Mr. Obaid Salem Saeed Al Zaabi

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, UAE

His Excellency Mr. Dian Triansyah Djani

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, Indonesia.

Her Excellency Ms. Goulnara Karimova

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, Uzbekistan

His Excellency Mr. Seyed Mohammad Reza Sajjadi

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, Iran

His Excellency Mr. Zamir Akram

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, Pakistan.

His Excellency Mr. Md. Janin Erih

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, Brunei-Darussalum

His Excellency Mr. Md. Abdul Hannan

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, Bangladesh

His Excellency Mr. Oğuz Demiralp

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, Turkey.

His Excellency Mr. Malloum Bamanga Abbas

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, Chad

His Excellency Mr. Abdelwahèb Jemal

Ambassador, Permanent Representative, Tunisia.

His Excellency Mr. Idriss Jazaïry

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, Algeria.

His Excellency Mr. Mohamed Siad Doualeh

Ambassador, Permanent Representative, Djibouti

His Excellency Mr. Abdulwahab Abdulsalam Attar

Ambassador, Permanent Representative, Saudi Arabia

His Excellency Mr. Babacar Carlos Mbaye

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, Senegal

His Excellency Mr. John Ukec Lueth Ukec

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, Sudan

His Excellency Mr. Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, Syria

His Excellency Mr. Yusuf Mohamed Ismail

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, Somalia.

His Excellency Mr. Mohamed Ali Alhakim

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative, Iraq

His Excellency Mr. Yahya Salim Al-Wahaibi

Ambassador, Permanent Representative, Oman

Your Excellencies:

Sri Lanka supports Israel’s war on terror against Palestine

Sri Lanka who allegedly committed war crimes and being investigated by UN, has thrown its support on Israel and even suggests “ high death toll of people of Palestine is acceptable”! This was said by the Sri Lankan Ambassador to Sri Lanka who is a military man and perhaps speaks the truth.

http://www.ynetnews....3923309,00.html

This should be taken lightly as Sri Lanka and should be condemned for its advocacy of genocide of Muslims.

In conclusion, one should also pay close attention to what Sri Lanka is now doing against local Muslims, in Sri Lanka.

Truly,

Edited July 23, 201015 yr by akootha

இன்று தமிழ்த்தேசியத்துக்காக நான் என்ன செய்தேன்? - July 22, 2010

வாசிக்கவேண்டியது:

மீள்குடியேற்றப்பட்ட இளம் தமிழ் பெண்கள் மீது சிறீலங்கா இராணுவத்தினர் பாலியல் வன்முறை

http://www.yarl.com/forum3/index.php?showtopic=73605

செய்யவேண்டியது:

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

to : beckerj@hrw.org

Subject: The escaling situation of rape and other abuses, including of children

Madame Jo Becker,

As a child advocate, you have been very critical on child soldier recruitment and on Tamil Tigers in general and rightfully so. Now the Tamil Tigers have been defeated using questionable methods, your noble work must continue. Becuase, Tamils are faced with a brutal enemy.

• Resettled women and other in prison have been raped on a regular basis

• The Department of Probation and Child Care Services receives nearly ten complaints of child abuse from around the country daily

• One could assume there are nearly ten complaints not reported for each reported

• Employment of underage children ( this is direct violation against US Trade Dept. and provides GSP concessions)

• Children, specially Tamils, have been frequent sexual attack by military and other personnel

The rights of children and women are in grave danger and your continued work is much needed.

Truly,

To: palestin@sltnet.lk

Dr. Anwar H. Alegha,

Palestine Ambassador for Sri Lanka,

Colombo.

22nd July 2010.

Dear Sir,

Re.: Today it is Kosovo, and tomorrow it is Palestine, next Tamileelam

Today, a decision on Kosovo's independence by the United Nations highest court is a welcome news for people from Palestine and Tamils in Sri Lanka. This should pave ways for freedom to others who have long suffered.

In an interview, Sri Lanka's representative has suggested its support for Israel even it takes high toll of innocent civilians as they just did against Tamils, killing as high as 40,000. This dirty politics of Sri Lanka should not be a surprise if one follows it closely.

Tamils and people of Palestine should join their hands and efforts in achieving freedom from the clutches of terror.

Yours sincerely,

a) Kosovo's declaration of Independence is legal says ICJ, http://www.icj-cij.org/ .

The case against Kosovo: http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?p1=3&p2=4&k=21&case=141&code=kos&p3=0

b) Will Ruling on Kosovo Entice Other Regions to Declare Independence? Voice of America BBC

c) Can Tamils of Tamileelam file a case? http://www.icj-cij.org/court/index.php?p1=1&p2=6

Subject: WHY NATIONAL RECONCILIATION IN SRI LANKA IS NOT POSSIBLE

Dear Secretary General,

To: sg@un.org

Cc: secretary@state.gov, pirc@cpahq.org, ngochr@ohchr.org, Kontakt@info.diplo.de, imrv@humanrights.de, colombo.col@icrc.org, colombo.general@fco.gov.uk, colombo@unicef.org, secretariat@ncca.org.au, secretary@unicef.ca, den@un.org, info@amnesty.org.uk, secrt@ohchr.org, idp@ohchr.org

Secretary-General

The United Nations

1 United Nations Plaza

New York, New York 10017-3515

July 24, 2010

Sir,

Today marks 27 years of anniversary of what is known as "Black July" in 1983. In which state sponsored pogrom was orchestrated and more than 3000 innocent Tamils were killed by the thugs under the protection and leadership of government officials. This is known as " 9/ 11 of Tamils" in the history of Tamils. This was the largest pogrom until 2006 - 2009!

There is much talk of “National Reconciliation” in Sri Lanka – essentially between the Sinhalese-dominated Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Tamil people. Many simply do not think that ‘national reconciliation’ is possible.

In 1948 when a million Plantation ‘Indian’ Tamils, (one seventh of the total population of Ceylon at that time), were disenfranchised and was the most outrageous acts of political barbarism anywhere in the world. It was followed by a series of highly discriminatory measures adopted since 1956 by a succession of Sinhalese governments against the indigenous Sri Lankan Tamils. These included numerous Government organized pogroms of the Tamils. Having been a witness to all these and other major human rights violations of the Tamil people, and many are convinced that ‘national reconciliation’ is totally unrealistic.

The most serious recent slaughter of Tamils (June 2006 – May 2009), with features of Genocide , and done under the guise of “wiping out ‘Tamil terrorism’”, has made national reconciliation impossible.

For national reconciliation to occur there are some fundamental requirements.

1. There must be a genuine intention to do so.

2. There must be regret for all that has happened to make national reconciliation necessary.

3. The fundamental problems that caused the rift must be addressed.

4. There must be a determination to wipe out all the obstructions to this process.

Since none of these are present in Sri Lanka, national reconciliation is not possible. It is as simple as that. The pretence of ‘national reconciliation’ is nothing but a myth propagated by the GoSL with the sole intention of obtaining international support to keep a totalitarian regime going.

Further,

1. Sri Lanka lacks genuine intention for reconciliation

2. Sri Lanka must express a genuine regret of what happened to Tamils in 62 years

3. The grievances of Tamils should be addressed by devolving political powers

4. "Sinhala occupation" of Tamil lands should be stopped and settlements should be removed

5. Fundamentals of democracy, including free media should be restored

I urge Your Excellency to continue to push Sri Lanka until the above mentioned basic human rights are achieved.

Sincerely,

to: Letters to the Editor <lettertoed@thestar.ca>

cc: MCohn@thestar.ca, HSiddiqui@thestar.ca

Subject: Ship allegedly carrying Tamil Tigers bound for B.C.: reports

Link: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/836587--ship-allegedly-carrying-tamil-tigers-bound-for-b-c-reports

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

to: letters@globeandmail.com

cc: MYoussef@globeandmail.com, areinhart@globeandmail.com

Subject: Thai-registered asylum ship may be headed to B.C.

Link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/us-coast-guard-confirms-migrant-ship-heading-for-canada/article1650265/?cmpid=rss1&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

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

to: letters@nationalpost.com

cc: SBell@nationalpost.com

Subject: Suspected Thai 'people-smuggling' ship reported heading for Canada

Link: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/Suspected+Thai+people+smuggling+ship+reported+heading+Canada/3283946/story.html

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

to: editor@tor.sunpub.com

cc: althia.raj@sunmedia.ca, SHEENA.GOODYEAR@sunmedia.ca

Subject: Tamil Tigers reportedly head for B.C

Link: http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/07/16/14737291.html

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

Sample letter

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

Dear Editor,

As a suspected people-smuggling boat full of hapless Tamils fleeing Sri Lanka's terrorism nears Canada's West Coast, the Sri Lankan Government regualrly calls every refguee fleeing from its country a terrorist.

Some say this boat is full of Tamil terrorists seeking to regroup in Canada to renew the civil war which has torn the small Indian Ocean country apart. That's what they said last year when a similar situation arose and 76 Tamil immigrants appeared off Victoria. Those claims proved to be utterly false.

It is reprehensible for those to accuse these people fleeing a nation with a poor record of civil rights towards its minority population of trying to take advantage of this country. Canadians who espouse this anti-immigrant doctrine can only be described as cowards. In many cases, it's the same story current citizens could find in their own family histories.

In 1914, the Japanese-registered Komagata Maru arrived in Vancouver carrying 376 passengers from Punjab. The ship was forced back to India without disembarking; on its return to Calcutta, at least 19 of the passengers were shot by police. In 2008, Stephen Harper apologized on behalf of all Canadians for the Komagata Maru incident.

In 1939, the German-registered SS St. Louis arrived in Halifax harbor with more than 900 Jewish asylum-seekers on board, having already been refused landing in both Cuba and the United States. The Canadian government likewise refused entry, forcing the ship to return to Belgium. More than 200 of the passengers were later murdered by the Nazis. Jason Kenney, the minister for citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism, frequently refers to the SS St. Louis as an example of how racist attitudes colored the policies of previous Canadian governments.

Harper and Kenney's statements on these two historical precedents now place them in a quandary. Their contrition with respect to the Komagata Maru and SS St. Louis might be rooted in genuine humanitarianism, or be part of a cynical effort to attract Sikh and Jewish votes. Either way, it ties their hands with respect to Tamil boat people. The law allows for options; the principle of consistency does not.

How could Canada even exist if it wasn't for the persecution, tyranny and lack of freedoms which drove the poor and disenfranchised to settle this rugged and unforgiving land. If we are to remain a great country, to live up to the pillar of hope and freedom so many put us on, we must have compassion for people who wash up on our shores.

Truly,

பிரித்தானிய பாராளுமன்ற உறுப்பினரிடம் இருந்து ஒரு பதில்: 26 July 2010

இவருக்கு நன்றிகள் நீங்களும் எழுதுங்கள்

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

From: "RUDD, Amber" <amber.rudd.mp@parliament.uk>

Cc: "ORIORDAN, Eleanor" <eleanor.oriordan@parliament.uk>

Subject: RE: British Tamils Walk for Justice

Thank you for this. I will certainly take a careful look.

Best wishes

Amber

Amber Rudd

Member of Parliament for Hastings and Rye

House of Commons

London, SW1A 0AA

UK Parliament Disclaimer:

This e-mail is confidential to the intended recipient. If you have received it in error, please notify the sender and delete it from your system. Any unauthorised use, disclosure, or copying is not permitted. This e-mail has been checked for viruses, but no liability is accepted for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this e-mail.

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

To: RUDD, Amber

Subject: British Tamils Walk for Justice

Dear Hon Amber Rudd MP,

Thank you for your letter. I am happy to help you in anyway I can to promote your services for the Constituency and the community of Hastings and Rye.

Please find attached Press Release and photos from the British Tamils Forum regarding the Midnight Vigil held on Friday 23rd July 2010 in London and “Walk for Justice” to the UN. A transcript of the speech made on behalf of British Tamils Forum addressing the crowd at the vigil is also attached.

The first of its kind to be held by a minority group in London, thousands of Tamils and non-Tamils gathered carrying candles, placards, banners and hoisting flags appealing to the UK establishment and the UN to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka.

The midnight vigil inaugurated a “Walk for Justice” from the heart of British Parliament, through France and Switzerland to the UN Human Rights Council offices in Geneva. Mr. Sivanthan, a British Tamil youth will be joined by supporters and well-wishers on a two-week walk to raise awareness and amalgamate support for calls to the:

1. UN to initiate an independent international probe into war crimes committed in Sri Lanka

2. Allow access to Prisoners Of War

3. For all internally displaced persons to be resettled into their own homes. A memorandum is to be handed to the UN in Geneva on 6th August 2010

4. Boycott of Sri Lanka until it respects international laws

Thank you

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

Subject: History and facts : SRI LANKA IS NOT CAPABLE RECONCILIATION

Dear Secretary General,

To: sg@un.org

Cc: secretary@state.gov, pirc@cpahq.org, ngochr@ohchr.org, Kontakt@info.diplo.de, imrv@humanrights.de, colombo.col@icrc.org, colombo.general@fco.gov.uk, colombo@unicef.org, secretariat@ncca.org.au, secretary@unicef.ca, den@un.org, info@amnesty.org.uk, secrt@ohchr.org, idp@ohchr.org

Secretary-General

The United Nations

1 United Nations Plaza

New York, New York 10017-3515

July 27, 2010

Sir,

Post May 2009, there is much talk of “National Reconciliation” in Sri Lanka – essentially between the Sinhalese-dominated Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Tamil people. Interestingly, the Tamil grievances neither did start with Tamil Tigers nor it ended with them.

Much has been made of the fact that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been destroyed. The LTTE was not the problem but the result of the problem. The ‘problem’ was Sinhala-Buddhist ethno-religious chauvinism – to make multiethnic, multireligious, multilingual, multicultural Sri Lanka, into a Sinhala-Buddhist nation.

What has been destroyed is not only the LTTE but the possibility of Peace with Justice. Some 40,000 Tamils in the North and East were slaughtered by the Sri Lankan (Sinhalese) Armed Forces, international aid groups and observers having first been expelled from the area (“genocide without witnesses”). 280,000 Tamils who escaped the slaughter were locked up in concentration camps, in absolute contravention of several Human Rights Conventions, signed by Sri Lanka.

Under immense international pressure, some 200,000 were released, most of them to a land that was totally destroyed and heavily mined, making them internally Displaced People (IDPs ie refugees). 60,000 remain in the camps in June 2010, more than an year after they were put there. Thousands have been driven out of the country as asylum-seekers. So much for ‘national reconciliation’.

The most serious recent slaughter of Tamils (June 2006 – May 2009), with features of Genocide , and done under the guise of “wiping out ‘Tamil terrorism’”, has made national reconciliation impossible.

Sincerely,

இன்று தமிழ்த்தேசியத்துக்காக நான் என்ன செய்தேன்? - July 27, 2010

வாசிக்கவேண்டியது:

சிங்களமயமாகும் தமிழர் தாயகம்: http://www.yarl.com/forum3/index.php?showtopic=73804

செய்யவேண்டியது:

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

To: info@equalitynow.org; icadint@hotmail.com

Cc: equalitynownairobi@equaltynow.org; ukinfo@euqualitynow.org; asingh@justiceinitiative.org; philip.alston@nyu.edu; sarah.knuckey@nyu.edu; hina.shamsi@nyu.edu; info@ictj.org; geneva@ictj.org; brussels@ictj.org; icadgb@icad-int.org; Desmond Tutu <Connect@theelders.org>; carterweb@emvery.edu; info@ihjr.org; ccisse@ihjr.org; ifj@ifj-asia.org; jacqui.park@ifj-asia.org; alerts@takeaction.amnestyusa.org;

Subject: Tamils stand on the last leg in Sri Lanka!

July 27, 2010

Her Excellency Ms. Jessica Neuwirth.

Equality Now Org.

P.O. Box 20646

Colombus Circle Station,

New York. NY 10023, USA

Madam,

In contrary to the belief, Tamils, the minority, continues to suffer immensely in Sri Lanka, despite the "victory" over so called "war on terror". Today, more than 60000 Tamils are in the camps, more than 12000 alleged Tamil Tiger soldiers are in the camps without due process, and so called High Security Zones are being expanded in the traditional homeland and Sinhala settlements are progressing on a rapid phase - all leading into "elimination" of Tamils once and for all!

So who should help Tamils and why?

If the world came together in supporting Sri Lanka to reinstate "Human Rights", "Equality" and "Justice" - then that noble cause must continue in Sri Lanka. Our goal is not achieved. We should not be silent to raise our voice for the hapless Tamil minority that has shed more than 300000 lives!

I urge You to use all the avenues available to You to safeguard Tamils now!

Thank you.

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

Edited July 28, 201015 yr by akootha

இன்று தமிழ்த்தேசியத்துக்காக நான் என்ன செய்தேன்? - July 27, 2010

வாசிக்கவேண்டியது:

PTF imposes restrictions on local NGOs in Jaffna : http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=32288

செய்யவேண்டியது:

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

To: hq@iom.int

Cc: iomdhaka@bol-online.com, SROIslamabad2@iom.int,

Subject: Another nail on NGOs by Sri Lanka

July 27, 2010

Mr. William Lacy Swing, Director General, IOM

Dear Sir,

One by one and step by step Sri Lanka sliding into a totaliratian regime. The latest such move in where Sri Lanka government which allows only a few Non-government Organizations (NGO) to serve in Vanni, now imposes restrictions on NGOs serving in Jaffna too through its Presidential Task Force (PTF), headed by Basil Rajapaksa, Sri Lankan Minister and brother of SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa. It is alleged that PTF head Basil Rajapaksa favours IOM swindling the funds donated by foreign countries for the construction of permanent houses for the uprooted Vanni civilians

PTF favours the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in the allocation of housing constructions for more than 15,000 uprooted civilians from Vanni staying in temporary dwellings in Jaffna.

Please do serve the rights and need of Tamils as You are mandated by the noble task of serving humanity and human rights!

Please do not fall prey to the gimicks of PTF who always palces Tamils last on the list!

Thank you.

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

CC: Ambassador Laura Thompson, Deputy Director General, IOM.

இன்று தமிழ்த்தேசியத்துக்காக நான் என்ன செய்தேன்? - July 29, 2010

வாசிக்கவேண்டியது:

http://www.yarl.com/forum3/index.php?showtopic=73858&st=0

செய்யவேண்டியது: ( Daily Mail : feedback@dailymail.co.uk )

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

to: letters@the-sun.co.uk

cc: talkback@the-sun.co.uk

Subject: Parameswaran Subramanyam - Apology

Dear Editor,

Thanks for this sincere apology. But I wished you did more in more practical ways as well since the damage cannot be measured by monetary compensation alone ( 77K Pounds).

Not only Tamils were subject to Genocide in the hands of Sri Lanka and it continues to date. Still there are more than 100000 Tamils in the camps and Tamils are left with no protection.

I urge your newspaper to highlight the plight of Tamils and to become a champion for the voiceless and hapless Tamils in Sri Lanka!

Write an editorial asking the British to boycott Sri Lanka until the Tamils grievances are addressed.

Urge UK government to do question Sri Lanka on its alleged war crimes.

And these and more would be the real apology to Parameswaran Subramanyam and Tamils at large!

Thanks,

Sincerely,

Edited July 30, 201015 yr by akootha

to: mission@gv.mofa.go.jp, japan.mission@dn.mofa.go.jp

cc: infocul@embjapan.ca, policjpn@co.mofa.go.jp, econojpn@co.mofa.go.jp, jata@jata-net.or.jp

Subject: Japan assures Lanka continuous support

His Excellency Mr. Shinichi Kitajima

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

Permanent Representative

The Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations

Chemin des Fins 3

1211 Geneva 19

His Excellency Mr Yukio Takasu

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

Permanent Representative

The Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations

866 U.N. Plaza, 2nd Floor

New York, NY 10017

July 31, 2010.

Your Excellencies;

Sri Lanka indeed enjoys the end of war, but neither justice nor peace has not been achieved. As Sri Lanka now tries to woo international aid in the name of "rebuilding" or "reconciliation", countries like Japan should dig deep to dug the facts out.

Tamils whose legitimate grievances have yet to be addressed as requested by Japan many times. In the meantime, Sri Lanka continues several schemes in which Tamils soon become the nation in the "red book of endangered" races. Out of nearly 200,000 released Tamils have now being asked to leave their homes, making room for permanent military bases while many have not received any aid since the initial 5000 SLR. There are more than 80,000 still held in the military camps/prisons.

In the meantime, people continue to live in fear, fear of oppression. Media too continue to be suppressed by the state. And emergency rule is extended, which was one of the 15 conditions where EU denied its tax concessions. In recent visit to Sri Lanka, US Asst. Sec. of State for South Asia, Mr. Blake reiterated the support to investigate into alleged war crimes.

I kindly urge Japan, fully trusting on your foreign policy, to continue its engagement with Sri Lanka but to attach strings with conditions : Human rights, freedom to media and political justice to Tamil minority.

Sincerely,

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

CC: Embassy in Sri Lanka, Canada

Edited July 31, 201015 yr by akootha

To: presidentofindia@rb.nic.in

Cc: cmcell@tn.gov.in; advanilk@sansad.nic.in; gandhim@sansad.nic.in; murali@sansad.nic.in; croping@gmail.com; jaswant@sansad.nic.in; AIADMK@hotmail.com

July 31, 2010

Shrimati Pratibha Devisingh Patil

Her Excellency The President of India

New Delhi

India.

Subject: India's envoy and the death of more than 400 Indians

The latest move by India on its most southern neighbor is most welcome. Unfortunately, Sri Lanka's aggression towards the fishermen in the Indian water, continues. In the past twelve months, more than 400 fishermen have been reportedly killed and now Sri Lanka cannot pass the blame on Tamil Tigers. Therefore, India must take most serious actions against this what is arguably state terrorism against Indian citizens.

On another front, Sri Lanka's continued collaboration with China pose serious concerns in regards to national security of India. While Sri Lanka is a state who's relationship with any country is not India's concern, but China's foothold in the Tamil areas of Sri Lanka, which are only 25 KM away, matters India's security to the heart. And the continued rhetoric by the current leadership also remains a concern.

As a regional super power, India must be vigilant and take measures at the right time when needed to secure its sovereignty.

Truly,

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

Edited July 31, 201015 yr by akootha

இன்று தமிழ்த்தேசியத்துக்காக நான் என்ன செய்தேன்? - August 03, 2010

வாசிக்கவேண்டியது:

சிங்களமயமாகும் தமிழர் தாயகம்: http://www.yarl.com/forum3/index.php?showtopic=73959

செய்யவேண்டியது:

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

to: info@aseanhrmech.org,YSooka@fhr.org.za, sratner@umich.edu

cc: npillay <npillay@ohchr.org>, sg@un.org, philip.alston@nyu.edu, info@equalitynow.org, secretary@state.gov

Subject: President Mahindha Rajapaksa visiting New York in September

Hon. Marzuki Darusman

c/o: Office of the Secretariat,

Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights

MechanismRockwell Center , 1200 Makati City ,

Metro Manila , Philippines.

Hon. Ms. Sooka Yasmin

Executive Director

Foundation for Human Rights.

Hon. Steven R. Ratner

Bruno Simma Collegiate Professor of Law,

University Of Michigan Law School,

U.S.A.

Aug 3rd, 2010.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Sri Lanka's president Mahindha Rajapaksa will be coming to New York this September 2010 to attend the 65th session of the United Nation General Assembly. It would provide perfect opportunity for the UN panel on Sri Lanka to discuss on issues of mutual concerns such as alleged war crimes and violation of Geneva conventions in months leading into May 2009. The laws of war in Sri Lanka remain unclear despite Sri Lanka being a signatory of many international and UN laws.

Further, this would also provide an opportunity to inquire about visas to Sri Lanka for the panel as Sri Lanka's minister of external affairs G.L. Peiris has already suggested that the panel will not get visa to visit Sri Lanka.

Mr. Rajapaksa, a one time champion of Human Rights, has been strongly defending his human rights record of his military and said the following about his troops "carried a gun in one hand and a copy of the human rights charter in the other". As the other hand carried the copy of the human rights charter, they couldn’t pull the trigger to fire the guns. It should also be reminded that his troops as part of UN peace keeping force in Haiti has also violated by encouraging under aged teens sex by offering money.

I sincerely hope UN panel would make the most out Mr.Rajabakse's visit.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Edited August 3, 201015 yr by akootha

தென் ஆபிரிக்காவின் தொடர் ஆதரவு எமக்கு தேவை அதன் நிமித்தம் ...Archbishop Desmond Tutu

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jDAHPE4TEcDMjUmvxrYhSegR7qkg

to: info@tutu.org

Subject: Tamils of Sri Lanka and their continued sufferings

The South African liberation process has wide-ranging consequences for the whole world, and therefore also for the cause of peace in the world. Racial discrimination in South Africa is rightly regarded as a threat to peace and as an outrageous violation of basic human rights.

While basic human rights are denied by the rulers in many countries, Tamils in Sri Lanka have been suffering for well over six decades and literally face extinction as many shapes and forms of discrimination have been applied on them: continued detention of more than 80,000 for well over a year, Denying access to the rightful land and homes; Draconian laws still applied to curb the freedom of Tamil minority; The media freedom is limited etc.

I am sure You Honorable will find time to address the issues of Tamils in Sri Lanka as peace in Sri Lanka is a must for all developing nations!

Truly,

Edited August 3, 201015 yr by akootha

to: secretariat@forum2000.cz

cc: cerny@forum2000.cz, zuzana.blahutova@forum2000.cz,jiri.schneider@forum2000.cz,filip.sebek@forum2000.cz

Subject: Forum 2000 should stop Sri Lanka!

Dear Honorable members of Forum 2000,

First, as a survivor of genocide (http://www.blackjuly83.com/), I am more than pleased to see your important initiatives, including Forum 2000 Conferences. More than 200000 ethnic Tamils have been killed and many forms of genocide continues to take shape in Sri Lanka.

Today, as of 3rd of August 2010, a group of global statesmen, founded by Nelson Mandela, criticised the Sri Lankan government for failing to build on peace brought to the island by the end of the civil war last year. The "Elders" -- who include former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan, ex US president Jimmy Carter and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu -- said the government's post-war conduct warranted international concern:

-- ongoing persecution and disappearances of human rights activists, journalists and government opponents is truly terrifying

--much greater commitment to achieving meaningful reconciliation needed

-- 8,000 suspected ex-combatants were still detained without charge, and that the government was still using wartime emergency laws to control public debate

-- marginalisation of ethnic minority Tamils that was at the root of the war was not being addressed

-- Sri Lanka is urged to co-operate with the UN panel looking into alleged war crimes

Mr. Kofi Annan said there had been "a deafening global silence in response to Sri Lanka's actions" but I hope Forum 2000 would defy that. Please extend your work to include Sri Lanka in a way so that all would enjoy pluralism, freedom and democracy.

Sincerely,

References:

http://www.warwithoutwitness.com/ - Genocide of Tamils

http://www.cwvhr.org/ - Center for War Victims & Human Rights

Edited August 4, 201015 yr by akootha

இன்று தமிழ்த்தேசியத்துக்காக நான் என்ன செய்தேன்? - August 04, 2010

வாசிக்கவேண்டியது:

சமாதானத்தை ஏற்படுத்த இலங்கை அரசு தவறிவிட்டது: உலகத் தலைவர்கள் அமைப்பு

http://www.yarl.com/forum3/index.php?showtopic=74017

செய்யவேண்டியது:

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

to: sg@un.org

cc: info@equalitynow.org, secretary@state.gov, pirc@cpahq.org, ngochr@ohchr.org, Kontakt@info.diplo.de, imrv@humanrights.de, colombo.col@icrc.org, colombo.general@fco.gov.uk, colombo@unicef.org, secretariat@ncca.org.au, secretary@unicef.ca, den@un.org, info@amnesty.org.uk, secrt@ohchr.org, idp@ohchr.org

Secretary-General

The United Nations

1 United Nations Plaza

New York, New York 10017-3515

August 04, 2010

Dear Sir,

Sri Lanka: Does it commit Genocide of Tamils under the pretext of “War on terror”?

The Elders, a council of retired global leaders led by Desmond Tutu, issued a statement on Tuesday rebuking the government of Sri Lanka for its “clampdown on domestic critics and its disdain for human rights.” “The ongoing persecution and disappearances of human rights activists, journalists and government opponents is truly terrifying”, it said further. Sri Lanka enjoyed unparallel support to win the war against Tamil Tigers who fought carve a separate homeland from Sri Lanka. Despite their methods they were always sincere about the fact that Tamils and other minorities will have no freedom under the rule of Sri Lanka. After 15 months, the ground reality may strengthen these facts.

-- The persecution, intimidation, assassination and disappearance of government critics, political opponents, journalists and human rights defenders continues

-- Ongoing detention of an estimated 8,000 suspected ex-combatants without charge or access to legal representation, their families or independent monitors

-- The government’s failure to withdraw wartime emergency laws more than a year after the end of the conflict with the L.T.T.E. [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam]

-- Lack of action by the government to address the political marginalization of ethnic minorities that was at the root of Sri Lanka’s 30 years of war

-- Unacceptable behavior towards the United Nations — including a siege by demonstrators of U.N. offices in Colombo, led by a cabinet minister — following the U.N. secretary-general’s appointment of a panel of experts to advise him on accountability issues relating to alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law committed by both sides during the final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka

-- 80,000 of more than 280,000 detained are still kept in the camps

-- Tamils have been denied access to their lands and homes while Sinhalese have been settled in the thousands, making Tamils minority in their traditional land

-- Disappearance and killing of Tamil youth still continue

What should happen in Sri Lanka?

-- Sri Lanka’s most influential friends including India should come out with a firm response against the island nation’s recent treatment of the United Nations and its increasing intolerance of dissent

-- Countries should consider cutting economic ties with Sri Lanka should the human rights violations continue

-- Meaningful progress on reconciliation in Sri Lanka was "still desperately needed" and

-- A political solution must be enforced nowShould the international community fail to bring political solution with dignity to all communities in Sri Lanka, then we have failed human rights and peace.

In a country where a politician can tie an employee to a tree ( here) , where does one begin discussing about human rights?

Truly,

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

Edited August 4, 201015 yr by akootha

இன்று தமிழ்த்தேசியத்துக்காக நான் என்ன செய்தேன்? - August 05, 2010

வாசிக்கவேண்டியது:

எம். வி சன் சீ கப்பல் எதிர்வரும் 14ஆம் திகதி கனடாவை அண்மிக்கும் என எதிர்பார்ப்பு

http://www.yarl.com/forum3/index.php?showtopic=74042

செய்யவேண்டியது:

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

மாதிரி கருத்துக்கள். இவற்றை தேவையின் மாற்றி பதியவும்.

1. 
   
   
2. Why is it that a country full of the descendants of hard-working immigrants who came from far and wide, from poverty and war, continue to harangue those who are looking to do the same.
   
3. Some say this boat is full of Tamil terrorists seeking to regroup in Canada to renew the civil war which has torn the small Indian Ocean country apart. That's what they said last year when a similar situation arose and 76 Tamil immigrants appeared off Victoria. Those claims proved to be utterly false.
   
4. It is reprehensible for those to accuse these people fleeing a nation with a poor record of civil rights towards its minority population of trying to take advantage of this country.
   
5. Canadians who espouse this anti-immigrant doctrine can only be described as cowards. They fear not only the recent stories of the horrible plight of those who turn to this country only because of its reputation as a great, free and fair nation but those of this country's past immigrants. In many cases, it's the same story current citizens could find in their own family histories.
   
6. How could Canada even exist if it wasn't for the persecution, tyranny and lack of freedoms which drove the poor and disenfranchised to settle this rugged and unforgiving land.
   
7. If we are to remain a great country, to live up to the pillar of hope and freedom so many put us on, we must have compassion for people who wash up on our shores.
   
8. In a country and world which has no problem with free trade opening borders for cheap merchandise made with the hands of even cheaper labour, why do Canadians seem so reluctant to open their hearts to their brothers and sisters?
   
9. Surely these people deserve the same consideration as anyone else arriving from a war-torn country – consideration they’re entitled to under Canadian and international law. They certainly don’t deserve prejudicial statements made by those to score political points.
   
10. If a person felt safe in his/her own country, why would he/she spend $45,000 to buy a berth on a coffin ship and risk his/her life just to arrive in a foreign land penniless and homeless? With hundreds of thousands of Tamils still rotting in Sri Lankan detention camps, how can we Canadians doubt for an instant that the Tamils are being persecuted by their government?
    
11. Thirty years ago, Canada welcomed thousands of Vietnamese boat people who had paid huge sums to human smugglers. They were fleeing a war-ravaged totalitarian regime; no one questioned their status as legitimate refugees under the United Nations convention.
    
12. These people risked life and limb to come all this way in hopes of a better life. Did some of our ancestors, grandparents, or parents not do the very same thing? We should at least give them the opportunity to tell their story and have their day in front of a panel to decide their fate. Anything less would not be Canadian.
    
13. I am surprised by the anti-immigration rant by several users of this forum. Some of these comments border on sheer racism and hatred, and advocate violence. They have no place on a Canadian media network.
    
14. Tamils are still fleeing Sri Lanka like there is no tomorrow! We cannot turn down these Tamils who have fled. We as Canadians value rights abuse and we must accept these civilians who fled from a far island. The Canadian boarder agency should accept these civilians.
    
15. Tamils are still fleeing Sri Lanka because there are getting killed and tortured everyday. There is no tomorrow for these people! Sri Lanka is hiding "Genocide". We cannot turn down these Tamils who have fled. We as Canadians value rights abuse and we must accept these civilians who fled from a far island. More importantly, our government should take punitive actions against Sri Lanka and force it to respect human rights.
    
16. Sri Lanka refused visas to our government MPs and Ministers fearing that their visits may reveal the conditions of more than 300,000 Tamil detainees and more than 10,000 Tamils were abducted from these camps and believed to be placed in Sri Lankan government run torture champers. This is the reality in Sri Lanka. It is simply state terrorism. In fact, Sri Lanka itself said it completely wiped out tigers 15 months ago, so why still it refuse free access to media and foreign officials. What is it hiding?
    
17. If separation is good in between Czech and Slovaks ; East Timorians and Indonesia; Kosovo from Yougoslavia, then it is good for Tamileelam and Sri Lanka as well.
    
18. The Tamils grievances is over 62 years old, while the arm struggle has been going on only for the last 30 years. Soon after the Sri-Lankan independence, the Sri-Lankan government was quick to implement anti-Tamil policies, making the Tamils feel aliens in their own native land, and depriving them of basic rights. Tamils were protesting against the discrimination in a Ghandian way (that is what people do in democratic countries), but the Sri-Lankan government chose violence as a weapon to suppress the Tamils legitimate aspiration, and force them into submission.
    
19. My country should take measures to protect Tamil civilians, as we pledged to do when adopted the “responsibility to protect” or "R2P" at the UN World Summit in 2005.
    
20. At the core of this norm is the obligation to protect peoples from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, rather than waiting until atrocities have already occurred, as states have too often done in the past. There can be little doubt about either the magnitude, or the imminence, of the peril Tamil civilians now face in Sri Lanka. Why my country is ignoring its obligation?
    
21. A genocide of Tamils has not received the same attention that genocide in Europe or genocide in Turkey/Armenia/Rwanda or genocide in other part of the world.
    
22. The late great Pope John Paul II wrote, the greatest problem this world faces is "INDIFFRENCE"
    
23. The bottom line is, you can't lump all terrorists together. … what the Tamil Tigers are fighting for in Sri Lanka, or the Basque separatists in Spain, or the insurgents in al-Anbar province may only be connected by tactics." - Ms Hillary Clinton.
    
24. On 8 December 2008 the New York based, Genocide Prevention Project released a ''red alert'' list of 8 countries that included Sri Lanka along with Sudan, Myanmar, Somalia, Iraq, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Afghanistan. Oh well, like in Rwanda, we missed to protect the innocents ...
    
25. Sovereignty implies rights and obligations, and that Sri Lankan state have a basic responsibility to protect its citizens from genocide and mass atrocities. No government has the right to use national sovereignty as a shield behind which it can murder its own people. The challenge for the world community is not only to state this principle, but to implement it!
    
26. It is true that the LTTE has a history of condemnable acts, which receives a lot of attention from the international press, but the Government of Sri Lanka has been much worse, including the deliberate targeting of civilians with heavy force, the use of chemical & cluster bombs, and an officially tolerated practice of rape, among other crimes. Where is the punishment for Sri Lanka?
    
27. Sri Lanka is a rogue state!
    
28. There is no liberation army in the world that has not faced state terror and in turn used terror as a tactic to pursue its nationalist goals. Geroge Washington was a designated terrorist! Until recently, Nelson Mandela was on the list of terrorists.
    
29. Terrorism is the theme of this century; but does it mean national liberation or humanitarian laws should be discarded to the dustbins?
    
30. Tamil Tigers took arms to defend the Tamils when every effort taken by the Tamils to fight for their rights through democratic means had failed to bring results. Democracy never worked in Sri Lanka because the majority are the Sinhalese and they always support the regimes that oppress the Tamils.
    
31. "I regularly interview members of the Taleban in Afghanistan. In Russia I reported on both sides of the Chechen conflict. In China I interviewed dissidents and Tibetan independence activists. To do the equivalent in Sri Lanka is not only forbidden, it is highly dangerous." "The last time I visited Sri Lanka, it was to write about Lasantha Wickrematunge, a newspaper editor who was murdered in January. He left behind a part-written obituary in which he accused the Government of assassinating him because of his criticism of the war. The Government denies this." - Jeremy Page, veteran British journalist.
    
32. "I think that the Sri Lankan government knows that the entire world is very disappointed that in its efforts to end what it sees as 25 years of conflict, it is causing such untold suffering," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, April 22, 2009.
    
33. "No one will be the first to stand up for the Tamils. My biggest fear is that when it's all over, if the Sri Lankans kill thousands more, we'll all say: 'Oh dear, many more have died than we suspected.'" - UK MP Siobhain McDonagh, April 21, 2009
    
34. Canadians are proud that different cultural and ethnic groups get along and live in peace.
    
35. We have nothing to fear – as long as we remain staunchly committed to infusing our foreign policy decisions with our core Canadian values – such as a commitment to peace building, a vigorous defence of the rule of law and the promotion of fundamental and universal human rights – we have much to gain.
    
36. We too came from there. We fled war or famine. We got out while the going was good. Canada took us in. It is the same old story.
    
37. We can either observe our obligations under the refugee convention, to which we are a party, or we can tear it up. It is unlikely even Harper would go that far. If did,
38. Canada would become a pariah nation. We would join Burma, Singapore, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Mongolia and Pakistan, among others, who have not signed it.
    
39. "We seem to have an aversion to people arriving by boat and we do our best to castigate them as security threats" - Sharryn Aiken, Professor Queens University, Whig Standard, July 25, 2010.
    
40. "as with the Loyalists, there is no reason to assume the Tamils reportedly on their way here have terrorist tendencies or are a threat. The vast majority of Tamils are not Tamil Tigers." - Sharryn Aiken, Professor Queens University, Whig Standard, July 25, 2010.
    
41. "current fiscal structure in Canada is not sustainable. If we continue downward trend in population growth, then there has to be a sharp rise in taxes and major cuts to government spendings" - Government of Canada. So, if these refugees are eligible, then welcoming them would be a win win for all of us.
    
42. Please note that last year Canada recieved more refugees from Mexico, Haiti, Columbia and China than from Sri Lanka while only 74 more than fo USA!
    http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/statistics/facts2008/temporary/21.asp
    
43. Only a political solution in Sri Lanka where it recognizes the minority rights and grants some sort of federalism would help to stop the influx of Tamil refugees.
    
44. There’s a suspicion that the organizers may be Tamil Tigers. But helping hundreds of desperate people to reach freedom would seem the least of their crimes. Sometimes this is called “human smuggling” or “trafficking,” to give it an unseemly taint. But smuggling implies an attempt to evade detection!
    
45. Some are concerned that this might be the first (well, the second: the first arrived last October) of many similar deliveries. The same dire warning was issued when a boatload of Sikhs arrived off the coast of Nova Scotia in 1987. Never happened. Apart from a few Chinese boats the following decade, that’s been about it for amphibian invasions.
    
46. If their claims of Tamils are genuine, we should be happy to admit them. A few thousand more refugees is not going to overwhelm us.
    
47. Remember the Vietnamese boat people of the 1970s? We let in 60,000 of them in the space of a couple of years. Most were farmers, fishermen and labourers, with little in the way of conventional skills. A decade later they were outperforming the native-born population on any number of indicators!
    
    
    
    
    

.

Edited August 22, 201015 yr by akootha

இன்று தமிழ்த்தேசியத்துக்காக நான் என்ன செய்தேன்? - August 06, 2010

வாசிக்கவேண்டியது:

கப்பலில் வந்துகொண்டிருக்கும் தமிழ் அகதிகளை வரவேற்பதற்கான ஆயத்தங்களைச் செய்துகொண்டிருக்கும் கனடியத் தமிழ் மக்கள் http://www.yarl.com/forum3/index.php?showtopic=74075

செய்யவேண்டியது:

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

மாதிரி கருத்துக்கள். இவற்றை தேவையின் மாற்றி பதியவும்.

to: Letters to the Editor <lettertoed@thestar.ca>

Subject: Why Tamils still flee Sri Lanka

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

to: letters@globeandmail.com

cc: areinhart@globeandmail.com

Subject: Why Tamils still flee Sri Lanka

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

to: letters@nationalpost.com

cc: SBell@nationalpost.com

Subject: Why Tamils still flee Sri Lanka

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

to: editor@tor.sunpub.com

cc: althia.raj@sunmedia.ca, SHEENA.GOODYEAR@sunmedia.ca

Subject: Why Tamils still flee Sri Lanka

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

Sample letter 1:

Dear Editor,

Hapless Tamils have been fleeing Sri Lanka since 1983 and this has not stopped even after the fact 30 years old civil war had ended. Most Tamils hoped there would be an environment of peace and reconciliation; rather Tamils continue to face some of the worst discrimination.

I appeal your Excellency to screen all of them and should they be found genuine refugees, please show the compassion they deserve.

Sincerely,

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

Sample letter 2:

Dear Editor,

Canada was and is far more humanitarian in its response to the plight of the “boat people”. For example, Vietnamese, Laotians, and Kampucheans who fled Communist regimes in the wake of Saigon’s fall in 1975 and Canada accepted approximately 60,000 of these refugees, most of whom had endured several days in small, leaky boats.

“Amnesty International has extensively documented the use by the Sri Lankan government of anti-terrorism laws to silence human rights activists, journalists, and other critics. Sri Lankans suspected, even if wrongly, of being LTTE supporters have been routinely imprisoned and tortured,” said Alex Neve, Secretary General, Amnesty International Canada. When the thirty years of civil war in Sri Lanka ended in May 2009, most believed this would happen: farmers return to their fields; children return to school; violence against women declines; trade and economic activity resume; medical and other services become more accessible. Well, unfortunately, this was not the case in Sri Lanka.

Let us make sure that these people are genuine refugees. If found such, let us give them a chance to live free.

Truly,

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

Sample letter 3:

Dear Editor,

In 1914, the Japanese-registered Komagata Maru arrived in Vancouver carrying 376 passengers from Punjab. The ship was forced back to India without disembarking; on its return to Calcutta, at least 19 of the passengers were shot by police. In 2008, Stephen Harper apologized on behalf of all Canadians for the Komagata Maru incident.

In 1939, the German-registered SS St. Louis arrived in Halifax harbor with more than 900 Jewish asylum-seekers on board, having already been refused landing in both Cuba and the United States. The Canadian government likewise refused entry, forcing the ship to return to Belgium. More than 200 of the passengers were later murdered by the Nazis. Jason Kenney, the minister for citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism, frequently refers to the SS St. Louis as an example of how racist attitudes colored the policies of previous Canadian governments.

Harper and Kenney's statements on these two historical precedents now place them in a quandary. Their contrition with respect to the Komagata Maru and SS St. Louis might be rooted in genuine humanitarianism, or be part of a cynical effort to attract Sikh and Jewish votes. Either way, it ties their hands with respect to Tamil boat people. The law allows for options; the principle of consistency does not.

Regards,

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

Edited August 6, 201015 yr by akootha

தமிழர் தரப்புக்கு ஆதரவான அறிக்கைகளும், கருத்துக்களும் மற்றும் தொடர்புகளும்.

( எம். வி சன் சீ கப்பல் எதிர்வரும் 14ஆம் திகதி கனடாவை அண்மிக்கும் என எதிர்பார்ப்பு)

1. RIGHTS OF TAMILS ON BOAT NEED TO BE RESPECTED, 28 July 2010

http://ccrweb.ca/en/bulletin/10/07/28

2. Aug. 11, 1986: 155 Tamil refugees are smuggled into Canada on the Aurigae, a 425-tonne ship driven by Captain Wolfgang Bindel. The group was dropped into lifeboats off the coast of Newfoundland, and eventually given stay for a year: http://www.diversitywatch.ryerson.ca/backgrounds/tamils.htm

3. GRANT TAMIL REFUGEES FAIR, DUE PROCESS: NEW DEMOCRATS OCTOBER 20, 2009

http://www.tamilcanadian.com/page.php?cat=64&id=5818

4. Sri Lanka is not safe for Tamil refugees to return ( 4:18 video)

5. http://mostlywater.org/myths_and_realities_about_490_tamil_refugees_mv_sun_sea

Edited August 17, 201015 yr by akootha

தமிழர் தரப்புக்கு ஆதரவான அறிக்கைகளும், கருத்துக்களும் மற்றும் தொடர்புகளும்.

Queue Jumping

Queue jumping, if there is a queue to jump can be justified in cases of need and is not immoral nor need it be considered illegal if we are mindful of the spirit of the law, that is, the common good which the law is meant to serve.

Queue jumpers cannot be condemned for their actions on the grounds that what they have done is immoral.

There is a distinction between what is illegal and what is immoral, despite a view in the minds of many that what is illegal is morally wrong and to be condemned.

However, what is immoral may not be illegal and vice versa.

For example, we regard adultery as morally wrong, but, at least in Western countries, it is not regarded as illegal. There are acts, such as murder which are both illegal and immoral. It is illegal for pedestrians to walk against a red light, but, assuming one does not compromise one’s safety in doing so, it is not immoral. Nor is it illegal for salespersons to play on the weaknesses of gullible customers to pressure them into buying goods which the salespersons know they cannot afford, but it would be immoral.

Let us assume that it is true that illegal immigrants have jumped the queue ahead of others. There are many circumstances in which it is generally accepted as permissible. Hospitals, for example, operate on the premise that those requiring urgent attention are seen first, whereas those whose illnesses or injuries are not as urgent are required to wait. Someone whose life is in danger has priority over someone who has, say, a broken finger. Anyone who has experienced the interminable wait in the casualty sections of our public hospitals can attest to this, and most would accept that urgent cases have priority, even if one has been waiting for hours.

While it is admitted that a nation has a right to protect its borders against incursions by those who are not citizens, this right is not absolute. A compassionate country would not promulgate even harsher laws to keep genuine refugees out.

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

Tamil boat and sensationalism

Relying on sound-bites about organized crime and terrorism is the best way to close public debate about government actions.

Instead of relying on sensationalism, let us ask: On what basis are the Tamil migrants being declared terrorists?

Is it even logical that well-financed and often state-backed terrorists or traffickers would suffer in a three-month long, arduous journey risking death?

Even if we believe that women and children were forced onto this boat, how do we justify jailing them as a humane response?

What we do know is that United Nations Secretary-General Ban Kimoon has appointed a panel to investigate war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan government against Tamils. Human rights organizations have documented government and military atrocities including indiscriminate killings, arbitrary detentions and imprisonment, and mass displacement of Tamils. Canada has itself accepted more than 90 per cent of refugee claimants from Sri Lanka in the past two years.

Last year we succumbed to unfounded panic when the Ocean Lady landed with 76 Tamils aboard. All the men were eventually released when the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) was forced to admit they had no evidence of terrorist connections. Ottawa even tried to use Section 86 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, a draconian section that allows for secret evidence in closed hearings, to make their case. Still, based on a lack of evidence, in January the CBSA announced that it would not contest the release of the last group of detainees.

So Canadian officials are either continuing to make uninformed statements despite the lack of evidence, or they are deliberately relying on the racist stereotyping of all Tamils as likely being associated with terrorism in order to fuel public fears. Their irresponsibility is facilitating a climate where anti-immigration advocates are gaining more traction in their demands for the boat to be sent back and for Canada to stop welcoming refugees.

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The history of boat people and Canada

Apprehension about the sea-borne Other – a primal form of xenophobia – has led to some dark episodes in our history.

Canada's first boat people were the Norse who came ashore a thousand years ago in Newfoundland. They fit the refugee pattern: farmers and simple artisans, maybe a few fierce Vikings among them known for terrorizing Europe, people driven out of their homeland by population pressures and political unrest. No one knows how they were received by the local inhabitants, the Beothuks. Probably not well. The Beothuks' response to later European arrivals, before they became extinct, was to hide from them by moving inland.

But historians know the next boat people, Jacques Cartier and his Breton mariners, who sailed into Gaspé harbour in 1534, and quickly developed a sour relationship with Iroquois chief Donnacona, ticking him off by their pushy behaviour in claiming the land for the French king and kidnapping his sons. The primal fear of the stranger, the Other, seems edgiest when they arrive by sea.

They can be watched, coming across the blank, huge canvas of the ocean, moment by moment growing larger and more ominous on the horizon, carrying alien stuff. Hence the noisy narrative of the MV Sun Sea's progress over the Pacific into Canadian territory with its Tamil cargo. That archetypal fear of the stranger-by-sea was inherent in the two most shameful moments of Canadian boat-people history, the stories of the Komagata Maru and the MS St. Louis.

Across the Pacific from British Columbia at the turn of the century was the Other of the Empire's colonial world – the “lesser breeds without the law,” Rudyard Kipling called them in his poem Recessional, composed for Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee in 1897. They were the yellow peril, the dark-skinned wogs (derived from the Golliwogg, a minstrel doll character from a children's book published in 1895), the threats from a different human order. In May, 1914, the Japanese-owned steamship Komagata Maru, chartered out of Hong Kong, arrived at Vancouver with 376 passengers from India intent on emigrating to Canada.

“Hindu invaders now in Vancouver harbor,” read a welcoming newspaper headline, incorrectly. Almost all of them were Sikhs.

At that time, Indians, even though they were British subjects, were kept out of Canada by an order-in-council requiring them to come to Canada by continuous passage from India, service that no steamship line provided. The order was challenged successfully in court in 1913, leading to the Komagata Maru's journey. But the ship was kept waiting in Vancouver harbour for two months, with most of its passengers detained on board while immigration officials manoeuvred to keep them out of court. On July 20, the naval cruiser HMCS Rainbow arrived as a manifestation of intimidating state muscle and, on July 23, the Komagata Maru weighed anchor and sailed back across the Pacific to Calcutta, where 20 of its passengers were killed in a shootout with colonial police suspicious of their politics and others were jailed for refusing to return to the Punjab.

Twenty-five years later, the persecution and genocide of two-thirds of Europe's nine million Jews was well launched when the captain of the passenger liner MS St. Louis, carrying 907 German Jewish refugees, asked permission of the Canadian government to dock in Halifax. The Jews were the only Other who were part of European civilization (the Gypsies were mere vagrant children and a nuisance), uncomfortably close-up, perceived as undermining the broader culture with their non-conformism and clothed with the mythological mantle of Shylocks and Christ-killers.

In 1939, all governments of the Americas refused the St. Louis permission to land. Franklin Delano Roosevelt's administration in the U.S. didn't even bother to reply to the captain's request but dispatched a coast guard vessel to make sure the ship didn't get too close to land as it sailed north along the Atlantic seaboard. Canada was the last hope.

A group of prominent Canadian businessmen and academics sent prime minister Mackenzie King a telegram urging him to allow the ship to dock in the name of “true Christian charity. But Mr. King felt that the St. Louis “was not a Canadian problem.” Justice minister Ernest Lapointe declared himself “emphatically opposed.” And immigration director Frederick Charles Blair said no country could “open its doors wide enough to take in the hundreds of thousands of Jewish people who want to leave Europe: The line must be drawn somewhere. The St. Louis returned to Europe. Many of its passengers died in the gas chambers of the Nazi Third Reich. A film was made about the St. Louis in 1976 – Voyage of the Damned. Award-winning Canadian director and screenwriter Deepa Mehta is making a film about the Komagata Maru.

In a 1972 essay on migration and the efforts of millions of the world's poor and oppressed and casualties of conflict to get to a better place on the planet, Irish author Conor Cruise O'Brien wrote: “The advanced world may well be like, and feel like, a closed and guarded palace in a city gripped by the plague.”

The great boat-people success story in Canada, of course, has been the refugees from Indochina – the Vietnamese, Vietnamese Chinese, Lao and Kampucheans who now number a quarter of a million people, most of them originally sponsored in the late 1970s and early 1980s by church and community groups with federal government assistance after the U.S.-supported South Vietnamese government fell to the North Vietnamese communists. Most of the refugees were highly educated professionals who fit quickly into Canadian society.

Similarly, the so-called Mariel boatlift of 130,000 Cubans to the United States over a few short months of 1980 transformed Miami. But Professor Kyle Killian of York University's Centre for Refugee Studies says boat people are rarely welcomed anywhere, even in Canada.

“First, they have been displaced as a result of a conflict elsewhere in the world, and therefore are often deemed as ‘someone else's problem.’

“Second, they have been displaced often as a result of an armed conflict with another ethnic community. And as history is written by the victors, representatives of the ethnic community who displaced the boat people are often quick to sound an alarm about the supposed inherent dangers that the boat people represent. These attempts at negative public relations can be successful because they activate xenophobic responses in citizens of the prospective host country.

“Third, it has long been established in social psychological research – the ‘bystander' studies – that human beings tend to be more helpful to persons in need when they are perceived as attractive and possess characteristics similar to bystanders.”

Tamils refugees and the numbers

It's not just Canada that has been taking Tamil refugees all these years. Roughly 64 countries have accepted Tamils fleeing persecution in their home land. People are unnecessarily stressing themselves over this issue. Canada is not going to turn into third world by accepting 492 Tamils who risked their lives and everything you can think of to come over here. It's not Canadian to be rude to people who risked everything to come here.

According to UNHCR's most recent statistics, there are a total of 146,098 Sri Lanka refugees in 64 countries. India (73,269), France (20,464), Canada (19,143), Germany (12,248), United Kingdom (8,615), Switzerland (2,836), Malaysia (2,132), Australia (2,070), United States (1,561) and Italy (964) are the top 10 countries hosting Sri Lankan refugees. There are also 7,562 Sri Lankan asylum seekers known to UNHCR in 57 countries. The top ten countries hosting Sri Lankan asylum-seekers are: Switzerland, Malaysia, Canada, Germany, Norway, Thailand, US, Netherlands, Japan and Australia. Last year, 34,000 new asylum seekers submitted their claims in Canada.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/UNHCR/e714508b50812611ba642a83157a6697.htm

Edited August 17, 201015 yr by akootha

to: letters@globeandmail.com

cc: MYoussef@globeandmail.com,DLeblanc@globeandmail.com

Subject : re: Sri Lanka seeks deal to share intelligence on migrants

Dear Editor,

Thanks for your story: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/sri-lanka-seeks-deal-to-share-intelligence-on-migrants/article1675194/

And Sri Lanka is not a trustworthy partner as the envoy claims to be.

I don't think it's a great idea to make deals with the governments refugees are fleeing to coordinate anti-refugee responses.

Maybe there's someone out there who feels that Sri Lanka is a safe and democratic environment? I doubt it.

Is there someone who believe turning a ship around isn't a major safety hazard? I doubt it.

I think refugees would be willing to wait in a queue. Just so long as the queue isn't the place they're fleeing from.

There have been accusations made to distract from the potentially sympathetic story of refugees; the refugees must be punished because bad people profit from them, or maybe some are terrorists; but these claims are never substantiated and never explain why refugees should be restricted for this.

Sincerely,

[How soon we forget] Every immigrant to Canada thinks he's the last good newcomer. It's been like that since the arrival of the first settlers. The natives thought little of the French. After the conquest, the English were reviled as inferior, maladroit rubes.

[How soon we forget] Trace your family's roots and not only are you guaranteed to find an immigrant but also likely an ethnic or cultural community that was denigrated in its time.

[How soon we forget] In the 1850s the Irish were so hated, the city of Toronto struck a committee to figure out how to stop them from destroying the fabric of its culture. George Brown described the travail of being waylaid by Irish beggars in the pages of The Globe and Mail: "They are as ignorant and vicious as they are poor. They are lazy, improvident and unthankful."

[How soon we forget] One of only two political assassinations in our country's history -- that of Thomas D'Arcy McGee -- was carried out by Irish terrorists. True these might be valid arguments against letting in anyone from a country torn by civil strife, but I wonder how many of those descended from the Irish think it was a terrible mistake to let their forefathers in?

[smugglers] asylum seekers often have no choice but to partake of 'despicable' criminals' services.

[ Smugglers] It may have been their (refugees) only recourse, and if it was, they are the victims.

[Queue jumpers] The notion that these people have made a mockery of Canada's immigration system by entering through the back door is absurd. In many cases, there is no front door to open.

[Queue Jumpers] Escape from oppressive regimes and the violence of armed conflict is not pretty. It is not achieved by purchasing a first-class ticket in advance and arriving with travel documents in hand.

[Queue jumpers] The single largest source of refugee claimants to Canada is Hungary, a full-freight member of the European Union. It's a tremendous waste of resources. And it's illogical to focus ire on Sri Lankan refugee claimants, who had an 85% success rate in the first six months of 2010, and ignore Hungarian claimants, who had a 99.5% rejection rate. Accusations of Tamil "queue-jumping" miss the point. There is no refugee "queue" for Sri Lankans. It's literally first-come, first-served. If they "jumped the queue," then so did every one of the 34,000 asylum-seekers who arrived in Canada last year.

[Tamil Refugees] There are any corners of the world that could produce bona fide refugees, Sri Lanka is surely one of them.

[Other Refugees] A transgendered woman from Northern Ireland, Tanya Bloomfield, who has lived in Nova Scotia since 2006, will be allowed to apply for refugee status on grounds she'd be persecuted back home. Is the rest of the European Union, in which U.K. citizens have full mobility and employment rights, not good enough?

[Credit to Canada] Minister Jason Kenny has done an excellent job in cutting off bogus refugee claimants.

[Credit to Canada ] Harper government has in fact been handling the situation with admirable humanity, winning praise from, among others, the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

[Credit to Canada] Providing safe refuge to those in need is one of the hallmarks of Canada’s reputation as a progressive nation that fights tyranny through compassion.

[Credit to Canada] Canada did accept 200,000 Hungarian refugees after Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest in1956, another 11,000 Czechs and Slovaks when the same thing happened in Prague in 1968, about 40,000 U.S. draft dodgers in 1971 and many other waves of refugees from Vietnam, Ethiopia, the Balkans, Afghanistan and Sudan over the ensuing decades.

Edited August 23, 201015 yr by akootha