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Black July anniversary passes as violence escalates

August 1, 2008

I am writing to urge you to commemorate the innocent lives lost in Sri Lanka, 25 years ago during Black July, and currently as violence escalates.

In July 1983, over 3000 Tamils were killed in a state-sponsored pogrom that began in Colombo and spread throughout the island. Sri Lankan security forces were witnessed actively participating or silently observing the anti-Tamil massacres. The 25th anniversary of these attacks passed last week, regrettably without any official commemoration from the U.S. government.

Meanwhile, indiscriminate bombings, extrajudicial killings and "disappearances" continue unabated throughout Sri Lanka. Human Rights Watch recently released a report calling upon the Sri Lankan government to release over 400 civilians, who were fleeing the escalating violence in the North and are currently held in arbitrary detention with no charges against them.

"The Sri Lankan government shouldn't treat civilians as criminals just because they're fleeing a conflict area," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have been forcibly detained throughout the island, with restrictions on movement that include a daily pass system that limits the number of people who can leave, and a mandate that a family member remain behind. HRW reported that an overwhelming majority of IDPs prefer to leave the camp, and declared that the government's restrictions violate international human rights law.

Since the Sri Lankan government unilaterally withdrew from the ceasefire agreement in January, human rights violations against Tamils have become a structural component of life in Sri Lanka. I urge you to help stop the ongoing killings by calling for an international human rights monitoring mission to Sri Lanka.