Violation of Human Rights by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - Sri Lanka - Research Paper Example

Violations of Human Rights by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealan- Sri Lanka. Historical events brought forth the present human rights violations. For a period of more than two decades Sri Lanka has been consistently entangled in a civil war. A substantial number of people have been murdered and more people displaced since 1980 when conflict ensued between the government and the liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealan troops. Torture, abduction, murder, extortion, child abuse, sexual abuse and other cruel dehumanizing treatments were placed on Sri Lankan civilians (Human rights watch, 2004). The civil war killed nearly 70,000. Globally all nations are against the situation that is going on in Sri Lanka. Abuses during the armed conflict since the 1980s include; arbitrary arrests and detention, violence and intimidation by the karuna group, freedom of expression has been hindered where many media houses have been closed down and reporters killed, there has been lack of witness protection in the cases where they presented themselves, ineffectiveness of the human rights commission in the country, the presidential commission of inquiry has proved to be inadequate and unaccountable disappearances are still prevalent(Teymoor, 2007). The number of internally displaced people is also still high as many people fear the recurring of attacks if they are to go back without the security being given to them. Many have as a result escaped to India. The restrictions of the government on humanitarian aid have hampered the provision of basic needs to the displaced people and many people die in the camps as a result. Many observers have cited that there is still a climate of fear in the country and that there are crucial human rights that are still being violated .There are several feeble rights in the country that are still being violated. The judicial system is manipulated by the government officials. Privacy rights of citizens are being infringed by the government and in many instances it has spurred the denial of human rights- right to fair public trial, right to privacy, right to freedom of speech, right of press which is allegedly the poorest in all democratic countries, right of assembly and association. Journalists that are critical of the government have reportedly been harassed by public authorities (Report by the international crisis group, 2007). In addition, the government has hindered the operations of several non-governmental organisations. Official corruption especially in election law violations has raised concerns where the presidential and parliamentary elections are nothing but fair. Politically, the president has made amendments in his favor. The specific human rights abuses with regards to the universal declaration are several. Human rights have been under siege before and after the war. The cease fire exists only in name as the country has still not recovered from its human rights crisis. Everyone should be given equal dignity and rights (article 1), no one should be discriminated by the basis of their sex, race or color (article 2), the right to life liberty and security (article 3) has been undermined. The declaration asserts that people should not be subjected to torture (article 5) neither should they be held unlawfully (article 6). People affected should be compensated by a national tribunal for having his acts violated (article 8), and according to article 10 everyone must have a fair hearing. Unfortunately, Sri Lanka has not taken these rights into account to put them in to practice. Actually almost all rights have been violated and even worse no tangible actions have been done. As a result social progress and the general standard of life have deteriorated (universal declaration charter). Generally the human rights in the country are weak. There is violence against people on the basis of their sexual orientation where women are discriminated. Trafficking in persons and child abuse/ child labor are another rights that have been violated despite parliament implementing laws against child labor at the end of 2009. Discrimination is still prevalent to persons with HIV/AIDS and to the Tamil minority. Limits have been imposed on worker’s rights. Disappearances have not stopped, unlike during the war they were related to conflict but now they are often linked to exertion sometimes involving government parties. The government responded to this by asserting that the missing persons actually involved people that left the country to seek foreign employment and not informed the families. However human rights organizations strongly debate these assertions. Sri Lanka is home to many religions, languages and ethnic groups with the Sinhalese being the majority group. The ethnic minorities are like the Sri Lankan Tamils, Malays, Vedda and Indian tamils.Budhist heritage is dominant in the land. The Muslims were also supporting the party behind the government and hence they were also under the wrath of the LTTE. The war happened since the minorities the Sri Lankan Tamils were threatened of a national ethnic cleansing. This led to the formation of the LTTE who were head to head with the Sri Lankan government. The Tamils campaigned for a Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka where most of them resided. They triggered the ongoing conflict with their attack on army officials (Charu & Fred, 2007). The LTTE committed atrocities against the other ethnic groups and their religious affiliations while the Sri Lankan government committed atrocities against the Tamil groups and their regions. The groups are accused of abusing human rights of the Sri Lankan civilians. A large number of extra judicial killings were committed. The death toll in 1990 was a whopping 3000 with many others reported missing. The LTTE persisted in slaying people from the eastern province. At one time they killed Muslims gathered for prayer in mosques and assassinated a whole bus full of Buddhist monks. They further murdered about 700 unarmed policemen in cold blood. The parties responsible for the disappearances still remain unclear as both groups point fingers at each other (The Sunday times online, 2007). The 17th amendment of the constitution has been severely undermined where the president has directly selected the human rights people, the police, and the public service a move that has placed their independence in question. He European Union condemned the state for these violations of human rights in Sri Lanka. The government thus has a direct impact on any investigations brought forth and thus deals with the matter immediately before it raises concerns and even if it does they quickly alter the evidence. When human rights organizations from other countries come to interview civilians, the names are removed so that they can avert potential harm. Human right abuses done by the Sri Lankan security forces. They Sri Lankan security forces. Shot Sri Lankan Tamil student, Sahadevan Nilakshan in his house. The victim was a part of a sequence of murders of Tamil media workers who were seen to support the LTTE organization. A series of massacres in 1984 were perpetrated by the government, these are the Chunnakam market massacre, othiyamalai massacre, the amarivayal massacre, the thennamarawadi massacre, and the mannar massacre all in the same year. Subsequent massacres in the succeeding years continued to take place all through until 2009. Many innocent civilians were caught in these attacks and many lost their lives. In 2009, the government was advancing close to the northern side forcing the Tamil group to a small perimeter. The SLA used artillery shells, rounds powerful enough to annihilate entire bunkers. The civilian population retreated inward and was supported but the UN aid workers who gave them food and building bunkers. The UN camp gave support to both the SLA and the LTTE and asked both groups to cease fire while in the convoys (Jerayaj, 2006). However as they started heading off, they were heavily bombarded leading to the killings of thousands of people. UN aid workers also died in these brutal bombardments and witnesses firmly assert that the bombs were from the SLA side. Despite pleas from the UN officials to halt the attacks, the bombardments were still incessant. The SLA were supposedly executing these attacks eradicate any LTTE troops in the area in the expense of the innocent lives of civilians and humanitarian aid workers. A hospital with doctors , patients and UN aid workers was bombed in night fall and When the government was questioned about the attacks, they bluntly refuted the claims saying that no such attack happened and denied journalists access to the bombarded areas(Sri Lankan government responses to human watch, 2007). The government showed no regard for the affected civilians like they did not matter. In an attack in 2006, they failed to distinguish civilians and military troops and hit a school compound housing thousands of displaced civilians, 62 people were killed (Reuters, 2006). Furthermore when they are cornered with these allegations they simply assert that the LTTE are responsible for attacks that they deliberately launch. Reliable statistics on the government’s abuse have been a challenge to obtain since past complainants were murdered and the other families feared this punishments if they filed complaints (Anandapa, 2006). The law makes torture a punishable offence with a sentence not less than 7 years imprisonment. The Sri Lankan government has in this light been liable in suppressing witnesses to make claims or present evidence that may incriminate them in any way. Several investigations have been impeded; willing participants have lost their lives when they presented evidence. For instance in December 31, 2009 keetheswaran Thevarajah was killed by unidentified gunmen after he had recently posted photos of illegal excavation of sand that imposed negative environmental impacts in his Facebook profile. A UN report in 2007, asserted that “torture in Sri Lanka is broadly practiced in Sri Lanka. There has been no indication that torture cases have declined. Nevertheless, no statistics on torture cases was ever made available. Abuses by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam. Many attacks on Sri Lankan civilians have been directly linked to the LTTE during their guerrilla campaign. According to a report by the United States in 2005, the troop had dominated the northern and eastern parts of the country where they took part in politically spurred murders, abductions, torment, unlawful arrest and detention, and degrading recruitment of child soldiers. In 2003, a report by the Amnesty International stated that there was an improvement in the state of human rights with regard to the non-violent context of the ceasefire prompted by the peace talks between the government and the LTTE. Three years later however, the amnesty international reported that a climate of fear was permeating through the country due to the escalating dogmatic killings, kidnappings, child recruitment to become child soldiers, numerous cases of violence against women, brutalization when in police custody and the imposition of the death penalty. The death penalty has not been officially practiced in the country since 1976; regardless there have been many clear and elaborate reported cases revealed by the humanitarian organizations of government sponsored abductions and murders. The UK charity Freedom from Torture documented 233 referrals for clinical treatment for the torture survivors in 2012. Extra judicial killings took place in these parts and the number of civilians that lost their lives in this massacre were as high as 144. Some of these killings include the Kent and Dollar farm massacre in November 1984, Dehiwala train bombing in July 1996, the Sri Lanka’s central bank bombing in 1996 where they drove a truck loaded with explosives in to the bank causing an inferno that razed other neighboring buildings, the gonagala massacre in September 1999, the kebithogollewa massacre in June 2006and the palliyagodella massacre in 1991. In 2006, they killed 68 out of 140 people in a bus of which 15 were children. The Anuradhapura massacre in May 1985 was the largest massacre perpetrated by the group to date where they ambushes civilians in a bus station by shooting indiscriminately killing and wounding many. Thereafter they went to the Buddhist shrine and shot nuns and monks worshipping in the temple. As if that was not enough they entered the Wipattu national park and gunned down a total 146 Sinhalese women, men and children. These are just but a few of these brutal mishaps imposed by this group. The troop endorsed the suicide bra and vest in suicide attacks in targeted civilian places rather than government targets. Abuses by other groups In the 1980s there was also the Tamileala Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) which was an armed organization waging war against the LTTE. They were accused of violating several human rights related to brutal torture, recruiting child soldiers, threats and assassinations. The group was engaged in abductions for the purpose of ransom of wealthy Tamil business men so as to invest in Colombo and other towns. The families that were unable to raise the ransom received dead bodies of their members. The United States department of state, the United Nations as well as the European Union has expressed great concern about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. The government and the liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) have been accused of violating several human rights. It has been an over 20 year’s war since the 1980s and the consequences of this war still has an impact on human rights despite their downfall in 2009. The government has however made attempts to reduce these violations. It has continued it’s seized for suspected LTTE supporters or operators and detained them. The government created a post war lessons learnt and reconciliation commission. In 2006 the government established a military strategy to root the rebel group out. To do this it had to seize control in the country’s eastern part.it thus made a partnership with the pro-government leader of LTTE, Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) and appointed the leader as the chief the newly created eastern province after the 2008 elections minister. Despite these efforts however, impunity has prevailed and there are still no documented reports of conviction by the civilian courts of any police or military members for human rights violations. Human rights groups allege that the group still commits human rights abuses with support now from the local government, claims that the government says are discrediting and have no basis. The police forces enacted military checkpoints in many stops at Colombo. Numerous high security zones have been established and many regions are still off limits to civilians. A commission of inquiry was also established to deal with the reports presented. An Emergency Regulation (Prevention of Terrorism and Specified Terrorist activities} group was also created to wage war against domestic terrorism. A separate commission was also set up under the Supreme Court to investigate killings, disappearances, kidnappings and to eventually submit a report on the same. Officially the constitution guarantees human rights as sanctioned by the United Nations. Conclusion Despite the various moves by the government to show publicly their effort of dealing with human rights violations, allegations of the same still prevail even with the end of the ethnic conflict. Ironically, these violations are occurring when the president in charge was once a human rights activists but he has failed to reelect this important qualities during his rule. For lasting peace, the government needs to find a solution to this ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese and the Tamils. The government needs to do more to address the issue of human rights. Although the government seeks to root out the rebel organization it should not be seen as using the same tactics as the terror group. It is essential that the rule of law be respected by all the arms of the government. There have been policies and commissions put forth but since impunity reigns in this country none of the attempts has proved effective (Security Council briefings by undersecretary, 2007). No arrests have been made and anyone making claims or cruising is silenced, reporters work under pressure and it is very unclear to mark out any peace building guidelines in the country that will take it forward. The government is Cleary reluctant to hold the people liable for the violations of human rights and humanitarian law. The scale of human abuse has been poorly handled by the government. A recommendation that may advance the country is that the government should bring an end to torture, extra judicial killings and unlawful detention by security forces and pro-government group. It should be ready and willing to have members of the security service bee prosecuted for the human rights abuses committed. It should ensure that abducted children and family members should be returned and cease the returning of the displaced people to unsafe zones. Freedom of press should be taken up a notch and they should increase their cooperation with the humanitarian agencies and further place firm commissions to monitor human rights violations in the country. Works cited. B.S Jerayaj. “Terrible Truth of the Sri Lankan Atrocities,” Tamil Week January 15, 2006. Charu, Latta & Fred Abrahams.” Human Rights under Siege” 2007. New York. Human Rights Watch Reports. Human Rights Watch, “Living In Fear: Child Soldiers and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka,” Vole 16, No.13 November 2004. The Sunday Times Online, “The Sri Lankan Conflict. “ Vol. 41 Mo. 39 February 25, 2007. Security Council Briefings By Undersecretary –General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes: reports on human rights Bureau of democracy. June 22, 2007 Teymoor, Nabili. “Peace through War in Sri Lanka, “All Jazeera, May 31, 2007 Report By The International Crisis Group, “Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Crisis.” June 14, 2007. “Sri Lankan Troops Opened Fire on Students Monitors, “Reuters, November, 19, 2006 Teles Anandapa, “Court Rejects Petition, Calls for Action against Petitioners, “Sunday Times, July 2. 2006. Sri Lankan Government Responses to Human Watch, July 12, 2007. Read More