War crimes allegations and international affairs :
Terrorism, a war against human rights
By Dr Telli C Rajaratanm
The subject is wide in scope so I shall confine my analysis to the
current trends in international affairs relating to Sri Lanka with the
war against terrorism and how the world looks at us owing to the
accusations made against us by vested interests and whether we have
overcome the difficulties and convinced the world that we were justified
in doing what we had to do.
Democracy
We must take effective measures to safeguard the legitimate rights
and interests of the developing nations and work towards a new
international political and economic order that is fair and rational.
First, it is imperative to promote democracy in international relations.
To respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political
independence of all countries and resolve internal conflicts. The
affairs of each and every country should be left to its own people to
decide. Global challenges should be tackled through international
cooperation and co-ordination.
All countries should foster a new security concept featuring mutual
trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation and fully respect the
diversity of world civilizations, and should seek consensus through
dialogue, co-operation through consultation and development through
exchanges.
It is imperative to work towards stability and development of the
developing nations. World peace hinges on stability of the developing
nations, and global prosperity rests, on growth of the developing
nations.
Complicated as they are, many of the issues today may have their
roots found in development. Development should be the top priority of
governments of all developing nations in their efforts to govern and
build up their countries. It is imperative to ensure a full play of the
UN's important role in international affairs. As the most important
inter-governmental organization in the world today, which represents the
fundamental interests of all member countries and the aspirations of all
peoples in the world, the UN has a lot to do and accomplish under the
new situation. Therefore, it is our common responsibility and is in
everyone's vital interests to strengthen its role, safeguard its
authority, increase its efficiency and promote its reform.
History tells us that solidarity means strength, progress and
success.
Peace, co-operation, development and progress are what the entire
international community is hoping and striving for.
The developing nations must continue to work closely together in the
spirit of solidarity and co-operation and raise their voice and
strengthen their position in international affairs if they are to secure
their fundamental interests.
One of the magnificent achievements of the UN has been the
transformation that has taken place in global opinion on the
relationship that should obtain between the governing and the governed,
between the government and the citizen. It was on the basis of the moral
authority of the General Assembly's Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and the determined endeavors of the Commission on Human Rights,
that this transformation was achieved. The dignity of the individual has
now, largely as a result of UN leadership in the field of human rights,
been placed, as it should be, amongst the primary priorities of national
and international attention.
The Universal Declaration on Human Rights is not limited in scope to
ensuring the observance of human rights by Governments alone.
The Declaration has a far wider purpose: the observance of human
rights by all governmental and non-governmental alike.
Article 3 of the Universal Declaration, which requires that everyone
has the right to life; and the provisions of article 30 of the
Declaration prescribes that: "Nothing in this Declaration may be
interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to
engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of
any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein".
An act of terrorism by a non-governmental entity against civilians is
surely a violation of the human rights of its victims and, surely, a
crime against humanity as well.
We know the horrific consequences of terrorism: the horror; the
thousands of unsuspecting innocent lives lost or maimed, the thousands
of families then left to grieve; the countless personal tragedies that
terrorism leaves. The horrors of Terrorism has devastated the country
and have cast a heavy burden on successive Governments and the Nation
including all of us and on humanity as a whole. There are also the
larger disruptions of national stability and order as well: of the
economy and the customary ways of life.
Terror
There should be no forgiveness. They should be tried by the Law. The
innocent Tamil civilians have suffered at the hands of Tamil militants.
How can they now hold sway with power and recognition whilst those whom
they misled suffer? This is where the international formula has a narrow
and confused attitude.
LTTE= Tamil Militants=Tamil Politicians with Tamil Eelam tags
We remember the bombing of the Central Bank, the adjacent Buildings,
the Temple of the Tooth Relic and other Temples, the buses and trains in
Sri Lanka where numerous people of all communities were killed, injured,
the numerous innocent civilians who were killed and each of us would
have a story to tell about the injuries sustained or the deaths of our
loved ones. The assassination of President Premadasa, Indian Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Presidential Candidate Gamini Dissanayake,
Cabinet Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam and
Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar were some of the many victims.
However, during the 30 years of Tamil Terrorism not one Tamil Terrorist
Leader was killed by the Terrorists. This reveals that there was
conspiracy between the Eelam Militant Groups who conveniently registered
their organizations in the same name of their militant Groups as
Political Parties. Recent history and present observation reveals to us
they never changed their attitudes.
The Terrorism of the eleventh of September, in the USA gave rise to a
"coming-together" of the people, in the finest traditions of humanity.
On the twelfth of September, the Security Council and the General
Assembly convened to express: their collective condolences; an
unqualified condemnation of the terrorism: a determination that those
responsible should not go unpunished; and firm concurrence that
terrorism threatened the foundations of human society and order and
would need to be, and must be, globally removed.
Humane attitude
We have to revive and resuscitate the morale of the people affected
by the war, and their relatives all over. So, instead of talking about
the unfortunate dead let us help the living who are dying in the IDP
camps.
Let us get together and support them. The Government is doing
everything possible to help them. Let us hope that such a deep sense of
the "togetherness" of all of humanity will continue to be pervasive.
Terrorism is, sadly, very familiar to Sri Lanka. We, in Sri Lanka
know terrorism, unfortunately, only too well. We have shown that we
could eradicate it but the process is not over.. Have we eradicated
Terrorism or the LTTE? Were all these terrorist activities carried out
by the LTTE alone or was there a conspiracy between the other Tamil
militant groups who pay lip service to democracy? The US State
Department Report on Human Rights 2008 and 2009 suggests that a great
number of Tamil militants in Colombo and beyond have been responsible
for abductions, extortion and murders.
Lakshman Kadirgamar is remembered to have said "A criminal
organization - whether involved in rebellion against a State or not -
must depend for its sustenance outside the law. For its massive
operations and massive weaponry, massive collections of funds are
continually required.
The many disparate forces for international terrorism do not come
together in one monolithic whole. They are variously interconnected in
numerous ways and their international networks are extensive. They are
mutually supportive and communicate through the global underworld of
crime when special missions are afoot. If international terrorism is to
be ever removed from our midst, we must begin with the recognition that
international terrorism is a form of global criminality. We must not let
ourselves be deceived by the artfully crafted cloaks of false
pretensions.
It is the method of terrorism as in the murder of innocent civilians
and the defiance of the sanctity of life - that defines terrorism." We
should therefore not be surprised that allegations of civilian casualty
in the present times generates from certain corporate interests involved
in international terrorism and their complex trade beneficiaries. These
allegations may continue as the Tamil Political Parties who consist of
various militant groups and Parties which supported the LTTE at some
stage are due to contest the local authority elections in the North and
they would have their own reasons to make allegations.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, as the Commander in Chief of the Armed
Forces took a patriotic and bold decision as he is morally and legally
bound to protect the nation from all forms of terror. Military
Intervention was a necessity in the interests of the Nation.
It is in this connection that President has liberated the Tamil
people.
The Exodus was like Moses giving freedom to the Jews from Egypt. But
the difference is that the Tamil people were liberated not by their
Tamil Leaders who misled them but by President Rajapaksa, whilst some of
our friends overseas have from time to time been misled by those
marketing terrorism for their own corporate interests.
We have from time to time seen the invitations extended to former
terrorists to join the democratic scheme but recent history reveals that
they have not changed at all. Instead they have been allowed to legalize
their Militant Terrorist Groups as legitimate Political Parties and they
enjoy continuing their criminal activities with ease enjoying the perks
of a democratic society as a democratic party with state protection
which undermines the very norms of democracy.
Military action
Over thirty years or more we were not able to solve this problem. We
require a balance between the need to achieve a military victory and the
needs of humanity. In this sense, necessity has been viewed as a
limitation to unbridled barbarity.
Sri Lanka's war against terrorism was won solely because of the able
directives of Dr.Gotabhaya Rajapaksa - the man who saved the Nation from
the brink of disaster under the leadership of President Mahinda
Rajapaksa
The means and methods of conducting war operate to achieve a
particular military objective, which consequently assists in achieving a
larger political objective.
While necessity might determine the legitimacy of the armed attack,
proportionality determines the amount of force that might be used. In a
sense, necessity operates at a macro level, while international
humanitarian law operates at a micro level, though both might lie on the
same continum given the difficulties in the transition.
Conventions. The development of these conventions and the application
of these principles require some consideration if one is to arrive at an
understanding of their application in a modern armed conflict. The
distinction in the Sri Lanka situation is that it is within our
territory.
Military necessity has been described as "a basic principle of the
law of war, so basic, indeed, that without it there could be no law of
war at all." The acceptance that, while the object of warfare is to
achieve the submission of the enemy, which may require the disabling of
as many enemy combatants as possible, this should only be achieved in a
manner that does not cause any unnecessary suffering or damage. This
limitation to the means of waging war is not, however, necessarily
humanitarian in nature, and much of the early restraints were based on
economic, political, and military considerations.
Military necessity admits of all direct destruction of life or limb
of armed enemies, and of other persons whose destruction is incidentally
unavoidable in the armed contests of the war; it allows of the capturing
of every armed enemy, and every enemy of importance or of peculiar
danger to the captor; it allows of all destruction of property, and
obstruction of the ways and channels of traffic, travel or
communication, and of all withholding of sustenance or means of life
from the enemy.
The 'principle of distinction' is fundamental to humanitarian law,
but its precise content varies according to the kind of conflict. In
national liberation struggles - and international armed conflicts - the
distinction is between 'civilians' and 'combatants.' Combatants have no
right to life under humanitarian law. Every individual is classified as
either a combatant or as a kind of protected person, such as a prisoner
of war (a captured combatant) or a civilian. An individual's rights
change when his classification changes. A civilian has the right not to
be targeted for attack and the right to receive some protection from
attack. If the civilian joins the armed militants, he exchanges the
rights of a civilian for the rights of a combatant. A combatant has the
right to take part in hostilities.
Diplomacy
But there is no diplomacy with some of those opposed to us. We do not
consider them opponents but they oppose every conceivable move we make
to develop the country. Sometimes, there is no compromise with such
people, no meeting of minds - no point of understanding - so we would
have a just choice -defeat it or be defeated by it. This is where there
was a necessity for military intervention. We learnt that however much
we strive for peace, we need a strong defence capability where a
peaceful approach fails. Whatever the dangers of the action we take, the
dangers of inaction are far greater.
Laws will have to be changed not to deny the basic liberties but to
prevent their abuse and protect the most basic liberty of all - freedom
from terror. The people are terrorized by certain vested interests in
their vile pursuits for power committing crimes and targeting a reflex
scenario as if the Government was responsible. Some Patriotic citizens
suggest that all Tamil Political Parties with the name "Eelam" should be
banned forthwith and all Tamil Militant Groups should be disarmed and
tried for their crimes against humanity. For indeed they are criminals,
every one of them without exception who was a militant.
We are a community of people, whose self interest and mutual interest
at crucial points merge and that it is through a sense of justice that
community is born and nurtured. This is the moment to bring the faiths
closer together in understanding of our common values and heritage a
source of unity and strength. By the strength of our common endeavor we
achieve more together, than we can alone. We must reach beyond our fears
and our divisions to a new time of great and common purpose. Let us
trace the roots of affirmative action. Let us determine what it is and
what it isn't. Let us see where it has worked and where it hasn't and
ask ourselves what we need to do now.
Need of the hour
Private media freedom is running amok. The news that millions of
people in this country including foreign correspondents who convey news
overseas receive each night is determined by a handful of men
responsible only to their corporate employers. The State should have
control not to permit abuse of the freedom of the Press.
We must not permit a contaminated moral environment. Let us not
negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate. We cannot
restore peace unless we can find some way to bring the nation close
together. We must be Patriotic. We must uphold and defend the
Constitution and the Head of State-the President. We owe allegiance to
the President and the Constitution as Citizens of Sri Lanka. We must
uphold the norms of the Constitution, apprehend and prosecute those who
terrorize us by their actions and threats, then economic prosperity will
follow suit. Our destiny lies in our hands. |