Article 1: We Are All Born Free & Equal

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a document drafted by representatives of different political, legal and cultural backgrounds around the world, which outlines the standard of human rights. It outlines the 30 most fundamental human rights, which are to be universally protected, and applicable to every individual on the simple premise of being human.

As stated in the previous post, Remembering May Massacre, for the next 30 days we will be looking at each of the 30 fundamental human rights outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and will see how each and every human right was not upheld for the Tamils. Today, we will be looking at Article 1. We are all born free and equal.

Article 1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Click Here to Watch We are All Born Free and Equal Video

If we are all born free and equal, then why are Tamils in Tamileelam not free? Why are they treated as second class citizens by the Sri-Lankan State Government?

I have two pictures here, the top pictures are of Sinhalese citizens during the Tamil genocide, and the bottom picture is of Tamil citizens during the Tamil genocide.  Can you tell me if they are being treated equally? Of course they are not, despite having a right to be free, the Tamils were locked up in detention centers, and many of them still remain in these camps, where is their freedom? Yet, the Sinhalese citizens can freely walkaround and celebrate the genocide of the Tamils.

This favourtism has even been publically stated by past presidents, take this quote from President Jayawardene from the Daily Telegraph, 1983:

“I am not worried about the opinion of the Jaffna people..now we cannot think of them, not about their lives or their opinion..the more you put pressure in the north, the happier the Sinhala people will be here..Really if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy.”

And being born free. What about the children who are born during the violence? They are already born as second class citizens, and targets of genocide. In fact, by systemically raping Tamil women, and segregating men and women, the Sri-Lankan Government was attempting to wipe of a new generation of Tamil children; when you are a target of genocide based on your ethnicity, you are not born free.

 As we will see later, from the moment Tamils are born, they are second-class citizens in Sri-Lanka. They do not have equal access to basic privileges granted to Sinhalese citizens. They do not have the same access to resources, access to education, employment, citizenship, or economic development. Tamil are not treated like equals, and the violent attacks against the Tamils by the Sri-Lankan Government itself further illustrates that through the eyes of the Sri-Lankan Government, the Sinhalese people will always be treated well, while the Tamils will continuously face inequality and discrimination.

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