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Humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka

The Canadian Peace Alliance is circulating a petition titled ‘Stop the Attacks on the Tamil People’. To add your name to it, please go to http://www.acp-cpa.ca/en/HART.html.

A HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN THE MAKING
The Globe and Mail reports this weekend that, “as the Sri Lankan military moves into (a tiny patch of northern Sri Lanka) historically held by the country’s Tamil minority…a humanitarian crisis (is) in the making…”

SRI LANKAN GOVERNMENT CITED FOR HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
The article continues, “The Sri Lankan government has been cited for human-rights violations – arbitrary arrests, discrimination against the Tamil minority, and, according to a 2008 report by the U.S. State Department, the condoning of paramilitary groups ‘credibly alleged’ to have attacked civilians and practised torture and kidnappings.”

PROTEST ON PARLIAMENT HILL
“For nearly two weeks, the Tamil Canadians have held their protest on the sidewalk across from the Parliament Buildings, travelling from Toronto and Montreal, many sleeping in their cars. A small group remains on a hunger strike, bundled under blankets in a makeshift tent.”

While no Canadian politician has ventured into “the protest, which the Tamil community has vowed to continue indefinitely, (it) will become more difficult to ignore when MPs return to Parliament on Monday after a two-week break. Behind the chanting crowd stand an estimated 300,000 Tamil Canadians, with those in Toronto forming the world’s largest expatriate community of Tamils.”

The Ottawa Citzien adds that, “Tens of thousands of Tamil nationals and supporters from across Canada, the United States and Britain are expected to gather at 9 a.m. Tuesday to protest the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka.”

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT CALLS FOR CEASEFIRE
“…After months of (the recent) fighting, the furthest the Canadian government has gone officially is a statement by Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, calling for a ceasefire – a significant shift for the Conservatives, but not far enough for the Tamil community.”

The Ottawa Citizen adds, “More than just calling for a ceasefire, Tamil community leaders in Canada have asked the federal government to impose political sanctions, as well as trade and arms embargos.”

(U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband, and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon have also called for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka.)

THE TAMIL TIGERS
In 2006, the new Conservative government “banned the Tigers, following the same post-9/11 decision by the United States and the European Union.”

“The tactics of the Tamil Tigers have (included)  pioneering the use of suicide bombs and recruiting child soldiers – and here in Canada, members of the group have been linked to extortion. Recent reports have suggested that both the Sri Lankan military and the Tamil Tigers are preventing the movement of civilians caught between them. But on the sidewalks in Ottawa, nearly every Tamil Canadian tells the story of relatives gone missing, or left beaten on the street at the hands of the government. And the only thing keeping their families safe now, many believe, are the Tigers.”

THE CONSERVATIVES
“When the Conservatives won the election in 2006 – while losing in every Toronto-area riding where Tamil votes could decide the outcome – they banned the Tigers…The Conservatives are (also) reluctant to criticize the government in Colombo for fear of being cast as flip-floppers – even as the disturbing nature of that government’s rights record became increasingly clear.”

THE LIBERALS
The Liberals wooed Tamil support in the 1990s but faced sharp criticism for being too close to groups that were alleged Canadian fronts for the Tigers. (And) the Liberals have been reluctant to press too hard (during the recent fighting), for fear of being seen pandering to terrorists – particularly after MP Gurbax Singh Malhi was publicly berated in Question Period, after being spotted at a rally where Tiger flags were flying.”

In a media release, Liberal Bob Rae, that party’s foreign affairs critic, has said, “We need a strong international will and commitment to find the reasonable resolution to end the conflict and violence. The Sri Lankan government must also be pressured to allow media freedom so the world understands the truth and the present reality in the Island. Democracy is meaningless without
free, independent journalism.”

THE NDP
In the same media release, NDP leader Jack Layton has said, “More could be done by the international community to help solve the devastating humanitarian crisis taking place in North and East of Sri Lanka. An immediate ceasefire is necessary so that humanitarian workers can help the severely affected population.”

ARUNDHATI ROY
Writer-activist Arundhati Roy recently wrote in AlterNet that, “Working on the principle that every Tamil is a terrorist unless he or she can prove otherwise, civilian areas, hospitals and shelters are being bombed and turned into a war zone…Given its stated objective of ‘wiping out’ the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, this malevolent collapse of civilians and ‘terrorists’ does seem to signal that the government of Sri Lanka is on the verge of committing what could end up being genocide. According to a UN estimate, several thousand people have already been killed. Thousands more are critically wounded. The few eyewitness reports that have come out are descriptions of a nightmare from hell.”

PETITION
Again, to sign the Canadian Peace Alliance petition, please go to http://www.acp-cpa.ca/en/HART.html.

The petition calls on:

1. The Canadian government to: condemn the Government of Sri Lanka and call for an end to all attacks on Tamils.

2. The Government of Sri Lanka to immediately allow international aid organizations and NGO’s to bring emergency assistance to the civilians affected and to support the internally displaced Tamils.

3. The Government of Sri Lanka to support the right to a free press and allow journalists into the affected areas.

4. The United Nations to condemn the Sri Lankan government’s human rights violations and apply pressure on the Sri Lankan government to stop its genocidal war on the Tamil people.

WEBLINKS
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090418.wtamils18/BNStory/politics/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20090418.wtamils18

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2009/03/c7187.html

http://ago.mobile.globeandmail.com/generated/archive/RTGAM/html/20090411/wxtamils11art2151.html

http://www.alternet.org/story/134528/

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Tamils+plan+massive+rally+pour+pressure/1511320/story.html