{"id":4176,"date":"2012-02-04T04:45:41","date_gmt":"2012-02-04T04:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/colombotelegraph.com\/?p=4176"},"modified":"2012-02-04T04:45:41","modified_gmt":"2012-02-04T04:45:41","slug":"nobel-peace-prize-nomination-uk-and-australian-mps-support-channel-4-sri-lankas-killing-fields","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/nobel-peace-prize-nomination-uk-and-australian-mps-support-channel-4-sri-lankas-killing-fields\/","title":{"rendered":"Nobel Peace Prize Nomination: UK And Australian MPs Support Channel 4 \u2018Sri Lanka\u2019s Killing Fields\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Colombo Telegraph –<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Siobhain McDonagh MP<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cChannel 4\u2019s documentary drew the world\u2019s attention to the atrocities committed against Tamils in the last days of Sri Lanka\u2019s civil war. The programme makers\u2019 courage in demonstrating that war crimes will not be swept under the carpet has contributed to the reconciliation process, and has made war crimes elsewhere less likely. They are deserving nominees for the Nobel prize for Peace.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Siobhain McDonagh Member of the UK\u00a0parliament\u00a0said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Issuing a press release she said; I join my Australian colleague, Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon, in releasing the joint submission we made to the Norwegian Nobel Committee nominating the team at ITN and Channel 4 that produced the documentary film \u2018Sri Lanka\u2019s Killing Fields\u2019 for the 2012 Nobel peace Prize.<\/p>\n

As Sri Lanka remembers on February 4 its independence from Britain in 1948, it remains accused in front of the world community of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the last phases of the war in 2009.<\/p>\n

More and more nations join the call for an international independent investigation on Sri Lanka\u2019s alleged war crimes. There are demands for justice to be delivered to the Tamils of Sri Lanka through a UN Resolution at the next session of the UN Human Rights Commission convening in Geneva later this month.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Lee Rhiannon MP<\/p><\/div>\n

The Channel 4 team produced a timely piece of journalism and brought to light the breaches of international conventions by the Government of Sri Lanka and this has much to contribute to truth, reconciliation and peace for all citizens of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

Through our nomination of the ITN Channel 4 team for the Nobel Peace Prize, it is also our hope that the world\u2019s attention to the continuing abuse of human rights in Sri Lanka will bring justice and peace to the long suffering Tamils in the island.<\/p>\n

The full text of the nomination reads:<\/strong><\/p>\n

We feel honoured to nominate the team that produced the documentary film \u2018Sri Lanka\u2019s Killing Fields\u2019 in 2011 for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2012 , for its outstanding contribution to global peace and justice.<\/p>\n

This team includes Callum Macrae, the director of the film, Jon Snow, the presenter of the story in the film, and indeed the entire crew at ITN UK who were behind this complex and enormously challenging production.<\/p>\n

The one hour long documentary \u2018Sri Lanka\u2019s Killing Fields\u2019 was first broadcast on Tuesday, 14 June 2011 on ITN Channel 4 in UK. Since then it has been shown by television channels in several countries in the North and South, and also screened at special events at numerous international forums and university seminars. It was shown to the United Nations Human Rights Council in May 2011 and was also screened at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The significance of the film as a recording of history, its impact on bringing out truth, and the potential it offers for reconciliation and peace in Sri Lanka are enormous.<\/p>\n

As stated in Alfred Nobel\u2019s testament, the work we refer to here has contributed to the \u2018formation and spreading of peace congresses<\/em>\u2026\u2026.\u2019 and in the long run will add to the \u2018building of\u00a0 fraternity between nations and the abolition of standing armies<\/em>\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The ethnic strife and the subsequent civil war that ravaged Sri Lanka for over three decades entered its most cruel phase in the first months of 2009 leading to the death of an estimated 100,000 people, most of whom were Tamil civilians who perished under the attack by the Sri Lankan armed forces. The \u2018Sri Lankan Killing Fields\u2019 film has been an effective and significant means in raising the level of awareness globally about crimes committed by the warring parties in Sri Lanka. It has also called for an international investigation of war crimes, in line with similar calls made by international organizations such as the International Crisis Group, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, and also suggested by the UN Secretary General\u2019s Expert Panel Report.<\/p>\n

At a time when the failure of existing UN institutions is increasingly noted in relation to safeguarding human life and preventing brutal wars, the contribution of a documentary such as \u2018Sri Lanka\u2019s Killing Fields\u2019 in bringing to light not only this failure in the context of the war in Sri Lanka, but also promoting the need for reviewing and revitalising the UN\u2019s capacity in cases similar to the Sri Lankan war, are immense.<\/p>\n

By bringing to light the breaches of international conventions by the Government of Sri Lanka in a bold manner and by piecing together numerous forms of evidence in a coherent way, the value of independent journalism to the building of a peaceful global order in the century ahead has been amply demonstrated by the ITN team.<\/p>\n

There has been a surge in interest in Sri Lanka to promote its \u2018solution to the war on terrorism\u2019 as a model to be exported to other countries in the world. The dangerous precedent such a shift in paradigm would pose to aspirations of deserving small nations and the threat it poses to global peace could only be contained by the truth of war crimes being exposed by watch dogs like the journalists at ITN, and their contribution to sustaining peace being acknowledged in appropriate ways.<\/p>\n

We do not wish to see a world in which the brutality of wars and the horrific scenes of human tragedy are brought into the living rooms of families in the name of journalism. But in order to get rid of the menace of war and to erase the inhumanity residing amongst us once and for ever from this planet, timely and ethical journalism incorporating newer forms of technology and respect for human dignity are of utmost importance.<\/p>\n

The ITN team has been acting in a consistent manner in this arena of responsible reporting for a long time, and their significant contribution to reaching out the conscience of the international community and working for a peaceful world is worthy of the highest recognition.<\/p>\n

We are truly honoured to be making this nomination.<\/p>\n

Respectfully yours,<\/p>\n

Siobhain Ann McDonagh \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Lee Rhiannon<\/p>\n

Member of Parliament for Mitcham and Morden \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Greens Senator for NSW<\/p>\n

UK \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Australia<\/p>\n

1 February 2012<\/p>\n

For further information please contact Siobhain McDonagh MP on 020 7219 4678<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":4186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,53,57,1,65,73,26],"tags":[1143,1891,1139,1161,1134,1892,6983],"class_list":["post-4176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-disappearance","category-global-politics","category-law-and-order","category-news","category-press-freedom","category-television-review","category-war-crimes","tag-authoritarianism","tag-channel-4-sri-lankas-killing-fields","tag-democracy","tag-foreign-affairs","tag-human-rights","tag-nobel-peace-prize-nomination","tag-war-crimes"],"yoast_head":"\nNobel Peace Prize Nomination: UK And Australian MPs Support Channel 4 \u2018Sri Lanka\u2019s Killing Fields\u2019 - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/nobel-peace-prize-nomination-uk-and-australian-mps-support-channel-4-sri-lankas-killing-fields\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nobel Peace Prize Nomination: UK And Australian MPs Support Channel 4 \u2018Sri Lanka\u2019s Killing Fields\u2019 - 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