forward widely
fOR IMMEDIATE rELEASE
Press contact:
Lavanya Mahendran
phone: 917-301-5815
email:
lmahendran@gmail.com Varuni Tiruchelvam
phone: 347-534-5848
e-mail:
varuni@world.oberlin.edu Action and Vigil for a Just Peace in Sri Lanka
Event February 17, 2006 (TODAY)
(New York, February 17, 2006): In only five days, the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will meet in Geneva to review the provisions of the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement.
In response to these proposed talks and increasing violence in Sri Lanka, individuals in London, Toronto, and cities around the world are joining together in solidarity. In New York, on Friday, February 17, 2006 at 4:30 P.M. in front of the United Nations (Ralphe Bunche Plaza at 43rd Street and 1st Avenue) individuals committed to a Sri Lanka free of bigotry, violence and exploitation will gather to voice demands for a peace with human rights and democracy in the country. The event will include elements of street theater, art, and song, concluding with a candlelight vigil to honor the lives of people who have been affected by the ongoing violence.
This is not just one act, but part of an urgent dialogue that must persist despite fear, intimidation and the pressure of silence.
Media coverage has focused on tensions between the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka. However, in the year after the tsunami, and during the four year span of the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement, human rights violations and attacks against democracy have continued. In the past four months political killings, torture, abduction, violence against women, arbitrary arrests, child recruitment and extortion have risen dramatically. Moreover, communities often made invisible—the elderly, people with disabilities and LGBT communities—have been positioned even more precariously. Marian Thambynayagam, an organizer of the event, stressed the vulnerability and frustrations of people living in the North and East of Sri Lanka:. “People of all communities are tired of war. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes —repeatedly— because of the war and the tsunami. Children are forced to take up arms, and abuses against women are rising. These are issues that should concern us all.”
While the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE have recently agreed to discuss the formal implementation of the ceasefire agreement in Geneva in mid-February, there are concerns that the disregard of civilian rights and human dignity will continue unabated. Any discussions regarding the ceasefire agreement should focus on its human rights provisions. An end to war and violence in Sri Lanka is also not possible without a permanent political solution that addresses minority aspirations. Ms. Thambynayagam said, “As with the reconstruction efforts after the tsunami, there is a danger that Muslim concerns will be excluded from the political process.”
This group of individuals will join in solidarity to amplify the voices of those in Sri Lanka who have been forced into silence. The violation of human rights not only needs to be recognized but put to an end immediately. The group calls for the following:
- An immediate end to political and extrajudicial killings, abductions, rape, torture, arbitrary arrests, and all actions of violence against civilians;
- An immediate end to all forms of child recruitment and a commitment to release all child soldiers;
- An immediate end to violence against women and the use and exploitation of women in wartime;
- An immediate commitment to respect civil society including the safeguarding of minority rights, protection of displaced peoples, women’s rights, economic rights and freedom of expression and association;
- An immediate end to all acts of violence directed at one another and a commitment to a peaceful political process to resolve the conflict.
