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.

On this Day: May 10, 2009

1200 bodies counted, hundreds seriously injured, aerial bombing continues: Rescue workers within the Mullaiththeevu Safety Zone have counted more than 1200 bodies after the large scale slaughter Saturday night and Sunday morning by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) with the use of cluster ammunition, multi-barrel rocket launchers and cannons, sources from Vanni said. The workers fear that there may be additional bodies yet to be uncovered, and the numbers killed will likely rise. Rescue workers also said several hundreds were very seriously injured, and the critical shortage of medicine at the makeshift hospital in Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal will lead to many more deaths. Meanwhile, Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal Hospital staff said, until 3:00 p.m. the number of bodies brought to the hospital was 378, injured totaled 1122. The staffers added that 106 of the dead, and 251 of the injured were children. Full Article

[Recap]

Just to recap for new visitors, this month, we will be looking at the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, which outlines 30 basic human rights, and see how each and every one of these rights have and are continuously violated by the Sri-Lankan Government during the Tamil Genocide. Every day, we will be looking at a new right and/or freedom, and see how that has been violated.

On this Day: May 9, 2009

Colombo committing war crimes attacking hospitals – HRW: Sri Lankan armed forces “have repeatedly struck hospitals in the northern Vanni region in indiscriminate artillery and aerial attacks”, Human Rights Watch said Saturday, warning that commanders responsible for such attacks may be prosecuted for war crimes. “While doctors and nurses struggle to save lives in overcrowded and underequipped facilities, Sri Lankan army attacks have hit one hospital after another,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW. HRW again called for the situation in Sri Lanka to be urgently taken up by a formal meeting of the UN Security Council and by a special session of the UN Human Rights Council. Full Article

Article 9: No Unfair Detainment

Article 9: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

If you were stopped on your way to school for being of your gender, and arrested for that, or wee thrown into a concentration camp, would you accept it? Would it be fair if the police arrested you, for no wrongdoing of yours, and forced you to live in an unsanitary camp? No, it would not be fair, and if this was done to you, it’s a violation of YOUR rights. You have a right from arbitrary arrest, detention and exile.

On this Day: May 8, 2009

On this Day: May 8, 2009: SLA steps up carnage on civilians: Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has continued heavy shelling with cluster-munitions on civilian targets in Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal within the so-called safety zone throughout Thursday and Friday. Several civilians have been killed and many sustained injuries as Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) surveillance aircraft was providing coordinates of densely populated places for the SLA to target civilians. At least 242 civilians were registered as wounded on Friday alone. Medical sources reported that 45 of the wounded, including 15 children, had succumbed to injuries adding that scores were killed and that those killed on the spot were not brought to hospital. Full Article