Date: 6:38 PM 3/4/02 +0100
From: senzaconfine
Subject: ANCORA DEPORTAZIONI DI PROFUGHI DA
FIUMICINO
Comunicato Stampa
ANCORA DEPORTAZIONI:
180 SRILANKESI A FIUMICINO PER ESSERE
RIMPATRIATI
L'associazione Senzaconfine denuncia che 180
cittadini dello Sri-Lanka, molti dei quali della minoranza Tamil, illegalmente
trattenuti dopo lo sbarco nel centro di Borgo Mezzanone (Foggia), sono stati
portati, scortati dalla Ps, all'aeroporto di Fiumicino per essere reimpatriati.
Pare che al momento due terzi di loro siano gi stati caricati su un volo
diretto a Colombo, mentre degli altri (forse i tamil) la sorte ancora
incerta.
Provenienti da due sbarchi diversi, dopo
essere stati rinchiusi nel centro di cui non si conosce la funzione, una sorta
di "terra di nessuno" in quanto a legalit, sono stati identificati
sabato dal console dello SriLanka e si sono visti consegnare il foglio di
espulsione domenica sera, nonostante siano tutti nelle condizioni di chiedere
asilo, ed oltre cinquanta di loro l'avessero gi segnalato nominativamente ad
avvocati e operatori del Pna (Piano nazionale accoglienza).
Appena una settimana fa le denunce di
parlamentari, avvocati ed operatori per i diritti umani che si sono susseguite
avevano indotto il ministro Scaiola a recedere dal rimpatrio di un altro gruppo
di profughi srilankesi provenienti da Crotone, riconoscendo la drammaticit
della situazione di guerra civile in quel paese. Nel giro di una settimana lo
Sri Lanka forse divenuto un'oasi di pace?
Senzaconfine denuncia l'illegalit di questo
atto e fa appello per un'iniziativa decisa, anche in sede di Corte per i
diritti umani di Strasburgo, prima che queste procedure sommarie diventino uno
standard nei confronti dei richiedenti asilo.
(Dino Frisullo - 4.3.02)
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ALLEGATI:
COMUNICATI DI AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SULLA
SITUAZIONE IN SRILANKA 2001-2002
* News Release Issued by the International
Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
4 April 2001
ASA 37/006/2001
62/01
Amnesty International today wrote to the
President of Sri Lanka
urging her to take action to stop rape by
security forces and
bring perpetrators to justice.
Following several recent reports of rape
by security
forces in Mannar, Batticaloa, Negombo and
Jaffna, the
organization reminded President Chandrika
Kumaratunga that
safeguards to protect women in custody (as
contained in
presidential directives for the welfare of
detainees issued in
July 1997) were being ignored.
Security force personnel should be
punished if they fail
to adhere to these safeguards. Female guards should be present
during the interrogation of female detainees
and should be solely
responsible for carrying out body searches.
Among the cases reported are those of two
women who were
gang raped after being arrested by members of
the navy and police
in Mannar on 19 March.
The pace of investigations into several
other cases of
alleged rape, including the case of Ida Karmelita
who was raped
and murdered in Mannar in July 1999, are
proceeding very slowly.
Other cases have collapsed because the victims
or the witnesses
were threatened or feared reprisals.
All necessary measures should be taken to
protect the
victims and witnesses and any security officer
found to be
responsible for rape, sexual abuse or other
torture, or for
encouraging or condoning them, should be
brought to justice.
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* News Release Issued by the International
Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
3 July 2001
ASA 37/010/2001
113/01
An upsurge in arrests,
"disappearances" and torture linked to
paramilitary activity in the Vavuniya area
must be urgently
addressed by the Sri Lankan government,
Amnesty International
said today in a letter to President
Kumaratunga.
"The People's Liberation Organisation
of Tamil Eelam
(PLOTE), paid and armed by the government, has
been perpetuating
a pattern of systematic abuses," the
organization said.
Fifteen children who were allegedly being
trained by
PLOTE at the "Lucky House" camp have
been transferred to an
unknown PLOTE camp. Amnesty International is
urging the
government to locate the children and return them
to their
families.
Some prisoners who have been arrested by
the army
intelligence unit have been held at PLOTE
camps and in at least
one instance were visited by an army officer.
Two people remain
"disappeared" after they were last
seen being questioned by
members of PLOTE in early June.
"The continued high level of human
rights violations in
the Vavuniya District is bolstered by the
practises that have
developed between the Tamil armed groups,
particularly PLOTE, and
the armed forces. The armed forces can claim no improvement in
the human rights situation until it can
exercise control over
paramilitary activity."
Amnesty International is calling on the
President to
intervene directly:
-- to urgently bring all Tamil armed groups
directly under proper
command and control systems,
-- to ensure that Tamil armed groups are not
involved in the
recruitment of child soldiers,
-- to ensure that all places of detention are
officially
recognised and designated as such, and
-- to conduct a speedy and impartial
investigation into the use
of unauthorised places of detention and the
abuses which have
taken place therein.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* News Release Issued by the International
Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
20 July 2001
ASA 37/012/2001
126/01
The death of at least two people from bullet
wounds and the
injuring of well over 30 more as a result of
police action
against a predominantly peaceful demonstration
in Colombo on
Thursday constituted the use of excessive
force on the part of
the police, Amnesty International said today
condemning the
police action.
Achinte Perera from Algama and Manjula
Prasad from
Janpatha St, Colombo 15, both supporters of
the United National
Party (UNP), died whilst participating in a
peaceful protest
called by a coalition of opposition parties in
Sri Lanka. The
post mortem reportedly reveals that death was
caused by live
ammunition from a T56 automatic weapon, the
type used by the
police and the army.
Amnesty International also condemned the
invoking of the
1981 Referendum Act by the government. The Act bans all
processions between the calling of a
referendum until after the
result is announced, other than Mayday,
religious or social
processions, and the latter must not contain
anything that may
affect the referendum result.
"This is an absolute infringement of
the rights to
freedom of expression and assembly. People of all political
persuasions must recognize and respect each
other's right to
gather peacefully and express their opinions
without fear for
their safety," Amnesty International
said.
The organization is fearful that if these
rights are not
observed and guaranteed by the state that the
period leading up
to the referendum will become increasingly
violent and polarised
and result in many more serious human rights
violations.
It is reported that the vast majority of
people who took
part in Thursday's demonstration were unarmed
and peaceful.
Amnesty International has no reports of arms
being used or shots
being fired by the demonstrators. Those who did indulge in
violence threw stones from the street. However the police have
admitted using live ammunition, rubber bullets
and tear gas.
There is also film footage of a police officer
handing a large
knife to a person in civilian clothes thought
to be a member of
the security forces or a member of one of the
government parties.
Amnesty International
reminds the Sri Lankan authorities
of the United Nations Basic Principles on the
Use of Force and
Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials which
state: "In any event,
intentional lethal use of firearms may only be
made when strictly
unavoidable in order to protect life" and
"Exceptional
circumstances such as internal political
instability or any other
public emergency may not be invoked to justify
any departure from
these basic principles."
Amnesty International urges the President
of Sri Lanka to
instruct all law enforcement agencies to
strictly observe these
principles during the current tense political
situation. It also
calls on her to ensure that Sri Lanka observes
the right to
freedom of expression and assembly which will assist
in difusing
the high tensions.
Background
The government banned Thursday's opposition
march and rally
called in protest at the President having
prorogued Parliament
for two months. The Parliament was closed on 10 July following
the tabling of a no confidence motion that was
gathering
support.
Following the closure, the President has called for a
referendum on a new constitution and this is
scheduled to take
place on 21st August.
The government have invoked 20-year-old
legislation,
drafted and passed by the UNP when it was in
power, to curtail
opposition activities. A discredited UNP
referendum of 1982 was
held under this legislation.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* News Release Issued by the International
Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
11 October 2001
ASA 37/013/2001
180/01
Amnesty International today appealed to the
leadership of the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to put
an immediate halt
to the ongoing recruitment of children as
combatants and to
return all child soldiers to their families or
communities.
"Whether the recruitment is forced or
not, children have
no role to play in war. The LTTE must live up
to its own pledge
not to use child soldiers, cease recruitment
immediately and
return the children to their families,"
Amnesty International
said.
According to international standards and
the LTTE's own
policy commitments, no children should be
recruited, regardless
of whether they joined voluntarily or were
coerced or forced to
do so.
The organization has received disturbing
reports of an
intensive recruitment drive in areas
controlled by the LTTE in
the north and east of Sri Lanka. In Batticaloa
district, hundreds
of people have been recruited over the last
month or so in the
divisions of Vakarai, Vavunativu, Pattipalai,
Porativu,
Eravurpattu and Koralaipattu. There have also
been reports of
intensified recruitment in the Vanni, the area
to the south of
the Jaffna peninsula largely controlled by the
LTTE. Several
reports also indicate that many families in
the Batticaloa area
were coerced with threats into letting their
children be
recruited. Other families who refused were
forced to leave their
homes and have now taken shelter with
relatives in Batticaloa
town.
The total number of children recruited is
difficult to
establish but it is estimated to be several
hundred. The LTTE's
recruitment policy is that one person from
each family has to do
"military service". The age limits
reportedly currently applied
in Batticaloa district are from 15 to 45.
However, Amnesty
International has received reports that
children as young as 14
have been among those recruited.
In an interview with Uthayan newspaper on
4 September,
Karikalan, a senior LTTE leader was quoted as
having said: "We
were deeply moved recently to witness parents
bringing their
children to enrol to fight. Mothers of
Arasaditivu and
Kokkadicholai have written a new chapter in
the history of the
Tamil struggle by their bravery."
Karikalan has also been quoted
to have said that reports of forced
conscription "were malicious
rumours spread by the military and government
media".
Background
In May 1998, the leadership of the LTTE told
the United Nations
(UN) Secretary-General's Special
Representative for Children and
Armed Conflict that it would not use children
under the age of 18
in combat, and would not recruit anyone under
the age of 17.
However, since then, Amnesty International has
received reports
that children much younger than 17 years of
age have been
recruited as combatants.
LTTE representatives have admitted that
some of their
members are very young, but argue that they
have not been forced
to join. They have also promised to investigate
any complaints
regarding the recruitment of children under
the age of 17, and
that if such children are found to have been
recruited, they will
be released.
Amnesty International opposes the use of
children under
18 as soldiers by government and armed
opposition groups, whether
they have been conscripted by force or joined
on a voluntary
basis. It also opposes any form of
recruitment, training or
deployment of children under the age of 18,
including for support
roles such as messengers or porters.
The LTTE are not the only armed political
group
recruiting children in Sri Lanka. Amnesty
International has also
received reliable reports of the recruitment
of children by armed
Tamil groups cooperating with the security
forces such as the
People's Liberation Organization of Tamil
Eelam (PLOTE). PLOTE
members were known to have recruited children
as young as 12 in
the Vavuniya area in early 2001. Amnesty
International raised
concern with President Chandrika Bandaranaike
Kumaratunga at the
time. An inquiry by the Criminal Investigation
Department later
found three children being trained at a PLOTE
camp. They were
returned to their parents. Others known to
have been recruited by
PLOTE however remained unaccounted for.
Amnesty International aims to promote the
adoption and adherence
to national, regional and international legal
standards
(including the Optional Protocol to the
Convention on the Rights
of the Child), which prohibit the military
recruitment and
deployment in hostilities of any person
younger than 18 years of
age. It also aims to promote the recognition
and enforcement of
this standard by all armed forces and groups,
both governmental
and non-governmental.
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* News Release Issued by the International
Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
30 October 2001
ASA 37/014/2001
191/01
Amnesty International condemned the
indiscriminate killing of two
civilians and the wounding at least 13
civilians in Colombo
yesterday in the first suicide bomb attack in
the capital for a
year.
The suicide bomber, believed to be a
member of the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was
apprehended by plain
clothes policemen in Chitra Lane, in the
Narahenpita area of the
city, when he blew himself up.
It is thought that the bomber may have
intended to target
the Prime Minister, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake,
who was on his way
to attend a ceremony nearby.
The
attack has come at a time when the country is
preparing for parliamentary elections on 5
December. In the
run-up to earlier parliamentary elections on
10 October 2000, at
least 24 civilians were killed in two separate
attacks on
election rallies by LTTE suicide bombers.
The organization is appealing to the LTTE
not to carry
out direct or indiscriminate attacks on
civilians.
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* News Release Issued by the International
Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
28 January 2002
ASA 37/003/2002
17/02
Amnesty International welcomes the decision of
the Supreme Court
of Sri Lanka which on 25 January 2002 granted
150,000 Sri Lankan
rupees (approximately US$ 1,600) compensation
to Velu Arshadevi,
a Tamil woman who was raped in Colombo in June
2001.
"This is a landmark judgement.
It is the first time that
the court has awarded compensation to a rape
victim, confirming
that rape in custody constitutes
torture," Amnesty International
said.
Amnesty International is urging the
Sri Lankan
authorities to ensure that the criminal
prosecution of the three
soldiers and three police officers allegedly
responsible for
raping Velu Arshadevi, who are currently
released on bail, will
proceed shortly. If it were to go to trial, it
would set another
precedent, constituting the first prosecution
of members of the
security forces in relation to rape in
custody.
It is also urging that justice is
assured to the other
victims of rape which the organization
documented in a report,
Sri Lanka: Rape in custody, published today
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* News Release Issued by the International
Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
28 January 2002
ASA 37/002/2002
12/02
Allegations of rape in custody by army, police
and navy officials
increased markedly in Sri Lanka last year,
Amnesty International
said in a new report published today. The
organization has
evidence of cases where women in custody were
blindfolded,
beaten, had their clothes forcibly removed and
were raped.
The majority of incidents occurred
in the context of the
armed conflict between the security forces and
the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who are fighting
for an autonomous
state in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Many
of the victims are
internally displaced women.
"The fact that complaints of
rape, like other complaints
of torture, are often not effectively dealt
with by police,
magistrates or doctors challenges the
government to tackle this
problem. Deficiencies in the early stages of
the criminal
investigation process have repeatedly
contributed to the ultimate
collapse of the investigation of the rape and
the prosecution of
the perpetrators," Amnesty International said.
"The new government of Prime
Minister Ranil
Wickremasinghe must now do everything in its
power to prevent
this grave sexual abuse of detainees."
The organization is urging the new Prime
Minister to:
-- send a clear public message to all security
forces personnel
that rape and other serious sexual violence in
custody will not
be tolerated and that perpetrators of such
offences will be
brought to justice and held accountable;
-- establish an independent investigative body
with the necessary
powers and expertise to open criminal
investigations where human
rights violations, including rape, are
believed to have been
committed.
Amnesty International has welcomed
the steps taken by
successive governments over the last few years
to combat torture,
such as the ratification of the UN Convention
against Torture in
early 1994 and its incorporation into national
law later that
year as well as the more recent inclusion of
more specific crimes
of rape in custody and gang rape as acts
punishable by a minimum
of 10 years imprisonment under the Penal Code.
However, despite
those positive steps to date not one single
member of the
security forces has been found guilty of rape
in custody in a
court of law. Only in one case, where the
victim was murdered,
the culprits were brought to justice.
"Ensuring justice for the
countless women who have been
victims of rape in custody, is an opportunity
for the new Prime
Minister to redeem his party's election pledge
to 'safeguard
women's rights', " Amnesty International
concluded.
Today the UN Committee on the
Elimination of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is
reviewing the periodic
report of the Sri Lanka government and Amnesty
International
takes this opportunity to particulary
highlight its concerns
about abuses of the rights of women in Sri
Lanka.
Selected case study:
In March 2001, Sinnathamby Sivamany (24) and
Ehamparam Wijikala
(22), two Tamil women , were arrested by
members of the navy in
the coastal city of Mannar and taken to the
office of a special
police unit. There, Ehamparam Wijikala was
taken inside the
police station and brutally raped by two
officers. In the
meantime, a navy officer climbed into the van
and blindfolded
Sinnathamby with a sock aided by the driver of
the van. This
officer then forcibly undressed and raped her.
Some time
afterwards she was taken inside the office to
the room in which
Ehamparam Wijikala was being held. Security
forces personnel
present there beat her then demanding that she
remove her
clothes. When she refused, Rajah, a male
police officer, ordered
Ehamparam Wijikala to remove Sinnathamby's
clothes. Both women
were made to parade naked in front of the men.
They were then
made to sit in a crouched position; their
hands and legs were
tied and attached to a pole which was then
placed between two
tables so they were left hanging. They were in
this position for
about 90 minutes and were pinched and beaten
with a thick wire
during that time.