Take action to show you care! – a little love will go a long way!
Inescapable facts: Over the 60 years since independence, Sri Lanka has implemented constant waves of anti-Tamil legislation, resulting in systematic discrimination, persecution, torture, rape and extra-judicial killings. Over 80,000 Tamil civilians have been killed in the last 25 years.
In January 2008 the Sri Lankan government unilaterally abrogated the Ceasefire Agreement, (which had been signed by the government and the LTTE- Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - in February 2002 with the mediation of Norway) and is pursuing a brutal military strategy of bombing Tamil civilians from land, air and sea.
According to the UN, Sri Lanka has the highest number of “disappearances” in the world. Nobel Laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel compared the situation in Sri Lanka to Latin America in the 70’s and 80’s. He, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter and many others urged UN member states to vote Sri Lanka off the UN Human Rights Council- HRC in May.
Their action was successful! Sri Lanka is no longer a member of the Council.
Current situation: 500, 000 internally displaced Tamil people (IDPs) are refugees in their own land (where Tamils have lived for over 2,000 years). On September 6th 2008 the Sri Lankan government ordered the UN humanitarian organisations (eg UNICEF, UNHCR) to go, from the Vanni area, leaving the people unprotected and vulnerable to abuse by the Sri Lankan armed forces, who are occupying Tamil land. The people are being denied food and medicine. These, and many other actions by Sri Lanka, contravene the Geneva Conventions and are crimes against humanity.
The International Community must continue to keep up the pressure started by Archbishop Tutu and others. Join those who are insisting Sri Lanka should not receive the EU GSP+ financial privileges. The EU is considering whether Sri Lanka meets the Human Rights and Good Governance criteria required. These monies would effectively allow more to be spent on military hardware to continue to bomb and kill innocent Tamil people including women and children in their own homes, schools, hospitals, temples, churches, fields and market places.
We invite you to write a letter based on the adjacent one.
For further information contact: Deirdre McConnell,
Tamil Centre for Human Rights – TCHR, PO Box 182, Manchester M16 8ED, tchrdip@tchr.net , tchrdip@hotmail.com www.tchr.net
Inescapable facts: Over the 60 years since independence, Sri Lanka has implemented constant waves of anti-Tamil legislation, resulting in systematic discrimination, persecution, torture, rape and extra-judicial killings. Over 80,000 Tamil civilians have been killed in the last 25 years.
In January 2008 the Sri Lankan government unilaterally abrogated the Ceasefire Agreement, (which had been signed by the government and the LTTE- Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - in February 2002 with the mediation of Norway) and is pursuing a brutal military strategy of bombing Tamil civilians from land, air and sea.
According to the UN, Sri Lanka has the highest number of “disappearances” in the world. Nobel Laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel compared the situation in Sri Lanka to Latin America in the 70’s and 80’s. He, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter and many others urged UN member states to vote Sri Lanka off the UN Human Rights Council- HRC in May.
Their action was successful! Sri Lanka is no longer a member of the Council.
Current situation: 500, 000 internally displaced Tamil people (IDPs) are refugees in their own land (where Tamils have lived for over 2,000 years). On September 6th 2008 the Sri Lankan government ordered the UN humanitarian organisations (eg UNICEF, UNHCR) to go, from the Vanni area, leaving the people unprotected and vulnerable to abuse by the Sri Lankan armed forces, who are occupying Tamil land. The people are being denied food and medicine. These, and many other actions by Sri Lanka, contravene the Geneva Conventions and are crimes against humanity.
The International Community must continue to keep up the pressure started by Archbishop Tutu and others. Join those who are insisting Sri Lanka should not receive the EU GSP+ financial privileges. The EU is considering whether Sri Lanka meets the Human Rights and Good Governance criteria required. These monies would effectively allow more to be spent on military hardware to continue to bomb and kill innocent Tamil people including women and children in their own homes, schools, hospitals, temples, churches, fields and market places.
We invite you to write a letter based on the adjacent one.
For further information contact: Deirdre McConnell,
Tamil Centre for Human Rights – TCHR, PO Box 182, Manchester M16 8ED, tchrdip@tchr.net , tchrdip@hotmail.com www.tchr.net
Please use this letter as a template in your local churches to act soon:
Your Name and address
Ms Benita Ferrero-Waldner,
EU Commissioner for External Relations,
B- 1049 Brussels, Belgium,
Fax: +32 – 2 – 298 8561.
Dear Ms Ferrero-Waldner,
I am deeply disturbed by Sri Lanka’s well documented contravention of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. Many aid workers, journalists,Parliamentarians, Human Rights defenders, religious leaders and others who have defended human rights in non-violent ways, have been killed by Sri Lankan armed forces. Evidence of the genocide of Tamils has been unequivocally corroborated by numerous human rights organisations, and international legal experts.
Like us, you will be aware that the Government of Sri Lanka withdrew from the Ceasefire Agreement in January this year, choosing War not Peace – death not life.
We urge the European Commission to ensure that a firm be taken against the granting of the GSP+ trade privileges to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has reapplied for these, and the EU will respond by December 15 2008. These financial benefits would simply assist the government in pursuing its military onslaught of civilians in the North.
Church sources themselves have alerted us to the dire situation. We believe that the human rights argument must be robustly put forward by the European Commission.
Yours sincerely, (own name/church names here & signed)
Ms Benita Ferrero-Waldner,
EU Commissioner for External Relations,
B- 1049 Brussels, Belgium,
Fax: +32 – 2 – 298 8561.
Dear Ms Ferrero-Waldner,
I am deeply disturbed by Sri Lanka’s well documented contravention of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. Many aid workers, journalists,Parliamentarians, Human Rights defenders, religious leaders and others who have defended human rights in non-violent ways, have been killed by Sri Lankan armed forces. Evidence of the genocide of Tamils has been unequivocally corroborated by numerous human rights organisations, and international legal experts.
Like us, you will be aware that the Government of Sri Lanka withdrew from the Ceasefire Agreement in January this year, choosing War not Peace – death not life.
We urge the European Commission to ensure that a firm be taken against the granting of the GSP+ trade privileges to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has reapplied for these, and the EU will respond by December 15 2008. These financial benefits would simply assist the government in pursuing its military onslaught of civilians in the North.
Church sources themselves have alerted us to the dire situation. We believe that the human rights argument must be robustly put forward by the European Commission.
Yours sincerely, (own name/church names here & signed)
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