அய் நா மனித உரிமைப் பேரவை தனது பாவங்களைக் கழுவ வேண்டும்-ஐ நா நிபுணர்குழு

[narathar]

TamilNet, Friday, 02 March 2012, 19:08 GMT]

Recalling the 2009 blunder by UN Human Rights Council of praising Sri Lanka for its bloody finish to the civil war and stating that the war in its final days had cost as many as 40,000 deaths, the three UN Secretary General's Expert Panel Members, Marzuki Darusman, Steven Ratner and Yasmin Sooka, on Friday said “it is time for the council to correct its embarrassing decision from 2009.” While crediting US for its efforts, the experts of UN panel said: “Yet such a demand is not enough.” Given Sri Lanka's unwillingness to take concrete steps, the best way to get to the truth is for the council to “create an independent investigative body to determine the facts and identify those responsible, as we recommended in our report,” the trio said in an Op-Ed article published in the New York Times.

Comparing the slaughtering figure of Vanni war as “many multiples more than caused by the strife in Libya or Syria,” they also said that “the lack of much outside interest in the bloodshed while it happened cannot be an excuse for continuing to ignore the situation.

The experts were firm in stating that the bulk of the slaughter was attributable to “deliberate, indiscriminate, or disproportionate governmental attacks on civilians, through massive shelling and aerial bombardment, including on clearly marked hospitals.”

However, the very paradigm of reducing the genocide into mere war-crimes, as had been presented in the UNSG panel report is the fundamental flaw that paved way for more failures to come, Eezham Tamil political circles in the island observed.

At least at this stage, the international community has to stop looking at the whole scenario through the prism of ‘war-crimes and reconciliation’ and should open its eyes to the historical reality of a nation affected by genocide needing its right to self-determination, the Tamil political circles further said.

Full text of the Op-Ed article by the UNSG experts follows:

Revisiting Sri Lanka's Bloody War

By MARZUKI DARUSMAN, STEVEN RATNER and YASMIN SOOKA

Published: March 03, 2012

Even as attention is riveted on the bloodshed in Syria, another conflict, far more deadly, is belatedly attracting the notice it deserves.

Beginning this week, the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva has returned to an issue that has haunted it since 2009 - the bloody finish to Sri Lanka's civil war. That conflict ended on a stretch of beach in the country's northeast, as the remaining fighters of the Tamil Tigers and tens of thousands of traumatized civilians were surrounded by and surrendered to the Sri Lankan Army.

Sri Lankans and many abroad rejoiced at the defeat of a force that had routinely deployed terrorist tactics. But even as the government's military campaign was under way, it became clear that the cost in civilian lives from its attacks on the Tigers was enormous. Right after the war, the Human Rights Council, to the shock of many observers, passed a resolution praising Sri Lanka's conduct of the war. Sri Lanka's president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, promised Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the time that he would address the question of accountability for violations against civilians.

When, a year later, the government had done nothing to carry out Rajapaksa's commitment, the secretary general asked the three of us to study the allegations of atrocities during the last stages of the war and Sri Lanka's response. In our report, we found credible evidence that both sides had systematically flouted the laws of war, leading to as many as 40,000 deaths - many multiples more than caused by the strife in Libya or Syria.

The bulk of that total was attributable to deliberate, indiscriminate, or disproportionate governmental attacks on civilians, through massive shelling and aerial bombardment, including on clearly marked hospitals.

Rather than tackling these allegations head-on through a truth commission or criminal investigations, Sri Lanka created a "Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission," whose mandate, composition and methods all cast serious doubt on its willingness to uncover what really happened in those fateful months.

When the commission issued its final report last November, it ignored or played down our report's conclusions and characterized civilian deaths as stemming from the army's response to Tamil Tiger shelling or cross-fire - as sporadic, exceptional and mostly inevitable in the heat of battle.

When it came time to proposing next steps for the government, it called for investigations by the same entities - the army and the attorney general - who have a track record of ignoring governmental abuses for decades.

The report had some welcome elements, too. It recognized some of the root causes of the war, as well as the responsibility of both the government and Tigers for civilian casualties. And it endorsed our view that Sri Lanka had a duty to provide truth, justice and reparations to victims; release detainees; and protect the state's besieged journalists.

Yet the fact is that numerous recommendations of prior commissions of inquiry have not been implemented by the government.

The Human Rights Council's members are currently looking at a draft resolution, circulating at the initiative of the United States, to demand action from Sri Lanka on uncovering the truth and achieving some real accountability. The United States deserves a great deal of credit for trying to get the council to move on this issue. It is time for the council to correct its embarrassing decision from 2009.

Yet such a demand is not enough. Given Sri Lanka's unwillingness to take concrete steps, the best way to get to the truth is for the council to create an independent investigative body to determine the facts and identify those responsible, as we recommended in our report.

For Sri Lanka to experience a true peace, rather than simply the peace of the victor, truth and accountability are essential. This is the lesson from states as varied as South Africa, Sierra Leone and Argentina. The lack of much outside interest in the bloodshed while it happened cannot be an excuse for continuing to ignore the situation. The international community must now assume its duty to ensure that Sri Lanka fulfills its responsibilities to all its people and to the rest of the world.

Marzuki Darusman is a former attorney-general of Indonesia. Steven Ratner is a law professor at the University of Michigan. Yasmin Sooka is the executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights in South Africa.

US demand on Sri Lanka is not enough: UNSG Panel of Experts

[புங்கையூரன்]

இந்தச் சபையில் அங்கத்துவம், வகிக்கும் எல்லா அங்கத்துவ நாடுகளின் கரங்களிலும், ஏதோ ஒரு விதத்தில் எமது 'இரத்தக் கறை' படிந்தேயிருக்கின்றது, நாரதர்!

சிரியாவுக்கேதிரான 'தீர்மானம்' நிறைவேற்றப் பட்டபோது, இதே இந்தியாவின் வாய்கள் மூடித்தானே இருந்தன:

இவர்களது பாவங்களைக் கழுவ, இன்னும் ஆயிரம் கங்கைகள், பூவுலகிற்கு இறங்கி வந்தாலும், அவை தங்களைத்தான் பாவப் படுத்திக் கொள்ளும்!

உங்கள் பதிவுக்கு, நன்றிகள்!

[தமிழ் சிறி]

இந்தச் சபையில் அங்கத்துவம், வகிக்கும் எல்லா அங்கத்துவ நாடுகளின் கரங்களிலும், ஏதோ ஒரு விதத்தில் எமது 'இரத்தக் கறை' படிந்தேயிருக்கின்றது, நாரதர்!

சிரியாவுக்கேதிரான 'தீர்மானம்' நிறைவேற்றப் பட்டபோது, இதே இந்தியாவின் வாய்கள் மூடித்தானே இருந்தன:

இவர்களது பாவங்களைக் கழுவ, இன்னும் ஆயிரம் கங்கைகள், பூவுலகிற்கு இறங்கி வந்தாலும், அவை தங்களைத்தான் பாவப் படுத்திக் கொள்ளும்!

உங்கள் பதிவுக்கு, நன்றிகள்!

இந்தியா ஒரு, சிரங்கு பிடிச்சு... சபிக்கப்பட்ட நாடு.

தானும்... சொறியாது, மற்றவனையும் சொறிய விடாது.

[ஈசன்]

.

அரசு அல்லாத குழுமங்களும் நேற்று மாலை UNHRC இல் உரையாற்றி இருக்கிறார்கள்.

தமிழர் பிரச்சனைகளை அங்கு சொல்லத்தக்க குழுமத்தை நாம் அமைக்க வேண்டும். அரசலாத மனித உரிமைக்குழுமங்களை அவர்கள் அனுமதித்திருப்பது மிகவும் நல்ல விடயம். அடுத்த முறையாவது இச்சந்தர்ப்பத்தை எம்மவர்கள் பயன்படுத்த வேண்டும்.

Also speaking were the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions, Society for Threatened Peoples, European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, United Nations Watch, World Alliance for Citizen Participation, BADIL Resource Centre for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations, Lawyers Rights Watch Canada, Action International pour la Paix et le Développment dans la Région des Grands Lacs, Comité International pour le Respect et l’Application de la Charte Africaine des Droits de l’Homme et des Peuples, International Society for Human Rights, Indian Council of South America, Commission to Study the Organization of Peace, North South XXI, Liberation, Rencontre Africaine pour la Defense des Droits de l’Homme, International Service for Human Rights and Institute on Human Rights and Holocaust.

Lawyers Rights Watch Canada asked the High Commissioner to increase her vigilance and increase the protection of journalists. Sri Lanka had failed to achieve peace. The Panel of Experts provided appropriate analysis of violations committed in this country and the measures and recommendations to take.

http://www.ohchr.org...=11900&LangID=E