manlion
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Sri Lanka guilty - On Line Opinion - 6/1/2014
A tribunal of eleven eminent judges has unanimously found the Sri Lankan Government guilty of the crime of genocide against ethnic Tamil people.
Sitting in Bremen, from 7 – 10 December, 2013, the Second Session of the Peoples' Tribunal on Sri Lanka found that the crime of genocide has been and is being committed against the Eelam Tamils as a national group.
The Tribunal found that genocide against the Eelam Tamil group has not yet reached the total destruction of their identity, however the genocide is a process and the process is ongoing; the military killings of May 2009 have been transformed into other forms of conduct causing serious bodily and mental harm to members of the group.
The Tribunal considered that the proof established beyond any reasonable doubt that the following acts were committed by the government of Sri Lanka:
a) Killing members of the group, which includes massacres, indiscriminate shelling, the strategy of herding civilians into so-called "No Fire Zones" for the purpose of massive killings, targeted assassinations of outspoken Eelam Tamil civil leaders who were capable of articulating the Sri Lankan genocide project to the outside world
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, including acts of torture, inhumane or degrading treatment, sexual violence including rape, interrogations combined with beatings, threats of death, and harm that damages health or causes disfigurement or injury
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or part, including
*expulsion of the victims from their homes
*seizures of private lands
*declaring vast areas as military High Security Zones (HSZ) to facilitate the military acquisition of Tamil land
The Tribunal undertook to further examine allegations of forced sterilization and contraception of Tamil women.
The UK and USA were found to be guilty of complicity in the crime of genocide, including complicity by procuring means, such as weapons, instruments or any other means, used to commit genocide, with the accomplice knowing that such means would be used for such a purpose; and complicity by knowingly aiding or abetting a perpetrator of a genocide in the planning or enabling of such acts.
The Tribunal recognised that Sri Lanka did not have the capacity to achieve genocide without assistance and on the basis of evidence provided came to the conclusion that the UK, USA and possibly India are guilty of complicity. However due to the constraint of time the Tribunal limited its findings to the UK and the USA pending the availability of further evidence against India and other States not yet identified.
A tribunal of eleven eminent judges has unanimously found the Sri Lankan Government guilty of the crime of genocide against ethnic Tamil people.
Sitting in Bremen, from 7 – 10 December, 2013, the Second Session of the Peoples' Tribunal on Sri Lanka found that the crime of genocide has been and is being committed against the Eelam Tamils as a national group.
The Tribunal found that genocide against the Eelam Tamil group has not yet reached the total destruction of their identity, however the genocide is a process and the process is ongoing; the military killings of May 2009 have been transformed into other forms of conduct causing serious bodily and mental harm to members of the group.
The Tribunal considered that the proof established beyond any reasonable doubt that the following acts were committed by the government of Sri Lanka:
a) Killing members of the group, which includes massacres, indiscriminate shelling, the strategy of herding civilians into so-called "No Fire Zones" for the purpose of massive killings, targeted assassinations of outspoken Eelam Tamil civil leaders who were capable of articulating the Sri Lankan genocide project to the outside world
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, including acts of torture, inhumane or degrading treatment, sexual violence including rape, interrogations combined with beatings, threats of death, and harm that damages health or causes disfigurement or injury
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or part, including
*expulsion of the victims from their homes
*seizures of private lands
*declaring vast areas as military High Security Zones (HSZ) to facilitate the military acquisition of Tamil land
The Tribunal undertook to further examine allegations of forced sterilization and contraception of Tamil women.
The UK and USA were found to be guilty of complicity in the crime of genocide, including complicity by procuring means, such as weapons, instruments or any other means, used to commit genocide, with the accomplice knowing that such means would be used for such a purpose; and complicity by knowingly aiding or abetting a perpetrator of a genocide in the planning or enabling of such acts.
The Tribunal recognised that Sri Lanka did not have the capacity to achieve genocide without assistance and on the basis of evidence provided came to the conclusion that the UK, USA and possibly India are guilty of complicity. However due to the constraint of time the Tribunal limited its findings to the UK and the USA pending the availability of further evidence against India and other States not yet identified.
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