On this Day: May 15, 2009

On this Day: May 15, 2009: NYT highlights satellite evidence of Sri Lanka’s criminal culpability: Reproducing satellite imagery and analysis produced by the Washington D.C. based American Association of Advancement of Sciences (AAAS), New York Times in the Thursday edition said the images “show dozens of structures that appear to have been destroyed between last Wednesday and Sunday, and multiple craters that appear to reflect the impact of heavy weaponry,” pointing to AAAS analysis. During the said period, local workers reported heavy shelling by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) killing more than 1200 refugees. FULL ARTICLE

Article 14: The Right to Seek a Safe Place to Live [May 15]

Article 14: (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. (2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. This article deals overlaps with yesterday’s post on Article 13, the Freedom to Move. As stated previously, according to Amnesty International, 300,000 people [Tamils] were detained in camps following the May massacres. Tamil detainees were confined to these camps, which were supervised by the Sri-Lankan military. This was a direct violation of their right to seek a safe place to live; by being confined to these camps, and having their access to movement restricted, Tamils could not seek a safe home. Amnesty International has gone further to say that these camps do not provide the basic necessities for Tamils, and are unsafe because of their poor medical availability, lack of food, sexual violence, enforced disappearances and abductions, and arbitrary arrests.

Article 13: Freedom to Move

Article 13: (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country. According to Amnesty International, 300,000 people [Tamils] were detained in camps following the May massacres. Tamil detainees were confined to these camps, which were supervised by the Sri-Lankan military. Amnesty International has called for liberty and freedom of movement for the displaced victims who are being detained against their will.

On this Day: May 14, 2009

On this Day: May 14, 2009 :JU students held in SLA internment camps seek Jaffna HRC help: Fourteen Jaffna University students from Vanni district detained in Kaithadi Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camp along with other civilians from Vanni have complained to Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) officials that their human rights have been violated by denial of permission to continue their studies in Jaffna University, Jaffna HRC sources said. HRC Jaffna has called for a detailed report on this issue from SLA Jaffna Commanding Officer, Jaffna Government Agent and the Vice-chancellor of Jaffna University. Full Article

On this Day: May 12, 2009

On this Day: May 12, 2009: SLA attacks hospital, 47 massacred: Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells killing at least 47 civilians, patients and the Administrative Officer K. Tharmakulasingam Tuesday morning around 8:00 a.m. At least 55 patients sustained serious injuries in the attack on the makeshift hospital which was functioning at Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal junior school. The attack came while around 2,000 wounded patients within the last 3 days were waiting for the ICRC to be transported in the ship. More than 2,600 civilians were killed within the past 3 days in Sri Lankan attacks in Vanni. Click here to read full article

Article 10: The Right to Trial

Article 10: Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him. When you arrest someone, and hold them in detention, you must tell them of what they are charged for, and allow them to a fair trial. A trial that is unbiased, and independent from both parties. However, in Sri-Lanka, many Tamils are arbitrarily arrested and held in detention without being charged or given the right to a fair and public hearing. Human Rights Watch have urged the Sri-Lankan government to ‘end its indefinite arbitrary detention of more than 11,000 people held in so-called rehabilitation centers and release those not being prosecuted. The Sri Lankan government has routinely violated the fundamental rights of the detainees, Human Rights Watch found.’

On this Day: May 11, 2009

SLA continues to inflict carnage: Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has stepped up relentless barrage of shelling using all sorts of heavy weapons on the so-called safety-zone (no-fire zone) in Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal and Vadduvaakal areas where more than 130,000 civilians have sought refuge without adequate bunkers and shelters. Civilian casualties are mounting amidst lack of medicine and food due to limited or denied supplies into the area of 7 square kilometres. Lawrence Christy, the head of Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) Field Office on Monday put the death toll of civilians on Monday at more than 3,200 killed since Sunday evening up to Monday morning. He has called on the IC to immediately invoke the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) to the stop the genocide. Full Story

Would a mother understand?

I went and asked my mother today, what is a mother? She said” “a mother is someone who brings life into this world, and treats their life as the most precious thing in the world, even before her life. She is a living symbol of love, and one’s whose love is endless and unconditional.”

On this Day: May 10 [Photo Story Version]

These pictures will speak for themselves. Viewer discretion is advised.

Article 8: Your Human Rights Are Protected by Law

Article 8: Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law. In response to the horrific events that unfolded in Germany during the Holocaust, the United Nations was formed in 1945 as an international peacekeeping body. One of the conventions formed by the United Nations was the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The word genocide was created to better describe the systematic killing of a group of people, the word itself was created by Rafael Lemkin who wanted to create one world that encompassed the systems of genocide and have it recognized as an international crime. The word genocide originated from the Greek word genos, meaning family origin, tribe or race, and the Latin-word cide – meaning to kill.