“Tens of thousands of Tamil civilian detainees are children”

“Today, we are asking is that these men be given immediate access to lawyers in accordance with their legal rights. The community is calling for them to receive due process like any other claimants.
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(October 21, Ottawa, Sri Lanka Guardian) “As we sit here today, much of the details about these 76 men remain unknown. But there are two things that are clear. One is that these individuals risked their lives to travel thousands of miles on a rusty old boat to seek refuge in Canada. The second is that these men come from a country where persecution of the Tamil minority remains commonplace despite the end of the 26-year-old civil war,” the Canadian Tamil Congress said in a press statement on yesterday.

The statement further said, “to give you an idea of the kind of persecution Tamils face in Sri Lanka, keep in mind that more than a quarter of a million citizens are currently being held against their will in about 40 internment camps in the country. They are all Tamil and they are being held in violation of international law. Tens of thousands of these civilian detainees are children. Their reality is overcrowding, poor sanitation and severe restrictions on their freedom of movement.”

“Despite calls from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to free them, and the threat of monsoon rains and flooding, the Sri Lankan government continues to hold these Tamil civilians in essentially open-air prisons. This is the Sri Lanka that these men were forced to flee from, one which continues to persecute Tamils.”

“Additionally, this same country is facing calls for war abuses to be investigated by Ms. Navi Pillay, the United Nations Human Rights Chief. This same country’s conduct during the war was examined by the Times of London, which reported that 20,000 Tamils were killed in the final stages of the war, three times the official account. Most, the paper reported, were killed due to government shelling. Furthermore, a climate of oppression remains widespread in the country, making targets out of the Tamil minority, journalists and anyone who dares to question or contradict the government version of events. This suppression led to Human Rights Watch releasing a statement that the Sri Lankan government appears to be preparing to take action against individuals and organizations that criticized it during the war.”

“This crackdown on free speech and independent media led to Reporters Without Borders to rank Sri Lanka 162nd out of 175 countries in the world for press freedom in 2009. In this year alone, a UNICEF worker was expelled from the country, the Red Cross was forced to scale down its operations and a journalist was imprisoned for 20 years. Meanwhile, disappearances remain commonplace. This is the Sri Lanka these men fled.”

“The pain and helplessness that the Tamil Canadian community has felt this year in the face of growing human rights abuses and mass deaths of their relatives and friends in Sri Lanka compels many to want to help in any way they can. That is why we are here to speak to you today.”

“It's also important to remember that in 1986, the Conservative government under the leadership of Brian Mulroney allowed 155 Tamil refugees into Canada. Since then, many of those refugees and immigrants have gone on to successfully establish themselves in Canada.’

“Today, we are asking is that these men be given immediate access to lawyers in accordance with their legal rights. The community is calling for them to receive due process like any other claimants. These newcomers deserve an opportunity to be heard and have their cases examined based on the merits of each individuals claim.”

-Sri Lanka Guardian