Sri Lanka rejects probes into slaughter of Tamil civilians

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 June 2009, 03:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka has no plans to investigate allegations that its security forces massacred 20,000 Tamil civilians in the final stages of an offensive against the Tamil Tigers, and neither is Colombo willing to eventually accept an international probe, trade minister G. L. Peiris said Wednesday in Tokyo. "No, we don't regard that attitude as acceptable. That is some kind of inquisition," Peiris, a former peace negotiator said, according to an AFP report. Last week, leading British and French newspapers published their investigations, including interviews with UN officials, into the massacre.
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Sinhala "lebensraum" in progress in Vanni, warns Prof.Boyle

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 June 2009, 03:15 GMT]
"The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is continuing to inflict Nazi-type crimes and atrocities against the Tamils even after their alleged excuse of fighting a "war against terrorism" has been exposed as a bogus pretext to annihilate the Tamils and to steal their lands and natural resources. This is what Hitler and the Nazis called "lebensraum"--"living space" for the Sinhala at the expense of the Tamils. The GOSL's "ethnic cleansing" of the Tamil Homeland for the benefit of the Sinhala is now underway," warns Francis Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law.
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UN Officials complicit in aiding, abetting GoSL's Nazi-type crimes - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 May 2009, 11:14 GMT]
Pointing to a report in the French paper Le Monde, which quoted Vijay Nambiar, chief of Staff of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, as telling UN representatives in Sri Lanka that the UN should “keep a low profile” and play a “sustaining role" that was "compatible with the government," Francis Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law said Saturday that both the United Nations Organization itself and its highest level officials are guilty of aiding and abetting Nazi-type crimes against the Tamils by the Government of Sri Lanka, in violation of international law. "Unless this Momentum is reversed and all these U.N. Officials fired, the United Nations Organization shall follow the League of Nations into the "ashcan" of History," Boyle said.
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Unprincipled, shameless, "Orwellian" UN resolution ever - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 23:31 GMT]
"This is one of the most unprincipled and shameless resolutions ever adopted by any body of the United Nations in the history of that now benighted Organization. It would be as if the U.N. Human Rights Council had congratulated the Nazi government for the "liberation" of the Jews in Poland after its illegal and genocidal invasion of that country in 1939," said Francis Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, referring to the resolution passed at the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Sri Lanka war.
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“Glaring hypocrisy, blatant sophistry” Boyle slams Swiss UN Resolution

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 17:35 GMT]
Pointing out the twelfth operative paragraph of the Draft Resolution sponsored by Switzerland, that is currently pending before the U.N. Human Rights Council, Professor Boyle, expert in International Law and Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, says this would be the same “as if the U.N. Human Rights Council had invited the Nazi government to investigate and prosecute itself for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Jews instead of supporting the Nuremberg Charter and Tribunal."
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US Justice Dept. files "Motion to Dismiss" in IMF case

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 May 2009, 11:45 GMT]
Responding to the law suit filed in the District Court of District of Columbia requesting to obtain a declaratory judgment to force the United States to oppose Sri Lanka’s pending IMF loan application, the lawyers representing the defendants, Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury, and Meg Lundsager, Executive Director of the IMF, filed a motion in the Court to dismiss the case on the grounds that the plaintiff has no standing, the court lacks jurisdiction, there is no private right of action to enforce "policy goals," and under federal law both defendants are immune from legal prosecution, Bruce Fein, counsel for the plaintiff said.
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300,000 Tamils held in Nazi-style concentration camps, says Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 May 2009, 12:30 GMT]
"These Nazi-style concentration camps that the Government of Sri Lanka is now forcibly imposing on at least 300,000 completely innocent Tamil civilians constitute acts of genocide within the meaning of Article II(c) of the 1948 Genocide Convention, to which Sri Lanka is a contracting party," Professor Boyle who is an expert international law and teaches at the University of Illinois College of Law said.
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Boycott Sri Lanka – Times newspaper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 09:58 GMT]
“We should boycott the callous Sri Lanka regime,” says the Time South Asia correspondent in an opinion in the newspaper today. Asking whether British shoppers and holidaymakers should “continue to support Sri Lanka's garment and tourist industries?” Jeremy Page answers: “Sadly, the answer must be no.”
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"Klerk risks repeating Netherland's criminality on Srebrenica genocide"

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 23:06 GMT]
By dismissing the horrendous rights violations of Sri Lanka in the safety zone of Mullaiththeevu as "not applicable" to providing favorable tariff treatment to Sri Lankan textiles under the GSP Plus Program, Pieter de Klerk, Netherland's Acting Permanent Representative to the UN, is in danger of repeating Netherland Government's history of criminality on Srebrenica genocide again on the genocide currently taking place in Vanni, Sri Lanka, a legal scholar in the U.S. pointed out. Inner City Press which carried the Dutch Representative's statement, mused, "[i]f the killing of thousands of civilians, hundreds in the last weekend alone, does not implicate the EU's [European Union] notions of human rights, perhaps these notions are bankrupt."
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Intervene in the name of humanity: Pathmathan calls on IC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 09:20 GMT]
"Every passing day is resulting in the loss of countless number of civilian lives and alienation of the entire Tamil community," said Selvaraja Pathmanathan, the LTTE plenipotentiary for international relations, in a statement issued on Wednesday, and called on the International Community for its urgent and immediate intervention, not based on territorial or geo-political ambitions, but based on basic human values. "It is our firm view that a cessation of all hostilities would be the only mechanism that would prevent further civilian carnage and we remain committed to an immediate and permanent ceasefire."
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Prof. Boyle: hold Emergency Meeting of UNSC to stop Tamil genocide

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 May 2009, 23:20 GMT]
Pointing out that, under the current circumstances, the Provisional Rules of Procedure of the United Nation's Security Council (UNSC) provide at least three ways to convene a formal meeting of the Security Council in order to terminate the Genocide against Tamils by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), Prof. Francis A. Boyle, professor of International Law at the Illinois University College of Law, says, failure of the Secretary General, Governments of the United States, U.K, France, and India to hold a UNSC Emergency meeting indicates that they are all quietly supporting the GoSL genocide against the Tamils from behind the scenes, despite their crocodile tears in public.
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US violates Geneva Convention by permitting Sri Lanka to commit slow-motion genocide - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 May 2009, 04:26 GMT]
Pointing to the statement issued by the U.S. Department of State that after an informal meeting at the United Nations that "[t]he United States is deeply concerned by the continued unacceptably high levels of civilian casualties," expert in International Law, Professor Francis A. Boyle said, the Obama administration is violating the 1948 convention for continuing to give "green light" to the Government of Sri Lanka to destroy the LTTE no matter what the cost to innocent Tamil civilians. Lawrence Christy, the head of Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) Field Office on Monday put the death toll of civilians at more than 3,200 killed during the weekend.
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India should sue Sri Lanka in ICJ for massacre of 2000 Tamils - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 2009, 14:00 GMT]
"In light of the latest atrocity by the Government of Sri Lanka that overnight exterminated 2000 Tamils, at a minimum the Government of India must sue Sri Lanka for violating the 1948 Genocide Convention before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, request an Emergency Hearing by the World Court, and win an Order of Provisional Measures of Protection --the international equivalent of a temporary restraining order-- against the GOSL to cease and desist from committing all acts of genocide against the Tamils," said Professor Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, in a note sent to TamilNet Sunday. "I stand ready to file this World Court Lawsuit immediately upon receipt of the appropriate authorization from the Government of India," Boyle further said.
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LTTE guarantees safety and security for ICRC

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 May 2009, 08:58 GMT]
Dispelling hints and accusations by certain sections that the LTTE has not guaranteed safe passage to the ICRC to bring in humanitarian relief such as food and medicine, the LTTE political head B. Nadesan in a letter dated 4th May, has given a written assurance that the LTTE reiterates its full commitment and support to the ICRC in its humanitarian and mandated activities. Nadesan requested to consider the letter as a necessary security guarantee. Nadesan was accusing that it was the Sri Lanka government and its forces that were blocking the activities of the ICRC by launching military manoeuvres. Even on Thursday, around 10 AM, Colombo’s forces were shelling towards the ICRC vehicles that had come to the shore to undertake transportation of the wounded civilians, and there were minor damages to the vehicles, LTTE officials said.
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Slow-motion genocide to exceed horrors of Srebrenica, warns Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 2009, 18:52 GMT]
Professor Boyle of University of Illinois College of Law, an international expert on Boznia and crimes of Genocide said Tuesday, "[s]ince the outset of this latest crisis in January, the GOSL has exterminated about 7000 Tamils in Vanni, certainly a "substantial part" of the Tamil population in Vanni and Sri Lanka. If not stopped now, the GOSL's toll of genocide against the Tamils could far exceed the recent horrors of Srebrenica." Prof. Boyle's call for urgent food drop to the civilians close to starvation in the Safe Zone, has gathered momentum, and international media are seeking his comment on the urgency of humanitarian support.
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TRO: Food shortage in Safe Zone, critical

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 2009, 12:55 GMT]
While the need of food for the estimated 165,000 people, as determined by the District Secretariat, is roughly 2500 MT a month, ships brought only 60 MT for the whole of April, and the 1100 MT announced by the Sri Lanka Government to be loaded in Trincomalee in ships, never materialized, said Lawrence Christy, head of Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) field office in the Safety Zone, in a report released 2nd May, adding that World Food Program is limited by the Government of Sri Lanka to send a quantity of food barely sufficient to keep alive 50,000 people, a number GoSL is willing to admit as the numbers holed up in the Safe Zone.
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India obligated to bring Sri Lanka's genocide to UN Security Council - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 May 2009, 21:36 GMT]
Pointing to India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh's statement that the lack of peace and stability in Sri Lanka can also" affect security situation in our country [India]", as reported in the Press Trust of India Monday, Francis Boyle, professor of International Law at University of Illinois College of Law said that "[i]n light of this latest statement by the Prime Minister of India, the Government of India must immediately bring the Government of Sri Lanka's genocide against the Tamils to the attention of the United Nations Security Council for remedial action," as allowed by the Article 35(1) of UN charter.
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Hurdles remain on IMF Sri Lanka loan

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 May 2009, 03:51 GMT]
While the mandate of the IMF is to assist member countries facing Balance of Payment crisis, regardless of the military or human right situation, the loan to Sri Lanka can be stopped if the law suit filed by the Tamil diaspora is successful or if the members of the Executive Committee vocally campaigned against the loan, congressional sources said.
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Prof. Boyle calls for humanitarian airdrop to starving civilians in 'safety zone'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 April 2009, 19:10 GMT]
Francis Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, on Thursday called on India, the United States, Britain and France to fulfil their obligations under the Geneva Conventions and Protocol, and under the Genocide Convention by launching an immediate humanitarian air-drop relief operation for the starving Tamil civilians within the so-called safety zone, who are suffering without adequate humanitarian supplies for weeks. In a note sent to TamilNet, Prof. Boyle said starvation of civilians, as a method of warfare, can also constitute an act of genocide as defined by Article II (c) of the 1948 Genocide Convention.
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Miliband's statement obligates UK to take immediate UN action - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 April 2009, 03:42 GMT]
Pointing to the latest statement during the visit to Sri Lanka by British Foreign Minister, David Miliband that ""[t]his is a civil war that does have regional and wider ramifications...," Professor Francis Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, said that Miliband's statement obligates Britain, as a Permanent Member of the Security Council, under U.N. Charter Article 35(1) to bring this "civil war" and genocide in Sri Lanka "to the attention of the Security Council" for the purpose of obtaining remedial action under Chapters VI and/or VII of the Charter."
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