<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Dear Minister for Foreign \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 3 3 September 2007<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Request<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We request the Japanese \u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n (1)<\/span>\u3000<\/span>To (2)<\/span>\u3000<\/span>To \u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n The \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Human rights crisis in Sri Lanka<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n Sri Lanka is currently The LTTE has often ignored \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n However, since last year, People are forced by the \u3000<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Since last year, the Sri \u3000<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The role expected of the Japanese government<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n Facing this human rights and The Sri Lankan government In addition, the Japanese In this regard, on 12th<\/sup> The Commission of Inquiry (CoI) \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u3000<\/span><\/p>\n The Japanese government, in The Japanese government \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The human rights of the \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Amnesty International Japan<\/span><\/p>\n Kyodo Bldg. 2F, 2-2 Kandanishiki-cho, chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0054, Japan<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and 3-5-11, Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032, Japan<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Human Rights Now<\/span><\/p>\n Marukou Bldg. 3F, 1-20-6, Higashi-Ueno, Taitou-ku, Tokyo 110-0015 Japan<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Peace Boat<\/span><\/p>\n 3-13-1-B1, Takadanobaba, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169-0075, Japan <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For more information, please contact:<\/span><\/p>\n Human Rights Now<\/span><\/p>\n Marukou Bldg. 3F, 1-20-6, Higashi-Ueno, Taitou-ku, Tokyo 110-0015 Japan<\/span><\/p>\n Phone: +81-3-3835-2110 Fax: +81-3-3834-2406\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 Dear Minister for Foreign Affairs Nobutaka Machimura \u00a0 3 3 September 2007 \u00a0 Request \u00a0 We request the Japanese government to take measures as described below in order to overcome the ongoing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka \u00a0 (1)\u3000To support the establishment of a UN rights monitoring mission which monitors whether parties involved in armed conflicts such as the Sri Lankan government, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Karuna group are in accordance with human rights law and humanitarian law; the monitoring mission should also conduct capacity building and training in the field of human rights. (2)\u3000To patiently call on the Sri Lankan government to accept […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[154,102,17,107,5],"countries":[240],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-statement","tag-defenders-democratic-space","tag-human-rights-defenders-independence-of-judiciary","tag-human-rights-violation-under-armed-conflictsmilitary-operation","tag-refugee-idp","tag-united-nations","countries-sri-lanka"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1069,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions\/1069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/countries?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAffairs Nobutaka Machimura<\/span><\/p>\n
\ngovernment to take measures as described below in order to overcome the ongoing
\nhuman rights abuses in Sri Lanka<\/span><\/p>\n
\nsupport the establishment of a UN rights monitoring mission which monitors
\nwhether parties involved in armed conflicts such as the Sri Lankan government,
\nLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Karuna group are in accordance
\nwith human rights law and humanitarian law; the monitoring mission should also
\nconduct capacity building and training in the field of human rights. <\/span><\/p>\n
\npatiently call on the Sri Lankan government to accept the UN rights monitoring
\nmission.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nbackground of and reasons for request<\/span><\/p>\n
\nfacing serious human rights and humanitarian crises. Since April 2006, Sri
\nLanka has been in a crisis situation as the armed conflict between the Sri
\nLankan government and LTTE broke out again though it seemed to find some peace
\nwith a ceasefire agreement in February 2002. It is innocent Sri Lankan people
\nwho are forced to pay the highest price for the conflict. Both the Sri Lankan
\ngovernment and the LTTE ignore international humanitarian law and have
\ncontinued indiscriminate or reprisal attacks which involve civilians. A lot of
\npeople are deprived of their lives by attacks and forcibly displaced. There are
\nmore and more enforced disappearances, abductions, and extrajudicial killings.<\/span><\/p>\n
\ninternational humanitarian and human rights law. It has targeted civilians
\nusing landmines or suicide attacks in the battle to establish a Tamil
\nindependent state. It has also forcibly recruited soldiers irrespective of sex
\nor age, used child soldiers for fighting and continued political assassinations
\nmainly in the Tamil community.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nthe Sri Lankan government has also breached international humanitarian and
\nhuman rights law. The current government has enacted Emergency Legislation<\/span> which obviously
\ncontravenes the principle of human rights and accordingly takes a tyrannical
\nposition, saying that it is not afraid of any costs in the battle with <\/span>the
\n<\/span>LTTE.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nconflict to leave their homes. Since August 2006, over 315,000 people have been
\ninternally displaced and since January 2006, more than 16,000 people have
\nreportedly escaped to India as refugees. In addition, since January 2006, over
\n1100 have been forcibly disappeared. LTTE are assumed to be involved in some of
\nthe disappearances, but it is said that most of them are with direct or
\nindirect involvement of the government. Among those who disappeared, some are
\nbelieved to have been detained by the Sri Lankan government based on the
\nEmergency Legislation which recognizes arrest and search without warrant and
\ndetention without prosecution for up to 12 months. It is obvious that this
\ndetention contravenes international law stipulating the right of detainees (Article
\n9, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).<\/span><\/p>\n
\nLankan government has been supporting and cooperating with Karuna group which
\nsplit from and is in the battle with the LTTE. With the initiative of the
\nFrench government, the UN Security Council’s working group on children and armed
\nconflict strongly condemned the abduction, recruitment and use of child
\nsoldiers by the Karuna group and the LTTE. In addition to this child soldiers
\nissue, the Karuna group has been abusing human rights in various ways and the
\nSri Lankan government has kept quiet about it. In November 2006, Alan Rock, who
\nis the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed
\nConflict, pointed out there was powerful and credible evidence that the Sri
\nLankan government assisted abductions (enforced disappearance) by the Karuna
\ngroup and they even abducted children together. President Rajapaksa promised to
\ninvestigate it. The Karuna group also promised the UN not to use child
\nsoldiers. However, up to now, the situation has not improved. The Sri Lankan
\ngovernment finally established an investigation team on abduction and
\nrecruitment of child soldiers on 29th<\/sup> August and \u00a0<\/span>UNICEF condemned the Karuna group for failed
\nto cooperate with and for shielding itself from criticism. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nhumanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka, other governments including Japan and
\ninternational organizations are expected to play more significant roles. The international
\ncommunity can protect vulnerable people, promote the rule of law and secure
\nprecious human rights. Accordingly it should take actions to do so immediately.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nhas promised the international community, including the Japanese government,
\nthat it shall ensure human rights and democracy over and over again. The
\nJapanese government should ask the Sri Lankan government to follow through as
\npromised. In particular, Japan is the biggest donor to Sri Lanka and one of the
\nco-chairs of the Tokyo Conference on the Reconstruction and Development of Sri
\nLanka, therefore it is closely connected with Sri Lanka. We desire the Japanese
\ngovernment, along with the rest of the international community, to call on the
\nSri Lankan government and the LTTE to comply with international humanitarian
\nlaw and to protect the human rights of Sri Lankan people.<\/span><\/p>\n
\ngovernment should uphold the establishment of a UN rights monitoring mission
\nwhich monitors whether parties involved in armed conflicts, such as the Sri
\nLankan government, the LTTE and the Karuna group are in accordance with human
\nrights law and humanitarian law. The mission should also conduct capacity
\nbuilding and training in the field of human rights. Then it should patiently
\ncall on the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE to accept a UN rights monitoring
\nmission. The establishment of a UN rights monitoring mission is something many NGOs
\nin Sri Lanka, international NGOs, governments such as Australia and Canada, Louise
\nArbor–the \u00a0<\/span><\/span>UN <\/span><\/span>High Commissioner for Human
\nRights and Philip Alston–UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or
\narbitrary executions have asked for.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nMarch, the Japanese government stated in response to a question in the Diet
\nfrom Tadashi Inuzuka, a member of the House of Councillors “we do not think
\nthat a UN rights monitoring mission is unnecessary. However, as the Commission
\nof Inquiry initiated by the Sri Lankan government expressed that they wanted to
\nclarify what was happening by themselves, we will watch the progress and take
\nappropriate actions, based on comments of <\/span>Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur,<\/span><\/span>
\nonly when the result does not look good and therefore the UN should dispatch the
\nrights monitoring mission”. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nthat the Japanese government referred to is a significant step to terminate the
\nchain of impunity which has been usual in Sri Lanka for many years. However,
\nthe response of the Japanese government that a UN rights monitoring mission is unnecessary
\nwith the operation of CoI does not correctly reflect the function of CoI and
\nthe current situation in Sri Lanka. The CoI is, at the moment, only authorized
\nto investigate 16 specific cases in the past and therefore is not a system to
\ninvestigate numerous and ongoing human rights violations-indiscriminate attacks
\non civilians, abductions, enforced disappearances, the use of child soldiers
\nand political killings. Moreover, CoI can only give advisory opinion to the
\ngovernment and does not have enforcement functions to protect human rights. It
\nis crucial to dispatch a UN rights monitoring mission consisting of the Office
\nof the High Commissioner for Human Rights which has such functions, in order to
\nbreak the cycle of impunity and then prevent human rights abuses in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nresponse to the question from Mr. Inuzuka, mentioned that 11 international
\nindependent experts including Professor Yozo Yokota, who is recommended by the
\nJapanese government, monitored CoI in order to ensure CoI operates in accordance
\nwith international standards. However, those experts released statements on 11th<\/sup>
\nand 15th<\/sup> June, expressing serious concerns over the lack of
\nindependence of CoI, schedule delays, and insufficient protection of witnesses.
\nThey concluded that a UN rights monitoring mission cannot be replaced by CoI. On
\n27th<\/sup> June, the human rights situation in Sri Lanka was addressed at a
\nworking lunch with Bogollagama, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka
\nvisiting Japan. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nshould address the concerns expressed by international independent experts and
\ncall on the Sri Lankan government to urge the CoI to conduct an inquiry in
\naccordance with international standards. With the concerns over CoI and the
\nneed for UN rights monitoring mission expressed by experts, the Japanese
\ngovernment should immediately change the position of disapproval for UN rights
\nmonitoring mission in the meantime and take all possible measures to have UN
\nrights monitoring missions operate in Sri Lanka.<\/span><\/p>\n
\npeople in Sri Lanka have been violated daily. The international community
\nshould not waste any time responding to the situation. Without prompt response,
\nnumerous innocent civilians are going to be killed, abducted, recruited into
\nchild soldiers and displaced. The Japanese government should take human rights
\ncentered diplomacy as a responsible member of international community as well
\nas a country addressing value oriented diplomacy. In particular, the Japanese government
\nshould start its efforts to promote the establishment of a UN rights monitoring
\nmission with the great influence (leverage) on the Sri Lankan government as its
\nbiggest donor. Therefore, we request as above.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nRacism (IMADR)<\/span><\/p>\n