Sunday, February 01, 2009
Activist warns of Sri Lanka "massacres"
Activist warns of Sri Lanka "massacres"
Swiss Tamils meet integration challenges The defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels at the hands of the Sri Lankan military could well lead to reprisal massacres, warns a Swiss human rights expert.
Sri Lankan troops are battling to finish one of Asia's longest wars, having won a series of major battles and swiftly encircled the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the northeast of the Indian Ocean island.
Sri Lanka's president urged the rebels on Friday to allow the estimated 250,000 civilians trapped in the northern war zone to flee to safety following reports of heavy casualties among non-combatants stuck in the shrinking territory.
"The human right most under threat at the moment is life itself. After a conflict lasting over 30 years and atrocities committed on all sides, a military defeat of the Tigers would open the door to the settling of scores and massacres," Adrien-Claude Zoller, director of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Geneva for Human Rights, told swissinfo.
Zoller recently returned from the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, where he had been giving human rights courses to civil society NGOs.
Human rights groups have accused the rebels of holding civilians hostage and accused the military of launching heavy attacks in areas filled with civilians, including a government-declared "safe zone" in the north.
full text is at
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/front/Activist_warns_of_Sri_Lanka_massacres.html?siteSect=108&sid=10266130&cKey=1233499785000&ty=st
Swiss Tamils meet integration challenges The defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels at the hands of the Sri Lankan military could well lead to reprisal massacres, warns a Swiss human rights expert.
Sri Lankan troops are battling to finish one of Asia's longest wars, having won a series of major battles and swiftly encircled the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the northeast of the Indian Ocean island.
Sri Lanka's president urged the rebels on Friday to allow the estimated 250,000 civilians trapped in the northern war zone to flee to safety following reports of heavy casualties among non-combatants stuck in the shrinking territory.
"The human right most under threat at the moment is life itself. After a conflict lasting over 30 years and atrocities committed on all sides, a military defeat of the Tigers would open the door to the settling of scores and massacres," Adrien-Claude Zoller, director of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Geneva for Human Rights, told swissinfo.
Zoller recently returned from the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, where he had been giving human rights courses to civil society NGOs.
Human rights groups have accused the rebels of holding civilians hostage and accused the military of launching heavy attacks in areas filled with civilians, including a government-declared "safe zone" in the north.
full text is at
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/front/Activist_warns_of_Sri_Lanka_massacres.html?siteSect=108&sid=10266130&cKey=1233499785000&ty=st
// posted by ஜூலியன் @ 10:22 PM 
