{"id":108832,"date":"2013-10-05T14:06:24","date_gmt":"2013-10-05T08:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=108832"},"modified":"2013-10-13T18:25:30","modified_gmt":"2013-10-13T12:55:30","slug":"sri-lanka-if-this-is-not-genocide-then-what-is-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/sri-lanka-if-this-is-not-genocide-then-what-is-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka: If This Is Not Genocide, Then What Is It?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Brian Senewiratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr. Brian Senewiratne<\/p><\/div>\n

Accountability for Tamil Genocide in Sri Lanka!<\/strong><\/p>\n

For some inexplicable reason, there still seems to be a problem with the term \u2018Genocide<\/a>\u2019. The word has been clearly defined in the UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide <\/span>(the Genocide Convention).<\/p>\n

It as adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 1948 (coincidentally almost the same time that the newly independent Ceylon, as Sri Lanka was then, had just decitizenised a million Plantation Tamils, one seventh of the population at that time, in one of the worst acts of political barbarism anywhere in the world. That was when I, a 16 year old schoolboy, decided to get involved because what was done was simply unacceptable and a disastrous start for a newly independent country).<\/p>\n

The Genocide Convention came into effect in January 1951 (by which time the Plantation Tamils had not only been decitizenised, but disenfranchised as well).<\/p>\n

Resolution 260, Article 2, states:<\/p>\n

\u201cGenocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:<\/em><\/p>\n

(a)\u00a0 <\/em>Killing members of the group;<\/em><\/p>\n

(b)\u00a0 <\/em>Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;<\/em><\/p>\n

(c)\u00a0 <\/em>Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;<\/em><\/p>\n

(d)\u00a0 <\/em>Imposing measures to prevent births within the group<\/em><\/p>\n

(e)\u00a0 <\/em>Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group<\/em><\/p>\n

The Sri Lankan government has done all of these to the ethnic Sri Lanka Tamils who live in the North and East. The requirements to constitute \u2018Genocide\u2019 have been met.<\/p>\n

The official definition and a popular misconception<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Genocide Convention clearly states that it is act committed to destroy, in whole or in part<\/span>, an ethnic group.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the popular concept of genocide is an attempt to destroy the whole<\/span>\u00a0ethnic group \u2013 ie all the Tamils in Sri Lanka. This is clearly wrong.<\/p>\n

A further problem is that the media focuses on the more \u2018newsworthy\u2019 sudden outbursts of mass killing but overlooks the \u2018slow\u2019 or more \u2018chronic\u2019 killing, such as is occurring today in the Tamil North and East.<\/p>\n

The result is that this \u2018slow genocide\u2019, despite being Genocide, is ignored.<\/p>\n

Numbers involved<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is crucial to appreciate that the Genocide Convention does not mention the numbers that \u2018need\u2019 to be killed. It could be 50, 500, 5,000 or, as Hitler<\/a><\/span> decided, 6 million. It is the intention<\/span> backed by the acts<\/span> to take that intention to fruition, that constitutes \u2018Genocide\u2019. (I will deal with the Srebrenica massacre later, where the murder of 7,000 Bosnian Muslim males in a \u2018safe zone\u2019 was accepted as Genocide by an International Criminal Court).<\/p>\n

All that has to be done is to prove the intention to destroy \u2018in whole or in part\u2019 an ethnic group. In Sri Lanka, the \u2018part\u2019 is the part that lives in the North and East.<\/p>\n

The intention<\/span><\/strong> is to make Sri Lanka into a Sinhala-Buddhist nation \u2013 a \u2018pure\u2019 Sinhala-Buddhist nation \u2013 in which there is no place for non-Sinhalese and non-Buddhists. This is extreme ethno-religious chauvinism, masquerading as \u2018patriotism\u2019.<\/p>\n

There is a \u2018problem\u2019 for President Rajapaksa\u2019s regime<\/a><\/span>. If Sri Lanka is to be a Sinhala-Buddhist Nation, what can be done to the Tamils \u2013 18% of the population? There are only 4 options:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Drive them out of the country. 1.1 million have been, but there are some left.<\/li>\n
  2. Make then non-people. This is happening in the Tamil North and East right now.<\/li>\n
  3. Make them \u2018disappear\u2019. That is occurring at an alarming rate.<\/li>\n
  4. Kill them. That is Genocide.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The mass killing of Tamils as a \u2018solution\u2019 to the \u2018Tamil problem\u2019, is similar to Hitler\u2019s \u2018Final Solution\u2019 to the \u2018Jewish problem\u2019. The \u2018killing fields in Sri Lanka\u2019s North and East\u2019 and the razor-wire fenced \u2018rehabilitation centres\u2019, replaced Hitler\u2019s gas chambers and concentration camps. Some, not all, in Rajapaksa\u2019s concentration camps have been released but not to their homes. They are non-people who are facing a \u2018slow genocide\u2019 (see below).<\/p>\n

    The \u2018acts\u2019<\/span><\/strong> to take this intention to fruition have been amply documented in my dvd, \u2018Sri Lanka. Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, Violation of International Law\u201d<\/em>, Dr Winston Panchacharan\u2019s massive tome, \u2018Genocide in Sri Lanka\u2019, <\/em>the Channel 4 video, \u2018Sri Lanka. The Killing Fields\u2019, <\/em>and several other publications by internationally renowned human rights groups. There has been a deluge of reports from Amnesty International (AI, a Nobel Prize winner), Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) and even the United States Country Reports.<\/p>\n

    There is, of course, the massive publication from the UN Panel of Experts into Accountability (the \u2018Darusman Report\u2019, the most devastating and comprehensive report on Sri Lanka ever published. More reports from these sources will surely follow.<\/p>\n

    I will not repeat here what has been set out in my dvd (which is on the net or at briansenewiratne.blogspot.com). I will deal with here is what I have not dealt with in my dvds.<\/p>\n

    September 11, 2008, is a crucial day in Sri Lanka\u2019s, if not world, history. It was the day when all humanitarian workers including international and even UN workers, were ordered to leave the war zone by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL). I know of no country in the world where this has been done. This was to commit \u2018Genocide without witnesses\u2019, and to make sure that the maximum number of people died.<\/p>\n

    Some of these human rights organisations remain excluded to this day, 4 years after the end of the armed conflict. If what went on before 19 May 2009 was \u2018acute genocide without witnesses\u2019<\/span>, what is going on today is \u2018slow genocide without witnesses\u2019<\/span>.<\/p>\n

    Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/a><\/span>, the all powerful Defence Secretary, brother of the President, spoke with the BBC. On 2 February 2009, the BBC reported, \u201cRajapaksa declared that \u201cnothing should live or breathe outside the \u2018safe area\u2019\u201d<\/em>. The interview is in my dvd.<\/p>\n

    Putting this into practice, the hospital in Puthukkudiyiruppu, outside the \u2018safe zone\u2019 \u2013 the only one in the area – was bombed at least three times, with bombs that included cluster bombs. It was a blatant breach of the Geneva Convention. This too is in my dvd.<\/p>\n

    Of serious concern was that schools, with children in them, were bombed. Why kill children? Because that is what Genocide is.<\/p>\n

    Of the many atrocities committed on Tamil children, the worst was the targeted bombing of the Sencholai orphanage on 14 August 2006 (Rajapaksa became President in November 2005). Kfir jets of the GOSL dropped 16 bombs in repeated flights over the children\u2019s orphanage killing 53 girls and 3 staff. They were well aware of what they were going because the coordinates had been supplied to them so that orphanages would not be targeted. They were.<\/p>\n

    Markets, such as the Chavakachcheri \u00a0and Jaffna markets, were specially targeted. Why. \u00a0Was it that by doing so, it was hoped that the Tamil Tigers could not get food? But the Tamil Tigers were not in the Jaffna Peninsula. They were miles away in the Vanni. Markets in the Peninsula were destroyed so that ordinary Tamil people<\/em> would not be able to get \u00a0food. That is Genocide \u2013 \u201cdeliberately inflicting on a group, conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    Hospitals, even make-shift ones, were bombed and shelled. Why? Because what was waged by the GOSL on the Tamil people, <\/em>was Genocide – deliberately inflicting on a group, conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    Hundreds of Christian Churches and Hindu Temples were bombed and shelled. Why? That is what \u2018religious genocide\u2019 is. To confirm that it was, after the conflict ended, these non-Buddhist structures were replaced by Buddhist Temples and statues of Buddha. Why, when there are hardly any Buddhists in this area? Because that is \u2018religious genocide\u2019 \u2013 wiping out everything that is not Buddhist.<\/p>\n

    In January 2009, some 350,000 Tamil civilians, men, women and children, had amassed in the government-declared \u2018safe-zone\u2019. They were bombed, shelled and machine gunned \u2013 an absolute contravention of the Geneva Convention- \u201cThe Laws of War\u201d.<\/p>\n

    Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/a><\/span>, Executive President, Minister of Defence, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary, Sarath Fonseka<\/a><\/span>, Army Commander, and all those involved in this outrage, especially those who had \u2018command responsibility\u2019, whether in uniform or not, are guilty of war crimes and genocide and should be charged.<\/p>\n

    Evidence presented later showed that at least 40,000 people (mainly Tamil civilians) were killed, and hundreds, probably thousands more have \u2018disappeared\u2019 from internment camps set up by the GOSL, and run by the Sri Lankan military. They are responsible for the gross violations of human rights that have occurred in these camps, and later.<\/p>\n

    In their Submission to the \u2018LLRC\u2019 (the so called Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission) the Catholic Diocese of Mannar (Most Rev Dr Rayappu Joseph<\/a><\/span>, Catholic Bishop of Mannar, Rev Fr Victor Sosai, Vicar General of the Mannar Diocese, and Rev Fr Xavier Croos, the Representative of the Priests Forum of Mannar), produced evidence based on Government administrative centres, to show that 146,679 people were unaccounted for.<\/p>\n

    \u201cBased on information from Kachcheris <\/em>(Government administration centres) of Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi about the population in Vanni in early October 2008, and the number of people who came to the government controlled area after that, 146,679 people seem to be unaccounted for. According to the Kachcheri, the population of the Vanni was 429,059 in the early part of October 2008. According to the UN OCHA updated as of 10 July 2009, the total number of people who came out of the Vanni to government controlled areas after this, is estimated to be 282,380.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    <\/em>On 24 May 2009, CNN reported, \u201cUN seeks access to Sri Lankan refugee camps\u201d. The GOSL refused such access. What did the UN do? Nothing.<\/p>\n

    It was worse than doing nothing. On 25 May 2009, less than a week after the end of the genocidal slaughter of Tamils, the UN Human Rights Council had a two-day \u2018special session\u2019. Sri Lanka proposed a Resolution describing the conflict as a \u201cdomestic matter that did not warrant outside intervention\u201d<\/em>. China, India, Egypt and Cuba were among 29 developing countries that backed the Resolution which was passed.<\/p>\n

    Western diplomats and human rights workers were shocked. Amnesty International said, \u201cThe vote is extremely disappointing and is a low-point for the Human Rights Council. It abandons hundreds of thousands of people in Sri Lanka to cynical political considerations\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

    China which provided much of the weaponry for the GOSL to commit Genocide, now wants its \u2018reward\u2019 \u2013 a foothold in Sri Lanka \u2013 a massive harbour in Rajapaksa\u2019s home area, Hambantota, and an airport, Mattala airport, thrown in for good measure.\u00a0 Sri Lanka has now become a \u2018pearl\u2019 in China\u2019s \u2018String of Pearls\u2019 \u2013 a string of military bases across the Indian Ocean to safeguard oil supplies from the Middle East to China and manufactured goods going the other way.<\/p>\n

    China will almost certainly veto any action the UN Security Council might consider taking, genocide or war crimes notwithstanding. The implementation of the UN R2P (Responsibility to Protect) (see below), will surely be blocked.<\/p>\n

    The presence of the LTTE in the area bombed and shelled<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The GOSL claims that it is the presence of the LTTE among the civilian population that was the reason for the bombing and shelling of the area. This is nonsense.\u00a0 The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), a United Nations Court of Law dealing with war crimes, was quite clear on this. In Prosecutor v Blaslac et al ICTY Appeals Chamber, <\/em>made a clear statement:<\/p>\n

    \u201cWith respect to the meaning of a civilian population, the inclusion in a civilian population of military elements or combatants does not affect its status as civilians\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    For the GOSL to claim that the North and East were militarily attacked because of the presence of Tamil Tigers is legally invalid.<\/p>\n

    The continuing exclusion of human rights groups<\/strong><\/p>\n

    If, as the GOSL claims, the Tamil people \u2018have been rescued from terrorists\u2019 (meaning the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), and have been rehabilitated, then the Government must explain why international human rights groups such as Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and International Crisis Group (ICG), continue to be barred from entering this area and checking this out. Let them see the \u2018happy smiling faces\u2019 of the \u2018rehabilitated\u2019 Tamils, who have been \u2018rescued\u2019 from \u2018terrorists\u2019. Why the reluctance?<\/p>\n

    All the evidence points to the Tamil people in the North and East facing \u2018extinction\u2019 –\u00a0 a word used by the Report of the UN Secretary General\u2019s Panel of Experts. \u2018Extinction\u2019 of a people is genocide. I will deal with this word \u2018extinction\u2019 later.<\/p>\n

    The spectrum of Genocide<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Although the Genocide Convention focuses on physical genocide – killing, causing serious bodily harm and mental harm, and deliberately inflicting on a group conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction, there is a lot more to it than that. There are different types<\/em> of Genocide.<\/p>\n

    Types of genocide<\/strong><\/p>\n

    1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Physical Genocide<\/strong> \u2013 that which has been clearly defined in the Genocide Convention<\/p>\n

    2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cultural Genocide <\/strong>\u2013 eg the destruction of the Jaffna Public library with more than 90,000 books, documents and material, some of which dealt with Tamil culture.<\/p>\n

    3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Educational Genocide<\/strong> \u2013 destruction of schools and preventing children from going to school<\/p>\n

    4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Economic genocide<\/strong> \u2013 preventing Tamil people from setting up businesses, much of it now in the hands of the Sinhalese military, or earning a living (fishing and agriculture) by land-grabs and the relocation of Tamil people eg relocating fishermen where there is no sea.<\/p>\n

    5)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Religious Genocide<\/strong> \u2013 destroying Hindu temples and Christian Churches and replacing them with Buddhist shrines.<\/p>\n

    6)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Structural Genocide<\/strong> \u2013 destroying anything built by Tamils, and setting Sinhalese from the South in the Tamil North and East.<\/p>\n

    This is an extension of the Genocide Convention, being the \u201cintention backed by the act of destroying, in whole or in part\u201d, <\/em>the people, their culture, education, economic existence, religion and structures.<\/p>\n

    All of these (and more) the Sri Lankan (Sinhalese) Government has done, and what is serious, is continuing to do with increased <\/em>zeal, determination and alarming speed.<\/p>\n

    Ways of committing Genocide<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Bombing, shelling and shooting. These are \u2018highly effective\u2019 but are not the only way to kill.<\/li>\n
    2. Denial of food, medicines and medical care.<\/li>\n
    3. Preventing survival activities to a group (eg fishing, agriculture, employment and business).<\/li>\n
    4. Destroying homes, hospitals, schools, markets and businesses.<\/li>\n
    5. Making it dangerous for children to attend school by having a heavy military presence of ruthless, undisciplined, brutal men in the area who can do what they want with no accountability<\/li>\n
    6. Forcibly sterilising women- of which there is considerable evidence.<\/li>\n
    7. Depriving a group of people their land, and access to their place of work eg the sea and land.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Once the intention<\/span> is there to commit Genocide, the ways of doing so are endless.\u00a0All of this (and more) has gone on, and is currently going on,<\/span> in the Tamil areas of Sri Lanka.\u00a0Let me get back to the types of genocide.<\/p>\n

      Physical Genocide<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Much of this has been set out in my dvd on genocide in Sri Lanka. To repeat it here is unnecessary.<\/p>\n

      There are several important points in this dvd. It shows the actual bombing and shelling of the Tamil areas, which was later documented by UK Channel 4, \u2018Sri Lanka\u2019s Killing Fields\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n

      My dvd shows the actual targeted bombing of the Sencholai orphanage, the Puthukkudiyiruppu Hospital, the mass slaughter of civilians in Churches (where they were asked to take refuge), of schools and the wiping out of entire villages. What I have been able to record is a tiny fraction of what went on.<\/p>\n

      Most importantly, it shows the destruction of evidence of the slaughter, the mass incineration of dead bodies, so that it will be difficult, if not impossible to collect evidence of mass killings. It has all been burnt.<\/p>\n

      Cultural Genocide<\/strong><\/p>\n

      There is little doubt that successive Sinhalese governments have engaged in the cultural destruction of the Tamil people. This extends from the outrageous burning of the Jaffna Public library, one of the finest in South Asia, a store-house of irreplaceable manuscripts and books on Tamil culture, to the destruction of schools and learning facilities in the Tamil areas.<\/p>\n

      With permission from the (Sinhalese) military necessary for every event, including cultural events, Tamil culture is being put on the back-burner.<\/p>\n

      To compound the issue, school teachers in the Tamil areas are now not infrequently Sinhalese soldiers, with no expertise in teaching and even less knowledge of Tamil culture.<\/p>\n

      This is what the Sinhalese government wants to happen, whether admitted to or not. The perception seems to be that it is \u2018not possible\u2019 to have a thriving Tamil culture in a \u2018Sinhala-Buddhist\u2019 country. So, destroy that culture.<\/p>\n

      Unless this problem is addressed, one of the ancient cultures in the world will slowly die in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

      Educational Genocide<\/strong><\/p>\n

      This is a serious matter for an ethnic group, the Tamils, who have, for centuries, put education as the top priority. No other group in Sri Lanka has given education as high a priority as the Tamils have.<\/p>\n

      Indeed, it was discrimination in education, the so-called \u201cStandardisation of University entrance marks\u201d in 1972 by the Sirima Bandaranaike government where Tamil students from the North had to get higher marks to enter the University, that led to the Tamil youths picking up arms. Tamil students who should (on merit) have entered the University (which was the criteria for admission before 1971), were denied admission because of their ethnicity and the area they came from (Jaffna).<\/p>\n

      At the time I was a Senior Lecturer in Medicine in Sri Lanka, and saw it all.<\/p>\n

      Educational genocide is currently being committed in a different way. As has been mentioned already, there has been an extensive destruction of schools and other places of learning in the Tamil areas. Much of this has not been rebuilt or handed over to civilian control.<\/p>\n

      School children, especially girls, are too afraid to go to school because of the widespread presence of Sinhalese soldiers and the very real possibility of abduction or a \u2018nocturnal visit\u2019. There is ample documentation that (Sinhalese) soldiers and (Sinhalese) Police simply arrive at a school, arrest students, especially student leaders, and take them away \u2018for questioning\u2019. This happens with alarming regularity.<\/p>\n

      A matter of serious concern is the relocation of Sinhalese students from the South to the University in the North, especially in the Medical and Law Faculty. The students seem to be picked more on their ethnicity than their academic ability. Tamil students are denied places in the University, since to go to the (profusion of) Universities in the South is unaffordable and dangerous (being young Tamil men they are LTTE supporters or cadre, almost by definition).<\/p>\n

      The inevitable result is to leave the country, if possible. \u00a0Hundreds of thousands have already left. Sri Lanka will deprive itself of its most valuable asset,\u00a0 highly trainable and talented students. It is a high price for the country to pay for Educational Genocide.<\/p>\n

      Economic genocide<\/strong><\/p>\n

      The Tamil people in the North and East have lost their homes, employment, businesses and ways of earning a living. There has been a wholesale displacement of Tamils from an area where they have lived (and have a right to live). Their homes and property have been declared \u201cHigh Security Zones\u2019. The Tamils have been permanently displaced.<\/p>\n

      The land that the Tamils have lost has been given by the GOSL to Sinhalese soldiers, and landless Sinhalese from the South in what is State-sponsored \u2018Sinhalisation<\/a><\/span>\u2019 of the Tamil areas.<\/p>\n

      As the economic genocide of the Tamils continues apace, the Armed Forces are taking over (indeed they already have) businesses, commerce and trade. The Tamil people are not in the equation.<\/p>\n

      Religious genocide<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Hundreds, if not thousands, of Hindu shrines and Christian Churches have been destroyed. They have been replaced by Buddhist temples or just a statue of Buddha. To say that this is religious genocide would be an understatement.<\/p>\n

      Violent members of politically-active Buddhist clergy have now targeted mosques.<\/p>\n

      The political party of the Buddhist clergy (Jathika Hela Urumaya \u2013 National Heritage Party) has repeatedly brought up a motion in Parliament to ban religious conversions (for example, of Buddhists to Christians). The \u2018Anti-Conversion Bill\u2019 introduced in 2004, was challenged in the Supreme Court by the National Christian Evangelical Alliance in Sri Lanka. The Supreme Court held that it was unconstitutional because it breached Article 10 of the Constitution \u201cEvery person is entitled to freedom \u2026.including the freedom to have or adopt a belief of his choice\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

      Brought up again in 2009, and shelved because of pressure from America \u2013 a bipartisan protest by 15 Congressmen.<\/p>\n

      It has recently (2011) been brought up again!<\/p>\n

      It is interesting that in a country where 70% are Buddhists, Christianity and Hinduism are such a threat that they have to be outlawed.<\/p>\n

      Structural Genocide<\/strong><\/p>\n

      This is the destruction of anything built by the Tamils, however functional it is. The best example is the decimation of the fully functional entity in the Vanni which Professor Kristian Stokke, University of Oslo, Faculty of Sociology and Human Geography, described in detail: \u201cBuilding the Tamil Eelam State\u2026.Emerging State structures\u2026\u201d (published in the 3rd<\/sup> World Quarterly 27 (6) 2006).<\/p>\n

      This fully functional entity, complete with Law Courts, Banks, \u00a0hospitals, schools etc was reduced to rubble.<\/p>\n

      Of serious concern is the demolition of tombstones in cemeteries in the Tamil areas. This is not only outrageous, but has seriously affected the \u2018grieving process\u2019. To hope that this senseless act will not adversely affect \u2018Reconciliation\u2019 is absurd.<\/p>\n

      The most serious aspect of structural genocide is the Government-directed (massive) settlement of Sinhalese from the South (many of them ex-military people) in the Tamil North and East. It an attempt to permanently destroy the reality of a \u201cTamil homeland\u201d, once and for all. It is \u2018Sinhalisation\u2019 of the Tami area, a demographic change which might well be irreversible.<\/p>\n

      The political implications of is this policy is that the Tamils will be a minority in the area where they are a majority. Taken to its logical conclusion, there might be no\u00a0 voice for the Tamils even in Parliament. The Tamils will be \u201ca voiceless people\u2019. This is well underway.<\/p>\n

      The time-frame for genocide<\/strong><\/p>\n

      This can be \u2018acute\u2019, \u2018intermittent\u2019 or \u2018slow\u2019.<\/p>\n

      \u2018Acute\u2019 genocide<\/strong><\/p>\n

      This is \u2018mass killing\u2019 of a population or part of a population. It is dramatic and easily recognised as genocide. This is what happened in the last 5 months of the conflict in Sri Lanka \u2013 massive aerial bombardment, shelling and shooting.<\/p>\n

      With advances in technology (mobile phones, video cameras etc), this can be seen \u2013 at least in part, by the world even if witnesses are removed.<\/p>\n

      What was not seen at the time was seen later as soldiers filmed some of the atrocities as grisly \u2018war trophies\u2019 and then sold them eg to UK Channel 4.<\/p>\n

      \u2018Intermittent\u2019 genocide<\/strong><\/p>\n

      This is repeated episodes of acute killing such as have occurred in Sri Lanka since 1983 (when some 3,000 Tamils in the Sinhalese South were butchered in a week).<\/p>\n

      The oft-quoted claim that there has been a 26 year long \u2018civil war\u2019 in Sri Lanka is certainly not true. There has not been a civil war in Sri Lanka since 1915. and that was one between the Sinhalese and the Muslims.<\/p>\n

      What there has been on post-independent Sri Lanka have been intermittent pogroms of the Tamil people by the Sinhalese government \u2013 acts of \u2018intermittent genocide \u2013 the worst (till late) being in July 1983<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

      Then came the \u2018Final Solution\u2019, the mass slaughter after Rajapaksa became President in November 2005, and the obvious genocide in the closing months of the slaughter (January to May 2009).<\/p>\n

      \u2018Slow\u2019 genocide<\/strong><\/p>\n

      This is far more dangerous because it is not recognised as such. People simply wither away from starvation, lack of medical treatment, suicide or \u2018disappear\u2019.<\/p>\n

      This is what Madeline Albright, former US Secretary of State and an advisor to President Obama, called the \u2018Rolling Genocide\u2019 (with reference to Dafur).<\/p>\n

      This is what has been going on in the Tamil areas of Sri Lanka (the North and the East) since the end of \u2018acute genocide\u2019 on 19th<\/sup> May 2009.<\/p>\n

      If the idea of \u2018intermittent\u2019 and \u2018slow\u2019 genocide are grasped, rather than just the acute outburst of killing such as occurred in the Tamil areas in the closing stages of the conflict (January to May 2009), then there is little doubt that the events in Sri Lanka, particularly since 1983, meet the criteria of Genocide of the Tamil people.<\/p>\n

      The presence of the Sri Lankan (Sinhaese) Armed Forces and (Sinhalese) Police<\/strong><\/p>\n

      The massive presence of the Sinhalese Armed Forces in the Tamil North and East (the largest per capita of the civilian population anywhere in the world), who treat the Tamils as the \u2018Spoils of war\u2019, and their land as \u201cConquered Territory\u2019, is the main cause of the ongoing problems facing the Tamils in this area, including, and especially genocide.<\/p>\n

      The entire Tamil area is under military occupation. 16 of the 19 Divisions of the Sri Lankan Army are stationed in the North.<\/p>\n

      The strength of the Armed Forces is huge, and increasing;<\/p>\n

      170,000 at the end of the armed conflict<\/p>\n

      300,000 in 2012<\/p>\n

      400,000 by 2015.<\/p>\n

      The ratio of soldiers to civilians in Vavuniya in the North, is reported to be 1:3.<\/p>\n

      The Armed Forces are involved in everything, especially in civilian activities. The military own 11 hotels, many restaurants and cafes, 2 whale watching tours, 3 cricket stadiums, a 180 acre farm, a golf course, and a ferry service. These are only the ones we know about.<\/p>\n

      They do what they want to whoever they want with no accountability. It is a military dictatorship \u2013 a Police State, just as what is going on in the rest of the country is a political dictatorship \u2013 a Totalitarian regime.<\/p>\n

      Until this \u2018Occupying Force\u2019 is dismantled, (the chance is small \u2013 indeed very small), genocide of the Tamil people will continue.<\/p>\n

      It is this that makes it mandatory for international intervention \u2013 the application of R2P (see below).<\/p>\n

      Tamils ceasing to exist as a \u2018people\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

      In February 2012, the US State Department sent two officials to Sri Lanka to inform the Rajapaksa government that the US intended to submit a Resolution on Sri Lanka at the up-coming 19th<\/sup> Session of the UN Human Rights Council (27 February- 23 March 2012).<\/p>\n

      19 Tamils, non-politicians, \u201cCivil Society\u201d, including Rt Rev Dr Rayappu Joseph, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Mannar, sent a letter (10 February 2012). It is a concise and precise letter to Maria Otago, Undersecretary of State, and Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State, US State Department.<\/p>\n

      It set out the concerns of the Tamil people and their expectations (and the responsibility) of the UN Human Rights Council. This letter is reproduced in full in my booklet on Bishop Rayappu Joseph (Life of a Sri Lankan Tamil Bishop Most Rev Dr Rayappu Joseph and others in danger. 6 April 2012). <\/em>It is on the net and in briansenewiratne.blogspot.com.<\/p>\n

      The closing two sentences say it all:<\/p>\n

      \u201cThe Governments current activities in the North and East are challenging the very existence of the Tamil people and more time to the GOSL to implement the LLRC\u2019s recommendations will only mean further time for the Government to play havoc in the North and East and subjugate the interests and aspirations of the Tami people. If the International Community does not act now, like they did not act in May 2009, the Tamils will cease to exist as a \u2018people\u2019 in the country\u201d.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      \u2018Ceasing to exist as a people\u2019 is Genocide.<\/p>\n

      \u2018Extermination\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

      UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon, appointed a Panel of Experts to advise him on the issue of accountability with regard to any alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law during the final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka.\u00a0 Its members were: \u00a0Marzuki Darusman (Indonesia), Chair; Yasmin Sooka (South Africa); and Steven Ratner (United States).<\/p>\n

      Their findings in the 124 page, \u201cReport of The UN Secretary General\u2019s Panel of Experts into Accountability in Sri Lanka\u201d<\/span> (released 31 March 2011), was the most serious indictment of the Sri Lankan government ever published.<\/p>\n

      Section 251 (page 68) referred to what happened as \u201cExtermination\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Under the ICC (International Criminal Court) Statue, \u2018extermination\u2019 includes \u201cIntentional infliction of conditions of life, inter alia the deprivation of access to food and medicine, calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the population\u201d <\/em>Article 7(2)(b).<\/p>\n

      The fact that these senior lawyers with international credibility should use the word \u201cextermination\u2019 is highly significant.<\/p>\n

      Extermination is Genocide.<\/p>\n

      Dr Winston Panchacharam, Nanuet, New York, has put together an extraordinary book that has no equal, Genocide in Sri Lanka.<\/strong> It is a monumental work, a 185 page colour \u2018atlas\u2019 \u2013 for want of a better word. I strongly recommend this to you, although you might have difficulty in obtaining a copy. If you do, contact me \u2013not that I can assure you that I can help.<\/p>\n

      It has all the photographs you need to establish the charge of Genocide.\u00a0 In a heart-rending plea addressed to \u201cYour Excellencies \u2013 Global Leaders for the protection of the Vulnerable and those Oppressed by Genocidal Acts:-<\/p>\n

      \u201cOn behalf of Global Public Opinion, the Tamil Diaspora and the Dying Race of Tamis in Sri Lanka, we appeal to Your Excellencies \u2013 Global Leaders to act quickly and follow through to protect the dying Tamil Race in Sri Lanka. Justice delayed is Justice buried\u201d.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      The book ends with the dramatic (and crucial) question (in big red letters!)<\/p>\n

      Is the word GENOCIDE important?<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Is it important to establish that Genocide of the Tamil people, has happened and is continuing to happen, in Sri Lanka to this day? Yes it is. It is not just a matter of words.<\/p>\n

      Genocide constitutes clear and uncontestable grounds for the application of R2P (Responsibility to Protect). The UN was very clear about this in the Report of the Independent Inquiry into the Actions of the United Nations during the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda. UN Document s\/1999\/1257 :<\/p>\n

      \u201cThere can be no neutrality in the face of Genocide\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

      R2P \u2013 Responsibility to Protect<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Following the genocide in Rwanda and the failure of the international community to intervene, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan asked the question, \u201cWhen does the international community intervene for protecting populations?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

      The Canadian government established the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS) in September 2000.<\/p>\n

      In February 2001, at the 3rd<\/sup> round table meeting of ICISS in London, Gareth Evans (former Australian Foreign Minister and later the CEO of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group from 2000-2009), and others, suggested the phrase \u201cResponsibility to Protect\u201d.<\/p>\n

      In December 2001, the ICISS released its report \u201cThe Responsibility to Protect\u201d. The report stated that sovereignty was not a right but a responsibility, and that the international community had to prevent mass atrocities. Economic, political and social measures were to be used along with diplomatic engagement. Military intervention was to be used as a last resort.<\/p>\n

      R2P included bringing security and justice to the victim population and of finding the root cause of the mass atrocity.<\/p>\n

      The fact that R2P was not able to be invoked, and that at least 40,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka and some 150,000 were unaccounted for, is a practical failure of R2P.<\/p>\n

      It is time that this failure is addressed, and R2P applied in Sri Lanka, since the Tamil people in the North and East need \u2018Protection\u2019. \u00a0All four cardinal features of R2P – Genocide, War crimes, Crimes against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing – have occurred in Sri Lanka, and disturbingly are continuing to occur.<\/p>\n

      The Srebrenica massacre<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

      In considering Genocide in Sri Lanka, it is very important to look at the Srebrenica massacre.<\/p>\n

      I will briefly summarise this but a detailed comparison is very important. Time and space do not allow me to do this here.<\/p>\n

      The slaughter of 7,000 Muslim males in Srebrenica, has been declared as \u2018Genocide\u2019 by an International Criminal Tribunal. Yet the slaughter of ten times that number of civilians in Sri Lanka has not been taken up.<\/p>\n

      In April 1993, the United Nations declared the besieged enclave of Srebrenica in the Drina Valley of north-eastern Bosnia a “safe area<\/em><\/a><\/span>” under UN protection (In Sri Lanka the GOSL declared a large area in the North East, a \u201csafe area\u201d but there were no UN protectors).<\/p>\n

      Despite the UN protectors, in July 1995, the United Nations Protection Force<\/a><\/span> (UNPROFOR), a 400-strong contingent of Dutch peacekeepers<\/a><\/span>, Dutchbat<\/a><\/span>, did not prevent the town’s capture by the VRS and the subsequent massacre. The VRS was the Army of Republika Srpska under the command<\/a><\/span> of General Ratko Mladi\u0107<\/a><\/span>. (In Sri Lanka, it is General Sarath Fonseka, working directly under Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary, and President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces).<\/p>\n

      In 2004, in a unanimous ruling on the case of Prosecutor v. Krsti\u0107<\/em><\/a><\/span>, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia<\/em><\/a><\/span> (ICTY)<\/em>, in The Hague<\/a><\/span>, ruled that the massacre of the enclave’s male inhabitants constituted genocide<\/a><\/span>, a crime under international law.<\/p>\n

      The forcible transfer of between 25,000 to 30,000 Bosniak women, children and elderly which accompanied the massacre was found to be confirming evidence of the genocidal intent of members of the VRS Main Staff who orchestrated the massacre. (In Sri Lanka, the forcible transfer of some 300,000 Tamils and Muslims to razor-wire fenced concentration camps on the orders of Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and President Mahinda Rajapksa \u2013 the \u201cMain Staff\u201d in the Rajapaksa government dealing with the war).<\/p>\n

      Then in 2005, in a message to the tenth anniversary commemoration of the Srebrenica massacre genocide, the then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a press release (UN Press releasee SG\/SM\/9993UN, 11\/07\/2005) stating that, while blame lay first and foremost with those who planned and carried out the massacre and those who assisted and harboured them, great nations had failed to respond adequately. The UN itself had made serious errors of judgement and the tragedy of Srebrenica would haunt the UN’s history forever.<\/p>\n

      After a visit to the Rajapaksa\u2019s internment camps, UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon said, \u201cI have travelled around the word and visited similar places, but this is by far the, the most appalling scenes I have seen\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

      What did he do? He spent some 15 minutes in the camp, was garlanded, he smiled, and left. That was it. Did he take this up with President Rajapaksa or his brother? I have no evidence that he did.<\/p>\n

      A disturbing scenario of fascism<\/strong><\/p>\n

      I have no proof<\/em> that President Rajapaksa, his all-powerful brother, Gotabaya, former-General Sarath Fonseka or someone influential in the Rajapaksa junta studied the details of mid-twentieth-century fascism and totalitarianism, but there is suggestive<\/em> evidence.<\/p>\n

      The \u2018war\u2019 has now been over for 4 years (19 May 2009), but there are more than 200,000 members of the Sri Lankan (Sinhalese) Armed Forces in the Tamil North and East. Who is the enemy? The Tamil Tiger \u2018terrorists\u2019. But they have been crushed. The new enemy are imaginary Tamil Tigers in \u2018sleeper cells<\/em>\u2019, waiting to suddenly appear and create mayhem.<\/p>\n

      \u2018Sleeper cell\u2019<\/em> is from Stalin\u2019s Russia, where propagandists said that imaginary cells, consisting of \u201cinternational capitalism\u201d (in Sri Lanka \u2013 the expatriate Tamils and others who are calling for an independent Tamil State, Eelam), have been sent to infiltrate Soviet society. These secret agents would pose as good Soviet comrades (in Sri Lanka \u2013 law abiding Tamils in the North and East), living quietly among their neighbours but just awaiting the day when, at a signal, they would rise up and commit mayhem.<\/p>\n

      Sri Lanka is still on a \u201cwar footing\u201d with is imaginary enemy (the crushed Tamil Tigers). \u2018War footing\u2019 is an interesting word. It is also an odd<\/em> choice of words. Sri Lanka is not actually at war. That ended on 19 May 2009. What then is a \u2018war footing\u2019 and the \u2018need\u2019 for this massive (Sinhalese) Army in the Tamil area? What is interesting is that Nazi leaders explained after the Reichstag fire, that Germany, which was not actually at war, was from then on a permanent \u201ckriegsfusz\u201d <\/em>\u2013 literally a \u201cwar-footing\u201d.<\/p>\n

      The Rajapaksa junta claimed that what occurred in the Tamil North and East was a \u201cmassive rescue operation\u201d (to rescue the Tamil people from Tamil Tiger terrorism) and that once this is done, the Tamil people will welcome the \u2018Liberators\u2019 ie the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. Interestingly, when the German army occupied the Rhineland, Nazi propaganda asserted that the troops would be welcomed as liberators.<\/p>\n

      I cannot prove<\/em> that President Mahinda Rajapkasa or his brother studied Hitler\u2019s regime, but when the President says (as he has) that not a single Tamil civilian was killed by the Sri Lankan Forces (it was all the work of the Tamil Tigers), and that his Army (one of the most disciplined in the world!) went to war with a gun in one hand and the Human Rights Convention in the other, it does remind one of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels \u201cBig Lie\u2019 \u2013 that if a lie is audacious enough and repeated many times it will be believed.<\/p>\n

      The importance of all this in this paper on the Genocide of the Tamil people, is that until the \u2018liberators\u2019 \u2013 the Sinhalese Armed Forces and Police are removed from the Tamil areas, the \u2018slow genocide\u2019 of the Tamil people will continue.<\/p>\n

      There you have it \u2013 be it Bishop Rt Rev Rayappu Joseph\u2019s \u201cTamils ceasing to exist as a \u2018people\u2019\u201d<\/em> or the UN Panel of Experts \u2018Extermination\u2019<\/em>, or Dr Winston Panchacharam\u2019s \u2018The Dying Tamil Race in Sri Lanka\u2019<\/em>, it is Genocide.<\/p>\n

      I will close with another look at that last page of Dr Panchacharan\u2019s book, ‘Genocide in Sri Lanka\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

      IF THIS IS NOT GENOCIDE, THEN WHAT IS IT?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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