The United Nations is sending a top official to Sri Lanka this week to press for the speedy resettlement of 300,000 war-displaced, officials said Monday, the second UN visit in as many weeks.
Walter Kalin, the UN Secretary-General's envoy for refugee rights, will arrive late Wednesday for a five-day visit that includes a tour to camps holding tens of thousands of refugees, Sri Lanka's Human Rights Ministry said.
His trip comes a week after the visit of the UN's political chief, Lynn Pascoe, who expressed concern over the plight of refugees and also urged Sri Lanka to investigate rights abuses during the final stages of the civil war.
"Mr. Kalin will meet with senior government officials, international aid agencies, including UN staff, and also visit some sites holding internally displaced people (IDPs)," a ministry official said.
UN sources here said Kalin would press for improved conditions for the Tamil civilians held in internment camps.
"He will follow up promises made by the government to resettle the IDPs at the earliest," said a UN official who declined to be named.
The displaced are being held in "welfare villages" and the government says they cannot be allowed freedom of movement until authorities finish screening them for remaining Tamil rebels.
Pascoe last week said the Sri Lankan government was not making sufficiently fast progress in implementing a deal between Colombo and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in May.
The agreement was for the speedy resettlement of the civilians who were displaced after the end of fighting between troops and Tamil Tiger rebels.
"We have not seen the progress we expected from that agreement," Pascoe said.
Pascoe also urged Sri Lanka to set up a mechanism for "truth seeking" into alleged excesses by government forces during the final stages of the war.
Kalin toured Sri Lanka in April, just weeks before Sri Lankan troops crushed Tamil Tiger rebels who had been waging a guerrilla war for a homeland since 1972.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Troops will not face war crimes charges – President
news
Canadian Conservative Government takes lead on Srilanka issue,holds Round Table
A round table was held at Minister's Regional Office in Toronto today, Canada where Sri Lanka's present situation was discussed.Round table was attended by Canada's Multiculturism,Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, Minister of International Cooperation, Hon. Bev Oda, Minister of state for foreign affairs (Americas) Peter Kent, Paul Calandra MP,Chuck Konkel Candidate of Record,Roger Nair film-maker & Chairman of South Asians for Human Rights Association along with various Community leaders. Sept. 11th 2009
A round table was held at Minister's Regional Office today in Toronto , Canada where Sri Lanka's present situation was discussed.The Round table was attended by Canada's Multiculturism,Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, Minister of International Cooperation, Hon. Bev Oda, Minister of State for Foreign affairs (Americas) and previous broadcast journalist Peter Kent, Paul Calandra MP, Candidate of Record Chuck Konkel,Roger Nair film-maker & Chairman of South Asians for Human Rights Association along with various Community leaders.The present situation in Sri Lanka was discussed and suggestions for Canada's Role in the region were taken by the Canadian Government Ministers.
Talking to this reporter said Roger Nair about the outcome of the round table" This is imperative that discussions like these continue on and I am confidant and hopeful that Canada can take lead in bringing peace in that region by building bridges between the factions that had had bad blood in the near past."
A sentiment mirrored by the actions of Canadian Government who had three ministers attending the Round Table.
Minister of Citizenship,Immigration and multicuturism Minister Jason Kenney heading the Round table sent a clear message about Canada's interest in helping solve the issues of Sri Lanka.
news
A round table was held at Minister's Regional Office today in Toronto , Canada where Sri Lanka's present situation was discussed.The Round table was attended by Canada's Multiculturism,Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, Minister of International Cooperation, Hon. Bev Oda, Minister of State for Foreign affairs (Americas) and previous broadcast journalist Peter Kent, Paul Calandra MP, Candidate of Record Chuck Konkel,Roger Nair film-maker & Chairman of South Asians for Human Rights Association along with various Community leaders.The present situation in Sri Lanka was discussed and suggestions for Canada's Role in the region were taken by the Canadian Government Ministers.
Talking to this reporter said Roger Nair about the outcome of the round table" This is imperative that discussions like these continue on and I am confidant and hopeful that Canada can take lead in bringing peace in that region by building bridges between the factions that had had bad blood in the near past."
A sentiment mirrored by the actions of Canadian Government who had three ministers attending the Round Table.
Minister of Citizenship,Immigration and multicuturism Minister Jason Kenney heading the Round table sent a clear message about Canada's interest in helping solve the issues of Sri Lanka.
news
Tamils for Obama: Mr. Rogers, if you invest in Sri Lanka, you will share the anger for Sri Lankan behavior
Tamils for Obama wrote a letter to Jim Rogers, investor and co-founder (with George Soros) of the Quantum Fund, warning him that his apparent plans to invest in Sri Lanka will involve him with an increasingly disreputable business partner as news of Sri Lankan government's mistreatment of its Tamil minority during and since the civil war inevitably filter out. This story names some of the damaging allegations the will probably make investing in Sri Lanka embarrassing.
New York (PRWEB) September 21, 2009 -- Jim Rogers, a world-known investor and co-founder (with George Soros) of the Quantum Fund, recently visited Sri Lanka and saw "great, cheap opportunities in Sri Lanka because of dramatic changes in the country after the end of the war." Tamils for Obama, however, sent him a letter warning that as evidence of Sri Lankan behavior during and since the civil war becomes widely known he will find that he has new partners he will wish he never met.
"He is investing his clients' money," explained an officer of the Tamils for Obama organization. "We think that investing in Sri Lanka will get Mr. Rogers, his firm, and his clients involved in situations that will embarass all of them."
Mr. Rogers recently made a quiet 3-day trip to Sri Lanka "which included meetings with top government officials," the Sunday Times Financial Times reported. "He met several government officials during a hitherto-unannounced visit," the Times reported. "'Yes, he was here and told me - during a long conversation - that he is very bullish on Sri Lanka,' said one official, who declined to be named" the Sunday Times FT said.
Another spokesman for Tamils for Obama said "We told him in our letter that investing in Sri Lanka would have unwelcome consequences, consequences he has evidently not considered.
"What we actually wrote," the spokesman said, was "'Don't dive into that pool yet, Mr. Rogers. There are good reasons to avoid Sri Lanka and its bloody-handed government.'"
"We want to warn Mr. Rogers, along with any other well-meaning investment advisors, that the Sri Lankan government's history of brutality against its own Tamil population will become widely known and that as it does it will tarnish everyone sending money there. Public pressure to disinvest in Sri Lanka (as with South Africa from the '60s to '80s) will make investment there into an embarrassment," the spokesman explained.
"In our letter, we cite facts of which Mr. Rogers might have been unaware," the Tamils for Obama spokesman continued. "For instance, we told him about how in the final months of the civil war the Sri Lankan government killed huge numbers of Tamil civilians by shell fire and air attacks, this in the 'safe zone.' According to a U.N. report which The London Times uncovered, around 1,000 civilians were killed every day from late April until May 19, when the war ended. The final civilian death toll for this period was more than 20,000, according to The Times."
Tamils for Obama noted that the Sir Lankan government has made great efforts to keep their activities secret. Since the end of the war, he said, "The Sri Lankan government has held over 300,000 Tamil civilians in internment camps, and shows no sign of letting them go any time soon."
"These 'internment camps' will only become more widely known and reported in the near furure," said the TfO spokesman. "We read two recent articles. One was in the UK's Guardian newspaper, which wrote 'With less than 5% of the 300,000 Tamils released from what the United Nations describes as "internment camps", [frightening stories such as [one refugee's have only just begun to be told.' Another story, written by an Indian journalist and carried by Al Jazeera, used the widely-accepted figure of 300,000 inmates and quoted U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon as saying "I have travelled round the world and visited similar places, but these are by far the most appalling scenes I have seen..."
The spokesman added that anyone who wants to read the original can find The Guardian story at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/13/tamils-camps-sri-lankaand the Al Jazeera article at
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&source=hp&q=300%2C000%20Tamil%20civilians%20in%20internment%20camps&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn
"The Sri Lankan armed forces seal the camps so that nobody can get in or get out," the spokesman went on. "The U.N., the Red Cross, the international press, human rights and humanitarian aid organizations, and elected officials are not allowed into the camps. We and everybody else in the world wants the Sri Lankan government to release these civilian prisoners, but they show no sign of releasing the prisoners any time soon. We think that many of these prisoners have been witnesses to Sri Lankan war crimes, and so the government is afraid to let them out where they can talk to reporters and diplomats. Mr. Rogers should be aware of that."
"We also told Mr. Rogers about an Australian MP," this spokesman said. "The Australian MP made a speech in the Australian parliament. He talked about 'a humanitarian disaster' and 'hundreds of thousands of innocent Tamils… living in camps in appalling conditions' and 'horrifying evidence of the worst violations of human rights, including starvation, rape, killings and torture.' These reports are going to pile up until the ghastly story of Sri Lankan atrocities becomes common knowledge, and we want potential investors in Sri Lanka to know what they should expect."
The spokesman said that a video recently surfaced showing Sri Lankan soldiers shooting Tamil prisoners. "This was shown on British TV," the spokesman said. "We referred to it in our letter to Mr. Rogers. He certainly knows that as this kind of thing becomes widely known, the reputation of anybody who is closely associated with the Sri Lankan government will suffer." (To see the video go to: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1184614595?bctid=35256686001
The spokesman said "Our letter concludes: 'In short, Mr. Rogers, you are about to embrace the most brutal national government since the Khmer Rouge held power in Cambodia. You might be thick-skinned, but the investors you represent will probably be shocked at your choice of partners. No one wants to get involved in a holocaust, especially on the side of the killers. The history of the Sri Lankan government shows that they are capable of such atrocities, and at least until they open up the camps you can't be sure that they are not perpetrating a massacre there right now.'"
To see the entire letter go to:http://www.tamilsforobama.com/Letters/Rogers.html
Tamils are an ethnic group living mainly in the northeast of Sri Lanka and southern India. During the final weeks of the recent civil war, the Sri Lankan government killed about 1,000 Tamil civilians per day, according to the United Nations, and about 30,000 in 2009. Tamils are a minority population in Sri Lanka, and have borne the brunt of a civil war they regard as genocide. One-third of the Tamil population has fled the island and formed a substantial diaspora overseas. Tamils for Obama is comprised of Tamils who have settled in the U.S. or who were born in the U.S.
To contact the group, call at (617) 765- 4394 and speak to, or leave a message for, the Communication Director, Tamils for Obama.
http://www.tamilsforobama.com/
###
New York (PRWEB) September 21, 2009 -- Jim Rogers, a world-known investor and co-founder (with George Soros) of the Quantum Fund, recently visited Sri Lanka and saw "great, cheap opportunities in Sri Lanka because of dramatic changes in the country after the end of the war." Tamils for Obama, however, sent him a letter warning that as evidence of Sri Lankan behavior during and since the civil war becomes widely known he will find that he has new partners he will wish he never met.
"He is investing his clients' money," explained an officer of the Tamils for Obama organization. "We think that investing in Sri Lanka will get Mr. Rogers, his firm, and his clients involved in situations that will embarass all of them."
Mr. Rogers recently made a quiet 3-day trip to Sri Lanka "which included meetings with top government officials," the Sunday Times Financial Times reported. "He met several government officials during a hitherto-unannounced visit," the Times reported. "'Yes, he was here and told me - during a long conversation - that he is very bullish on Sri Lanka,' said one official, who declined to be named" the Sunday Times FT said.
Another spokesman for Tamils for Obama said "We told him in our letter that investing in Sri Lanka would have unwelcome consequences, consequences he has evidently not considered.
"What we actually wrote," the spokesman said, was "'Don't dive into that pool yet, Mr. Rogers. There are good reasons to avoid Sri Lanka and its bloody-handed government.'"
"We want to warn Mr. Rogers, along with any other well-meaning investment advisors, that the Sri Lankan government's history of brutality against its own Tamil population will become widely known and that as it does it will tarnish everyone sending money there. Public pressure to disinvest in Sri Lanka (as with South Africa from the '60s to '80s) will make investment there into an embarrassment," the spokesman explained.
"In our letter, we cite facts of which Mr. Rogers might have been unaware," the Tamils for Obama spokesman continued. "For instance, we told him about how in the final months of the civil war the Sri Lankan government killed huge numbers of Tamil civilians by shell fire and air attacks, this in the 'safe zone.' According to a U.N. report which The London Times uncovered, around 1,000 civilians were killed every day from late April until May 19, when the war ended. The final civilian death toll for this period was more than 20,000, according to The Times."
Tamils for Obama noted that the Sir Lankan government has made great efforts to keep their activities secret. Since the end of the war, he said, "The Sri Lankan government has held over 300,000 Tamil civilians in internment camps, and shows no sign of letting them go any time soon."
"These 'internment camps' will only become more widely known and reported in the near furure," said the TfO spokesman. "We read two recent articles. One was in the UK's Guardian newspaper, which wrote 'With less than 5% of the 300,000 Tamils released from what the United Nations describes as "internment camps", [frightening stories such as [one refugee's have only just begun to be told.' Another story, written by an Indian journalist and carried by Al Jazeera, used the widely-accepted figure of 300,000 inmates and quoted U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon as saying "I have travelled round the world and visited similar places, but these are by far the most appalling scenes I have seen..."
The spokesman added that anyone who wants to read the original can find The Guardian story at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/13/tamils-camps-sri-lankaand the Al Jazeera article at
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&source=hp&q=300%2C000%20Tamil%20civilians%20in%20internment%20camps&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn
"The Sri Lankan armed forces seal the camps so that nobody can get in or get out," the spokesman went on. "The U.N., the Red Cross, the international press, human rights and humanitarian aid organizations, and elected officials are not allowed into the camps. We and everybody else in the world wants the Sri Lankan government to release these civilian prisoners, but they show no sign of releasing the prisoners any time soon. We think that many of these prisoners have been witnesses to Sri Lankan war crimes, and so the government is afraid to let them out where they can talk to reporters and diplomats. Mr. Rogers should be aware of that."
"We also told Mr. Rogers about an Australian MP," this spokesman said. "The Australian MP made a speech in the Australian parliament. He talked about 'a humanitarian disaster' and 'hundreds of thousands of innocent Tamils… living in camps in appalling conditions' and 'horrifying evidence of the worst violations of human rights, including starvation, rape, killings and torture.' These reports are going to pile up until the ghastly story of Sri Lankan atrocities becomes common knowledge, and we want potential investors in Sri Lanka to know what they should expect."
The spokesman said that a video recently surfaced showing Sri Lankan soldiers shooting Tamil prisoners. "This was shown on British TV," the spokesman said. "We referred to it in our letter to Mr. Rogers. He certainly knows that as this kind of thing becomes widely known, the reputation of anybody who is closely associated with the Sri Lankan government will suffer." (To see the video go to: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1184614595?bctid=35256686001
The spokesman said "Our letter concludes: 'In short, Mr. Rogers, you are about to embrace the most brutal national government since the Khmer Rouge held power in Cambodia. You might be thick-skinned, but the investors you represent will probably be shocked at your choice of partners. No one wants to get involved in a holocaust, especially on the side of the killers. The history of the Sri Lankan government shows that they are capable of such atrocities, and at least until they open up the camps you can't be sure that they are not perpetrating a massacre there right now.'"
To see the entire letter go to:http://www.tamilsforobama.com/Letters/Rogers.html
Tamils are an ethnic group living mainly in the northeast of Sri Lanka and southern India. During the final weeks of the recent civil war, the Sri Lankan government killed about 1,000 Tamil civilians per day, according to the United Nations, and about 30,000 in 2009. Tamils are a minority population in Sri Lanka, and have borne the brunt of a civil war they regard as genocide. One-third of the Tamil population has fled the island and formed a substantial diaspora overseas. Tamils for Obama is comprised of Tamils who have settled in the U.S. or who were born in the U.S.
To contact the group, call at (617) 765- 4394 and speak to, or leave a message for, the Communication Director, Tamils for Obama.
http://www.tamilsforobama.com/
###
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
