Hattrem summarized the Norwegian view of the challenges to finding out about war crimes: that in all likelihood only 2-3 army officers knew about any given illegal action, that orders were given verbally, that government officials will not give evidence, and that the Tamils are afraid to give evidence. Strommen suggested that although Williamson cannot use information given by the ICRC directly, that information may be used as a cross-check against information gathered from other sources. Stangeland said that the Norwegian government was shocked by the extent to which, in the last stages of the conflict, the Sri Lankan army and government (a) said that its actions were proportionate, which turned out to be false, and (b) violated every guaranteed civilian “safe zone” that was supposedly put into place.
Posts Categorized: International
Philippines Peace Agreement
Over half of the world’s peace agreements are broken within a few years anyway, that’s the official record. Remember that historic peace pact between the Israelis and the Palestinians – see how long that one lasted! And you may not even have noticed that just a few years before the Sri Lankan military destroyed the last remains of the Tamil Tigers on the battlefield, the two parties had also signed a comprehensive peace agreement, brokered by the Norwegians. …
And the reason it is so critical to the peace agreement which has just been signed is that peace at the negotiating table is only ever possible when there is real peace on the ground. Most ceasefires are broken the day they are agreed, and they continue to be broken every day because both sides are continually testing the other, reigning in their forces only enough to get the best deal they can at the negotiating table and if they don’t get it, are ready to go back to fighting until they do.
Colombia Peace Talks Off to Touchy Start
“We want peace,” Márquez said. “But peace doesn’t mean the silencing of guns — it means transforming the structures of the state and changing our political, economic and military models.”
‘Death toll in LTTE war HIGHER than Srebrenica, Syria’
The war against the LTTE, waged by the Mahinda Rajapakse government, may have restored peace in Sri Lanka. But thousands of Tamils paid the price for the so-called victory with their lives, journalist Frances Harrison tells Vicky Nanjappa.
Interview with Frances Harrison on Palaka’ni
Former BBC Correspondent to Sri Lanka, and the author of ‘Still Counting The Dead’, Frances Harrison, interviewed by Palaka’ni, TamilNet.
Creating Historical Fiction on Mu’l’livaaykkaal
Julian Vigo: I got involved because I was working on child trafficking projects in Haiti and was approached by two different members of the UN who asked me to make a report about what they witnessed in Sri Lanka that resembled much of what they were seeing in Haiti.
UNHRC Session in Geneva
Racism in areas of language, education and employment is pervasive and deeply ingrained in Sri Lanka’s social, economic and political structures.
For these reasons and more we request the Special Rapporteur on Racism to make an official visit to Sri Lanka to make an assessment of the underlying structural inequalities and escalating intolerance there…
The Genocidal Biafran War Haunts Nigeria
The persecution of the Igbos didn’t end with the Biafran conflict. Until the nation faces up to this, its mediocrity will continue.
ICG: Action Plan, But No Action
In the six months since the Human Rights Council’s March 2012 resolution on “Promoting Reconciliation and Accountability in Sri Lanka”, the government of Sri Lanka has taken no meaningful steps to implement the resolution’s core requirements or otherwise address the country’s culture of impunity and deepening crisis of the rule of law. The publication of a “national action plan” to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) does nothing the change this…
USTPAC Applauds U.S. Lawmakers’ Letter-Writing Campaign to Secretary Clinton
“We respectfully urge you and your colleagues to purposefully and dynamically engage with the government of Sri Lanka in advancing reconciliation and accountability and a return to peaceful stability.”
The New World
Now, though, we appear on the brink of yet another nation-state baby boom… If anything, they are linked by a single, undeniable fact: history chews up borders with the same purposeless determination that geology does…
Burma’s Suu Kyi Urges Minority Rights
“To become a truly democratic union with a spirit of the union, equal rights and mutual respect, I urge all members of parliament to discuss the enactment of the laws needed to protect equal rights of ethnicities,” she said, in support of a motion by a ruling party MP…
“The high poverty rates in ethnic states clearly indicate that development in ethnic regions is not satisfactory and ethnic conflicts in these regions have not ceased,” she said during her brief speech.
International Community and Proxy War Against Tamils
By Rajkumar Sivapatham, July 17, 2004 [Editorial comment: Present proxy war against Tamil freedom struggle is nothing but another obstacle along our path to freedom. Proverbial ploy: “Rocking the cradle ( peace talks) and pinching the baby (proxy war)” is not rocket science to Tamils. Nevertheless the writer expresses his unhappiness and enlightens us on… Read more »
Greasing Up to the Power
By George Monbiot, The Guardian, UK, July 13, 2004 [An editorial comment: Modern media can not be expected to play an objective role in presenting the grievances of a community with weak lobbying power. Monbiot’s analysis of power structures that distort and subjugate people around the globe is very eduational. It is relevant to the… Read more »
India Looks East
India is really looking towards the East now by Pranay Gupte, Straits Times, Singapore, June 17, 2004 NEW DELHI – ‘We always said, ‘Look East’, but then we would go West,’ Mr Jairam Ramesh was saying in his small ground-floor office here over the weekend. ‘Now India wants to go East and also have the… Read more »
Thiru. Vaiko in Chicago June 19
Playing with Indian Fire
by Rajkumar Sivapatham, June 14, 2004 As expected by the Tamils, the Sri Lankan president is at her tricks again. That is – giving the impression that she is ready for peace talks in one hand and totally rejecting them on the other. So far, this tactic has worked very well with her Sinhalese political friends… Read more »
The Time has Come to ‘Lock Horns’
by Adrian Wijemanne, June 11, 2004 1. This is the infelicitous phrase to describe the peace talks used by Foreign Minister Kadiragamar in his recent address at a meeting in Washington D.C. convened by the Brookings Institution. There is a combative fervour about the phrase, as if the conference table were another battlefield. Memories of… Read more »
Kurds Win Round on Constitution
By Dexter Filkins, The New York Times, June 10, 2004 BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 9 — Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said Wednesday that his government would adhere to the interim constitution agreed to in March until elections are held next year, in an effort to defuse, at least temporarily, a looming crisis with the Kurdish leadership…. Read more »
Don’t Know, Should Care
by Jeffrey D. Sachs, New York Times, June 5, 2004. Our ability to understand what exists before and after wars in low-income countries is nearly nonexistent. George Tenet’s resignation this week came after failures of American intelligence in the Iraq war as well as in the lead-up to the Sept. 11 attacks. But the government’s… Read more »