Another bombshell by Human Rights Watch (HRW)

by Malin Abeyatunge

(March 25, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) This is how Alan Dershowitz-Professor of Law at Harvard Law School sees Human Rights Watch” (source-Lankaweb-HRW)

Quote” Who will guard the guardians?" asked Roman satirist Juvenal. Now we must ask, who is watching Human Rights Watch, one of the world's best-financed and most influential human rights organizations? It turns out that they cook the books about facts, cheat on interviews, and put out pre-determined conclusions that are driven more by their ideology than by evidence. These are serious accusations, and they are demonstrably true. "Alan Dershowitz Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School”

This is a plain truth when we consider the various reports published by HRW on Sri Lanka/LTTE terrorist conflict. How appropriate and true of this analysis of HRW!

HRW which was founded in 1978 (as per Wkipedia)would have had good intentions when it was started but those good intentions appear to have swallowed by dollar vultures. Sri Lanka has been an easy target for the HRW for the last two decades or so in our fight against the LTTE terrorist out fit which FBI described as “the most brutal terrorist organization in the world”. The extent the HRW has been ignoring LTTE’s horrendous atrocities and the way they mollycoddled LTTE and its supportive Tamil Diaspora, people began to wander whether it is Human Rights Watch or “Eelam Rights Watch” . HRW with their dollars lavishly throwing about has managed to influence the print and electronic media specially in the western block of countries against small countries like Sri Lanka. They never dared to raise its fingers against the USA,UK and NATO countries albeit hundreds of thousands innocent civilians have been killed in IRAQ and Afghanistan.

In HRW’s report in March 2008, a simple example given below shows how smart HRW in cooking up and fabricating stories and creating fictions to suit its agenda.

Vairamuththu Varatharasan, a 40-year-old truck driver and father of five, was abducted from his home in Colombo on January 7, 2007, and has not been seen since. His wife told Human Rights Watch:

“A group of about 20 men – some in police uniforms, some in civilian clothes surrounded the house. One policeman came inside and asked for our identity card. I went into one of the rooms to get the identity card. By the time I came out of the room, my husband was not there; neither was the policeman. I ran out and spotted a van parked in a dark place on the road. I ran to the road, but by the time I got there, the van started and left.”

Firstly, She had time to count the number in the group as twenty in a panic situation. Then she says” by the time she came out of the room her husband was not there neither was the policeman. (EMPHASIS-ONE POLICEMAN) . Now what happened to other 19 people of the group who came to abduct him? Doesn’t this look a cooked up story? All other testimonials quoted in this report also do not have any credibility. Now the question arises as to who interview these Tamils? When and Where? To whom these 99 cases reported? Did HRW gone through the veracity of the reports? Or is it hearsay? Or can’t that be a LTTE propagandist who made up these cases to get sympathy from the International Community just the way HRW is sympathizing with LTTE?

HRW was making a big hue and cry against the GoSL on this report with the ulterior motive of getting a UN monitoring mission planted in Sri Lanka to facilitate LTTE to achieve Eelam.

Then during the last stages of the war, HRW blamed the Sri Lankan Government for bombing a hospital in the war torn area. But two doctors who were working in the hospitals and later fled from LTTE controlled area and became refugees denied that hospital was bombed but they had to say so under duress for fear of their lives under LTTE. This is how HRW has been gathering information for their reports to tarnish the image and the efforts taken by the Sri Lankan Government to eradicate LTTE terrorists.

Even “PIGS FLY” in HRW’s reports on Sri Lanka on her war against the LTTE terrorism.

The latest bombshell being the campaign launched by the HRW to request the 54 countries invited to boycott a seminar organized by Sri Lanka on the theme “Defeating Terrorism in Sri Lankan Experience” to be held from 31 May to 2 June 2011. Sri Lanka Military website explains the theme further as follows: Quote”

“It will Endeavour to propose adequate measures to manage and counter global terrorism and discuss strategies for nation building while introducing a Sri Lankan perspective in counter terrorism” (Sri Lanka Defense Website). Why has HRW got perturbed over this seminar suddenly?

According BBC Sinhala Service “Sandeshaya” the Executive Director of HRW Brad Adams Quote “What we are telling the militaries around the world is that they should not attend a meeting to celebrate a military policy that involves killing so many civilians,” Unquote. Killing so many civilians is another unsubstantiated and fabricated lie by HRW. If at all had there been a handful of civilian deaths it may due to cross fires which the westerners call it ‘collateral damage’ in Iraq and Afghanistan. Does HRW aware that almost around ten thousand of our forces during the last stages of the final assault sacrificed their lives to liberate and bring into safety around 300,000 ordinary Tamil civilians who were forcibly kept by LTTE as human shields?

I doubt that any of the invited countries will boycott just because HRW requests knowing very well the Double Standards” of HRW. HRW has been appeasing LTTE terrorist right through out (Money Talks?) and even commented that LTTE cannot be defeated and that’s an invincible outfit. HRW has been exaggerating a reporting a few civilians getting killed in crossfire by multiplying the number by thousands (1civilian x1000 civilians) without any proof. Very often HRW used to parrot what comes up in the LTTE Tamil Net website. HRW’s reports did not carry any substantiated facts and figures but bucket full of lies. Therefore the integrity of HRW and its reports is questionable among the moderate and impartial thinkers of the world. Of course, HRW has cunningly managed to convince UNSG Ban-ki Moon and his agents in the UN. Unfortunately UN was relying on reports from HRW, Amnesty International (AI), International Crisis Group( ICG) to make UN decisions on Sri Lankan Government. If HRW was certain about the alleged war crimes by the Sri Lankan forces, why didn’t they respond to the LLRC when they invited HRW and also AI to make submissions? It shows clearly that they cannot substantiate what they write in the reports and other submission made to UN Agencies and other humanitarian organizations who thrive on dollars for their survival. This is again a pre determined conclusion by HRW implying “No Faith” on what would come out of the LLRC.

The Executive Director Brad Adams of HRW has alleged to have told quote” We have no doubt that the LTTE was a terrorist organization. We were extremely critical of the LTTE”. I am aware only one off instance where HRW in it’s report titled “Trapped and Mistreated” has been critical of LTTE when LTTE was using hundreds of thousands of civilians as human shields during the last stages of the war. But when thousands of atrocities committed by LTTE, when LTTE breached infamous CFA more than 3000 times; continue to conscript children as young as 10 yrs old for the child brigade, the HRW and other human rights organizations kept mum. In early 2008, within a month, there were 10 bomb attacks by LTTE terrorists and its suicide cadres on civilians in Kebithigollewa, Madhu area (Palampiddi), Buttala, Dambulla, Fort Railway Station, Dehiwela zoo,Welioya, Nugegoda and Wellawatte killing over hundred and maiming over two hundred innocent civilians. Among the innocents killed were small children, school children and pregnant mothers and Buddhist monks. Yet the so called HRW kept mum.

He also says that the timing is of the seminar which falls on the month of the second anniversary the LTTE was military defeated “a terrible message” to the Tamil Community. Well, it’s not a “Terrible message” to the Tamil community who are now being liberated from the terrorists clutches and enjoying freedom in the North and East but may be to the Tamil Diaspora who is still dreaming of an Eelam with the help of so called humanitarian organizations like HRW and AI who are well oiled by the LTTE financial machine.

HRW has a job to do for the millions of dollars they get from the donors of western world and other organizations. Whilst receiving funds from their existence, they cannot go against those donor countries like USA, UK and NATO countries of their human rights violations. So they look for small countries like Sri Lanka to bully for their survival. It is a very big doubt whether HRW has been and is impartial in their findings and HRW no longer deserves to be called Human Rights Organization and better call it “Eelam Rights Watch” (ERW) when it comes to Sri Lankan issues. Should we still continue to give weight to their reports and comments on Sri Lanka or treat them as crap.