NESOHR -The NorthEast Secretariat On Human Rights

The only local, independent human rights monitoring body in the NorthEast of Sri Lanka

Press Release on the Killings of Tamil Civilians in the NorthEast

16 May 2006

The NorthEast Secretariat On Human Rights (NESOHR), the primary local human rights organization in the NorthEast, is extremely perturbed over the unabating incidence of civilian disappearances and killings in the NorthEast, including the disappearances and killings of women and children, during the past two months.

While NESOHR obviously does not condone the current violence against military personnel, NESOHR considers crimes against civilians to be unacceptable. Retaliatory killings of civilians under any circumstances are not crimes that can be "wished away" as collateral damage.

During the last few months, many killings of Tamil civilians have occurred by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces and paramilitary groups operating in military-occupied areas of the NorthEast. If the Government of Sri Lanka has a legal claim over the areas it controls in the NorthEast, then it has a legitimate obligation to maintain law and order in areas designated as Government Controlled and to ensure that innocent civilians are given protection against organized violence.

State military and paramilitary armed groups engaging in violence against innocent civilians is a matter NESOHR views with serious concern. NESOHR is shocked by the terror caused by the rampage of Sri Lankan Navy personnel with an illegal paramilitary group in Allaipiddy on Saturday night (13 May 2006) during the Buddha's 2550th birthday celebration.

The following incidents require thorough investigation by human rights groups:

The killing of five Tamil youths in Trincomalee (January 2);
The killing of five Tamil youths in Puttur, Jaffna (April 19);
The aerial and naval bombardment of Sampur in Trincomalee, which resulted in the death of 26 Tamil civilians, including children, and causing extensive damage to civilian property (April 25-26);
The attack on the Tamil newspaper office of the Tamil daily "Uthayan" in Jaffna and the killing of two of its employees (May 2);
The killing of seven Tamil youths in Nelliyady, Jaffna (May 4);
The killing of eight Tamil youths in Manthuvil, Jaffna (May 7); and
The killing of 13 Tamil civilians, including women, children, and a four-month-old infant in Allaipiddy, Mandathivu (May 13).

These and many other incidents of violence targeted at Tamil civilians are more often than not explained away by military spokespersons as killings by unidentified armed men or military attacks against LTTE cadres engaged in attacks against Sri Lankan Armed Forces. Magisterial inquests have revealed evidence to the contrary: relatives of the victims have repeatedly named the victims as innocent civilians.

The attacks on the Tamil media seems to be a systematically planned assault on the dissemination of information. Such an assault is suggested by the murders of internationally-renowned journalists Nimalarajan in Jaffna, Nadesan in Batticaloa, Sivaram in Colombo, Suhirtharajan in Trincomalee and the employees of "Uthayan" killed recently in Jaffna. These were committed men who steadfastly and fearlessly brought out facts to an international community that has been kept in the dark by the Colombo media which has a vested interest in the civil conflict.

NESOHR has a moral obligation to keep the international community abreast of the deteriorating human rights conditions in this part of the world. NESOHR is alarmed at the increasing trend of human rights violations and fear that this situation, if not brought to a halt, will have serious repercussions in the life of this nation.

This is a fervent appeal from NESOHR to all parties to act resolutely with effective intervention. In the context of a civilian conflict wherein the Tamil people living in military-occupied parts of the NorthEast are kept in subjugation and fear and are increasingly becoming selective targets of killing, only international opinion and pressure can bring about an end to the current wave of violence that is rapidly spiraling out of control.