Centre for War Victims & Human Rights

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Panel Discussion

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Panel Discussion

Organized by

Centre for War Victims and Human Rights  (CWVHR)

on


Submission to UN Panel of Experts with regard to alleged violations of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law during the final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka

 

 

 

Date     Saturday, November 6th 2010


Time    10.00 A.M to 12.00 P.M


Venue   Scarborough Civic Centre(Canada) – Committee Room A

 

 

We will have Human Rights Experts, Activists and  Scholars on Humanitarian Law, and Rev. Dr. S.J Emmanuel, President of GTF in the Panel, who will advice us as to:

 

  • How could we make our Submissions? 
  • What format we should follow? 
  • What kind of Conventions and Articles we should refer to? 
  • What kind of Strategy we should adopt in making the submissions? 
  • Ways of finding evidence and how to encourage others to participate in this exercise? 
  • And many more questions and answers.

Our Submissions should be sent to UN Panel before 15th of December.

 

CWVHR is coordinating this information session with other international organizations who are working on this submission

Last Updated on Friday, 05 November 2010 13:39
 

CWVHR welcomes UN Appointed Panel on Sri Lankan Human Rights Abuses - June 23,2010

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Press Release


June 23, 2010

 

CWVHR welcomes UN Appointed Panel on Sri Lankan Human Rights Abuses

 

The Centre for War Victims and Human Rights(CWVHR) welcomes the formation of the three-member panel, appointed by the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of UN to advise him on how he should be proceeding with the investigation on violation of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law during the last stages of war on Tamils in 2009.

 

CWVHR congratulates the three panelists who have been working on human rights and humanitarian laws issues in various countries. They have contributed significantly on the subject. 

The three members of the panel are Marzuki Darusman, former Attorney General of Indonesia and a member of the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights and, most recently, served as one of the three commissioners of the U.N. commission of inquiry into the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and he will be the chair-person, along with Yasmin Sooka of South Africa who is the executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights in South Africa and served as a commissioner on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  She also served on the international commissioner on the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  And Steven Ratner of the United States,  who is a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, was a former member of the U.N. Group of Experts for Cambodia, whose work laid the basis for the Khmer Rouge trials.

Appointing this panel has taken over a year and still there are concerns raised with regard to responsibility of the panel as well as it’s authority. The committee members would not able to travel to Sri Lanka and would not able to interview the perpetrators of the crime.

 

Many International and local Human Rights groups including CWVHR have in their possession  Video and Photographic proofs, Personally Affected victims and relatives with details and sworn affidavits in the thousands to proof the crimes committed by the Sri Lankan state and other para- military groups.

 

The Sri Lankan state is very unhappy on the appointment of UN Panel and challenging the authority of U.N. Secretary General to investigate their human rights abuses, war crimes,  crimes against humanity and genocide of the Tamils. Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris said the appointment of the panel would be "unprecedented"  -  "This is politically unacceptable to Sri Lanka and at this stage would be premature”

Sri Lankan Government is confident that, with the help of China and Russia, the Security Council of UN would never approve such investigation formally and would be same with Human Rights Council as it has the support of representatives from the Asian and African Countries

 

CWVHR believes and hopes that the panel would face all the possible challenges and provide a space for the values of International law and human rights and pave the way to prosecute the perpetrators of the crimes in Sri Lanka.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 23 June 2010 19:35
 

Sri Lanka: New Evidence of Wartime Abuses - Human Right Watch

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Government Inquiry Inadequate; UN Should Establish International Investigation
May 20, 2010

Yet another feckless commission is a grossly inadequate response to the numerous credible allegations of war crimes. Damning new evidence of abuses shows why the UN should not let Sri Lanka sweep these abuses under the carpet.

Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch

(New York) - New evidence of wartime abuses by Sri Lankan government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the armed conflict that ended one year ago demonstrates the need for an independent international investigation into violations of the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said today. Recently Human Rights Watch research gathered photographic evidence and accounts by witnesses of atrocities by both sides during the final months of fighting.

On May 23, 2009, President Mahinda Rajapaksa promised United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that the government would investigate allegations of laws-of-war violations. One year later, the government has still not undertaken any meaningful investigatory steps, Human Rights Watch said.

Last week, the government created a Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission with a mandate to examine the failure of the 2002 ceasefire and the "sequence of events" thereafter. It is not empowered to investigate allegations of violations of the laws of war such as those documented by Human Rights Watch.

"Yet another feckless commission is a grossly inadequate response to the numerous credible allegations of war crimes," said Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Damning new evidence of abuses shows why the UN should not let Sri Lanka sweep these abuses under the carpet."

Human Rights Watch called on Secretary-General Ban to promptly establish an international investigation to examine allegations of wartime abuse by both sides to the conflict.

New Evidence of Wartime Violations

Human Rights Watch has examined more than 200 photos taken on the front lines in early 2009 by a soldier from the Sri Lankan Air Mobile Brigade. Among these are a series of five photos showing a man who appears to have been captured by the Sri Lankan army. An independent source identified the man by name and told Human Rights Watch that he was a long-term member of the LTTE's political wing from Jaffna.


More : http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/05/20/sri-lanka-new-evidence-wartime-abuses
Last Updated on Friday, 21 May 2010 08:31
 

War Crimes in Sri Lanka - INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP - NEW REPORT

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Brussels, 17 May 2010: Newly revealed evidence of war crimes in Sri Lanka last year makes an international inquiry essential.

War Crimes in Sri Lanka ,* the latest report from the International Crisis Group, exposes repeated violations of international law by both the Sri Lankan security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the last five months of their 30-year civil war. That evidence suggests that the period of January to May 2009 saw tens of thousands of Tamil civilian men, women, children and the elderly killed, countless more wounded, and hundreds of thousands deprived of adequate food and medical care, resulting in more deaths.

Released on the eve of the first anniversary of the end of the fighting, the report calls for an international inquiry into alleged crimes. The government has conclusively demonstrated its unwillingness to undertake genuine investigations of security force abuses and continues to deny any responsibility for civilian casualties. A true accounting is needed to address the grievances that drive conflict in Sri Lanka, so the international community must take the lead.

More : http://www.crisisgroup.be/flash/sl/sl.html

Last Updated on Monday, 17 May 2010 09:23
 

 


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