Channel 4
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The footage shows apparent extra-judicial massacres of prisoners by Sri Lankan government forces, the aftermath of the shelling of civilian hospitals, and the bodies of female Tamil fighters who appear to have been sexually assaulted.
New footage broadcast in the documentary, allegedly captured on a mobile phone by a soldier as a trophy video, shows three people, including one woman, being executed. A man tied to a coconut tree is also killed.
The documentary examines the atrocities carried out by the Tamil Tigers, including the use of human shields. It contains footage depicting the aftermath of a suicide bombing in a government centre for the displaced.
Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, David Cameron said the documentary referred "to some very worrying events that are alleged to have taken place".
"The Sri Lankan government does need this to be investigated and the UN needs this to be investigated," the prime minister said.
"We need to make sure we get to the bottom of what happened and that lessons are learned."
Earlier, Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said he was "shocked" by the "horrific scenes" in the film and urged the Sri Lankan Government to investigate allegations that war crimes were committed.
"The recent UN Panel of Experts' report, this documentary and previously authenticated Channel 4 footage, constitutes convincing evidence of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. The whole of the international community will expect the Sri Lankans to give a serious and full response to this evidence," Mr Burt said.
"Since the end of the conflict the UK has called for an independent, thorough and credible investigation of the allegations that war crimes were committed during the hostilities and the UK Government expects to see progress by the end of the year. I reiterated this message to the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister on 14 June," he continued.
He added that if the Sri Lankan Government refused to investigate, the international community will "revisit all options available to press the Sri Lankan government to fulfil its obligations".
The Sri Lankan High Commission in London has denied it targeted civilians while crushing Tamil Tiger rebels, but said action would be taken if any allegations of atrocities were proven to be true.
It said images shown in the documentary had not been verified as genuine, and the disturbing footage could cause hatred among Sri Lankan communities.
"The Channel 4 film has the potential to incite hatred amongst different communities in Sri Lanka, including future generations, and thereby adversely affect the ongoing national reconciliation process," the Sri Lankan High Commission said in a statement.
"The malicious allegations in the film regarding the conduct of the Sri Lankan army are in striking contrast to the standards maintained by the Sri Lankan army."
But it added that a panel set up by Colombo, known as the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), was ready to take note of the claims.
"If the allegations levelled by Channel 4 or any other party are found to be genuine, the LLRC will take due note of all such cases and remedial measures will be taken by way of legal sanctions," the high commission said.
Sri Lanka had previously insisted that there would be no investigation because no war crimes had been committed by its troops while defeating Tamil Tigers by May 2009.
It has refused to allow a three-member UN expert panel to visit the island nation to probe such claims.
© Channel 4
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Sri Lanka's Killing Fields
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
New documentary shows Sri Lanka 'war crimes'
Al Jazeera
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The Channel 4 programme also showed the bodies of female Tamil fighters who appeared to have been sexually assaulted by government forces.
"I was shocked by the horrific scenes," said Alistair Burt, a minister from the UK's foreign ministry.
Burt said on Wednesday that a failure to probe the claims of human rights abuses at the end of the 26-year war with fighters from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) could lead to international action against Colombo.
The government of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan president, says the video material is fabricated.
"Sri Lanka's Killing Fields" was aired on Tuesday and appeared to show the summary execution of Tamil prisoners by government soldiers during the end of the civil war in 2009.
Shot by a mobile phone, it specifically shows the apparent execution of three tied up Tamil prisoners including a woman.
Much of it is filmed by Tamil civilians, herded into so-called "no fire zones", and then allegedly fired upon en masse.
The documentary also cited witnesses describing the aftermath of the alleged shelling of hospitals in designated "safe zones".
Tamil Tiger fighters are also implicated in some of the footage.
The UN estimates that tens of thousands of people died, mostly civilians, in the final weeks of the country's civil war.
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has so far resisted pressure to order an investigation into war crimes.
However, the footage has been shown at the UN Human Rights Council, with Christof Heyns, the UN special investigator into extrajudicial killings in Sri Lanka, calling it evidence of "definitive war crimes".
© Al Jazeera
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
'I've seen a little bit of the picture, but it's manipulated' says an adviser to the Sri Lanka's President
AFP | Channel News Asia
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The Sri Lankan High Commission in London said images shown on Channel 4 on Tuesday night had not been verified as genuine and the disturbing footage could incite hatred among Sri Lankan communities.
However, it added that a local panel known as the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was ready to take note of the claims and take remedial legal action.
"If the allegations levelled by Channel 4 or any other party are found to be genuine, the LLRC will take due note of all such cases and remedial measures will be taken by way of legal sanctions," the statement said.
There was no immediate comment from the government in Colombo on Wednesday, which is a religious holiday marking the arrival of Buddhism in the island 2,300 years ago.
But ministers have repeatedly denied all war crimes allegations.
The state-run Daily News repeated the defence ministry claim that Channel 4 footage was "fake" but said the government must show "rapid progress in meeting the just needs of the Tamil community".
The newspaper also called for a political solution to address grievances of the Tamil minority, which has accused successive governments in Sri Lanka since independence from Britain in 1948 of discrimination in jobs and education.
Sri Lanka's ally, India, has also urged the Sinhalese-dominated government to move towards a political power-sharing arrangement with Tamils to address the root causes of the island's ethnic conflict.
The privately-run Island newspaper said the Channel 4 documentary was aimed at bolstering the claims of defeated Tamil Tiger rebels and reviving their separatist demands.
"What is called for is not a probe into the unsubstantiated allegations of war crimes against Sri Lanka but a thorough investigation into the Channel 4 videos whose authenticity is in question," the pro-government Island said.
Sri Lanka had previously insisted there would be no investigation because no war crimes had been committed by its troops while defeating the Tamil Tigers by May 2009.
However, army chief Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya earlier this month offered to probe any "specific allegations," but rejected the Channel 4 videos as fabrications aimed at discrediting his troops.
Sri Lanka has also refused to allow a three-member UN expert panel to visit the island nation to probe allegations that troops ordered civilians into "no-fire zones" and then shelled them.
The panel, however, reported in April that there were "credible allegations" that Sri Lankan troops killed thousands of civilians.
The Channel 4 documentary, "Sri Lanka's Killing Fields", contained footage of what it said were prisoner executions.
It also showed the bodies of female Tamil fighters who appeared to have been sexually assaulted by government forces.
The programme also provided evidence to suggest that the Tamil Tiger fighters had also committed war crimes.
Two UN investigators have confirmed the video as authentic, but the Sri Lankan authorities maintain it is fake.
The 50-minute film also included footage of the aftermath of the targeted shelling of civilian hospitals.
© AFP
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Sri Lanka: Confronting the Killing Fields
By Sam Zarifi | The Independent
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No reporters were allowed near the war zone, blocked by the Sri Lankan Government in an attempt to hide the death and destruction from the world. But in this era of mobile phones and digital technology, hiding the truth is difficult.
Last night, Channel 4 exclusively aired a series of shocking insights into the events of those final bloody weeks of conflict in 2009, broadcast in the dark hours of the night, at 11pm, which seemed fitting. You can watch it again on 4OD, here.
A huge viewing audience saw the devastating scenes that seem to show Sri Lankan government troops executing prisoners. The footage showed dead female Tamil Tigers who appear to have been raped and murdered and the cynical use by Tamil Tigers of civilians as a buffer against the Sri Lankan military. Viewers were also shown the shelling by Sri Lankan forces of crowded hospitals and civilian encampments in areas that the authorities ironically dubbed “no-fire zones”.
The images reveal hidden truths about crimes against humanity committed by both sides – both committed to victory at any cost and seemingly uncaring about the suffering of those whose fates they were fighting over.
The images also highlight the need for those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity to be held to account, to secure the stability that post conflict Sri Lanka so badly needs. It has been proven that acknowledging the truth is a first step towards reconciliation, so why should this be denied to the people of Sri Lanka?
A panel of three eminent international legal experts appointed by the UN Secretary General independently found credible allegations that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed by both parties to the conflict from May to June 2009. These findings corroborate Amnesty International’s own conclusions. But in the two years since fighting ended, no justice has been delivered. That may be about to change, and the international awareness generated by the ‘Killing Fields’ documentary could prove the tipping point. An Early Day Motion was brought before the House of Commons, last Thursday. That is a start, if belated.
The UN Panel of Experts suggested that only an international accountability mechanism could investigate the serious allegations properly. Such a mechanism is crucial to avoid a horrifically negative precedent for lawless behaviour worldwide, and to act as a neutral and independent body to bring out the truth that must be at the heart of genuine reconciliation.
The Sri Lankan government’s apologists have argued that civilian deaths in Sri Lanka were a necessary price to pay for the defeat of the Tamil Tigers – a group listed by many governments as a terrorist organisation – allowing for evidence implicating the Sri Lankan government in war crimes to be overlooked.
But the report of the UN Panel of Experts is public, as is the ‘Killing Fields’ documentary.
While China, Russia, Cuba, and Pakistan continue to support Sri Lanka’s demands for impunity, other influential governments are less inclined.
Neighbouring India, has demanded real moves toward reconciliation in Sri Lanka and notably, has not been swayed by the Sri Lankan global charm offensive. Similarly, the US has suggested it will not rule out international accountability. Many governments from the global South have also voiced disquiet about the emerging evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Ban Ki-Moon has suggested that he can only establish an international investigation if the Sri Lankan government consents, or through “a decision from Member States” through a forum such as the Human Rights Council or UN Security Council.
It would be a sad day for the authority of the Secretary General—and the implicit moral stature of his position if he could only authorize investigations approved by the government under scrutiny.
The UN and its member states need to act now to ensure that what happened in Sri Lanka is not overlooked and forgotten.
At Amnesty International we hope that ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ awakens the public’s outrage and puts pressure on governments to support a genuine reconciliation in Sri Lanka.
Justice can only be served and healing delivered if the international community launches an international, independent investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sri Lanka. This historic opportunity must be seized, or the price for us all will be intolerably high.
© The Independent
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Controversial film documents Sri Lanka's 'killing fields'
Click here to watch "Sri Lanka's Killing Fields"
By Imogen Foulkes | Deutsche Welle World
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The film, "Sri Lanka's Killing Fields," contains shocking video footage allegedly showing government troops executing Tamil prisoners: evidence, the film makers and human rights groups say, of war crimes and crimes against humanity which the UN must investigate.
The documentary is the work of British broadcaster Channel 4, which describes it as a "forensic examination" into the final stages of the war, and warns that it contains the most horrific footage the channel has ever broadcast.
But at the film's screening in Geneva, representatives of the Sri Lankan government reacted angrily, claiming the video footage showing naked Tamils with their hands bound being shot in the head by troops was fake.
"It's not authentic' said Sri Lanka's deputy solicitor general, AMD Nawas. "A preliminary investigation confirms that."
That's a claim the UN's special investigator on extra judicial killings, Christoph Heyns, has taken very seriously. Provided with some of the most graphic footage by Channel 4, Mr Heyns brought in a number of independent experts, including two forensic video analysts, a pathologist, and a ballistics expert, to carefully check the authenticity of it.
Their unanimous conclusion was that there was no evidence whatsoever that the videos could have been faked.
"These are real people, really being shot, it really happened," the experts said.
So for Heyns, although there remain some questions over the status of the people being shot, there is no doubt that the most grave human rights violations have been committed.
Crimes against humanity
"We do not know whether they are prisoners of war, we do not know whether they are civilians," he said. "But in the end they are completely defenseless, and so what we see there is almost the definitive example of a war crime or crime against humanity."
A further concern is the emergence of new video, shown in the documentary, containing pictures of naked female corpses, a number of whom appear to have been sexually assaulted.
"That is a concern," said Heyns "If one looks at the women's underwear, and the focus by the person who is taking the video on the private parts of the women …I think we can say that this does raise a concern, and needs to be investigated."
But who exactly would investigate? Sri Lanka was discussed at the UN Human Rights Council in May 2009, which passed a resolution described by human rights groups as "deeply flawed" calling for an international investigation into alleged human rights abuses, but failing to express concern at the fate of hundreds of thousands of Tamils detained in government camps, and even commending the Sri Lankan government on its victory over the Tamil Tigers.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon did however set up a panel of experts to examine the closing stages of the war. They concluded that both sides had committed violations, citing the shelling of hospitals by government troops, and the use of civilians as "human shields" by the Tamil Tigers. The report called on Sri Lanka to hold those responsible accountable.
Lessons Learned?
However, Sri Lanka has rejected this report as well, saying the international community should give the government time to conduct its own investigations, pointing out that Sri Lanka has in fact set up a "Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Committee."
Human rights groups however reject the committee, saying that there is nothing in its mandate which suggests holding anyone accountable, and pointing out that the same government which was in charge during the time the atrocities allegedly took place remains in charge now.
"Accountability is important," said Peter Splinter of Amnesty International. "Because if the military which basically attacked the civilian population continues to govern, and there is no accountability for what they did, how can people learn to trust?"
Human rights groups also insist that their calls for independent investigations are not biased against the Sri Lankan government, pointing out that both the initial UN report, and the Channel 4 documentary, present evidence that both sides in the conflict committed serious human rights violations.
For Sam Zarifi, Asia Director of Amnesty International, the possibility that there might be no consequences at all for those who committed the violations seen in "Sri Lanka - The Killing Fields" would be a terrible precedent.
"One of the terrible outcomes of this conflict, and the impunity that has followed it, is that it is about to establish a negative precedent around the world," he explained.
"That if you can just engage in atrocities, while keeping independent outside observers away, and then you simply deny that anything bad happened, you may be able to get away with it."
Human rights activists point to the speed with which the UN acted over Libya, sending a team to investigate human rights violations, and referring Colonel Gadhafi to the international criminal court. The atrocities documented in the Sri Lanka film deserve, they argue, at least the same attention.
© Deutsche Welle
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
UK: Sri Lankan face deportation despite safety fears
Channel 4
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And it did not end there. Channel 4 News recently obtained evidence from within Sri Lanka's "closed off" corner, showing evidence of ongoing repression and abuse in the country.
Now we can reveal that Sri Lankans who fled to the UK for safety are being forced back into Sri Lanka - and into danger.
At least 40 asylum seekers, the majority of whom are Tamil, are being deported from the UK on a charter flight in two days' time.
This is despite the Home Office's own report on Sri Lanka, published in April, which says that "despite the end of the fighting, there continued to be human rights violations in 2010, including disappearances and extra-judicial killings, arbitrary arrests and a restriction on political space for free expression".
At the end of the 2009 war, the Sri Lankan Government defeated the Tamil Tiger organisation. Fresh footage in the Channel 4 documentary reveals new evidence of Sri Lanka executions committed during the war, on top of many other similar videos.
However, it was not just the Tamil Tigers who were defeated. Up to 40,000 Sri Lankan civilians are also believed to have died, many of whom were Tamil, and others fled - including to the UK as well as other countries. Some have returned - the picture below shows some Tamils on their return trip after being denied asylum in Australia in 2010.
But human rights organisations believe Tamils are still in fear of their lives in Sri Lanka - particularly those with any links to the Tigers. Some of those seeking asylum in the UK could now be forced back by the UK Government after having their applications denied.
The Home Office has refused to confirm the existence of the deportation flight, but Channel 4 News has obtained a copy of one of the deportation orders: flight number PVT 030 to Sri Lanka, on Thursday.
Sam Zarifi, Asia Programme Director at Amnesty International, told Channel 4 News: "It is known that rejected asylum seekers have been detained and tortured.
"If the UK authorities were to rely on assurances drawn from the reported experiences of people returned to Sri Lanka over a year ago, that would not take into account the intervening increased hostility expressed by the Sri Lankan Government, in response to calls for an inquiry into war crimes committed at the end of the civil war.
"In such a climate, we would be alarmed if returns were being considered without an adequate assessment of the current threats to the safety of individuals, in a contemporary Sri Lanka, where tensions run high."
But a UK Border Agency spokesperson said: "Returns to Sri Lanka will only be undertaken if we are satisfied that the individual has no protection needs. The improving political and security situation in Sri Lanka has meant it is safe to remove people there."
Fear for their lives
However, those facing deportation told us they are terrified of what could happen to them if they are sent back - and worry they are in an even worse position following actions by the Home Office.
Five of the people on the deportation list for Thursday allege that they have had incriminating paperwork supplied by the Home Office to the Sri Lankan authorities tainting them with association with the Tigers. One has already tried to commit suicide to avoid what could happen to him in Sri Lanka.
He told us he feels his confidentiality has been breached by the Home Office and his already fragile safety has been put further at risk.
Amnesty International's Mr Zarifi added: "If people are being returned to Sri Lanka, who are known or are suspected to be Tamils associated with the LTTE, the possibility of reprisals from the authorities are of course a concern."
The Home Office denied passing the paperwork to the Sri Lankans and said that one of the five cases was under review.
© Channel 4
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Britain sets time frame for Sri Lanka to probe war crimes, warns it will support int’l action
By Associated Press | The Washington Post
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Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said in a statement that he was “shocked by the horrific scenes” in the documentary aired by Britain’s Channel 4 television late Tuesday.
“Since the end of the conflict, the UK has called for an independent, thorough and credible investigation of the allegations that war crimes were committed during the hostilities, and the UK government expects to see progress by the end of the year,” Burt said.
“If the Sri Lankan government does not respond we will support the international community in revisiting all options available to press the Sri Lankan government to fulfill its obligations.”
The documentary includes video that appears to show civilian deaths and prisoner executions in the last stages of the civil war that ended in May 2009.
Channel 4 says the video was obtained from ethnic Tamil civilians and Sri Lankan soldiers, and last month a U.N. expert said it showed “definitive war crimes.”
Sri Lanka’s government says the video is fake.
“As far as the Channel 4 video clip is concerned, at the very outset we had experts brought in and in accordance with their analysis the authenticity of the footage was in serious doubt,” Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told The Associated Press.
“This kind of manipulation will not be taken lightly,” he said without explaining what action the government would take.
He also criticized Britain’s “unilateral” decision to set a time frame in asking Sri Lanka to show progress in investigation.
“The time frame is also part of the adverse agenda (against Sri Lanka). So we will deal with that,” Rambukwella said, without elaborating.
A U.N. experts panel reported in April that there are credible reports that both the government and Tamil Tiger rebels committed serious human rights violations — including possible war crimes and crimes against humanity — in the last months of the decades-long war. It said tens of thousands of civilians may have been killed, and it called for an independent international investigation.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said he can initiate an investigation only with the approval of the General Assembly, Security Council or Human Rights Council.
Sri Lanka counts on the support of Russia and China to extricate itself from any possible international action.
China was among Sri Lanka’s allies that defeated a resolution in the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2009 within days since the end of the civil war, calling for an investigation into the alleged atrocities committed during the conflict. The countries also pushed through a resolution praising Sri Lanka for defeating the Tamil Tiger rebels.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
© The Washington Post
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Sri Lanka's Killing Fields
By Tom Sutcliffe | The Independent
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Two utterly distinct kinds of footage had gone into the making of Channel 4's account of the closing weeks of the war against the Tamil Tigers. Firstly, there was video filmed by refugees trapped in the appalling "no fire zones" established by the Sri Lankan government, footage knowingly recorded to document a crime. And then there was video recorded by the criminals, as a souvenir of their own barbarity. And grim as the former was, it was the latter that truly shocked and that provided incontrovertible evidence that war crimes had taken place.
Channel 4's film addressed a crime of omission as well – the failure of the international community to effectively protest against the treatment of civilians in the closing stages of the civil war. It began with the withdrawal of the United Nations from Kilinochchi, the Tamil capital in the north, after the Sri Lankan government had announced that it could no longer guarantee the safety of the UN mission, a move interpreted here as a premeditated plan to remove inconvenient witnesses. What followed was a lethal kind of kettling, as Tamil civilians found themselves squeezed between the ruthlessness of their own soldiers (who weren't above using them as a human shield) and the aggression of the Sri Lankan army. The "no fire zones" turned out to be a bloody joke, being repeatedly shelled. And the Tamils' makeshift hospitals were hit so frequently that they eventually asked the Red Cross not to pass on their GPS co-ordinates to the other side, fearing that they were being used for targeting rather than avoidance.
Nothing you saw in the first half of the programme could conclusively prove that charge, or confirm the belief that the Sri Lankans would pause after one shell and then fire another to kill the rescuers, though it did corroborate eyewitness descriptions of appalling conditions on the shrinking strip of land occupied by the Tamils. Because it was filmed by the victims, it's all too easy for the Sri Lankan government to argue that it represents only the chaos of an ugly war, rather than hard evidence of a war crime. But their only workable strategy with the film that followed, though, was to dismiss it as a fake, since it incontrovertibly showed Sri Lankan soldiers executing prisoners in cold blood. It hadn't looked fake to Channel 4's technical analysts, and I don't think it would have looked fake to any viewer outside the Sri Lankan High Commission. "These are our state property. Let's shoot," said an off-camera voice, as bound prisoners were murdered. "Is there no one here with the balls to shoot a terrorist?" yelled another soldier, impatient with his colleagues' irresolution in front of three kneeling prisoners. Most horrible of all was the ogling trophy footage of dead women stripped naked: "I really want to cut her tits off," someone muttered, "if no one was around."
The Sri Lankan government's only response to these disgusting documents has been to question Channel 4's "standards and fairness", presumably confident that there's no great appetite in the international community to pursue the matter. The failure of the UN Security Council to insist on an independent investigation is "inexplicable and morally quite indefensible," said Steve Crawshaw of Amnesty International. But it's all too explicable I fear, even if the explanation involves a squalid combination of realpolitik and self-interest. "Will they be failed again?" asked Snow at the end, over footage of Tamil civilians pleading for help. The answer is probably yes, and the fact that this angry and powerful film wasn't felt important enough to bump The Fairy Jobmother from an earlier slot might be counted as one symptom of the failure. We care, just not quite enough.
Real atrocities get edged towards the graveyard slots, but fictional ones can still command primetime.
© The Independent
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Sri Lanka to revisit Channel 4 video with foreign experts
By Dianne Silva | Daily Mirror
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“We will revisit this documentary carefully and have our own forensic experts and foreign experts to look at the footage and respond accordingly,” government spokesman and Media Minister Kheliya Rambukwella told Daily Mirror today.
He said it was premature to comment on the contents of the video or how the government would respond.
The minister said a similar video was telecast by channel 4 in 2009 and these were proved to be false.
“We had forensic experts look into it at the time and video footage was proved to be fabricated. Therefore the authenticity of this documentary and footage is also in doubt,” he said and added that in six months time further fabricated information could be presented and the government would have to keep responding to these allegations as well.
The documentary is described as being “a powerful case for bringing those responsible to justice.” The minister responded to these lines as being “one single agenda that is working for its own ends. All this will be revisited and then the government will respond to it accordingly.”
Meanwhile the Media Centre for National Security maintained that it had already proved the video to be manipulated. “We have maintained that these images are false and have been collected over a period of one year and three months to disgrace the Sri Lankan image,” Director General of the MCNS Lakshman Hulugalle said.
He further added that the documentary, even if viewed by locals, would not diminish the morale or image of the military because within the country it was a forgone-conclusion that the footage was manipulated. However he admitted that the video would hurt Sri Lanka’s international image. “It is definitely going to look bad for Sri Lanka internationally. Yet it has been internationally recognized that the Sri Lankan forces are one of the most disciplined forces in the world, especially during the humanitarian operation,” he said.
© Daily Mirror
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Sri Lanka: Evidence that won't be buried
Editorial | The Guardian
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The story of what happened two years ago when government forces corralled hundreds of thousands of Tamils in horrific conditions into an ever-shrinking space, as they closed in the defeated Tigers, is well known. A UN panel last month found credible allegations of war crimes committed both by the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE. But the pictures of the shootings are new and Channel 4 has done what human rights organisations should have been doing in compiling and sifting through it.
The footage, shot either by escapers, or as trophy videos by soldiers committing the atrocities, is almost unwatchable. But on this occasion there are two reasons why it was right to dispense with the responsibility broadcasters have to avoid causing distress. First, the Sri Lankan government engineered a war without witness, which was why, in echoes of Srebrenica, they forced UN observers to leave first. This film atones, in small part, for the failure of the international community to make Sri Lanka accountable for these deaths. Second, the parallel with Srebrenica is only too real. As the UN panel reveals, the shelling of hospitals in the so-called no-fire zones was so systematic – there were 65 such attacks – that it is impossible to believe it was random. One shelling took place after a Red Cross official supplied the GPS co-ordinates to the Sri Lankan authorities, a procedure meant to avoid such shellings.
The targeting of civilians is a war crime. If proved, these charges go right up the chain of command of Sri Lanka's military and government. If Iran stands condemned for killing hundreds in the wake of the June 2009 election, if Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic now face justice in The Hague, if Bashar al-Assad faces UN sanctions for an assault that has killed 1,300 Syrians, how it is that President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother, the defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, escape all censure, after over 40,000 civilians were killed?
That the LTTE assassinated presidents and invented the suicide belt, that the Tigers used civilians as human shields, is no defence from the charge that Sri Lankan soldiers summarily executed prisoners in their custody. Sri Lanka is trying to pretend these events are history, as the economy and tourism pick up. They are not. This evidence has to be faced.
© The Guardian
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
British diplomats satisfied with Army's role in Jaffna
Photo courtesy: www.defence.lk
Defence.lk
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Immediately after the landing on the Palaly airstrip, Mr. Gooding and his retinue met Commander Security Forces - Jaffna (SF-J) Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe at his office.
During the brief meeting, Maj. Gen. Hathurusinghe explained the visiting diplomat about the change of Army's traditional role in Jaffna to a benevolent force which is committed to ensure wellbeing of the people in Jaffna. Mr. Gooding expressed his total satisfaction about speedy removal of mines in affected areas and early resettlement of IDPs in their original homesteads. SF-J Commander also described about Jaffna soldiers' contribution to the government effort of bringing the former glory to Jaffna through its development projects.
Subsequent to the meeting with the SF-J Commander, the diplomatic team left Palaly to continue with the rest their itinerary.
During their stay in Jaffna, they will meet the Government Agent Jaffna, the Governor of the Northern Province, members of the civil society, Jaffna Bishop and officials of the Chamber of Commerce. The team is scheduled to visit Rehabilitation Centre at Thelippalai, Point Pedro area and newly-resettled areas at Thelippalai.
First Secretary and Head of Political Section of the High Commission Mr. David Burton and Ms Priyadarshini Thillainathan also joined the visit.
© Defence.lk
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Britain renews call for Sri Lanka war crimes inquiry
The Guardian
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The film, shown on Channel 4, reportedly shows "trophy videos" taken on mobile phones by Sri Lankan soldiers taking part in the military operation in 2009 to crush the Tamil Tiger insurgency and end a 25-year civil war.
The broadcast came as the Home Office prepared to deport some 40 Tamils to the south Asian island state, including five who claim that their safety has been put in danger after UK officials passed papers in their case to the authorities in Colombo.
Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt said he was "shocked by the horrific scenes" in the Channel 4 film, Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, which he said contained "convincing evidence of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law".
Burt said the UK was ready to join the rest of the international community in pursuing "all options available" to put pressure on the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to take action.
The film was shown to the United Nations Human Rights Council in May. Presenter Jon Snow said it was "one of the most shocking films" the channel had ever produced.
It included footage of apparent extrajudicial killing of prisoners by government forces, the aftermath of targeted shelling of civilian hospitals and the bodies of female Tamil fighters who appear to have been sexually assaulted. It also examined atrocities carried out by the Tamil Tigers, including the use of human shields and a suicide bombing in a government centre for the displaced.
Sri Lanka's civil war ended in 2009, as the Colombo government claimed victory over the insurgents after a bloody military operation that killed thousands of people and displaced many more.
A panel of experts convened by the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, reported this year that it had found "credible allegations" of war crimes on both sides and said that a civilian death toll of 40,000 or more could not be ruled out.
In its annual human rights report for 2010, published in March, the Foreign Office voiced concern about continued human rights violations, disappearances, extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrests in the country after the end of the war.
Responding to the film, Burt said: "The recent UN panel of experts' report, this documentary and previously authenticated Channel 4 footage constitute convincing evidence of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.
"The whole of the international community will expect the Sri Lankans to give a serious and full response to this evidence.
"Since the end of the conflict the UK has called for an independent, thorough and credible investigation of the allegations that war crimes were committed during the hostilities and the UK government expects to see progress by the end of the year. I reiterated this message to the Sri Lankan foreign minister on 14 June.
"If the Sri Lankan government does not respond we will support the international community in revisiting all options available to press the Sri Lankan government to fulfil its obligations.
"Unless this is done, Sri Lanka will not be able to move on, and the prospects for reconciliation between Sri Lanka's communities will be curtailed. It is of the greatest importance that this does not happen."
Channel 4 News highlighted the case of 40 Tamils being held at a detention centre at Heathrow airport and who are due to be returned to Sri Lanka on a deportation flight on Thursday.
The programme quoted one of the asylum seekers - who was not named - as saying he feared he would be killed if he was sent back.
His lawyer said that the provision of potentially incriminating documentation on his case to the Sri Lankan authorities amounted to a serious breach of confidentiality in contravention of UN guidelines and Home Office rules.
© The Guardian
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
New documentary shows Sri Lanka 'war crimes'
Al Jazeera
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The Channel 4 programme also showed the bodies of female Tamil fighters who appeared to have been sexually assaulted by government forces.
"I was shocked by the horrific scenes," said Alistair Burt, a minister from the UK's foreign ministry.
Burt said on Wednesday that a failure to probe the claims of human rights abuses at the end of the
26-year war with fighters from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) could lead to international action against Colombo.
The government of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan president, says the video material is fabricated.
"Sri Lanka's Killing Fields" was aired on Tuesday and appeared to show the summary execution of Tamil prisoners by government soldiers during the end of the civil war in 2009.
Shot by a mobile phone, it specifically shows the apparent execution of three tied up Tamil prisoners including a woman.
Much of it is filmed by Tamil civilians, herded into so-called "no fire zones", and then allegedly fired upon en masse.
The documentary also cited witnesses describing the aftermath of the alleged shelling of hospitals in designated "safe zones".
Tamil Tiger fighters are also implicated in some of the footage.
The UN estimates that tens of thousands of people died, mostly civilians, in the final weeks of the country's civil war.
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has so far resisted pressure to order an investigation into war crimes.
However, the footage has been shown at the UN Human Rights Council, with Christof Heyns, the UN special investigator into extrajudicial killings in Sri Lanka, calling it evidence of "definitive war crimes".
© Al Jazeera
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
UK presses Sri Lanka over Channel 4's 'war crimes' film
BBC News
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Britain's Channel 4 showed what it said was previously unseen footage of what purported to be extrajudicial killings of Tamils by the military.
Sri Lanka's defence ministry dismissed the videos as fabricated, saying they were intended to discredit the army.
The army defeated the Tamil Tigers in 2009, ending 25 years of war.
Both the Sri Lankan army and Tamil Tiger rebels have been accused of human rights abuses during the conflict, which killed an estimated 100,000 people.
'Tied up'
The one-hour film, entitled Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, shows what appears to be executions of Tamil men, and video showing the corpses of naked women who appeared to have been sexually assaulted.
The programme - the result of two years' collection of video and eyewitness accounts - said the reports amounted to evidence of war crimes committed during the final months of fighting.
One video - which was said to have been taken by the military - shows graphic images of at least three bound prisoners, including one woman, being shot at close range.
In it, a soldier gives instructions to the others about how to kill the men.
"Is there no one with the balls to kill a terrorist?" he is heard saying, before telling his colleagues to aim at the prisoners' heads.
Channel 4, which also showed alleged abuses carried out by Tamil Tigers, said experts had found the video to have no signs of manipulation.
The film also cited witnesses describing the aftermath of the alleged shelling of hospitals in so-called designated safe zones.
British Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt said he was "shocked by the horrific scenes" in the documentary, which he said contained "convincing evidence of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law".
Mr Burt said the UK was ready to join the rest of the international community in pursuing "all options available" to pressure the Sri Lankan government to act.
The announcement comes as the UK Home Office prepares to deport some 40 Tamils, including five who claim that their safety has been compromised after their case papers were passed to officials in Colombo.
'Fake'
Sri Lanka, which has maintained that no civilians were killed by its army during the fighting, rejected the claims.
In a statement on its website, the country's Defence Ministry cites an expert who says the video had been deliberately manipulated.
The government has repeatedly argued that it has been unfairly criticised for ending a conflict that claimed tens of thousands of lives amid regular suicide bombings of government targets.
Last month, the UN special investigator into extrajudicial killings in Sri Lanka, Christof Heyns, said that video footage showing soldiers apparently executing civilians is evidence of serious rights abuses.
Presenting the footage to the UN Human Rights Council, he said that after careful analysis, he had concluded that it was authentic.
© BBC News
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