Action Alert ArchiveRed Cross workers suffer similar abuses as the civiliansJune 11,2007 In past weeks, the abduction and killing of innocent civilians and aid workers has continued in tandem in Sri Lanka. In the Jaffna peninsula, home to many of the islands ethnic minority Tamils, classes at Jaffna University were halted for two weeks after a number of disappearances and threats against the student body. In the last two months, at least ten students have been reported missing, another two confirmed dead, and two released after reportedly being tortured by the Sri Lankan Military's Intelligence division. Death threats were issued on May 13th to hundreds of students, professors, and the Vice Chancellor at Jaffna University. Among the students abducted from there, one was the son of the American Mission College principal, and the other was the son of an official working for the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) in Jaffna. On June 3rd, two Sri Lanka Red Cross workers were found dead after being reported missing two days earlier. The two workers, who were attending a workshop in Colombo, were waiting for a train back to their homes in Batticaloa when their group was stopped by men claiming to be police. The men abducted the two of them, leaving the rest of the group, and their bodies were found later one hundred miles south east of the capital, riddled with bullets. The ICRC and the UN have both condemned the killings saying, "The circumstances in which these men were abducted and killed demand a thorough investigation by the police." The Sri Lankan Government has responded by promising an investigation of the matter. However, recent abuses are only part of a larger history of violence and abductions by the Sri Lankan Government. Rights groups have documented hundreds of disappearances and abductions in Sri Lanka since fighting resumed last summer. The attack on aid workers bears striking similarity to an attack in August of last year when 17 aid workers from the French relief organization Action Against Hunger were brutally gunned down during a Sri Lankan military offensive. In this case, though there was seemingly overwhelming evidence that Sri Lankan Military personnel were behind the killings, the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) appointed by the SL government to investigate the killings said that the investigation stalled largely due to Sri Lankan government obstruction (New York Times, 11 June 2007). The sophisticated abuse of human rights in Sri Lanka must stop. We are calling on you to pressure the Sri Lankan government to implement any of its promises to punish those accountable and put measures in place to stop future abuses. |
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Jun 20, 2008 - Aftenposten
Peace brokers from around the world will once again gather for the annual Oslo Forum next week, to swap experience in conflict mediation. Participants include Mohammad Khatami, former president of Iran; Jonathan Powell, former chief of staff for ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Gareth Evans, president of the International Crisis Group. Read this article
As Sri Lanka's civil war escalates, so do attacks on its journalists
Jun 19, 2008 - AP
With civil war raging in Sri Lanka, the journalists trying to cover the conflict find themselves increasingly under siege. They have been hounded by the government, attacked by unknown assailants and accused of aiding the rebels. Many reporters have been arrested or fled the country, while others have resorted to self-censorship, journalists said.Read this article
Review of Sri Lanka under the Universal Periodic Review
Jun 14, 2008 - Amnesty International
Themes raised by member states participating in the review of Sri Lanka under the UPR dialogue included concerns related to the lack of protection of civilians caught in the internal conflict; enforced disappearances, unlawful/extrajudicial killings; torture and other forms of ill treatment, threats to freedom of expression, the need to strengthen national human rights institutions, attacks on dissent and ongoing impunity for human rights violations.
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Press freedom in Sri Lanka continues to deteriorate
Jun 13, 2008 - CPJ
The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by government’s policies toward journalists who write critically about the conflict between Sri Lanka’s military forces and Tamil secessionists. We have seen an increase in harassment, intimidation, and detention of reporters, many of whom are columnists in senior positions with well-established careers.
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S.Lanka says peace brokers can't visit rebel area
Jun 12, 2008 - Reuters
Sri Lanka has refused requests by Norwegian peace mediators to visit rebel territory, and said fresh peace talks hinged on Tamil Tiger guarantees to lay down arms and stick to a negotiation timetable. Nordic ceasefire monitors quit the country this year after the six-year Norway brokered truce disintegrated.
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