Mass Grave In Sri Lanka JVP ,Tamils Or Marxists

Sri Lanka is fast turning out to be a Uganda of Idi Amin of Asia.

 

A mass grave was discovered by Archaeologists in  Matale,Sri Lanka.

 

The problem is not the killing per se; it is de facto.

 

But the victims?

 

It is estimated that the remains are 25 years old.

 

It could be the result of the standoff between  JVP and The Government, LTTE and Government, or The Marxists  or innocent Tamils.

 

Over 200 bodies were found at the last count

 

As fate would have it ,that another activist who played the role of the ombudsman to the grieving parents, whose offspring had been snatched away by the State military apparatus and deadly para- military groups’ is now the President of Sri Lanka. When Mahinda Rajapaksa went to Geneva, he attempted to smuggle, concealed in a false compartment of his suitcase, the gory pictures of headless corpse of State terrorism in 1989-90. He was stopped at the airport and the photographs were confiscated…:

Ceylon Today covered this extensively and has a Leader on this.

“

On Sunday, the Judicial Medical Officer of Matale urged the family members of the disappeared youth of that era (1989-90) to come forward to identify the remains of the 154 nameless victims that had been buried at the site.

 

The general tendency at the conclusion of brutal and costly civil wars and insurgencies is to forget the past, ostensibly to look forward to a much better future. The common argument, which is put forward in defence of this practice – and against retributive justice – is that investigations into past brutalities blamed on the security apparatus would complicate the reconciliation process. In some of the highly polarized and unequal societies in Latin America, the wheels of justice turned exceedingly slowly. In places like Guatemala, where nearly 200,000 people were killed and 40,000 disappeared during the US- supported counter insurgency campaign against a populist and largely indigenous rebellion, the victims had to wait until 2012 to put ex-dictator Gen Ríos Mont on trial for monstrous atrocities he and his forces had committed.

 

 

However, in some better enlightened and relatively prosperous places in Latin America, such as Argentina, the process had been much faster, though it too had to overcome numerous hurdles, including uprisings in the barrack by soldiers and officer corps who were complicit in past atrocities.

 

Mass Grave in Sri Lanka

 

Skeletons in The Mass Grave, Sri Lanka

 

Successive Sri Lankan Governments, including that of previously activist President Chandrika Kumaratunga, let past military atrocities be swept under the carpet, despite the fact that she herself led the campaign for the excavation of the suspected mass grave in Suriyakanda. That highly emotive campaign was the catalyst in Kumaratunga’s speedy rise to the Presidency of Sri Lanka.

 

 

Mass Grave, Sri Lanka.

 

Skulls in Mass Grave,Sri Lanka.

However, barring a handful of cases, the majority of nearly 30,000 victims, who were documented as missing and disappeared by the Truth Commission instituted by President Kumaratunga’s administration did not receive justice. Their killers are roaming freely, and their ilk, momentarily resurface in white vans, which continue to haunt this country.

 

Sri Lanka has repeatedly shied away from instituting due legal mechanisms to punish the perpetrators of grave human rights violations, which characterized the nation along with its famed Ceylon tea during various phases of our history: 1971, 1983, 1988-89, and the three-decade-long Northern conflict.

The indifference of the political leadership towards the human rights violations of monstrous proportions and the lack of courage and political will to act decisively was instrumental in cementing a climate of impunity in the country.

http://www.ceylontoday.lk/52-28791-news-detail-make-a-decisive-move-on-mass-grave.html

 

 

 

 

 

Related articles

• Sri Lanka’s War Museum, Vulgar Victory Displays Over Of Tamils (ramanan50.wordpress.com)
• Ethnic Cleansing, Killing of Tamils Sri Lanka Evidence (ramanan50.wordpress.com)

All Is Not Well In Bahrain

Bahrain seems to be idyllic.

But there seems to be simmering discontent among the populace about the repressive rule .

It is a ticking time bomb, it might explode at any time.

The same applies to Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Under the glitter they are boiling.

Read On.

Violence in Bahrain

The second anniversary of Bahrain’s popular uprising was marked by renewed violence, resulting in the death of a 16-year old boy. In the video, filmed right after the teenager’s death, a desperate protester can be seen risking his life to stand up to the police.

The victim’s name was Hussein al-Jaziri. According to opposition websites, the teenager was killed by fragmentary bullets. Overwhelmed by this death, which he had just witnessed, a protester walked up to police and screamed at them. The policemen tried to intimidate him, but seemed thrown off balance by the protester’s daring.

This footage exemplifies the standstill at which the Bahraini opposition finds itself, faced with unyielding government repression. Since the start of the uprising, the confirmed death toll has risen to 82 protesters, including nine children.

Bahrain, a primarily Shiite country (Shiites make up about 75% of the population), is ruled by a Sunni monarchy. Since February 2011, members of the Shiite community, who claim they are discriminated against, have frequently protested in the streets.

http://observers.france24.com/content/20130215-video-stunned-bahrain-uprising-anniversary?ns_campaign=nl_obs_en&ns_mchannel=email_marketing&ns_source=OBS_08_20130220&ns_linkname=20130215_observers_video_stunned_bahrain_uprising_anniversary&ns_fee=0&f24_member_id=1016290975677&ns_mail_job=1112237592&ns_mail_uid=1016290975677&ns_robot=partner-emailvision&ns_service=mail

Human Rights Violations.

‘

Publication of a Judicial Observation Mission Report

19 Feb 2013

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), publishes today a report, which presents findings of a judicial observation mission conducted on the trial in appeal of prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab. The report concludes that a series of violations of the right to fair trial marred the judicial process and that Mr. Nabeel Rajab is suffering judicial harassment for merely advocating for and exercising the right to peaceful assembly in Bahrain.

Read full report

While February 14, 2013 marks the second anniversary of the start of pro-democracy protests in Bahrain, Mr. Nabeel Rajab, Deputy Secretary General of FIDH, President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) and Director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), remains detained in Jaw Prison, serving a two-year prison sentence. On December 11, 2012 the Appeals Court in Bahrain confirmed his conviction on charges of calling for and participating in peaceful gatherings on three occasions. As of today, he has been in detention for 217 days.

The Observatory sees the detention and sentence of Mr. Nabeel Rajab as arbitrary and solely aimed at sanctioning and preventing his human rights activities. Indeed, Mr. Rajab has been targeted for his tireless efforts at highlighting gross human rights violations in Bahrain, in particular since the beginning of the popular uprising in the country in February 2011 through the use of Twitter, Facebook, and other social network tools and media outlets as well as his participation in public gatherings.

“Mr. Rajab’s trial reflects Bahrain’s policy and practice of criminalising the exercise of the right to freedoms of association, expression and peaceful assembly and silencing human rights defenders and other dissenting voices” declared Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General.

Between September and December 2012, the Observatory carried out four missions to Manama to monitor the hearings of Mr. Rajab’s trial. The report recounts the details of these missions and demonstrates that the trial in appeal against Mr. Nabeel Rajab failed to comply with international standards of fair trial. “The entire procedure was fraught with serious human rights violations from the time of arrest, through detention, trial and conviction” said Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President.

Mr. Nabeel Rajab was initially detained on July 9, 2012 for his participation in “illegal” assemblies in January, February and March 2012 during which the authorities alleged that acts of violence were committed by some participants. Said gatherings were organised to call for the release of human rights defenders and political activists, to denounce corruption, to call for political and economic reforms, to denounce human rights violations and to call for a fair distribution of wealth and an end to torture.

http://bahrainrights.hopto.org/en/node/5648

Terrorism Kidnap, Detain Torture US Rendtion Had 54 Countries

In what is euphemistically called ‘rendition’ is nothing but total disregard for Intentional Law and an authoritarianism to  kidnap,intern,torture of those suspected of terrorist Links.

 

The US was not alone.

 

The Countries who were crying foul on Guantanamo were secretly in cahoots with the US!

 

Read On.

US Rendition Flights shown by Google Earth..

As many as 54 countries have been complicit in the CIA’s extraordinary rendition operations in which terrorism suspects were held in secret prisons overseas or turned over to foreign governments for interrogation, a human rights organisation has said in a report.

The report, released on Tuesday, claims that foreign governments in Europe, Asia and Africa have been secretly involved in global kidnap, detention and torture of at least 136 people on behalf of the United States after September 11, 2001 attacks.

“By engaging in torture and other abuses associated with secret detention and extraordinary rendition, the US government violated domestic and international law, thereby diminishing its moral standing and eroding support for its counterterrorism efforts worldwide as these abuses came to light,” the report said.

The report by the Open Society Justice Initiative said its information was based on “credible public sources” and “reputable human rights organisations”.

The CIA declined comment on the report.

The governments accused of helping the CIA programmes included some staunch US allies such as Australia, Israel, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Finland and Ireland, and some not usually viewed as US-friendly such as Iran and Syria.

The report said Tehran had transferred 15 individuals to Afghanistan, which transferred them to the US government.

Amrit Singh, author of the report, described the involvement of foreign governments as “a continuum” which included the hosting of secret CIA prisons, providing intelligence and capture and detention of prisoners.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from New York, Singh said there was “a wide variety of complicity” from all involved.

‘Globalising Torture’

“Responsibility for these violations does not end with the United States. Secret detention and extraordinary rendition operations, designed to be conducted outside the United States under cover of secrecy, could not have been implemented without the active participation of foreign governments. These governments too must be held accountable.”

While Barack Obama, US president, after taking office in 2009 ordered the closing of secret CIA detention facilities, the
executive order “did not repudiate extraordinary rendition,” the report said.

The New York-based rights group has called for the United States to end the controversial programme, close all secret prisons and investigate human rights violations that resulted from the practice.

The 256 page report, “Globalising Torture”, comes ahead of the confirmation hearing of John Brennan as director of the Central Intelligence Agency on Wednesday.

In reference to a December 2005 statement by Brennan that rendition was “absolutely vital” to countering terrorism, Singh said he “has some serious questions to answer”. Singh went on to say she hopes the report will compel the Senate “to ask what he meant by that statement”.

Internationally, OSJI wants other governments to end their involvement in the practice and take steps to ensure that counter-terrorism efforts do not violate human rights.

Source:

Al Jazeera and agencies

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/02/201325233853220240.html

“We are used to Drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan by US  ,in the wake of 9/11 attacks by Al Qaeda.

The US Justice department has built a Legal case for felicitating the attack on persons.organisations out side the US by US forces.

A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” — even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S…(open channel)

 

http://ramanan50.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/us-white-paper-use-lethal-force-in-foreign-countrydocument/

Verma Committee Full Report Rape, Crime Against Women

Following is the Report submitted by The Verma Committee .

Verma Committee Report on Crime against women.

 

 

The Committee was formed  to look into crimes against women on Wednesday ruled against recommending the death penalty even in the rarest of the rare rape cases, and did not favour lowering the age of a juvenile from 18 to 16.

 

Essential pints.

No to Death Penalty.

 

Don’t allow army men to take cover under AFSPA.

 

“There is an imminent need to review the continuance of the AFSPA and AFSPA-like legal protocols in internal conflict areas as soon as possible,” it said. “This is necessary for determining the propriety of resorting to this legislation in the area(s) concerned.”

 

“According to the Working Group on Human Rights, the murder rate has declined consistently in India over the last 20 years despite the slowdown in the execution of death sentences since 1980. Hence we do take note of the argument that introduction of death penalty for rape may not have a deterrent effect,” the Committee recommended.

The Committee also said that in the proposed Criminal Law Amendment Bill, 2012, the minimum sentence for punishment for rape should be enhanced to a minimum of 10 years (currently it is 7 years) with maximum punishment being life imprisonment.

The Committee said castration would be unconstitutional and inconsistent with basic human rights treaties to expose any citizen without their consent to potentially dangerous medical side effects.

On the issue of reducing the age of a juvenile from 18 to 16, Mr. Verma said: “Assuming that a person at the age of 16 is sent to life imprisonment, he would be released sometimes in the mid-30s. There is little assurance that the convict would emerge a reformed person.”

The Committee has criticised lack of reformatory and rehabilitation policies in jails and juvenile homes.
“Personnel guilty of sexual offences in conflict areas should be tried under ordinary criminal law”

 

Text of the Verma Committe(former chief justice of India Jagdish Sharan Verma)

“

21. It is an admitted fact that women in India have
suffered in various aspects of life and physical
health, mental well-being, bodily integrity and
safety, social relations, political empowerment,
education and knowledge, domestic work and
non-market care, paid work and other projects,
shelter and environment, mobility, leisure
activities, time autonomy, respect, religion, and if
we may add, self-esteem / self-autonomy. We are
of the opinion that Indian women have
substantially suffered on most of these counts as a
consequence of which the de facto equality
guaranteed by the Constitution has not become a
reality for them.

. It is shocking to note that even after the recent
horrific incident of gang rape, many political
leaders, including members of Parliament/State
legislatures, spiritual gurus with large followings
and other eminent persons have been making
statements reinforcing the gender bias. Some have
even blamed the victim for having facilitated the
rape by her own behaviour. Some of the worst
examples are:
(i) Shri Anisur Rahman (Communist Party of
India (Marxist) – West Bengal): “We have
told the chief minister in the assembly that the
government will pay money to compensate rape
victims. What is your fee? If you are raped, what
will be your fee?”
(ii) Shri Asaram Bapu: “Only 5-6 people are not
the culprits. The victim is as guilty as her
rapists… She should have called the culprits
brothers and begged before them to stop… This
could have saved her dignity and life. Can one
hand clap? I don’t think so,”

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/realtime/justice_js_verma_committee_report.pdf

 

 

Discriminate Pregnant Women,Gays Australian Law

Is this Enlightenment or stupidity?

 

How about Pedophiles?

 

The funniest part is that Corporations with over 300 Million $ are authorized to do so.

 

The draft bill makes clearer which groups religious organisations can discriminate against lawfully.

Story:

Religious organisations, including those funded by the state government, retain their legal right to discriminate against pregnant women under a new human rights bill.

The draft of the Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill consolidates five existing federal discrimination laws after a decades-long campaign by lawyers and human rights advocates. The draft bill makes clearer which groups religious organisations can discriminate against lawfully.

Under the draft bill, faith-based groups, including schools and hospitals, can still refuse to hire people because of a wide range of attributes that would be unlawful for any other organisation, including women who are pregnant or potentially pregnant.

When the Sex Discrimination Act – which came into force in 1984 – was drafted, a number of religious bodies argued they should be allowed to discriminate against pregnant or ”potentially pregnant” women to avoid having to employ unwed mothers.

The Human Rights Law Centre’s director of advocacy and strategic litigation, Anna Brown, said that while the bill introduced important new protections from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and removed the ability of religious bodies to discriminate on the basis of age, sex and breastfeeding, it was a ”missed opportunity” to narrow the broad exemptions available to religious groups.

Weet-Bix manufacturer Sanitarium is a religious organisation owned and operated by the Seventh-Day Adventist church, which means it could discriminate against people with these attributes.

An online advertisement for a manufacturing team leader position with the company says: ”If you share our passion for what we do, our products and you can align with our Christian-based principles this is a great opportunity for you.”

Sanitarium spokeswoman Julie Praestiin said the company’s workplace culture was ”grounded on Christian-based values of care, courage, humility, integrity and passion which are generally shared by the Australian community”.

She said Sanitarium complied with employment laws. ”We are an equal opportunity employer and have a diverse workforce which encompasses a variety of cultures and worldviews. Religious belief is not a condition of employment.”

Hugh de Kretser, executive officer of the Federation of Community Legal Centres, said that Sanitarium, which is understood to have a turnover of $300 million a year – although the church is not required to lodge Sanitarium’s financial reports – should not be allowed to discriminate.

”That a large organisation with a turnover of $300 million a year is given a green light by the law to discriminate highlights the problems with these exemptions,” he said.

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/religious-groups-free-to-discriminate-against-pregnant-women-20130116-2ctsz.html#ixzz2ICZ9Sosj

http://www.reddit.com/tb/16ovis