Sri Lanka has strongly rejected the inference that the presence of the military contributes to the insecurity of women and girls in the former conflict-affected areas.
Ambassador Aryasinha
Exercising a ‘Right of Reply’ with regard to the statement made during the General Debate under Agenda Item 4 by Canada, claiming ‘ongoing use of rape and sexual violence by Sri Lankan security forces against perceived government opponents,’ Sri Lanka said this claim is not substantiated by verifiable data or evidence. It was noted that any allegations supported by credible evidence are dealt with firmly by the authorities and legal action has been taken by the Government in all cases in which the Sri Lankan security personnel have been involved.
We publish below the statement in full;
Mr. President,
Sri Lanka wishes to exercise its right of reply with regard to the statement made by Canada claiming ‘ongoing use of rape and sexual violence by Sri Lankan security forces against perceived government opponents.’
Sri Lanka strongly rejects this claim which is not substantiated by verifiable data or evidence.
Mr. President,
Sri Lanka has a well-established, zero tolerance policy on sexual and gender based violence against women, and continues to take strong action against reported cases of violence against women.
The involvement of security forces personnel as a percentage of the total incidents of sexual violence is low, both in the conflict and the post-conflict periods. During the conflict period (January 2007- May 2009), 7 security forces personnel were reported as having been involved in 5 incidents of sexual violence in the Northern Province, out of a total of 125 persons accused in 119 incidents for the entire Northern Province. In the post-conflict period (from 2009 – May 2012), 10 security forces personnel were reported as having been involved in 6 incidents of sexual violence in the Northern Province, out of a total of 307 persons accused in 256 incidents for the entire Northern Province. The involvement of security forces personnel as a percentage of the total accused stands at 5.6% in the conflict period, and 3.3% in the post-conflict period. Any allegations supported by credible evidence are dealt with firmly by the authorities.
Legal action has been taken by the Government in all cases in which the Sri Lankan security personnel have been involved. The Military has taken stringent action, including discharging offenders or imposing other punishments in accordance with the military and penal codes. Charges have also been filed in normal criminal courts. Along with the application of law to personnel in breach of the law, the Sri Lankan military continues to provide large-scale human rights training to its personnel with the assistance of the ICRC.
Further, Sri Lanka’s reconciliation mechanism, the National Plan of Action for implementation of the Recommendations of the LLRC (LLRC NPoA) has also taken concrete measures to address the specific concerns, vulnerabilities of victims of conflict, especially women and children.
Other extensive measures have also been taken by the Government to ensure the wellbeing and security of women and girls, including the establishment of Women and Children’s Police Desks in police stations, sexual and gender based violence Help Desks in hospitals, and Child and Women Development Units at Divisional Secretariats in the Northern and the Eastern provinces; as well as the provision of health, security and legal assistance to women hospitalized as a result of gender-based violence, and the conduct of sensitisation programmes on prevention of violence against women and protection of women’s rights to police and security forces, community leaders and the general public.
Mr. President,
Against this background, Sri Lanka strongly rejects the inference that the presence of military contributes to the insecurity of women and girls in the former conflict-affected areas. This remains at the level of allegation unsubstantiated by verifiable data. Further, no evidence has been directly brought to the attention of Government authorities by any claimant, to enable the conduct of credible investigations and prosecutions. Also, what exactly is meant by Canada by ‘perceived government opponents’ remains deliberately unclear.
Mr. President,
Sri Lanka would therefore like to request Canada to refrain from making irresponsible, unsubstantiated claims driven by diaspora imperatives which is not helpful to the process of bringing about genuine reconciliation among communities in the aftermath of such a grievous and long-drawn conflict.
Thank you.
Thiru / June 23, 2014
Sri Lankan rulers are liars, liars and damn liars:
Take them to the war crimes tribunal without delay, the earlier the better.
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Amarasiri / June 23, 2014
“Sri Lanka has strongly rejected the inference that the presence of the military contributes to the insecurity of women and girls in the former conflict-affected areas.”
Dear UN
Sinhala “Buddhist” Liars from Sri Lanka.
There is another Women liar in Geneva called Mahesha. 1
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Ben Hurling / June 23, 2014
Thiru,
“Sri Lankan rulers are liars, liars and damn liars”.
Very true. Could not agree with you more.
But, so is Harper’s government. Going all guns blazing against SL, while providing shameful cover to Israeli crimes in Palestine. Just like Cameron’s regime in the UK.
Not to mention the world class liars in the LTTE die-ass-pora. Specially in Canada and else where.
Are you a liar yourself? Serving only the cuase of perverted ethno-Tamil, utterly violent, utopic nationalism. In the guise of human rights.
Cheers!
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Native Vedda / June 24, 2014
Ben Hurling
“Serving only the cuase of perverted ethno-Tamil, utterly violent, utopic nationalism. In the guise of human rights.”
Oh that is because stupid Tamils follow their equally stupid Sinhala/Buddhists.
JVP Sinhala/Buddhists taught the Tamils how to terrorise innocent people and take up arms against the state.
Perverted ethno Sinhala/Buddhism was followed by ethno Tamil cause.
Utterly violent Sinhala/Buddhist terrorism preceded Tamil terrorism.
Building an exclusive Aryan Sinhala/Buddhist state was/is an utopian dream of the Sinhala/Buddhists and they have been working very hard through various policies which is being supported by iron fist. What was wrong Tamils too having the same mono ethnic utopian nationalism?
Ben you are a Sinhala/Buddhist hence you are unable to see beyond your nose. It is sad that you have always bashed the Tamils whenever they raised war crimes issues always with your anti LTTE anti diaspora vitriolic . As a Sinhala/Buddhist you are conditioned to see the Tamils as your enemies and through your LTTE/Diaspora prism.
The problem lies with Sinhala/Buddhists. The sooner you address those Sinhala/Buddhists’ inherent problem better for the whole of this island.
Sinhala/Buddhists see/perceive perils everywhere:
Pandya Peril
Chola Peril
Kalinga Peril
Indian Peril
Upcountry Tamil Peril (5th column as per JVP)
GG Ponna Peril
SJV Chelva peril
Amirthalingam peril
VP peril
Sampandan peril
International Community peril
Navi Pillai peril
Canadian Peril
Cameron Peril
Karunanithy Peril
Jayalalitha Peril
Vellala Peril
Islamic Peril
Modi Peril
Wiggy Peril
The only peril you refuse to see is the Sinhala/Buddhist permanent peril.
As for lying I have no clue about Thiru’s record though we know what promises MR made to Hindia and international community during and after the war. Don’t you think this is a classic case of Sinhala/Buddhist lying?
The problem we face today have been accumulated over 100 years by majoritarian stupidity. Blaming LTTE and diaspora is only a sideshow which is not going to solve this island’s deep rooted problems.
Leave Thiru alone and tell us how you intent to approach this problem since your people are the majority in this island?
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Ben Hurling / June 24, 2014
Native,
I have never denied inherent problems of destructive Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism.
I am just pointing out they are hardly the only culprits.
ot
And some of you guys cannot take it. Why?
Yes, Sinhalese Buddhists see many threats to their existence. Both real and perceived.
However, they are hardly alone with such nationalist paranoia.
Let me give you a few examples from among highly democratised nations in the West itself.
Just look at Iceland or Finland as examples. You will find the worst forms of nationalist paranoia about survival of a unique culture, ethnicity and langauge in these two countries.
Not to mention Greece. The cradle of democracy. Where Golden Dawn natioanlist thugs beat people up on streets. If they seem non-Greek.
As bad as it is, Sri Lanka’s Sinhala Buddhist destructive nationalism and paranoia is hardly unique. SL is not the only place the racist monster is kicking and alive.
Yes, we do need to battle BBS and their ilk where ever we see it in SL. Yes, we need to expose liars of GOSL.
I would also cut some slack ourselves though.
We do not need to hate ourselves. We can make progress.
Cheers!
PS: When did you pick up the term “you people”. I see no “you people”. I only see “We the people” of Sri Lanka. Period.
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Native Vedda / June 24, 2014
Ben Hurling
I will respond to your comment later as you know I need to collect more honey to eke out a living these days.
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Vijith Salgado / June 24, 2014
….and they will sing loudly theie age old punk opera “Dasis dina pukin rajun nasaa lowa thedin thamaa nathu kalem memaa”.
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Ema / June 24, 2014
do you follow the skinheads too?? the gay skin heads… :-)
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AVB / June 24, 2014
Robert Knox in 17th century wrote quite a lot of admirable cultural values of Lankan ethnic groups. But he also mentioned that “Sinhalese are unbelievable liars”… How true was that observation, even in 21st century Sinhalese haven’t changed a bit!!!
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Javi / June 28, 2014
No wonder we lovingly call them the `Lying Race`
(lions and tigers run on 4 but this baboon turned man)
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Lapatiya / June 23, 2014
Our Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha is perfectly correct. These people are accusing us without proper evidence. If they have some photographic evidence or data kept by Security forces to prove ongoing use of rape by Security forces, they should come up with them. then only our Govt. can investigate punish the culprits. There is a possibility that those who complained get raped themselves and complain in order to seek asylum from Canada and other foreign Countries. If Canada complains about taking suspects to find hidden arms or finding large scale Drugs that is ok as it is security forces trade mark. Recently our Hon. President asked Muslim Ministers to come up with evidence to prove Aluthgama Incident. There can’t be any evidence as Champika Ranawaka and Hela Urumaya has evidence to suggest that Muslim extremists are behind this. There is another kind of Rapes and Child Abuses are there in Sri Lanka but that was legalize by Issuing Patent rights only for Govt. ministers, Local Politicians and their Friends and Friends of Friends.
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Ben Hurling / June 23, 2014
Lapatiya,
Based on your silly comment there is evidence to prove that you are indeed nothing, but a “Lapatiya”.
Stay away from the rough and tumble of hypocritical international politics.
Are being trained by your Handlers in the establishment? To decieve the public despite your visibly “Lapati” age.
Cheers!
PS: Have you tried the Kinder Park adjoining “Diyawanna Oya”?
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Lapatiya / June 24, 2014
@Ben Hurling,
“Stay away from the rough and tumble of hypocritical international politics” Sorry Sir,I didn’t know that it was your ground, I just thought of helping our Ambassador Hon. Ravinatha Aryasingha by denying all allegations leveled by Canada. I am also just helping our Deshapremi Govt. Like you and others like Police Spokesperson, Hon. Keheliya Rambukwella, Champika Ranawaka, Wimal Weerawansa and other Ministers. Was it wrong? The problem Sir, those western countries take everything serious. Now Look, Our Hon. President has decided that Aluthgama incident is negligible as only 3 killed and destroyed only couple of hundreds of houses and properties, but for western people it was a big thing. If our President thought it was so serious he would have brought the matter before the parliament to decide the course of action as he did for Madam Pillay’s committee. Any way I just try to keep away from hypocritical international politics as your advise as i don’t want to have a free White Van ride from your Boss at my Lapati age.
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Kalu Nangi / June 23, 2014
Lapatiya, I enjoy your ‘tongue in cheek’ comments. You have a knack of patting this rogue regime on their back while giving them a slap on the cheek! A harder slap might be better next time.
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Ramasamy / June 24, 2014
It is utterly unrealistic to expect rape victims to produce photographic evidence in respect of rape as this crime is never committed with a photographer standing by.
Even if photographic evidence is submitted, the photos would be dismissed as fakes or doctored images as in the case of all the photos and videos published by Channel 4.
Sri Lankans as I have mentioned before are glib and facile liars and the nonsensical lies they utter can take one’s breath away.
When Tamils were locked up inside Menik Farm when the war came to a close, someone complained to a government official that the prisoners had no access to lawyers and therefore were unable to file even a fundamental rights petition. And a government official replied by saying that it was not necessary to have a lawyer to file a FR petition and the aggrieved party could even accomplish this task by personally writing a note by hand and forwarding it to the Supreme Court!
This is typical of the nonsensical lies uttered by Sri Lankans, especially government officials, which simply goes to show what shameless and barefaced liars they all are!
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Marasommy / June 24, 2014
But one can show of the hurted lock in a pic and substantially produce a DNA of the purulent spermatozoa within.
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Eusense / June 23, 2014
Canada should divulge the source/s of these rape intelligence. If Canada does not authenticate such info before accusations are made it lose credibility. I am puzzled why Canada is pursuing these accusations with almost non existing evidence!
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Kirri Yakka / June 24, 2014
Eusense if you are so puzzled by such non ecisiting evidence you should be be more puzzled by the attacks by extra terrestrial alience on the Muslims of Sri Lanka. Apparaently they have left no evidence.
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Eusense / June 24, 2014
Kirri
What does the attack on muslims have to do with Canada’s rape accusation?
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Ram / June 24, 2014
As the cops would say, they have previous. They denied involvement in the Iraq war2, following on from the accusation that Saddam had WMD, but were involved nevertheless. As the following Wikileaks exposes at Wsws.org
/en/articles/2011/05/cana-m19.html shows.
They would go to war on the strength on LIES.
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Ramboda / June 24, 2014
The Saddam killer Kurdish Judge is executed by Saddam’s own Elite forces ISIS now.
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Tamil from the north / June 24, 2014
Eusense, you are a bugger with no sense. You are accusing a country with tons of credibility in the entire world against a country ruled by brutes? Idiot, think before you open your mouth. Isaipriya and the other young lady who were captured, gang raped and murdered in cold blood, isn’t that enough for you. Why don’t you also send your wife there to an army camp filled with 3rd class rowdies from the south and see how they will treat her? If the Tamil women are raped and murdered, who cares? But if the Sinhalese women are raped and murdered that is a big deal? A woman is a woman, whether she is Tamil, Sinhalese, Muslim or whatever. She is a human, start treating them like humans. You dumb fuck!!!!!!!
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Eusense / June 24, 2014
TFN,
You sounds like somebody who can’t be taken seriously! What advantage do you have when using words like “bugger”, “you dumb f..k” etc.? Generally I don’t reply to low IQs like you but this time I will tell you what it is.
You really consider Canada as credible? Which planet do you live in? Read some Canadian papers and see how that gov. is credible. So, you and the other separatists keep talking about Isapriya all the time, is that the only case you can come up with? Can you name any more of these vast rape victims you and the Canadians are talking about?
Did I condone rape of women any where? where did you pick that up? I need credible evidence of multiple rape if you want me to believe you, not every Jack and Jill saying rape happened! I can accuse you of raping women and call you a rapist. Is it enough evidence for people to accept that you are a rapist?
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Javi / June 28, 2014
Nonsence with the borrowed american name is as stupid as Bush or Tea Baggers yet he is as scared of them.- He is one of the pansal dansal hoodwinking the American tax payers.
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Saro / June 23, 2014
CH4 films show journalist Isaipiriya and her friend in cloths first and naked later in front of hundreds of naked LTTE cadres and many Sri Lankan soldiers including Lt general Dias near a pond. All those present in and around the pond including two women were later killed. The government is in total denial of any wrong doing by the soldiers.
There were many complaints of sexual assault on not only women but young men arrested on suspicion of LTTE involvement. The victims are mainly Tamils and the perpetrators Sinhalese soldiers and who are the policemen or women? They are also from the majority ethnic community. Why cannot the police in Tamil speaking areas be also Tamil speaking? Why cannot the provincial councils are not given police powers as enshrined in the constitution? Unless the SL government implement the law there cannot be justice done to the perceived opponents – Muslims, Tamils and supporters of opposition parties – .
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Ajith / June 24, 2014
Ambassdor,
You have been paid to repeat the same Mantra
“Strongly Rejected”.
You might even say the same if someone says “Sinhalese Buddhists are are not human beings”
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Nancy / June 24, 2014
Call them yourself “Nittaewos”.
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Easwaran / June 24, 2014
The accepted definition of an ambassador is that he/she has to lie about his/her government and the country. Our Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha is a perfect example of this accepted definition. He had lied so many times so did our de-facto Chief Justice Mohan Pieris lied at UNHRC about the Journalist Ehalligoda’s whereabouts.
Evidence for army personals sordid activities are in plenty. But the state has threaten the victims, Recently the foreign affairs minister had stated all those who would give evidence to the UNHRC’s forthcoming investigation would be severely punished. Why does the government so frightened? Police on the other hand say that they had no complaints from rape victims. If I remember correctly, that appeared on Srilankan prints, soon after the war had ended in 2009. Which made, many to feel sick and anger on Defence secretary Gota, who made publically known that the army now should enjoy the women LTTE combatant’s, and to stain the palks straight-sea RED with the blood of male combatants. Such arrogance by a former third grade solder.
Ambassador should know, not only Canada would accuse of these heinous crimes, but the UN will soon establish credible evidence to put him and the country to Shame.
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Leon / June 24, 2014
Mr Ariyasinghe you have lost your credibility. If the LTTE has been eradicated why do you need an army in the North and East.
Your Govt fooled Sonia and her Malayala mafia, not any more.
Look at the situation now, there is going to be an investigation by the HR Council, the Muslim countries have given you
an ultimatum, Narendra Modi cannot be fooled the way the Rajapkse fooled the Indians, Jayalaitha is in total control of
South India, the senior SLFP are not happy that the Rajapakses are running the Govt, and last of all the astrologers in South India have predicted that you and your kid brother, along with Fonseka and the generals will be hauled up before the ICC. Rajapakse can you overcome all these. Anyway good luck to you.
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Maramandai / June 24, 2014
Ben
I havent heard US/Canada/UK/Israel soldiers raping women during the war? If you have any details please post it.
Please enlighten me.
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Maramandai / June 24, 2014
“Sri Lanka has a well-established, zero tolerance policy on sexual and gender based violence against women, and continues to take strong action against reported cases of violence against women”
What a bull? What happened to that Russian girl who died sometime ago? Isnt it after British pressure your government brought the case?
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Park / June 24, 2014
Any more lies in your brief case?
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BBS Rep / June 24, 2014
How glibly you lie Mr Ambassador, Aryasinha. Shame on you.
I agree there is a zero tolerance policy in place which is stringently applied.
Zero tolerance against anyone reporting on government corruption, governement excesses.
Zero tolerance against anyone agitating for anything in Sri Lanka.
Zero tolerance against any independent media.
Zero tolerance against minorities.
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