FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A letter to US President Barack Obama to make Rajapaksa accountable
<http://williamgomes.org/?p=207>
Mr. President,
I am William Nicholas Gomes, a journalist and Human Rights activist
from Bangladesh presently based in Hong Kong. Today I am writing you
urgent attention on the situation of Sri lanka while you and other
Americans are preparing for Christmas, people are going through
unexplainable suffering in Sri Lanaka, due to gross violations of
people's rights violations by Mahinda Rajapaksa regime.
Mr. President,
Many Civil, political, economical and cultural rights are a dream for
the people in Sri Lanka, Rajapaksa regime had forced the nation into a
situation where people are deprive from their basic human rights.
Mr. President,
I am writing to you because you have promised a change to USA and to
the world. United States enjoys cordial relations with Sri Lanka that
are based, in large part, on shared democratic traditions.
U.S. policy toward Sri Lanka is characterized by respect for its
independence, sovereignty, and moderate nonaligned foreign policy;
support for the country's unity, territorial integrity, and
democratic institutions; and encouragement of its social and economic
development. The United States is a strong supporter of ethnic
reconciliation in Sri Lanka.
According to US department of State, U.S. assistance has totaled more
than $2 billion since Sri Lanka's independence in 1948. Through the
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), it has contributed
to Sri Lanka's economic growth with projects designed to reduce
unemployment, improve housing, develop the Colombo Stock Exchange,
modernize the judicial system, and improve competitiveness. At the
June 2003 Tokyo Donors' Conference on Sri Lanka, the United States
pledged $54 million, including $40.4 million of USAID funding.
Following the 2004 tsunami, the United States provided $135 million in
relief and reconstruction assistance. The United States provided over
$51.4 million in humanitarian assistance in 2009, and pledged at least
$34.5 million for 2010.
Mr. President,
You can bring a positive change into lives of many in Sri Lanka.
Media groups have alleged that media freedom has been curtailed in Sri
Lanka during Rajapaksa's term as President. In 2008 Reporters
without borders ranked Sri Lanka 165th among 173 countries in its
annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index. The next year, the country was
ranked 162. By 2010, following the end of the war, the RSF ranking was
158th. However these ranking have been questioned by independent Sri
Lanka newspapers.
RSF's 2010 Press Freedom Index has Sri Lanka at number 158, nearly
tied with Saudi Arabia. This makes the rankings somewhat suspect. In
Saudi Arabia, all newspapers are owned by the royal family or their
associates. All TV and radio stations are government owned. Saudi
journalists are forbidden by law to criticise the royal family or
religious authorities and writers and bloggers are routinely arrested.
Very recently Sri Lanka has blocked five news websites
www.lankaenews.com, srilankamirror.com, srilankaguardian.com,
paparacigossip9.com and www.lankawaynews.com, claiming that they had
committed character assassination and insulted people including key
political leaders, officials.
Sri Lankan laws do not restrict the press from criticizing leaders.
The government did not describe what content it opposed.
Media groups criticized the moves as undemocratic, and the U.S.
Embassy recently raised concerns about press freedom in Sri Lanka.
Prominent journalist Frederica Jansz, the editor of The Sunday
Leader,was threaten to kill and the media professional are facing
challenges in everyday work.
Mr. President,
Mahinda Rajapaksa regime has turned out to be a tool not to spur
international peace and security .
Worst of all, the regime is continuously ignoring appeal of the
international community to respectful to the rights of the people,
targeting daily lives of ordinary people. Institutionalized torture,
extrajudicial killings , enforced disappearance and other forms of
gross human rights violations became a daily issue and that have a
tragic impact on the rights recognized in the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Mr. President,
In today's worlds the most violent place in Asia at the moment is
Sri Lanka, and until today the state has not taken any serious steps
to bring it under control. Very recently on the occasion of the 47th
Session of CAT — the government makes empty statements without firm
commitments to halt violations.
According an issued statement of Asian Human Rights Comission, the
government delegation gave the state report relating to the questions
raised by the Committee against Torture (CAT) at the 47th Session of
the CAT Committee. Mr. Mohan Peiris, a former Attorney General and now
an advisor to the government presented the report. For the session
earlier The 12 organizations that have submitted their reports are:
1.Amnesty International 2.Asian Human Rights Commission 3.Freedom from
Torture 4.Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children
5.International Commission of Jurists 6.International Disability
Alliance 7.Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada 8.REDRESS 9.REDRESS, Asian
Legal Resource Centre & ACAT-France 10.Sri Lankan NGO Collective
11.Tamil Information Centre 11.TRIAL
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has documented nearly 100 cases
of torture and killings in police custody since January this year in
Sri Lanka. Apart from that AHRC had also documented 1500 cases of
torture in police custody since 1998 in Sri Lanka.
UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has once
again called on Sri Lanka to sign and ratify the International
Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance.
Very recently in a presentation Mr. Basil Fernando, the Director of
Policy and Programmes explains the causes of police torture in Sri
Lanka and the consequences of having a policing system that has lost
its internal control structure.
Fernando also explains how the CAT Act, Act No 22 of 1994 is no longer
being implemented in the country and how there is no credible
complaint mechanism or witness protection law available to the
citizens. The overall consequence of losing a law-based policing
system is the creation of extra-legal measures to control crime.
These extra-legal measures include torture, and extra-judicial
killings. "Wide spread torture is only a symptom of the much larger
problem of lawlessness created by the operation of 1978
constitution", tells Fernando
Mr. President,
I will also provide a copy of the letter to all 435 members of the
House of Representatives.I belive all of you will jointly think of how
to help the people towards better democracy and better life before
Christmas. I hope as you are an agent of change will give a good
chirstmas gift to the people of sri lanka by making accountable the
Mahinda Rajapaksa regime before the US institution for further
bilateral co operations. U.S. assistance has totaled more than $2
billion since Sri Lanka's independence in 1948. But now I hope US
government would think of the situations mentioned above before
grating any further assistance to Mahinda Rajapaksa regime.
Mr. President,
In conclusion, I will urge you to impose pre conditions to insure the
international standards of Civil, Political, economic, social and
cultural rights before the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime in signing or
renewing any further economic co-operation with Sri Lanka.
Thank you very much.
William Nicholas Gomes
Journalist & Human Rights Activist
80/ B Bramon Chiron, Saydabad,
Dhaka-1203, Bangladesh.
Cell: +88 019 7 444 0 666 <tel:%2B88%20019%207%20444%200%20666>
E-mail:William williamgomes.org <mailto:William@williamgomes.org>
,editorbdgmail.com <mailto:editorbd@gmail.com>
Skype: William.gomes9
Face book: http://www.facebook.com/williamnicholasgomes
Twitter: twitter.com/williamgomes
<http://www.twitter.com/persecutionbd>
Web site :www.williamgomes.org <http://www.williamgomes.org/>
Link : Obama make Rajapaksa accountable
<http://williamgomes.org/?p=207>
--
William Nicholas Gomes
Journalist & Human Rights Activist
80/ B Bramon Chiron, Saydabad,
Dhaka-1203, Bangladesh.
Cell: +88 019 7 444 0 666
E-mail:William williamgomes.org,editorbdgmail.com
Skype: William.gomes9
Face book: www.facebook.com/williamnicholasgomes
Twitter: twitter.com/williamgomes
Web site :www.williamgomes.org
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