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The recent rains have made life a
living hell for the northern IDPs |
By Dr.
Pakiasothy Saravanamuthu
The current tragedy in our country is not one that any
international or national actor can claim ignorance
about. Were that to have been the case, the High
Commissioner’s statement settles the issue. Are the
civilians expected to move out en masse on their
own and risk being mowed down by both sides? Can the
sick, the injured, the starving, the old and the young
be expected to do this?
In
case the point was lost on all and sundry, the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights has talked about war
crimes in relation to Sri Lanka and about the violations
of international human rights and humanitarian law by
both sides. In a statement issued on March 13, 2009,
High Commissioner Pillay warns:
'Certain actions being undertaken by the Sri Lankan
military and by the LTTE may constitute violations of
international human rights and humanitarian law. We
need to know more about what is going on, but we know
enough to be sure that the situation is absolutely
desperate. The world today is ever sensitive about such
acts that could amount to war crimes and crimes against
humanity.' (Emphasis added)
The
High Commissioner goes on to point out that despite the
problems with getting information out of the Wanni, a
range of credible sources have informed her office that:
a)
Repeated shelling has continued inside government
designated "safe" or "no fire" zones.
b)
More than 2,800 civilians may have been killed and more
than 7000 injured since January 20, may of them -
estimated at two thirds of the overall total - inside
the no-fire zone. This includes hundreds of children
killed and more than a thousand injured.
c)
Despite the government announcement of February 24 that
no heavy weapons would be fired in to the no fire zones,
some 500 persons were reportedly killed and more than a
1000 injured in these zones with the "great majority"
being attributed to the use of heavy weapons.
d)
Very limited food supplies and reports of severe
malnutrition.
e) Key
medical supplies - e.g. sutures, painkillers and
antibiotics are not available in the "one makeshift
medical facility" still functioning.
On the LTTE
On the
LTTE shooting at civilians attempting to leave and using
them as human shields, the High Commissioner serves
notice that:
'The
brutal and inhuman treatment of civilians by the LTTE is
utterly reprehensible and should be examined to see if
it constitutes war crimes.' (Emphasis added)
At
last, someone with responsibility and the credibility to
do so, has come out and authoritatively spelt out the
dimensions of the horror of what is happening and raised
the all important question of accountability.
As
this column pointed out last week, triumphalism, amnesia
or combinations thereof, cannot be allowed to produce a
conspiracy of silence and consent to what is also being
done by the security forces. High Commissioner Pillay
needs to be saluted for this and the UN too for a
statement that restores confidence in the organisation
not having strayed so far afield from its original
normative moorings, as it has often, been feared, it has
done.
The
point though is that this is a statement. After a point
statements have diminishing returns unless they are
followed by action. Here the international community
has the responsibility to investigate and take action
against both LTTE and government, once their
responsibility in turn for war crimes and crimes against
humanity, are clearly established.
Key issue
In
these circumstances, the key issue of the continuing
entrapment of civilians remains. It is precisely these
circumstances that provide the space for egregious
violations and crimes. All calls for a ceasefire and
even a pause in the hostilities to enable an evacuation
of civilians has run into the seemingly insuperable
obstacles of surrender and guarantees that hostilities
will be ceased for this purpose.
The
overarching political reason is the desire for
unconditional surrender on the one hand and that of a
humanitarian catastrophe on the other.
The
current tragedy in our country is not one that any
international or national actor can claim ignorance
about. Were that to have been the case, the High
Commissioner's statement settles the issue. Are the
civilians expected to move out en masse on their own and
risk being mowed down by both sides? Can the sick, the
injured, the starving, the old and the young be expected
to do this?
The UN
- there is no other actor that can do this - must decide
to open up channels of communication to both sides and
engage them in the modalities of ending the end game
within a framework of civilian protection. Its energies
and resources must be geared to this as a matter of the
utmost urgency and priority. Or else there is
catastrophe for which all will be responsible. The
varying degrees of responsibility do not vitiate or
mitigate the stark and simple fact of responsibility.
Above
all else, it is time for us Sri Lankans to demonstrate
that we care about our fellow Sri Lankans. We cannot and
must not let this catastrophe come to pass.
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