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Tamils
demand Sri Lanka’s pledge to be upheld
Despite the
October chill, over 30,000 British Tamils and supporters took to the
streets, on Saturday 17 October 2009, to highlight the desperate
situation faced by Tamils in Sri Lanka who remain detained in
“concentration camps” and in protest against UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-Moon’s failure to protect these innocent civilians. As the
Sri Lankan government continues to pledge release of the imprisoned
civilians within 180 days, the protesters marched through central
London highlighting that over 280,000 Tamils continue to endure
arbitrary detention as we approach within 30 days of the promised
deadline.
Tens of
thousands congregated at Victoria Embankment, chanting slogans and
harrowing placards, calling for the immediate release of the
imprisoned civilians, initiation of an international independent
probe into war crimes and categorically highlighting the UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s inaction.
The
protesters, young and old, marched passed Parliament, Downing
Street, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly, Park Lane onto Hyde Park.
Members of the Tamil Youth Organisation engaged with the public,
handing leaflets and informing the purpose of the mass
demonstration.
Large
banners and bill-boards depicted civilians languishing behind barbed
wire and the enactment of scenes from the mock-up camps, with armed
military imposing aggression on the detainees, grabbed the attention
of many tourists and passers-by on London’s streets.
Alongside
the messages of protest against the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon,
many demonstrators hoisted flags of the United Nations, appealing to
them to uphold international peace, security and human rights.
Ed Davey,
Liberal Democrat MP for Kingston and Surbiton,
“These are detention camps! ...With the
human rights of the Sri Lankan government… we must end the trade
concessions… if they refuse to listen, if they do not set the people
free from camps… they could face individual target sanctions against
them”
Andrew
Pelling, Independent MP for Central Croydon,
“How can
it be that a 5-year-old child, who stands at the barbed wire, can be
a threat to the Sri Lankan government? It’s clear they are willing
to brand anyone, even a 5-year-old child, as a terrorist”
Sarah
Colborne, Palestinian Solidarity,
“Struggle
for justice, for human rights, for quality and for freedom is
universal… If governments do not act – we must act ourselves”
Cllr Julian
Bell, Leader of the Ealing Labour Party and researcher for the All
Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPG-T),
“Eyes of
the world have turned away… UN Human Rights Council has accepted the
report about the human rights violations and also the war crimes
committed in Gaza… Why not the same thing for Tamil people in Sri
Lanka? …We need to make sure there is an independent investigation
into war crimes.”
Lee Scott,
Conservative MP for Ilford North,
“Words are
not enough when people are losing lives everyday… you need action
and you need hope… Sri Lanka should be immediately suspended from
the Commonwealth… Every individual who is in the camps should be
returned to their home in peace and dignity”
Cllr
Keith Prince, Conservative Party Leader of Redbridge,
“We want
those Tamils to be able to return to their homes in freedom”
 Andrew
Charalambous, Conservative PPC for Edmonton,
“Expulsion
from Commonwealth… we shouldn’t even be considering them to be part
of GSP Plus in EU… (Sri Lanka) must be given a deadline to open the
concentration camps… If not… we go to the United Nations, get a
resolution and impose economic sanctions”
Andrew
Higginbottom, Latin-American Solidarity,
“We demand
that the International Red Cross has immediate access into the
camps… Sri Lanka sent their general to Europe to say that this video
is a fabrication and a fraud… if it is a fabrication then you will
open the doors of the detention camps, allow the UN investigators in
there”
Keith Vaz,
Labour MP for Leicester East and Chairman of the Home Affairs Select
Committee,
“World powers one united voice calling
for an end to camps… UK and EU should demand the camps be closed…
Sri Lanka’s favourable trade preferentials by EU does not get
extension… I appeal to the Chairman of M&S, Tesco, Asda… stop buying
goods from this country until they unlock the camps”
James Allie,
Liberal Democrat Councillor for Brent,
“GSP Plus
must be ended and not renewed at all”
Cllr Daniel
Bessong, Liberal Democrat Chair of Brent’s Black & Minority Ethnic
Consultative Forum,
“Let’s campaign together so that there
will be a free Tamil Eelam in our lifetime”
Joan Ryan,
Labour MP for Enfield North,
“Not IDP
camps – these are detention camps… we call upon the United Nations
to live up to its mandate to protect those whose human rights are
being trampled under foot and speak up and do all that it can on
behalf of the Tamil people held in these camps”
Siobhain
McDonagh, Labour MP for Mitcham and Morden,
“It cannot
be right to keep a tenth of your population behind barbed wire at
the same time as asking international community for aid to keep them
there and it’s only the aid from the international community that is
keeping them there”
Barry
Gardiner, Labour MP for Brent North,
“We don’t
know the full story because they won’t allow the reporters in to
find out… We’ve heard of the young women who are taken away by
groups of soldiers… young men taken off and never seen again”
John
McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington,
“No
government can stand aside while people are in imprisoned in the
camps and enduring this intolerable suffering so we’re calling upon
all governments of the world to move against Sri Lanka and demand
the freedom the Tamil people in the camps”
The
representative of the Tamil Youth Organisation stated “In this so
called ‘age of human rights’, human rights in itself, has failed the
very people it was meant to protect. The international body set up
to prevent such disasters, the United Nations, has not done so… When
lives are on the line, and there is not only such an obvious
distortion of justice, but a blatant disregard for justice itself,
the UN should have acted months ago.”
A Memorandum
to the Prime Minister, Rt Hon Gordon Brown, urging him to actively
seek the release of theinnocent people held against their will,
especially with impending monsoon which raises fears of an imminent
humanitarian crisis unfolding, was delivered with the following
demands:
We want
the British government to demand,
1. The Sri
Lankan government releases immediately all the Tamil people held
against their will
2. The UN,
ICRC and INGOs are given full and unhindered access to care for and
protect the civilians and help them return to wherever they choose
to live
3. A list of
all those still alive and in custody be published, so that families
can stop searching for loved ones
4. Those who
continue to be detained as alleged LTTE combatants be treated in
accordance with the provisions
of
international law, and urgently given access to legal representation
5.
Independent, international investigation into war crimes committed
during the war
6. Sri
Lankan government stops its activities that are designed to destroy
the character of the Tamil Homelands
7.
International community actively objects to the reappointment of Ban
Ki-Moon as General Secretary
Copy of the Memorandum in PDF
To view Photos
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Please sign the above petition
Victims of Sri Lankan War
Published by British Tamils Forum, UK
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