Malaysian NGOs say there are 'credible allegations' of serious war crimes by Tigers and the Sri Lankan government which the UN should investigate.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian non-government organisations (NGOs) want the UN to investigate war crimes by the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
A UN report released last month, which studied the closing stages of the civil war, found that there were “credible allegations”, albeit yet to be proven, that severe war crimes had been conducted by both the Sri Lankan government and rebel forces, LTTE.
The LTTE was defeated in May 2009 ending the 26-year-old gruesome conflict.
A total of 130 NGOs have come together to ask for the investigation.Today, 30 representatives from the NGOs gathered at the UN headquaters here and presented a memorandum to UN official, Davendra Patel, urging UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon to set up a mechanism to further verify these credible allegations of war crimes.
Suaram chairman, K Arumugam, who presented the memorandum, said that it would be a “brutal blow to human dignity” should the UN fail to pursue these allegations.
The memorandum has also urged the UN to investigate the Sri Lankan government for genocide and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The 127-page UN report revealed that the number of civilian deaths during the final stages of the conflict were estimated to run into the “tens of thousands”, much higher than the previous UN estimate of 7,000.
The report also accused the Sri Lankan government of serious war crime of “systematically” shelling hospitals on the frontline and conducting shelling in government-designated “safe zones” for civilians.
The UN report claimed that government shelling had caused most of the civilians deaths during the closing stages of the war. The Sri Lankan government, however, had denied the accusation, claiming that the damage was caused by suicide rebel blasts.
The government has also rejected the report, claiming that it is “fundamentally flawed”.
The LTTE was accused of holding civilians as human shields and firing on those who tried to flee. The organsation has also denied the allegation.
Estimates say that as many as 100,000 people were killed during 26 years of conflict.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian non-government organisations (NGOs) want the UN to investigate war crimes by the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).A UN report released last month, which studied the closing stages of the civil war, found that there were “credible allegations”, albeit yet to be proven, that severe war crimes had been conducted by both the Sri Lankan government and rebel forces, LTTE.
The LTTE was defeated in May 2009 ending the 26-year-old gruesome conflict.
A total of 130 NGOs have come together to ask for the investigation.Today, 30 representatives from the NGOs gathered at the UN headquaters here and presented a memorandum to UN official, Davendra Patel, urging UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon to set up a mechanism to further verify these credible allegations of war crimes.
Suaram chairman, K Arumugam, who presented the memorandum, said that it would be a “brutal blow to human dignity” should the UN fail to pursue these allegations.
The memorandum has also urged the UN to investigate the Sri Lankan government for genocide and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The 127-page UN report revealed that the number of civilian deaths during the final stages of the conflict were estimated to run into the “tens of thousands”, much higher than the previous UN estimate of 7,000.
The report also accused the Sri Lankan government of serious war crime of “systematically” shelling hospitals on the frontline and conducting shelling in government-designated “safe zones” for civilians.The UN report claimed that government shelling had caused most of the civilians deaths during the closing stages of the war. The Sri Lankan government, however, had denied the accusation, claiming that the damage was caused by suicide rebel blasts.
The government has also rejected the report, claiming that it is “fundamentally flawed”.
The LTTE was accused of holding civilians as human shields and firing on those who tried to flee. The organsation has also denied the allegation.
Estimates say that as many as 100,000 people were killed during 26 years of conflict.
No comments:
Post a Comment