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UNITED

NATIONS AGeneral Assembly Distr.

GENERAL

A/HRC/S-11/NGO/426 May 2009

Original: ENGLISH

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

Eleventh special session

26-27 May 2009

HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATIONS THAT REQUIRE THE COUNCILS ATTENTION

Written statement submitted by the PASUMAI THAAYAGAM

FOUNDATION, a non-governmental organization in special

consultative status

The Secretary-General has received the following written statement which is circulated in

accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31.

[13 February 2009]

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SECTION I:

Contact details of (main) NGO:

NGO Name: PASUMAI THAAYAGAM FOUNDATION

Name of main contact person: RATHINAM ARUL

Street Address: PASUMAI THAAYAGAM FOUNDATION

NO. 9, (OLD NO: 5), LYN WOOD LANE

MAHALINGAPURAM, CHENNAI - 600 034

TAMIL NADU

INDIA.

E-mail: arulgreen@gmail.com

SECTION II:

Language(s): ENGLISH ONLY

SECTION III:

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

Eleventh Special Session

SECTION IV:

Written statement submitted by the PASUMAI THAAYAGAM FOUNDATION, a non-

governmental organization in special consultative status

SECTION V:

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Title:

Sri Lanka: International inquiry into War Crimes an urgent need1.

SECTION VI:

Text:

Pasumai Thaayagam Foundation appreciates the decision of UNHRC to hold a special session on

Human Rights situation in Sri Lanka. At this Juncture, We would like to draw the attention of

HRC to the following State instrumented Human Rights violations including war crimes that

have been committed by Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL).

We are deeply concerned about the conditions and the treatment of Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka.The government is still barring independent monitoring bodies and press members from entering

the territory, making it impossible to verify reports of war crimes and human rights violations on

a large scale.

1. State terror

The Sri Lankan State has transformed existing institutional structures to become state sponsored

purveyors of terror. Serious human rights violations, including genocide, enforced

disappearance, extra-judicial executions, torture and arbitrary detention, target the Tamil civilian

population.

Four UN Human Rights Council experts on right to health, food, water, and sanitation, in a

statement said "[t]here is good reason to believe that thousands of civilians have been killed in

the past three months alone, and yet the Sri Lankan Government has yet to account for the

casualties, or to provide access to the war zone for journalists and humanitarian monitors of any

type," and that "shipments of food and medicine to the "no fire zone" have been grossly

insufficient over the past month and the Government has reportedly delayed or denied timely

shipment of life saving medicines as well as to chlorine tablets," and urged the U.N. to establish

a commission to address the critical human rights situation, and demand full respect to human

rights2.

2. Recent Carnage and War Crimes

1 People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)-Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry (India) also shares the views expressed in

this statement2http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EGUA-7RULKC?OpenDocument

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It has been widely reported in the media that more than 10,000 civilians and 3000 rebels who

were all wounded badly have been killed brutally in the last few days3 and the dead bodies were

left rotting. A recent report by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)

confirmed the heavy use of artillery and aerial bombing of civilian safety zone (CSZ). This act of

aggression against unarmed civilians undoubtedly constitutes `war crimes by the Sri Lankan

armed forces.

An analysis conducted with a time series of very high resolution satellite imagery from 5

February to 19 April 2009 showed that there are new indications of building destruction and

damages resulting from shelling and possible air strikes in the northern and southern sections of

the CSZ4. An additional 5 permanent buildings within the CSZ have been destroyed between 29

March & 19 April bringing the total estimate within the CSZ to approximately 60 main buildings

destroyed. Potential damages or destruction of IDP tent shelters not included. The Sri Lanka

government has admitted these attacks5.

The Science and Human Rights Program of the American Association for the Advancement ofScience (AAAS) has acquired and analyzed commercial high-resolution satellite imagery of the

Conflict Zone (CZ) in northeastern Sri Lanka.6 This imagery is intended to provide information

regarding the status of internally displaced persons (IDPs) within the CZ, especially as they were

affected by reported violence occurring May 910, 2009. This violence was reported by

international news sources,7 including the BBC, and was referred to by the United Nations (UN)

as a bloodbath.8

The Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat conceded on 27 April 2009, 'Our security forces have

been instructed to end the use of heavy caliber guns, combat aircraft and aerial weapons which

could cause civilian casualties.' Sri Lanka's admission that it has used heavy weapons in areas

3 Sri Lankan minister admits army killed civilians, Telegraph 21 May 2009,

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/srilanka/5362832/Sri-Lankan-minister-admits-army-killed-

civilians.html

4 Satellite photographs of damage to the conflict zone in Sri Lanka, Inner city press April 29

http://www.innercitypress.com/UNOSAT19April09.pdf

5 Sri Lanka admits bombing 'safe zone' Al Jazeera, May 01, 2009,

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/20095141557222873.html

6 Satellite photographs of damage to the conflict zone in Sri Lanka, Inner city press April 29

http://www.innercitypress.com/UNOSAT19April09.pdf

7 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8045135.stm;

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/12/sri.lanka.fighting/index.html8 Gordon Weiss, Spokesman for the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sri Lanka

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/srilanka/5362832/Sri-Lankan-minister-admits-army-killed-civilians.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/srilanka/5362832/Sri-Lankan-minister-admits-army-killed-civilians.htmlhttp://www.innercitypress.com/UNOSAT19April09.pdfhttp://www.innercitypress.com/UNOSAT19April09.pdfhttp://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/20095141557222873.htmlhttp://www.innercitypress.com/UNOSAT19April09.pdfhttp://www.innercitypress.com/UNOSAT19April09.pdfhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/srilanka/5362832/Sri-Lankan-minister-admits-army-killed-civilians.htmlhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/srilanka/5362832/Sri-Lankan-minister-admits-army-killed-civilians.htmlhttp://www.innercitypress.com/UNOSAT19April09.pdfhttp://www.innercitypress.com/UNOSAT19April09.pdfhttp://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/20095141557222873.htmlhttp://www.innercitypress.com/UNOSAT19April09.pdfhttp://www.innercitypress.com/UNOSAT19April09.pdf

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crowded with displaced civilians underscores the need for an international inquiry into violations

of the laws of war by government forces, states Human Rights Watch9.

3. The Situation of IDPs

The situation for over a quarter million internally displaced persons (IDP) detained inGovernment run internment camps is becoming more intolerable everyday. As Human Rights

Watch has reported, these are military-controlled, barbed-wire camps in which those sent there,

including entire families, are denied their liberty and freedom of movement. Once a citizen

enters the camp they are not allowed out; people reportedly disappear identified by secret

informers and former militants.

Children are being abducted, with tacit government approval, from camps housing those

displaced by Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict. The paramilitary groups have been allowed

"unhindered" access to the camps which are tightly guarded by government troops, it said the

Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers

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.

4. Denial of humanitarian Work

The GOSL blocked international humanitarian aid from reaching civilians trapped in the conflict

area. In September 2008, the Government ordered all international aid workers to leave Tamil

areas except the ICRC and World Food Programme. With the escalation in violence the ICRC

were prevented from operating in the area. In a news release dated 10 February 2009, the ICRC

stated that most of the population is now displaced and completely dependent on outside aid,

yet none has reached the area since 29 January.11

As per May 18, 2009 report, for nine consecutive days ICRC has been pursuing efforts withoutsuccess to reach the area of north-eastern Sri Lanka hard hit by fighting in recent weeks12.

On May 20, 2009, the ICRC announced that it will be suspending humanitarian aid to the largest

internment camp housing over 130,000 IDPs because the GOSL has restricted its access into the

camp.

5. Indiscriminate Shelling of Hospitals and Denial of Medical Aid

Article 18 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states that the civilian hospitals organized to give

care to the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases, may in no circumstances be the

9 Sri Lanka: Government Admission Shows Need for UN Inquiry, HRW APRIL 27, 2009

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/04/27/sri-lanka-government-admission-shows-need-un-inquiry

10 Tamil children 'being abducted', BBC 20 May 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8060564.stm

11 ICRC, 10 February 2009 < http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/sri-lanka-news-100209>12 ICRC 18-05-2009 News relase 09/104

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object of attack, but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict.

However the hospitals have not been spared from bombings by Lankan Security forces.

A detailed Human Rights Watch document on Attacks on Hospitals in the Vanni (December 15,

2008 May 2, 2009) reports there were at least 30 attacks on permanent and makeshift hospitals

since December 2008. One of the deadliest took place on May 2, when artillery shells struckMullaivaikal hospital in the government-declared "no-fire zone," killing 68 persons and

wounding 8713.

The three humanitarian doctors are at grave risk for reprisal from the GOSL, two doctors, Dr.

Shanmugarjah and Dr. Sathiyamoorthy are currently detained and Dr. Varatharajah is

undergoing treatment for serious injury.

6. Silencing the Media

In the last 2 years, the Sri Lankan Government has steadily coerced the media into silence. There

exists a ban on reporting about the war. Amnesty International reports that nnewspapers have

been closed down, employees intimidated and attacked, and a website has been blocked.14

Recommendations

We urge the Human Rights Council to take note of this extremely precariously poised situation

and to intervene more directly and forcefully. In particular we urge the Human Rights Council to

consider the following:

1. International Inquiry into War Crimes in Sri Lanka

The situation in Sri Lanka has been a virtual holocaust of Lankan Tamils resulting in deaths ofthousands of Tamils. The deaths carried with genocidal ferocity constitute crimes against

humanity and the perpetrators should be brought to justice. We urge for an international

commission of inquiry to investigate war crimes and other human rights abuses.

2. Immediate access to Humanitarian aid

We urgently request that international assistance be sent immediately before all the evidences are

destroyed.

We urge for immediate and unfettered access to humanitarian workers, local and international

non-governmental organizations, the ICRC, and United Nations bodies, access the war affected

area.

13 http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/related_material/Sri_Lanka_Hospital_Attacks0508_2009.pdf

14 Amnesty Internacional, 7 February, 2009-03-09 < http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/call-protection-

sri-lankan-media-workers>

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3. Upholding the Human Rights of IDPs

We urge the HRC to safeguard the Human rights of the IDPs so that their free movement is

ensured and are able to return to their traditional villages.

4. Access to Free Press

We urge to ensure the assertion of the right of the media to access the war affected area.

5. UN Human rights monitoring mission

UN Human Rights Monitoring mission is needed immediately to curb atrocious human rights

abuse.

6. Responsibility to Protect (R2P)

Considering the fact that the situation in Sri Lanka is clearly a R2P we urge to invoke the

Responsibility to Protect..

7. Internationally monitored referendum

We urge the UN to facilitate an internationally monitored referendum in the Tamil regions to

determine the political aspirations of the Tamil people and their right to self-determination.

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