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TAMIL CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS – TCHR (Estd. 1990) URGENT APPEAL Imminent danger in the Island of Sri Lanka!
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04 May 2000 More than sixteen years of bloody ethnic conflict in the island of Sri Lanka has resulted in 65,000 deaths, nearly 1 million internally displaced people, billions of rupees worth of property damaged - including schools and religious places reduced to ashes. More than 600,000 people have sought political asylum in foreign countries. TCHR has documented the mass arrests, frequent aerial bombardments, torture, disappearances, extra-judicial killings, violence against women and other human rights violations. We produce reports with detailed information annexed with affidavits, which are forwarded as proof to the United Nations human rights forums and to other International human rights organisations. The Government of Sri Lanka exaggerates and censors news of the war situation in order to divert the attention of the international community away from its massive human rights violations. The war is taking place in the Tamil homeland - Northeast - and the people within this area are the targeted victims of this conflict. The Economic embargo to the densely populated Tamil regions has caused starvation, death and disease due to lack of food and medical supplies. Every Tamil in this island is the victim of this humanitarian disaster in one-way or another. If we consider the present military build-up in the light of the economy of this island, it is obvious that the loss of lives and destruction of normal life is, in fact caused by foreign aid to Sri Lanka! It has been repeatedly said by veteran economists in the past, that the stopping of foreign aid to Sri Lanka is the ONLY WAY to ensure the cessation of war, and a negotiated political settlement to the island’s ethnic conflict. In the early 70’s, Air Ceylon – the national airline of Sri Lanka had only ONE AIRCRAFT - it was on lease! In the recent past, Sri Lanka has obtained an unlimited supply of powerful Kfir bombers and various types of warplanes and sophisticated military hardware from many countries. These were used exclusively against the Tamil people. Sri Lanka’s financial predicament is well known and much has been written on the subject. Spending on health, education and social services has plummeted over the years while military spending has soared astronomically. The massive defence expenditure cannot be met by the country’s revenue! An annual sum of around $860 million given by the Paris Aid Consortium of the World Bank and IMF is more or less equivalent to the military expenditure of the Sri Lankan government! It is crystal clear that Foreign aid artificially bolsters the Sri Lankan government, financing, aiding and abetting the present war. The latest news from Colombo, Sri Lanka, alerts the world – stating that there is imminent danger on this island! The Sri Lankan Government is seeking help from Britain, Israel, Russia, Czech Republic, Iran, Pakistan and Singapore for sophisticated military hardware to continue this war. This latest move by the Sri Lanka government is a serious threat to peace-loving people in the world. The present request for more military hardware will certainly bring more death and destruction to the Tamil people who are already undergoing severe human rights violations by the Sri Lankan security forces. When the same request for military help was made to the Indian government, the Indian Minister of External Affairs Mr. Jaswant Singh, stated on 4th May, in New Delhi, that "India will work to mitigate the hardship inflicted on civilians by the conflict, taking such humanitarian measures as become necessary in consultation with Sri Lanka." In the recently concluded Geneva UN Commission on Human Rights – 56th session, countries such as Australia, Canada, Portugal (on behalf of the European Union) and many NGOs made statements regarding the deteriorating human rights situation Sri Lanka. The latest reports of the UN Special Rapporteurs on Extra-judicial killings, Torture, Independence of lawyers and judges, Freedom of expression etc. and the report of the UN Working group on disappearances are all highly critical of the Sri Lankan government’s human rights record. According to the Working group on disappearances, Sri Lanka has 12,258 disappearances and this is the second highest number compared to all other countries. Sri Lanka was the ONLY country where the UN Working group on disappearances has visited THREE TIMES! We request every individual and organisation to send appeals to the above-mentioned countries (addresses and fax numbers are given below) requesting them not to supply any arms to Sri Lanka and to demand that the Sri Lankan government find a lasting and peaceful negotiated solution to the ethnic problem in this island. Thank you. (Preferable salutation to address Ambassadors: Your Excellency.) BRITAIN ISRAEL RUSSIAN FEDERATION CZECH REPUBLIC IRAN PAKISTAN SINGAPORE HEAD OFFICE: Tamil Centre for Human Rights – TCHR |
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