Sri Lanka guilty of genocide: PPT verdict
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 December 2013, 11:08 GMT]
After an assessment of evidences presented by eyewitnesses and experts, judges of the Permanent People’s Tribunal reached unanimous consensus that the Sri Lankan state was guilty of crimes of genocide against the Eezham Tamils and that the genocide is continuing even after the end of the military operations against the LTTE. Concluding the four day session with a press conference at Bremen on Tuesday, the judges also noted that the Sri Lankan military did not have capacity to commit genocide on its own and that it was supported by the UK-USA-India axis. While the judges held the USA and the UK to be complicit in the genocidal process, they were of the opinion that more evidence was needed as regards India’s role.
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PPT Session II at Bremen, Germany |
The judges took care to highlight the significance of the usage of the term ‘Eelam Tamil’ to refer to the genocide-affected Tamils from the North-East of the island of Sri Lanka.
Noting that the protracted history of genocide extended much before the beginning of the armed conflict, the Tribunal asserted that the Sri Lankan state continued to commit acts of genocide after the end of the “genocidal onslaught” against the de-facto state of the LTTE.
This, however, was not possible without the assistance of world powers.
The UK’s historical role in assisting Sri Lanka, its complicity in procuring arms in aiding and shielding the perpetrator of genocide was discussed.
The judges also noted that the USA’s military-to-military relationship with Sri Lanka enhanced the capacity of the latter to commit genocide. The Tribunal was of the opinion that US role in the peace process tilted balance in favour of the Sri Lankan state and led to the massacre of Tamils in 2009.
However, the Tribunal wished to postpone deliberations on India's role in the genocide pending submission of potential evidence.
Responding to a question from TamilNet on the failure of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in Sri Lanka, Dr. Denis Halliday, one of the judges, opined that the R2P doctrine introduced by Gareth Evans was a cover for intervention but not genuine humanitarian intervention, as evidenced in the case of genocide against Eezham Tamils in the island.
The UN has failed the Eezham Tamils and maybe even complicit in the genocide, he said, also noting the failure of the International Community to take appropriate steps.
Burmese democracy activist Maung Zarni, answering a question on the use of the label of ‘terrorism’ to the LTTE, said that terrorism was a "discursive, strategic and political term" cooked-up by world powers as regards to their geo-political interests.
Comparing LTTE and Nelson Mandela’s ANC, he said that a whole movement cannot be labelled as terrorist on the basis of few acts.
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Following are the names of judges selected by the PPT:
Gabriele Della Morte is a researcher and Professor of International Law at the Università Cattolica di Milano. He was also associate professor in International system, institutions and rules, Chargé de cours at the Académie de droit international humanitaire et des droits de l'homme of Geneva (2007-2008), counsel for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) (2003-2004), Law Clerk for the Prosecutor Office of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (2000) and member of a government delegation for the establishment of the International Criminal Court (1998).
José Elías Esteve Molto, international lawyer and legal expert on Tibet. He is the main lawyer who researched and drafted both lawsuits for international crimes committed in Tibet and a recent one for crimes in Burma. He is a Professor in International Law at the University of Valencia.
Daniel Feierstein
Director of the Centre for Genocide Studies at the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero, Professor in the Faculty of Genocide at the University of Buenos Aires and a member of CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas - The Argentine National Centre for Scholars). He has been elected as the president of the 'International Association of Genocide Scholars'.
Sévane Garibian
An expert on Genocide and International Law. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Geneva and Lecturer at the University of Neuchâtel, where she teaches Legal Philosophy and International Criminal Law. Her work focuses on issues related to law facing State crimes.
Haluk Gerger
A respected academic and a Middle East analyst who was imprisoned in Turkey for his political activism. He is known for his support for Kurdish people's right to self-determination.
Javier Giraldo Moreno
Colombian Theologian and human rights activist based in Bogota. Known for his depth of analysis in contextualising genocide affected communities. He is Vice-President of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal.
Denis Halliday
Former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. He resigned from his 34 year old career in the UN in protest of the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq by the Security Council. Laureate of the Gandhi International Peace Award.
Manfred O. Hinz
Professor for Public Law, Political Sociology and Sociology of Law at the University of Bremen. He has a long history of engagement in solidarity with liberation struggles in Africa, specially Namibia and the West Sahara. He, for several years, held the UNESCO chair for human rights and democracy of the University of Namibia whilst he was a professor there.
Helen Jarvis
She served as Chief of the Public Affairs Section from the inception of the the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the special Cambodian court which receives international assistance through the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT). The court is commonly referred to by the more informal name the Khmer Rouge Tribunal or the Cambodia Tribunal.
Øystein Tveter
A Norwegian scholar of International Law and a member of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on extra-judicial killings and violations of human rights in the Philippines.
Maung Zarni
He is a Burmese democracy activist who founded the Free Burma Coalition in 1995. He is one of the few Burmese intellectuals who have come forward to unconditionally oppose the increased discrimination and violence against the Rohingya Muslims and publicly criticised Aung San Suu Kyi on this issue.
Source:Tamilnet
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