TNA: Tamils Subject to Genocide

by Tamil National Alliance, April 12, 2009

FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE
TAMIL NATIONAL ALLIANCE
12 April 2009.

URGENT PRESS RELEASE

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) joins the Tamil Diaspora in drawing attention to the catastrophic situation being faced by the Tamil people in the island of Sri Lanka. Since the beginnings of this year, over 4100 Tamil civilians have been killed and over 8800 gravely injured as a result of the deliberate targeting of Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan State’s armed forces. All these Tamil civilians have been killed in areas demarcated by the Sri Lankan State as ‘safe zones’ for civilians.

The TNA is alarmed by the dramatic rise in Tamil civilian casualties over the last two weeks. Within the last 9 days alone, 707 Tamil civilians have been killed and over 1000 gravely injured. In addition, The Sri Lankan State by imposing an embargo on food, medicine and desperately needed humanitarian assistance has precipitated a humanitarian catastrophe.

The Sri Lankan State’s use of food and medicine as weapons of war is a war crime under international law.

The situation faced by the Tamil people is unprecedented. Whilst a considerable section of the Tamil people are being exterminated in the so called “safe zones”, or are in imminent danger of being exterminated, the remaining sections are being systematically silenced by being herded into concentration camps, terrorized by mass round ups, abductions and forced disappearances.

Even when the Sri Lankan State armed forces’ military operations were purportedly concentrated elsewhere, the Tamil civilian casualty figures within the “safe zone” had reached unprecedented levels.

It is the considered view of the TNA, that the recent official announcements of the Sri Lankan State’s intention to launch “maneuvers” to take over the “safe zone”, implies a calculated move to exterminate the 300,000 Tamil civilians living within the said zone.

The use by the Sri Lankan State of internationally banned weapons, such as cluster bombs and chemical weapons, has been a characteristic feature of the current phase of the war being waged against the Tamil people.

The Tamil people in the island of Sri Lanka are clearly being subjected to Genocide.

It is in these dire circumstances of an accelerated Genocide by unprecedented levels of Tamil civilian killings and the imminent extermination of those within the “safe zone”, that the TNA appeals to India and the rest of the international community to: -

• Compel the Sri Lankan Government to stop all military operation immediately
• Bring about an immediate ceasefire between the Sri Lankan State and the LTTE
• Compel the Sri Lankan Government to ensure that unrestricted humanitarian aid reaches the Tamil people situated within the “safe zone” immediately
• Compel the Sri Lankan Government to provide immediate unrestricted access to the ICRC, the UN and other humanitarian agencies