ரோஸ்

Photo: BBC

'Pain' of Sri Lanka aid pullout
Fears of a humanitarian crisis are mounting in northern Sri Lanka as troops press ahead with an offensive to capture territory from Tamil rebels. A week ago the UN and other agencies pulled out of the area, where more than 200,000 people are displaced by fighting. Here one aid worker describes how hard it was to leave.
During my last weeks in Kilinochchi there was a foreboding sense of a massive army approaching from the south-west.

[removed]

Troops are now near Kilinochchi
We left a number of our staff, who could not get passes, behind. We shared tears, we shared the feelings of terror and intense guilt, and we left.
I remember feeling deep shame as I drove past civilians who were watching me from the side of the road, in my ballistic vest, heading for safety, as they stood there in their trousers and shirts and saris. We drove through the site of a fresh air attack on the A9 road and once again saw the devastation it caused and understood what may come for Kilinochchi and its civilian population.
Although I appreciate and respect the security rules that govern aid workers and understand why we had to leave, I still have to deal with a great sense that I abandoned those people. There is the pain and guilt of saying goodbye and good luck to our staff who had worked so hard and with such passion for the victims of war in the Vanni - and leaving them behind.

full article at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7630187.stm

Labels: dogshit, human rights, NGO, sri lanka, uno

சீனாவை வைத்து சிறீலங்கா விளையாடுவதைக் கண்டும் இராணுவ உதவி செய்யும் இந்தியாவுக்குப் புத்தி வருமா? நியூ யோர்க் டைம்சின் இந்த செய்தியை வாசித்து பாருங்கள்

Take Aid From China and Take a Pass on Human Rights
By SOMINI SENGUPTA
Published: March 9, 2008
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka


FOR 25 years, the dirty little war on this island in the Indian Ocean has stretched its octopus arms across the world. The ethnic Tamil diaspora has provided vital funding for separatist rebels; remittances from Sri Lankan workers abroad have propped up the economy; the government has relied on foreign assistance to battle the insurgency.

Today, a shifting world order is bearing new fruits for Sri Lanka. Most notably, China’s quiet assertion in India’s backyard has put Sri Lanka’s government in a position not only to play China off against India, but also to ignore complaints from outside Asia about human rights violations in the war.

The timing is propitious. The government jettisoned a five-year cease-fire this year, and is now banking on a military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In so doing, it has faced a barrage of criticism over human rights abuses and has lost defense aid from the United States and some other sources. And, in recent months, government officials have increasingly cozied up to countries that tend to say little to nothing on things like abductions and assaults on press freedom.

இங்கே போனால் முழுக்க வாசிக்கலாம்
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/weekinreview/09sengupta.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Labels: china, human rights, india, sri lanka

பிரிட்டனின் சங்கடமென்ற தலைப்பிலே இங்கிலாந்திலே வாழும் பாரா மிகிலர் எழுதியிருப்பது. கருணாவின் கைது இலங்கைக்கு மட்டுமல்ல, இங்கிலாந்துக்கும் சங்கடமென்று எழுதுகிறார்.

The Guardian
Britain's dilemma
Farah Mihlar
09 November 2007

With the arrest of Karuna Amman, Britain now has on its soil a man accused of war crimes. Will it let him go?

Friday last week was a manic day for Sri Lankans across Britain. We were alerted to two extraordinary events that together have potentially massive consequences for the tiny, war-torn Indian-ocean island. We woke to the shocking news that a top rebel leader had been killed back home. Later, emails, texts and phone calls started whizzing around claiming that a Sri Lankan paramilitary leader had been arrested in London.

முழுவதையும் வாசிக்க இங்கே போங்கள்
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/farah_mihlar/2007/11/britains_dilemma.html

Labels: human rights, Sri Lakan, tamil, UK

ஸ்ரீலங்கா அரசு யூஎன்னின் மனித உரிமைக்கண்காணிப்பு அலுவலகர் இலங்கை வந்தபோது தமது குற்றங்கள் வெளியாகிவிடும் என்று கருணாவை அவசர அவசரமாக இங்கிலாந்து அனுப்பியது. இப்போது பிரித்தானிய உள்நாட்டு அமைச்சு கடவுச்சீட்டுக்குற்றம் என்று சொல்லி கருணாவைக் கைது செய்திருக்கின்றது. Human Right Watch பிரபலமான மனித உரிமை அமைப்பு. அது கருணாவை அவரின் மனித உரிமை மீறல்களுக்காக விசாரிக்கும்படி பிரித்தானியாவைக் கேட்கிறது.

Rights group wants Sri Lanka ex-rebel charged in UK
Sat Nov 3, 2007 2:58pm GMT
Peter Apps

ONDON (Reuters) - Britain should look at trying ex-Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger rebel Karuna Amman, detained on immigration charges, for war crimes, Human Rights Watch said on Saturday.

The former eastern Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) commander is accused by rights experts of child soldier recruitment, extortion and torture both before and after he split from the mainstream rebels in 2004.

Britain's Home Office said late on Friday Karuna was detained after a joint operation between the police and immigration authorities, giving no further details. Human Rights Watch said the authorities should look at doing more.

"Give the magnitude of Karuna''s crimes over the years, including attacks on civilians and use of child soldiers, Human Rights Watch strongly urges the UK government to explore the possibility of prosecuting him for war crimes and other international offences before returning him to Sri Lanka," Human Rights Watch senior legal adviser Jim Ross told Reuters.

The Home Office was not immediately available to comment. Britain is a signatory to the International Criminal Court, which has charged a Congolese rebel with child recruitment, but Sri Lanka is not and the court is not investigating the conflict in the island. Ross said he was unsure if Karuna could be charged under UK law.

Since the split, Karuna has been fighting his former colleagues in the east as the island's 2002 ceasefire collapsed into outright war. Analysts and diplomats say the government has been using and supporting him, a charge both he and the government denied.

His attacks on the mainstream rebels were seen as a factor in rising violence last year. Experts estimate some 5,000 people have died since last year bringing the total death toll from two decades of civil war to some 70,000.

Some fear further escalation after the mainstream Tiger political leader S.P. Thamilselvan was killed in a government air strike on Friday. The Tigers have vowed retaliation.

Analysts say Karuna was used by the government as they cleared mainstream Tiger forces from the east this year. Rights groups say troops and police did nothing to stop his fighters carrying out killings and extortion and taking children to fight.

Labels: HRW, human rights, karuna