To Zeid On Deferral Of Sri Lanka War Report

By Brian Senewiratne -February 23, 2015

Dr. Brian Senewiratne

Hon. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Palais des Nations

CH-1211 Geneva

Switzerland.

Sri Lanka Publication of UN Investigation into war crimes

Dear High Commissioner,

I am writing to add my voice of protest at your outrageous decision to postpone the release of the UN investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka (OISL) from March 2015 to September 2015.

I am an Australian citizen of Sri Lankan descent originally from the majority Sinhalese community. I have campaigned for more than six decades (1948 to be specific) for the right of the Tamil people – the Plantation ‘Indian’ Tamils in 1948, and the ethnic Tamils since 1956, to live with equality, dignity and safety (and now to live at all) in Sri Lanka – the Tamil North and East in particular.

My concerns are, and have always been, the violation of basic human rights by a succession of Sri Lankan governments, the worst being the one led by Mahinda Rajapaksa.

As the High Commissioner for Human Rights, I am entitled to believe that your concerns should be the same – the protection of human rights. Your actions should not be to ensure that the trauma which these people are undergoing is prolonged.

I sent you my recently published book “Sexual Violence of Tamils in Sri Lanka”. I clearly set out the problems faced by the people in the North and East, an area run by the Sri Lankan (Sinhalese) Armed Forces who treat the area as ‘Occupied territory’ and the people as ‘The spoils of war’ to be used and abused with no accountability.Read More