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Condemning “ruthless actions taken against non-combatants which are forbidden by international humanitarian and human rights law”, The National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, in a press release has urged all parties involved in the conflict to ensure the protection of civilian lives. This is necessary “if we are to achieve a just and peaceful society in the future,” the statement says.

Full Text of Press Release:

TARGETING OF CIVILIANS IS PROHIBITED

The chilling spectre of suspected LTTE bombing in Colombo has re-emerged with the two bomb attacks that have claimed at least 19 lives and injured dozens. First was the suicide attack at the office of the Ministry of Social Services in the vicinity of a school apparently targeting Minister Douglas Devananda, which killed two and injured three persons. Second was the bomb attack in a department store in a suburb of Colombo that killed 17 persons and injured upwards of 30 persons, mostly working class people during rush hour on a main road. The fear of more such attacks has led to the closure of all schools in Colombo and the Western Province for the rest of this week.

The Colombo attacks appear part of a larger pattern in which civilians are being made victims of the escalating conflict. The killing of 11 school children and 2 adults in the LTTE-controlled Wanni the previous day by a remotely detonated claymore mine that the LTTE has attributed to the Sri Lankan security forces and an air force raid on the Voice of Tiger radio facility that resulted in the killing of 9 persons including civilians living in the vicinity are a part of this tragedy. A few days earlier 4 civilians were killed by an armed group suspected to be LTTE fired on them near Anuradhapura in an area that borders the north. The National Peace Council condemns these ruthless actions taken against non-combatants which are forbidden by international humanitarian and human rights law.

These violent incidents highlight a disturbing and re-emerging trend in which civilians are being targeted. The Sri Lankan constitution states that “No person shall be punished with death or imprisonment except by order of a competent court made in accordance with procedure established by law.” (Article 13). Sri Lanka is also a signatory to the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states that “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.” (Article 6).

While mourning the tragic loss of life suffered by hapless civilians in Colombo, Anuradhapura and the Wanni, we must also turn our thoughts to the losses suffered by people especially in the north and east in the course of the escalation of fighting over the past two years. There are reports of civilians dying as a result of air bombing and artillery cross-firing between the government forces and LTTE. The National Peace Council urges all parties involved in the conflict to ensure the protection of civilian lives by following the Geneva Conventions and by reining in their war machines, both of which are necessary if we are to achieve a just and peaceful society in the future.

Executive Director
On behalf of the Governing Council

National Peace Council
of Sri Lanka
www.peace-srilanka.org

COLOMBO, 28 November 2007 (IRIN) – “Groundless public accusations can seriously compromise our ability to carry out humanitarian and development work and are also putting the safety and security of UN staff and non-governmental organisation (NGO) partners at risk,” Neil Buhne, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sri Lanka, said in a recent statement released by the UN Inter Agency Standing Committee (ISAC) country team.

Buhne’s warning came in response to recent accusations against the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) by members of the Sri Lankan opposition, widely circulated in the local press. They include allegations that the UN agency had imported “combat rations” allegedly destined for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), that it had channelled finances to a banned organisation, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), and that its staff participated in a local protest in June 2007. On 26 November UNICEF was accused of providing the LTTE with bullet-proof vehicles.

On 22 November a member of parliament from the People’s Liberation Front, Wimal Weeravansha, asked about the intended use of a container of ready-to-eat-meals UNICEF had imported. “This kind of food is not for the consumption of civilians,” he told parliament. “Usually, this kind of food is needed for military units that engage in guerrilla warfare and that’s why these food parcels are known as ‘combat rations’.”

The UNICEF shipment was impounded the same day by Sri Lankan customs authorities.

The office of the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Colombo said in a 23 November statement that the meals were imported on behalf of 12 UN and other agencies, including the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, UN Development Programme, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the World Food Programme, for consumption by their staff in emergency situations.

UN to cooperate with any government investigations

“While the UN acknowledges and fully supports the right of a sovereign government to investigate credible allegations of wrongdoing, the circumstances of this action [impounding] appear to have been driven by unsupported statements in parliament earlier that day by a member of the opposition,” it added. Nonetheless, said Buhne, “The UN and its partners will follow established procedures agreed with by the government, including cooperation with investigations of any alleged misconduct.”

Regarding accusations by some Sri Lankan political parties that UNICEF was financing the TRO, the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry in a 23 November statement said UNICEF had agreed to make public an audit of its transactions in Sri Lanka to prove there were no ongoing dealings with the TRO. The TRO was banned this month in the USA and subsequently in Sri Lanka for acting as a front for the Tamil Tigers.

UNICEF spokesperson Gordon Weiss told IRIN UNICEF had stopped working with the TRO in early 2006. He also rejected Weeravansha’s charge that UNICEF had provided bullet-proof vehicles to the Tamil Tigers. “Only one vehicle was modified to withstand blasts and it is still being used by UNICEF,” Weiss said.

Three UN staff involved in demonstrations

On the issue of staff involvement in demonstrations, UNICEF headquarters in New York is currently considering action against three staff members from its Sri Lanka office who took part in a public protest, the UN agency’s Colombo office said. The 6 June protest had been organised by local civic groups to decry rising violence against aid workers.

The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry on 23 November asked UNICEF country representative Phillippe Duamelle “to take appropriate action against the staff members who participated in the demonstration, including the withdrawal of the concerned international staff and the termination of local staff.”

However, by the time the government request was conveyed, according to Weiss, a UNICEF internal inquiry into the protest incident was already under way.

Weiss told IRIN that one of the three UNICEF staff has already left the services of the UN agency, while the other two, one international and the other a Sri Lankan, are still working in UNICEF’s Colombo office.

“We take any transgression by a staff member extremely seriously,” said Weiss, adding that UN staff are barred from taking part in any activity that would compromise UNICEF’s impartiality. [irinnews.org]

Tuesday 27 November 2007

SRI LANKA:
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS SAYS AIR STRIKE ON REBEL RADIO STATION IS “WAR CRIME”

A Sri Lanka military air strike today on the Voice of Tigers, the radio station of the Tamil Tiger rebels in the north of the country, was a “war crime,” Reporters Without Borders said. Three of the station’s staff, who had not been given any warning, and six other civilians were killed in the bombardment by air force jets.

“Voice of Tigers is a propaganda radio operated by the LTTE rebels, but the rules of war are clear – military bombardment and bombing must be limited to strictly military targets,” the press freedom organisation said. “The government in Colombo uses the Geneva Conventions to condemn LTTE crimes but forgets the conventions when it bombs what is a civilian installation and therefore protected by the conventions.”

The air strike on Voice of Tigers, located near Kilinochchi, took place in the afternoon and left a total of nine civilians dead (including three of the station’s employees) and around 10 civilians wounded. The Tamilnet website identified the dead employees as Isaivizhi Chempiyan (a former presenter), Suresh Linbiyo (a technician) and T. Tharmalingam.

The bombing was carried out as the station was providing coverage of the annual War Heroes’ Day ceremonies, which the LTTE observes in the regions it controls. According to Tamilnet, broadcasts were able to continue with the help of another clandestine transmitter.

The Sri Lankan military confirmed that the air force had destroyed the “clandestine Tiger terrorists radio station” in Kilinochchi. Previous air strikes in October 2006 caused serious damage to the station and wounded two employees.

The Berne-based International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (created under Protocol 1 of the Geneva Conventions), told Reporters Without Borders last year: “Deliberate attacks against journalists and infrastructure belonging to or used by the press constitute a serious violation of international law. Journalists have the right to perform their role in territories where fighting is taking place.”

News media in other countries have been targeted as “propaganda media,” setting very dangerous precedents for the press. NATO bombed Serbian radio and TV headquarters in Belgrade in April 1999, killing 16 employees. The Israeli military blew up the Voice of Palestine radio and TV building in Ramallah, on the West Bank, in January 2001. And the Kabul bureau of the pan-Arab TV station Al-Jazeera was the target of a US air strike on 12 November 2001.

Journalists outside Colombo are at greatest risk, IFJ Director says

“Journalists outside Colombo are at greatest risk as violence escalates. They have less security and are more vulnerable to violence from all sides. On top of this they receive less support, resources and pay from their employers,” said Jacqueline Park, Director, Asia-Pacific, International Federation of Journalists when speaking at the Public Service Journalism Awards in Colombo recently.

During the past two years twelve media personnel have been killed in Sri Lanka, with the Uthayan newspaper published in the Northern Province from Jaffna paying the highest price in terms of human life: five members of its staff have lost their lives in the service of journalism and the freedom of expression.

Past week’s news reports say that a proof-reader of Uthayan Tamil daily was abducted on 16th Nov morning on his way home after night duty at Uthayan office, his parents complained at Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office. Also, a staffer of Thinakkural daily in Jaffna had been reported missing recently in Eazhaalai area.

A recently released report of a fact-finding mission by the IFJ, the International Press Institute and the Free Media Movement concerning the Eastern Province stresses that journalists there also work in unsafe conditions, have weak job security, restrictions on their movements and suffer extreme ethnic prejudice and partisan tensions.

Reports also indicate that many journalists express their concern that Sri Lanka’s wider national public is being kept in the dark about vital issues in the provinces. Many journalists fear that freedom of thought and expression does not exist and human rights in general are widely abused.

“Rights give journalists objective criteria by which to judge the performance of governments and those who hold power in society,” emphasized Jacqueline Park at the Public Service Journalism Awards ceremony held at the Gall Face Hotel in Colombo on Nov 16th.

She added that without the solidarity being achieved and strengthened among journaists with the sigining of the media charter in 2005 supported by IFJ and events such as the Provincial Journalists Awards Recogntion, “these times could be much darker.”

Good journalism, ensuring that ordinary people get the information they need to plan and live their lives with knowledge and awareness is what the Public Journalism Awards is promoting according to Jacqueline Park.

Acknowledging “we still have a long way to go in implementing and entrenching the principles of public service journalism across all media in Sri Lanka”, Jacqueline Park, the Asia-Pacific Director said IFJ is joining with the journalists organizations to launch the Human Rights journalism prize for the whole media community in 2008, supported by the European Commission.

[UNHCR News] We are seriously concerned about the deteriorating security situation and various incidents reported from return areas in eastern Sri Lanka.

Around 250 displaced people, who returned to their villages of origin in the Trincomalee district a few weeks ago, after fleeing escalating violence in 2006, fled their homes again this week back to welfare centres in Batticaloa district after serious security incidents in their villages.

UNHCR has received reports of a number of killings, abductions, incidents of harassment and general insecurity in these areas. These incidents have made the returns unsustainable for these IDP families. Those who fled to Batticaloa have indicated that at the moment, they have no intention of returning to their villages of origin. They said their homes have been looted and damaged, and they now have nothing to return to.

Incidents such as these clearly affect the sustainability of returns. Security is one of the main prerequisites for return and it is the responsibility of the government to ensure the security of returnees.

We urge the government to strengthen the return process and build confidence among the returnees. We warn against any further moves towards premature return until these issues are resolved.

UNHCR is also concerned about incidents of involuntary return during yesterdays, (Thursday) returns to Chenkalady in Batticaloa West. According to reports, displaced people, IDPs, who were unwilling to return, were informed by local authorities that their assistance would be withdrawn if they opted to stay behind. UNHCR has received a petition from the group of 92 IDPs indicating their unwillingness to return. There are also reports of looting of shelter materials in the Batticaloa district.

We reiterate our call to the government to ensure that the returns are voluntary, safe and in line with international standards. UNHCR should be fully engaged in the process and we urge the government to work with experts in this field to ensure the rights of IDPs, as stated in international humanitarian law, are safeguarded at all times.

UNHCR is also advocating with the government to ensure that any moves to return the recently displaced population in the northern region of Mannar is carried out with transparency. They were displaced after fighting erupted in the region in September this year. We are encouraging go-and-see visits by displaced people to the return areas to ensure that returns are fully voluntary and for UNHCR to be fully engaged in the process.

by Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai

“We will fight for media freedom till we fall”, “We do not want another commission to investigate the attacks on journalists and media houses”, “Our journey will continue despite threats”.

Journalists shouted slogans while showing anger and frustration.

The protest was held on November 23rd 2007 in front of the Fort Railway Station at 12.30pm. Civil society activists, human rights activists and women rights activists joined the protest.

With the media under fire, the protesters demanded to safeguard the journalists.

This protest was organized by Free Media Movement, Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association, Federation of Media Employees Unions, Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance, and Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum to condemn the attack on the printing press of the Sunday Leader newspaper.

Journalists joined hands to protest against the media suppression.

“Journalists are suppressed. We will continue to protest till media freedom is respected” said Secretary of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association, Poddala Jayantha

Sri Lanka is placed on 156th place by Reporters Sans Frontières in the World Press Freedom Index 2007

Nava Sama Samaja Party leader Dr.Wikamabahu Karunaratne participating at the protest

A Senior Police Officer is seen having a chat with Veteran journalist D. F. Kariyakarawana, during the protest

“Women of Sri Lanka will support media freedom” said women’s rights activist Nimalka Fernando

Protesters demanded the freedom to information should be guaranteed

Vasudeva Nanyakkara participating in the protest

Police officers were kept on alert, during the protest by the journalists

Independent and transparent investigations on the arson attack at the Sunday Leader printing press was demanded during the protest

Sanath Balasuriya protesting with his colleagues

The protestors also shouted slogans against the Police for not taking prompt action on the attack of the printing press of the Sunday Leader

“We do not want another commission to investigate”

Journalists vowed to continue the protest if assurance is not given

Sri Lanka joins five other nations, Ethiopia, Nepal, Russia, Venezuela and Zimbabwe, on the International Press Institute’s watch list. Vienna based watchdog said that, the journalists are targeted in Sri Lanka as the civil war has heated up in the recent years.

[Courtesy: HumanityAshore.org] – [E Mail: dushi.pillai@gmail.com]