Boycott of ties will usher sanity in Sri Lanka

Press Release: Canterbury Tamil Society, Community House, 141 Hereford Street, Christchurch.

The Press Release “Boycott Of Ties With Sri Lanka Will Not Work” of 15 June 2009 was signed by New Zealand Society for Peace Unity and Human Rig. The last word is probably Rights and not Rig. If so it was a Freudian slip – it is clear from the contents that Human Rights is not high on their agenda and totally ignorable as far as Human Rights of Tamils are concerned. Every day free-world media report various aspects of human rights abuse suffered by Tamils in Sri Lanka. It is difficult to overlook them and so we surmise that New Zealand Society for Peace Unity and Human Rig does not exist anywhere. It was a hasty one off concoction Rig by agents of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL).

Over the last few months Hon. Murray McCully, the Labour Party and the Green Party have issued Media Releases covering the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka – the common factor being the moral and humanitarian issues in the conflict. The releases obviously have had no effect on the so-called New Zealand Society for Peace Unity and Human Rig.

Today the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka is one of extreme agony. GoSL ostensibly ‘rescued’ Tamil civilians totalling over 300 000*1 (star superscript refer to a related link) and have imprisoned them in camps. Sir John Holmes*2, UN Humanitarian Chief described the camps as “internment” camps. Families are being forced to disassociate with each other. Every day between 20 – 30 Tamil youths and girls ‘disappear’ from the camps*3. The afore mentioned ‘rescue’ operation resulted in over 20 000*4 Tamil civilian deaths in about one week, 30 000*5 disabled by shells and artillery, thousands of orphans, widows and widowers. The internment camps are overcrowded, food is in short supply, lavatory queues up to100 meters long was reported by the recently retired Chief Justice of Sri Lanka2. The Human Rights Minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe, flippantly told BBC*6 that “…..toilet facilities were the responsibility of the UN children's fund (Unicef) and its refugee agency (UNHCR)”. At the same time, GoSL has barred UN agencies and ICRC from the camps - as a cynical SL Minister put it, “…to protect the internees from vehicle noise”. GoSL have not shown any concern for those in the camps except to say that the camps are not five-star.

Every member of the Tamil societies in New Zealand has relatives or friends imprisoned in the camps and they are unable to communicate with anyone in the camp. The so-called New Zealand Society for Peace Unity and Human Rig please note that not a single Sinhalese civilian is interned in a camp. Further, during the last three months of the conflict, in the ‘safe zones’ not a single Sinhalese civilian died, was injured or disabled. Human rights of Sinhalese are not violated - exceptions include political opponents, journalists*7 and astrologers*8.

Members of CTS share the extreme raw agony and suffering of our kith and kin in SL. In the past three thousand years not a single Sri Lankan died of hunger. But in the internment camps death directly attributable to starvation is common. Mal-nutrition of children was reported by BBC*9. Do we the Kiwi Tamils just suffer in silence? We have taken part in peaceful protests and vigils – basic rights denied in SL. Labelling us ‘supporters of terrorists” is very shallow thinking on the part of so-called New Zealand Society for Peace Unity and Human Rig.

Canterbury Tamil Society supports sports boycott of Sri Lanka. Sports Boycott of apartheid South Africa was the principal catalyst for the dismantling of the then racist apartheid government. Nazi Germany used the 1936 Olympics for propaganda purposes. GoSL will use the Black Caps tour (if this takes place) for propaganda. The recently retired Chief Justice of Sri Lanka*2 said that Tamil people were beyond the protection of the law. Outside the camps, all over SL, in “cordon and search” conducted daily by SL Police, military and para-military, Tamils are arrested arbitrarily. Usually the relatives are not informed but occasionally a GoSL spokesman will simply say that the Tamil arrestees ‘failed to satisfactorily explain their presence at the particular location”. If the Black Caps tour takes place, larger number of Tamils will be arbitrarily arrested and detained on ‘grounds of security’. Tamils living near match venues will be forcibly evicted and the vacated homes looted. We can confidently say that New Zealanders have a much greater awareness of human rights than the so-called New Zealand Society for Peace Unity and Human Rig.

CTS supports trade boycott of Sri Lanka. Economic sanctions helped the end of the apartheid regime of South Africa. During the apartheid era, when the idea of sanctions was mooted, some short-sighted politicians from various parts of the world said the economic sanctions will only affect the “poor blacks”. But history has shown that the sanctions were effective. The so-called New Zealand Society for Peace Unity and Human Rig shedding crocodile tears states that “In the event of boycott of Sri Lankan produce, … the immediate and direct sufferers from a boycott of Sri Lankan tea will be the Tamil tea estate workers…”. We heard this type of arguments before!!

Failed States Index*10 is a collaboration between the Fund for Peace - an independent research organization, and the respected Foreign Policy Magazine. In 2009 Sri Lanka was rated Dangerously Failed State and in 2008 the rating was Critically Failed State. Fonterra will no doubt take note of this rating particularly after the China experience. CTS strives to pull SL out of the Failed State quagmire. We call upon the so-called New Zealand Society for Peace Unity and Human Rig to please help us rescue SL.

*1 http://news.my.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3362213 Japan envoy to discuss Sri Lanka war victims

*2 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6441067.ece. (Chief Justice) Sarath Nanda Silva condemns 'internment' of Sri Lankan Tamils

*3 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2009/06/090615_sunila_hooded.shtml Youth 'disappear' from IDP camps

*4 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/srilanka/5405085/Sri-Lankan-army-accused-of-massacring-20000-Tamil-civilians-in-final-assault.html Sri Lankan army accused of massacring 20,000 Tamil civilians in final assault

*5 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/srilanka/5378047/Up-to-30000-disabled-by-Sri-Lankan-shells.html Up to 30,000 'disabled' by Sri Lankan shells

*6 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8085403.stm. S Lanka judge rebuffed over camps

*7 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8119854.stm Sri Lankan reporter 'kidnapped'

*8 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8120859.stm Sri Lanka astrologer is arrested

*9 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8121198.stm S Lanka camp young 'malnourished'

*10 http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=52806 Failed states: Sri Lanka’s ranking improves

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0906/S00281.htm Sri Lanka - The World Has Moved On

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