Which human rights were violated?
Article#3 The Right to Life:
The most indisputable human rights violation committed during the Sri Lankan Civil war was genocide. Defined as the systematic elimination of an ethnic, racial, or religious group, Sri Lanka is not a country that immediately comes to mind when considering genocide but nonetheless each side systematically sought the destruction of the other ethnic group. The right to life was violated not just among insurgents and soldiers; civilians were purposefully targeted by both sides in order to instill terror. Exact numbers are elusive, however most estimates put the death toll between 80,000-100,000 Sri Lankans. |
Article #5 No TortureToward the end of the war, the Sri Lankan government (Sinhalese) used rape as a method of torture against the Tamils. Rape was a recurring tactic used in the war for a multitude of reasons: first, as a coercive technique to extract information on LTTE. Numerous sources note the mass rape of Tamils was not geographically limited or conducted by a rogue group of soldiers; rather it was a widespread Sinhalese practice condoned by senior officials. Physical torture to leave visible reminders commonly included bite marks on the breasts and buttocks, cigarette burns and damage to sensitive areas such as inner thighs and genitalia. Additionally, nearly all Tamils detained and questioned by the Sinhalese, experienced penetrative rape by the Sri Lankan security forces.
“I was beaten up and tortured continuously… I can’t remember how many times. They spoke in Sinhala but also spoke some broken Tamil. While I was in detention, my family tried to lodge a complaint with the NHRC [National Human Rights Commission] but they refused to register a complaint. My family also approached some members of parliament. Nobody helped us.” - Tamil woman, 32, detained in Kilinochchi , April 2012 The mass rape of tamil men and women during and after the Sri Lankan civil war is amongst the most unlawful and inhuman tactics devised by the Sinhalese as the war was closing. Their popular method of using rape and torture to extract information from the enemy is a violation of the most basic human rights. Despite these atrocities, no formal repercussions have been enforced nor were Sinhalese soldiers or leaders ever charged with war crimes. |
Article #13 Freedom of ExpressionLimits to freedom of expression are common among corrupt countries. In general the freedom of expression and specifically, freedom of the press, is important to the development of a society, particularly a non-homogenous society such as Sri Lanka. If certain minorities are excluded from participating in the press and open dialogue as the Tamils were, their views, needs, and ideas become suppressed, leading to resentment and isolation. The direct oppression of the press was a continuing theme throughout the Sri Lankan war.
The Sri Lankan government did not allow media or humanitarian access to any of the camps that thousands of innocent Tamils were forced into in Northern Sri Lanka. Frequently, critics of the manner in which the Sri Lankan government prosecuted the war would find themselves detained. Even unflattering reports of the Sinhalese government would result in detainment and questioning, and oftentimes imprisonment and/or deportation. In 2008, a Sri Lankan journalist, Mr. Tissainayagam was sentenced to 20 years of hard labor for publishing an online article that described the brutal mistreatment of Tamil civilians and the Sri Lankan government’s deliberate withholding of food and other supplies from Tamils as a tool of war. |
Article #23 Worker's Rights
The LTTE Tamil Tigers openly engaged in forcible use of child soldiers during efforts to force the creation of a new Tamil state. According to a Human Rights Watch report in 2004, the LTTE regularly threatened families in the North and Eastern parts of the island into relinquishing their child-age sons and daughters for military service. If families refused, the children were often abducted from their homes at night or forcibly recruited while walking to school. The LTTE targeted child soldiers between 12-16 years believing that age group to possess the optimal balance of usefulness and malleability. The Tigers had been recruiting child soldiers since the beginning of the war in 1983, but it was most conspicuous in the early 2000’s. After a 2002 ceasefire, the Tamil became desperate to gain a stronger foothold should the war continued, and consequently began their recruitment of child soldiers again. During a short span of a few months between the fall of 2001 and February 2002, the LTTE added a reported 3,516 child soldiers.
For many families and children there was no way around the recruitment process. An 80 page report “Living in Fear: Child Soldiers and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka” includes the dismal testimonies of Sri Lankan child soldiers and their families. The young soldiers were allowed no contact with their parents. They were not allowed to write letters or visit their parents during their time in the LTTE’s service. They were also forced into units that included operating heavy weaponry, landmines, and bombs. Testimony by a girl recruited at age 14 explained the severe punishment for the children who underperformed in their military duties.
“We practiced placing [fake] landmines. If the opposing forces came and the landmines didn’t go off, you were supposed to sleep on the mines for punishment. In another drill, we were sent to find hidden Claymore [remote activated] mines.” (Nirmala, 14 year old child soldier).
This is just a glimpse into the horrible existence children were forced into during the Sri Lankan civil war. Not only is this a violation of Human Rights article #23 the Worker’s Rights, but also breaches United Nations ratified rights and the Geneva Rights convention (Article #38, it is illegal to recruit any soldiers under the age of 18). The Tamil recruitment of child soldiers also reflects another level of human rights violation - the preying on and targeting of the weakest and most vulnerable members of society- the children.
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