News Archives » Peace
Urgent international scrutiny needed in Sri Lanka, say UN Human Rights Experts May 8th, 2009
The UN Human Rights Council experts dealing with summary executions, right to health, right to food and water and sanitation, Mr. Philip Alston, Mr. Anand Grover, Mr. Olivier De Schutter and Ms. Catarina de Albuquerque, released the following statement Friday:
The current humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka gives cause for deep concern, not only in terms of the number of civilians who have been and continue to be killed, but because of a dramatic lack of transparency and accountability. “There 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”, said Philip Alston, the UN expert on summary executions.
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President Obama Speaks Out on Behalf of Sri Lanka Journalist May 3rd, 2009
President Obama supported detained journalist J.S. Tissainayagam in Sri Lanka in his May 1st speech on World Press Freedom Day. He spoke of those “…who face intimidation, censorship, and arbitrary arrest – [who are] guilty of nothing more than a passion for truth and a tenacious belief that a free society depends on an informed citizenry.”
Mr. Tissainaygam has been held for over a year, on charges that are widely believed to be without substance.
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Civilians Bear the Brunt of War in Sri Lanka April 28th, 2009
Conditions are grim in the tiny strip of coast in northern Sri Lanka where tens of thousands of civilians are trapped between the warring LTTE and Sri Lankan Army forces. Lack of food, water and medical supplies coupled with daily bombardment by heavy artillery have made this area a living hell.
UN sources have estimated that 6,432 civilians have been killed since January 20 of this year while another 13,946 have been wounded. This does not include all the bodies that are lying by the roadsides. We have received reports that today, numerous people were killed while 1,374 were injured and admitted to two hospitals. A health clinic was bombed killing people in the injured patient’s ward.
International calls to both sides to stop the fighting have fallen on deaf ears. The ICRC has been able to evacuate some 4,000 people in recent weeks, mostly severely wounded by Army bombing, but many more have been unable to get out, forcibly detained as a human shield by the LTTE. Civilians, as young as 12, have been forcibly conscripted by the LTTE in a desperate effort to fend off the military advance.
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Humanitarian Catastrophe Unfolds in Sri Lanka April 17th, 2009
Human Rights Watch has posted a photo montage of the humanitarian catastrophe in the northern Vanni region of Sri Lanka. Human Rights Watch researcher Anna Neistat says both sides in Sri Lanka’s conflict are violating the laws of war, endangering the roughly 100,000 civilians trapped in a government-declared “no-fire zone.” Tamil Tiger (LTTE) rebels have prevented civilians from leaving the tiny strip of land, while government forces shell the area daily, leading to numerous casualties.
The photos in this slideshow are from a makeshift hospital in Putumattalan that was treating survivors of attacks on April 8 and 9, 2009. Many were women and children who were waiting in a food distribution line in Pokkanai when artillery shells hit.
National Call-in Day on March 30 to End the Use of Cluster Bombs March 25th, 2009
When nearly 100 nations – including Britain, France, and Germany – gathered in early December to sign a global treaty banning cluster bombs, the U.S. was conspicuously absent. And yet, the U.S. has been the world’s biggest user of these weapons, which always end up killing more civilians than soldiers.
President Obama and Congress can fix U.S. policy. In fact, they have already started. In March, Congress passed a law permanently banning exports of nearly all U.S.-made cluster bombs.
Now we need Congress to act to prevent any further use by U.S. troops.
Call your senators on Monday, March 30 and ask them to co-sponsor the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act, S. 416.
Learn more – click here to our Action Alert on the subject (with thanks to FCNL)
