NEWS

Days before the United Nations voted recently to begin an inquiry into alleged war crimes committed during the Sri Lankan civil war that ended in 2009, a report was published containing allegations that systematic abuse, torture and sexual violence were taking place in the island nation as recently as February. Testimonies in the report from 40 witnesses, who were recently detained in Sri Lanka and have since fled the country, detail alleged abuse by government security forces between 2009 and 2014, with more than half the cases between 2013 and 2014.

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.'s top human rights body launched an investigation Thursday into Sri Lanka's civil war, approving a U.S.-led resolution over the strong protests of Sri Lanka's government. The resolution approved by the U.N. Human Rights Council sets in motion a yearlong investigation that will examine "alleged serious violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes by both parties in Sri Lanka." Members of the 47-nation Geneva-based council voted 23 to 12 in favor of the resolution, with 12 abstentions, following a heated two-day debate. The council also rejected a move to remove language calling on Sri Lanka to cooperate with the investigation.

UNITED NATIONS — What to do with Sri Lanka? The island nation, triumphant after nearly three decades of war against ethnic separatists, has vexed the United Nations. Five years after the war’s brutal ending, the world body has been unable to address grave human rights violations committed by the warring parties, making Sri Lanka something of an object lesson in the difficulties of pursuing accountability. The United Nations’ own conduct during the war led to a change in doctrine: The secretary general late last year ordered United Nations officials not to stay silent in the face of rights violations, as they had in Sri Lanka in 2009.

NEW DELHI — About 100 government supporters marched to the American Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka, last week and smashed coconuts on the embassy’s doorstep in a Hindu ritual meant to curse an enemy. “We will not let them take our president to the electric chair!” the protesters shouted. The next day, thousands of miles away, Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the State Department, performed a ritual of her own by releasing a statement that condemned Sri Lanka’s recent arrests of human rights activists.

After five years of stalling by the government, it is time for an international investigation to do what Colombo has been unwilling to do.

NEW DELHI — Fears of a broad crackdown against rights activists in Sri Lanka have been heightened after the Sri Lankan police recently arrested two prominent human rights advocates and a woman who has made a public campaign of finding her missing son. The arrests took place just as the United Nations Human Rights Council considers starting an inquiry into possible war crimes committed by government forces and separatists during Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war.

In early 2009, as many as 40,000 civilians were killed in the final days of Sri Lanka’s civil war, having been herded into an area about the size of Central Park and subjected to relentless shelling. No one has been held accountable for these crimes, and even now the government in Colombo remains intent on burying the past. Only an international commission of inquiry stands any chance of rectifying this omission.

Senior Sri Lankan government officials and military officers may bear criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during an offensive near the end of the island’s civil war, according to a new investigation that backs calls for an international inquiry into those events.

NEW DELHI — A top State Department official is expected to arrive in Sri Lanka on Friday, just three days after the United States announced that it would again seek a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council pressing for an investigation into allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka. Nisha Biswal, the assistant secretary of state for Central and South Asian affairs, is expected to meet with government officials, members of the opposition and others in Colombo, the capital. She is also expected to travel to Jaffna, a city in the heart of the Tamil-dominated Northern Province of Sri Lanka.

Mr Cameron has been the most vocal critic of Sri Lanka's record on rights during a biannual summit of Commonwealth nations being held in the capital Colombo. The normally sedate event has been shaken by the intensifying row over atrocities during the final months of the war and ongoing abuses ever since. "Let me be very clear. If an investigation is not completed by March, then I will use our position on the UN Human Rights Council to work with the UN Human Rights Commission and call for a full credible and independent international inquiry," Mr Cameron told reporters.

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Despite an apparent campaign of dirty tricks by its opponents and reported efforts at intimidation, the Tamil National Alliance won a sweeping victory on Sunday in the first provincial elections in 25 years in Sri Lanka’s war-torn north. With most of the votes counted by 5:30 a.m. Sunday, the Tamil alliance had won 78 percent of the vote in the Northern Province and was expected to win 30 of the 36 seats directly contested on the provincial council.

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — The thugs first appeared around 11:20 on Thursday night, a dozen or so men lurking outside her house. Two wore army uniforms. Ananthi Sasitharan — a Tamil candidate in the first provincial elections to be held in 25 years in the former insurgent stronghold here — said she had woken up her three daughters and prepared for the worst. She called a few friends, who soon appeared and persuaded her and her daughters to sneak out the back. It was a good thing they left.

UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay has sharply criticised the government of Sri Lanka, at the end of a week-long visit. In a statement, Ms Pillay said she feared the country was becoming increasingly authoritarian. Since the civil war ended four years ago, democracy had been undermined and the rule of law eroded, she added. Ms Pillay is the most senior UN official to visit the north since Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in 2009. She arrived in Sri Lanka last Sunday for a fact-finding mission after the government promised her access to former war zones. She told reporters then that her job was to ensure that the government was conforming to human rights standards agreed by all nations.

In the light of triumph the mistakes of the past are often thrown in to the shadows to be forgotten. For Sri Lanka this bodes true, as the government continues to bathe in the "glory" of its defeat of the LTTE back in 2009. Four years have passed since Sri Lanka's brutal and bloody civil war came to an aggressive end. At the time many rejoiced with the news, and expectations that after 26 years the country could reconcile. It now appears as though reconciliation is playing second fiddle to the growing political intrigue on all sides.

Because the government won’t pursue truth and reconciliation, the international community must. And the United States should take the lead on such an effort. As President Obama said on May 13, 2009 as the war neared its end, “Going forward, Sri Lanka must seek a peace that is secure and lasting, and grounded in respect for all of its citizens.”

“We remain gravely concerned about the situation on the ground in Sri Lanka for all ethnic and religious groups, particularly Tamils. As stated in a resolution passed by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in March, ongoing problems include ‘enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture, and violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, as well as intimidation of and reprisals against human rights defenders, members of civil society and journalists, threats to judicial independence and the rule of law, and discrimination on the basis of religion or belief.’”

ALMOST FOUR years ago, the Sri Lankan government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa won a decisive victory in a 26-year-long civil war with rebels from the island’s minority Tamil community. The cost was horrific: A United Nations investigation subsequently found that up to 40,000 civilians may have died in the government's final offensive. But the triumph made Mr. Rajapaksa a hero among the majority Sinhalese community and gave him an opportunity to modernize his country while healing its ethnic rift.

The Failure to Protect: Why the International Community Allows Genocide to Keep Happening

A discussion with Waging Peace director
Rebecca Tinsley

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Wednesday, January 23, 2013
12:45 p.m. at Boalt Hall, Rm. 141, UC Berkeley

Tamil American Peace Initiative ( TAPI ) joined the screening of the documentary Silenced Voices at Berkeley, CA on November 14th.

A trailer of the film can be seen here
Silenced Voices

A panel discussion followed the screening of the documentary.

It was moderated by Ellis Cose, a renowned journalist and author of The End of Anger. And the panelists included Ms Beate Arnestad, Director of Silenced Voices, Dr. Karunyan Arulanantham, Executive Director of TAPI, and Mr. Bashana Abeyawardana, exiled journalist

November 15, 2012 NEW DELHI -- A major Tamil opposition party in Sri Lanka called Thursday for an international investigation after a U.N. report criticized the international body's own failure to protect civilians during the waning days of a brutal war in 2009.

The moderate Tamil National Alliance said the report confirmed its longstanding belief that extensive killings and detentions of civilians took place, something the Sri Lankan government has denied.

November 13, 2012: An internal review of how the United Nations handled the bloody final months of Sri Lanka’s civil war in 2009, when as many as 40,000 civilians were killed, has concluded that the response was “a grave failure of the U.N.,” according to a leaked draft of the report.

14 November 2012: A UN report on its failure to protect civilians in Sri Lanka's civil war will have "profound implications" for the global body, UN chief Ban Ki-moon says.

Tamil American Peace Initiative joins the screening of the documentary, Silenced Voices, and the follow up panel discussion at Berkeley, CA.

Silenced Voices, a documentary film by Beate Arnestad, is about freedom of speech and the price some are willing to pay for it. The film is told as a personal encounter with exiled Sri Lankan journalists who have been “silenced” and almost killed in their home country because they exposed war crimes, corruption and massacres of civilians.
This documentary will be screened on Nov 14th at the North Gate Hall Library at the Graduate school of Journalism in Berkeley, California.

The Tamil American Peace Initiative commends Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, International Crisis Group, Open Society Foundations and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for hosting an important screening of “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields,” – a documentary production by Britain’s Channel 4 – which sheds light on the atrocities committed against civilians during the final stages of Sri Lanka’s decades long civil war.

On Monday, June 20, David Miliband and Bernard Kouchner, former foreign ministers of Britain and France, wrote in The New York Times that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon should establish an independent, international mechanism to monitor Sri Lanka’s reconciliation efforts and conduct investigations into human rights violations that occurred during the end of the war.

On June 3rd, Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner of the US Department of State issued a press statement calling for the Sri Lankan government (SLG) to “act quickly and credibly to address the violations” that allegedly occurred during the war’s final stages and “adopt the measures necessary to achieve national reconciliation and build a united, democratic, and peaceful Sri Lanka.”

Amid reports that the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) requested a second six month extension from President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Tamil American Peace Initiative (TAPI) calls upon the US government to strengthen its stance towards the inadequacies of the Sri Lankan government-appointed commission and work to create an international mechanism to inquire into events at the end of the civil war.

On Monday, April 25th, a UN panel of experts issued a long-awaited report to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Sri Lankan government (SLG) detailing the panel’s findings and recommendations surrounding violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Based on credible reports, the panel puts the civilian death toll in the final months of fighting between 40,000 and 75,000. It is widely known that all the civilians in the conflict area were ethnic Tamils, and the staggering number of Tamil civilian casualties far exceeds the number killed in the Srebrenica massacre, according to the observation of Gordon Weiss, then UN spokesperson in Colombo during the conflict. The UN panel is comprised of three independent and highly respected international human rights attorneys, Marzuki Darusman of Indonesia, Yasmin Sooka of South Africa and Steven Ratner of the United States.

The Tamil American Peace Initiative (TAPI) welcomes the recommendations laid out in the executive summary of the panel of experts report commissioned by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

On March 1st, Senate Resolution 84, sponsored by Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) and cosponsored by 11 other Senators, was passed unanimously by the Senate. The action came after nearly two years of repeated calls by human rights organizations for the US to step up its role in the unpromising Sri Lankan peace and accountability process. Tamil America Peace Initiative (TAPI) applauds the passage of this resolution and believes the momentum created this week towards higher US engagement in Sri Lanka is a critical step towards the establishment of a credible and lasting peace process.

On Friday, February 11, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) held a forum to discuss possible solutions for achieving meaningful reconciliation and lasting peace in Sri Lanka following decades of ethnic and internal conflict.

On January 14th, the Tamil American Peace Initiative (TAPI) sent an open letter to the UN Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka, a panel formed to advise Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on ensuring human rights and accountability in Sri Lanka. The letter asks the panel to urge Mr. Ban to ensure sufficient time is given for it to complete its review before advising Mr. Ban on how to proceed. The letter also implored the panel to ensure confidentiality for those individuals who made submissions about war crimes and crimes against humanity, while asking that the final report be made public so those responsible for committing atrocities are held accountable.

On December 14th, 2010, 31 members of Congress sent a follow-up letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to call for an international investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed toward the end of Sri Lanka’s 25 year civil war. The Tamil American Peace Initiative (TAPI) continues to support such an important probe that would ensure an unbiased and transparent review of all atrocities committed during the conflict. TAPI commends the work of the letter’s sponsor, Representative Danny Davis (D-IL), and applauds his continued commitment to an international investigation.

Seventeen U.S. Senators sent a letter on December 9th, 2010 urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to call for an international investigation into alleged war crimes committed during Sri Lanka’s 25 year civil war. The Tamil American Peace Initiative (TAPI) has long supported such a probe to ensure an unbiased and transparent review of all atrocities committed during the conflict. TAPI commends the work of the letter’s co-sponsors, Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Richard Burr (R-NC), and applauds the cosigners for supporting an international probe into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Tamil American Peace Initiative (TAPI) commends US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake for urging the Sri Lankan government to make greater efforts towards reconciliation and democracy during his recent trip to Sri Lanka. TAPI is particularly gratified by the Secretary’s emphasis on the importance of accountability for war crimes and human rights violations committed during the civil war, and by his recommendation that the Sri Lankan government accept the UN war crimes advisory panel.

On the 15th anniversary of Srebrenica massacre, President Obama has led the way in reminding the world that the lessons of Srebrenica must continue to guide our moral compass. He has reminded us that "the name Srebrenica has since served as a stark reminder of the need for the world to respond resolutely in the face of evil." But more so, he has reminded us that after great atrocities, we still have a great duty to foster peace and reconciliation. No place can the duty to help pursue justice and build peace be greater than in a fractured Sri Lanka struggling to recover from war.

The Sri Lankan Government’s decision to lead violent protests against United Nations Development Program offices in Colombo should be of serious concern to the United States. In response to the UN’s creation of a panel to investigate human rights violations in Sri Lanka, hundreds of protesters were led by Housing Minister Wimal Weerawansa to barricade the UN office with the employees inside. The protests represented such a danger for the humanitarian staff assigned to Sri Lanka that the UN has decided to close the office and recall its top representative.

The Tamil American Peace Initiative (TAPI) commends the EU on its recent decision to rescind Sri Lanka’s preferential trade status unless the country pledges to improve its human rights record within six months. The EU is taking this measure to correct serious shortcomings in the protection of human rights in Sri Lanka uncovered by an in depth investigation.

The Tamil American Peace Initiative (TAPI) applauds the UN for appointing a panel to advise on war crimes and human rights violations in Sri Lanka. After months of protest by the Sri Lankan government, the UN this week officially formed the panel, which will advise Sec. General Ban Ki Moon on accountability issues relating to alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law during the final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka.

With the arrival of Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris in Washington this week, Tamil American Peace Initiative (TAPI) urged members of Congress and the Obama Administration to press the international community to pursue independent investigations into the alleged war crimes that occurred during Sri Lanka’s twenty-five year Civil War.

As the first anniversary of the end of the War in Sri Lanka approaches on May 19, the Tamil American Peace Initiative (TAPI) said the occasion spotlights how little has been accomplished in the last year that contributes to a lasting peace. The group called on the international community to ramp up its efforts to bring development, aid and investment to the island, and to push the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to end its apathetic approach to reconciliation and pursue a robust agenda for change.

Noting the disappointing results of the April 8th Parliamentary Elections in Sri Lanka, the Tamil American Peace Initiative (TAPI) called on the winning party, the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), to immediately start working towards reconciliation between all religious and ethnic groups on the Island.

Last May, after more than a quarter century of civil war between government forces and Tamil separatists, a fragile peace came to Sri Lanka. Skip to next paragraph Related Stories Sri Lanka advances on rebel base Sri Lanka - All coverage Now, observers hope that parliamentary elections scheduled for April 8 can help unify the island nation. But if the government pursues the same discriminatory tactics it used for the presidential election in January, it will further alienate the island’s Tamil community and diminish hopes for peace.

The Tamil American Peace Initiative (TAPI), a group of Tamil Americans dedicated to peaceful change in Sri Lanka, condemned the arrest and detainment Monday of defeated presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka. The group called it an attack on democracy that diminishes the possibility of reconciliation on the island.

The Tamil American Peace Initiative (TAPI), a group of Tamil Americans dedicated to peaceful change in Sri Lanka, called on Sri Lanka's newly reelected President Mahinda Rajapaksa to a forge a new path and create the conditions to repair the deep divide between the people of the island.

The Tamil American Peace Initiative (TAPI), a group of Tamil Americans dedicated to peaceful change in Sri Lanka, said today that the Sri Lankan presidential election on January 26th will be instrumental in achieving a lasting peace on the island and addressing the underlying causes of the country’s 30-year war. The group called on all voters in Sri Lanka to vote for a new government that will focus on healing the country’s deep divisions.

The Tamil American Peace Initiative (TAPI), a group of Tamil Americans dedicated to peaceful
change in Sri Lanka, today called on all Sri Lankans to participate in the January 26th presidential
election.

The Tamil American Peace Initiative (TAPI) welcomes the US Department of State's “Report to Congress on Incidents During the Recent Conflict in Sri Lanka,” released December 7, 2009. TAPI calls on the US Government to act on the report’s recommendations for increased US engagement as a necessary component of building peaceful, stable, and democratic Sri Lanka that represents the interests and defends the rights of all its citizens.