Sri Lanka must demand : Investigate the Investigation (UNHRC /UN and its Resolutions must be probed)

UN Must Investigate

Why UN must investigate

Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General initiated a 3 member advisory panel to advise him on ‘alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law during the final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka’

http://www.un.org/sg/statements/?

nid=4627

• This was NOT a UN General Assembly or UN Security Council appointed Panel. It was a panel appointed to advise the UN Secretary General.
• The panel was to advise him on the final stages of the conflict – the Resolutions have gone beyond the final stages of the conflict and involve post-conflict scenarios where only the GOSL is targeted since there is no LTTE ground force following its defeat in May 2009.
• How did an advisory panel, appointed to advise the UNSG on a private capacity end up becoming the basis on which Resolutions and UNHRC reports have been based? There is an illegal dimension to what has transpired. If so who will investigate?
• Why have successive Resolutions gone beyond the final stages of the conflict wherein the post-2009 allegations are meant to solely target the GoSL?

The Ban Ki Moon appointed panel was to advise him on ‘the implementation of the commitment on human rights accountability made in the Joint Statement issued by President Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka and the Secretary-General’ when he visited Sri Lanka on 22 May 2009

• That joint statement being referred says thus “The Secretary General underlined the importance of an accountability process for addressing violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. The Government will take measures to address those grievances” 
• (Nowhere does the Sri Lankan Government commit to undertaking an investigation nor does the GOSL agree to an international investigation)
• Why did the UNSG appoint a panel when there was no such undertaking by Sri Lanka to conduct an investigation in the joint statement that is being referred to?
• How did a Panel appointed for personal advisory opinion end up as source for successive UNHRC Resolutions and the basis on which UNHRC head based her reports?

The appointment of a Panel inspite of the GoSL appointing its own panel

• The LLRC was appointed in March 2010
• Why did the UNSG not give Sri Lanka any time to carry out its own investigation?
• The PoE was appointed in June 2010 hardly a month after the Sri Lankan Government appointed the LLRC – this is unfair and does not indicate any respect or regard for domestic mechanisms.

Questioning the modalities of the Panel

The Panel says ‘it is not a fact finding or investigative body’ if so on what basis of evidence did the Panel conclude that

• Violations of humanitarian law occurred and classified sources as ‘confidential’ denying cross-examination by Sri Lanka for 20 years
• On what grounds did the Panel characterize LTTE as ‘the most disciplined and most nationalist of the Tamil militant groups’.
• Why did the Panel state that the conflict ended ‘tragically’ when the entire country was relieved that they could walk out of their homes without fear. Only LTTE supporters would have felt a tragic end to the conflict!
• Why does the Panel refer to and make comments on the family of HE the President when their mandate was only the last stages of the conflict – another instance of bias of the Panel?

Questioning the appointment of Maruzuki Darusman as Chairman of the PoE

The panel appointed to offer advice must be minus prejudices.

Ban Ki Moon chose Darusman inspite of his criticism of the GOSL while he served as a member of the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons appointed in 2007.

The IIGEP including Darusman refused to participate in the sessions of the Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights violations.

Ban Ki Moon was wrong to appoint a biased Darusman while Darusman himself should have declined to accept given his bias.

Appointment of Yasmin Sooka to the PoE. She has been since associated with pro-LTTE groups and is now serving in the Advisory Council of an anti-SL campaign

The conflict of interest are highlighted:

https://www.onlanka.com/news/

prejudiced-against-sri-lanka.html

• She was employed and funded by a EU established entity serving as Executive Director for the Foundation of Human Rights. As EU were en bloc pushing for charges against Sri Lanka the biased nature of her selection to the Panel needs to be investigated.

The PoE in its report of March 2011 declared that it found ‘credible allegations’ of crime

• Organizations and Media have substituted ‘allegations’ with ‘evidence’.
• The guilty are Amnesty International, International Crisis Group, Australian Red Cross, Human Rights Law Centre, ABC Four Corners, ABC Radio Australia, AFP, BBC, Channel 4, Groundviews, Reuters, Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian, Voice of America, Gordon Weiss

The Poe in its report of March 2011 declared that “there could have been as many as 40,000 civilian deaths.”

https://www.onlanka.com/news/

misinterpreted-ban-ki-moons-panel-of-expert-report.html

• ‘as many as 40,000’ became 40,000 and more deaths quoted without any sources/evidence
• The guilty are India Today, PBS, NDTV,

Challenging the 40,000 and more dead figures

• Accusers need to give valid explanation and evidence as to why GOSL should wish to kill 40,000 and more while physically saving close to 300,000 at the risk and loss of lives of their own soldiers?
• Whether deaths were 40,000 or more the accusers have yet to give a single name to the dead.
• Accusers need to explain why US satellite failed to pick up 40,000 or more burials. US satellite found only 3 mass graves – 1 was a LTTE grave.

Investigate the dead figures

Investigate on what grounds the PoE refused to accept the UN Country Team estimate of 7721 deaths a report which the UN is not making public?

Investigate how and who started making obnoxious death toll figures and how the media was allowed to ridicule and humiliate a country without any basis for accusations.

• 13 March 2009 – Navi Pillay quoted 2800 deaths
• 24 April 2009 – UN gave 6432 deaths
• 13 May 2009 – UN country team gave 7721 deaths
• SL government census in the war zone which was carried out by Tamil teachers in the region in Feb/March 2011 came with a figure of 7432 un accounted
• Even pro-LTTE website gave death total as 7,398

Investigate the Charles Petrie report

• Investigate why the UN did not wish to disclose the UN country team death estimate report
• Investigate why Charles Petrie report was established to create the notion that because of its conclusion that the UN Failed the report was kept from being made public
• Tell the Sri Lankan public why the UN failed the 20m people throughout 30 years by the UN doing nothing to stop LTTE terror

Investigate Gordon Weiss

• He was the UN Spokesman in Colombo
• Investigate his associations with pro-LTTE groups and in what capacity he is attending pro-LTTE events and speaking at pro-LTTE events as well
• Investigate on what basis he hyped civilian death toll figures from initial 10,000 to 30,000 and 40,000

Was there an official NO FIRE ZONE

• Rule of armed conflicts and establishment of a no fire zone requires both parties to the conflict to agree and officially accept the demarcation. There was no such accepted written agreement.
• The No Fire Zone was only a one sided demarcation created by the SL troops to ask civilians to move to safety.
• Investigate why LTTE moved into an area that was meant to be for civilians
• Investigate why LTTE moved artillery into the area and fired from within civilians
•  

Allegations of Navi Pillai taking case of Sri Lanka

• Conflict of interest in her ethnicity
• Her neutrality questioned in using LTTE sources she has issued derogatory statements against Sri Lanka from her office without any evidence or quoting from LTTE sources
• Ignoring 30 years of LTTE crimes and insisting only on the last 3 months of the conflict
• procedural bias by circulating her own incriminating report while refusing to attach Sri Lanka’s response
• attempting to polarize communities by bringing up isolated cases of religious issues while totally ignoring the over 700 attacks of mosques in the UK and attempting to link rapes in the North with military presence in order to use that as a ground to demand the removal of the military, another imperial outsourced agenda item.
• making statements without substantiate evidence in accusing the GOSL as being ‘authoritarian’.

Investigate the credibility of the 3 members appointed by Navi Pillai

https://www.onlanka.com/news/

investigate-sri-lanka.html

• Has the UN conducted and concluded an investigation on Marti Ahtisaari accused of accepting bribes by the Albanian Mafia to deliver Kosovo independence

Investigate how UNHRC war crimes forms came to be in the hands of TNA-LTTE

• This is the most shocking and astonishing disclosure and completely exposes the UNHRC
• An immediate investigation needs to be launched as to how UNHRC war crimes forms have been given to only one party
• This connects to former allegations of how sample letters of how to lodge complaints to the PoE was made available via internet and questions the credibility of the PoE witness sources too though these sources have got 20 years anonymity.

Investigate the organizations taking an anti-Sri Lanka campaign

• The organizations that have teams tasked to campaign against Sri Lanka need to be investigated. Who is funding them, why are they been funded, how much are they paid, what is the motive behind the funding – if parties are being paid to carry out an anti-Sri Lanka campaign of slander, lies and distortions all these entities need to be investigated.
• Ex: Canadian Tamil Congress is proscribed as  a pro-LTTE organization by the GOSL, the same CTC donated $50,000 to Amnesty International and AI has been at the forefront of anti-SL campaigns.

Investigate Foreign Parliamentarians coerced into supporting pro-LTTE and taking an anti-SL line using their portfolios

http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?

fronts_20130306_03

• All foreign parliamentarians and international officials need to be investigated for their association with the proscribed entities named by the GOSL
• These investigations will reveal in what manner these foreign MPs and international figures have agreed to provide backing to pro-LTTE groups

Investigate Channel 4

http://tamiltigeractivities.

have-become-witnesses/

• Who funded the Channel 4 documentaries
• On what basis can a documentary which inserts edited clippings and inserts them to a storyline the producers and funding parties wish to convey become a transparent and factual account?
• Investigate some of the characters that C4 interviews for many of the star witnesses have been proven LTTE members
• Investigate and disclose the sources to verify authenticity of the video and whether the clips were actually taken from mobile phones as was claimed.

Investigate the documentary ‘Lies Agreed Upon

http://www.defence.lk/new.asp

?fname=lies_agreed_upon_20110801’

• Testimonies of over 50 Tamil civilians that confirmed there was no direct fire from SL forces
• Testimonies that praised the SL forces
• Testimonies that the SL forces only returned fire when LTTE fired first

Investigate the 6 Tamil doctors and their affidavits

http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?

_of_Channel_Four_20140108_06

http://www.dailynews.lk/?q=features/

dr-varatharaja-show-his-true-colours-geneva

• Investigate the doctors confirming adequate medical supplies
• Investigate the doctors assessment of civilian deaths
• Investigate the doctors who confirmed that LTTE repeatedly located their artillery in close proximity to hospitals

Investigate all the 16 organizations and 424 individuals most of whom are now holding foreign passports

• GOSL has banned 16 pro-LTTE organizations and declared 424 individuals as supporting terrorists under UN Security Council Resolution 1373
• All members of the UN who have endorsed the Counter Terrorism Committee Resolution 1373 need to assist the GOSL to investigate and charge these entities and individuals for their links to a designated terrorist organization.
• All foreign passport  holding Tamils need to be thus investigated immediately

Investigate the precedent being created

• Sri Lanka is the first country that the UNHRC is investigating a concluded conflict without UN Security Council or UN General Assembly sanction.
• Sri Lanka needs to know why throughout 30 years the UN did not investigate or declare the LTTE as a terrorist entity despite its terror ways and despite LTTE being designated as a terrorist entity since 1997.