Human Rights Watch: Can’t Count; Can’t differentiate; Can’t Tell the Truth!

Ramanie de Zoysa

14th April 2009
“Mr President, we are concerned about our people, and we do not need to be told by people who think that cluster bombs come out of the barrel of a gun how to look after our own.”- Prof Rajiva Wijesinha, Secretary General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process and Secretary to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights in his response to remarks on Sri Lanka made by Non-Governmental Organizations (mainly Human Rights Watch) during the Inter-Active Debate on the Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday, 06 March 2009 

The latest press release issued by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on 9 April 2009 was another Sri Lankan Government bashing using the usual ammunition of half truths, outright lies, and unbelievable capers; the only concocted ‘eyewitnesses’ being two Tamil moles posing off as doctors in the war zone trading highly fabricated statistics for payoffs in one form or another. 

HRW has made up to 143,000 civilians ‘vanish’; or a severe case of inability to count?  

HRW said in a 49 page report released on December 23, 2008 titled “Besieged, Displaced, and Detained: The Plight of Civilians in Sri Lanka’s Vanni Region,” that there were between 230,000 to 300,000 displaced persons trapped in the Vanni conflict zone. The Sri Lankan Government ‘s estimate of around 100,000 to 125,000 maximum was scoffed at as being untrue and arrogantly stomped on by HRW as well as many other international INGOs. In the latest press release dated April 9, 2009 titled “Sri Lanka: Stop Shelling ‘No-Fire Zone’ Brad Adams of HRW puts the number of civilians trapped by the LTTE at 100,000. If there were 230,000 to 300,000 ‘civilians’ trapped in the LTTE human shield in Dec 2008 and there are only 100,000 ‘civilians’ as at 9 April 2009  basic arithmetic would dictate that 130,000 to 200,000 must have either escaped to the Sri Lankan Government controlled area, perished or vanished into thin air. According to the Sri Lankan Government headcount only 64,147 civilians have arrived seeking its care from the Tiger clutches so far. The remaining 60,000 to 140,000 ‘civilians’ then, by a simple process of elimination, must have either perished or vanished into thin air. According to HRW’s own estimate as of 25 February 2009 at least 2,000 civilians have been killed and another 5,000 wounded in the period since December 10. Then, the total of 7,000 wounded or killed leaves us with a ‘vanished’ populace of around 53,000 to 143,000! 

Then again the HRW estimate of 5,000 wounded is a large number of patients to care for in one hospital. Where are they? Who is treating them? Is it possible that these 5000 patients are cared for by HRW’s moles in the Vanni, Drs Sathiyamoorthy and Varatharajah? 

HRW is unable or unwilling to differentiate incarceration from temporary IDP accommodation 

The use of words that are a million times harsher than what reality calls for – or the abuse of language- is a sign of the times. HRW is just as good at this game as the LTTE. If a Tamil non-combatant is killed inadvertently through Sri Lankan Government military action that is called genocide- but the actual genocide practiced by the LTTE like the slaughter of innocent Sinhala farmers in Buttala just after the ‘New Year ceasefire’ declared by the Sri Lankan Government on 13^th April hardly caused a ripple among the human rights industry or news merchants such as BBC; in fact BBC did not even mention the Buttala terrorist killings that included the slaughter of an infant by the LTTE. 

The word ‘incarceration’ has now been dusted off Europe’s own cupboards full of skeletons of the past, and is now in popular use by both the LTTE propaganda machine and the international NGOs with agendas such as HRW to describe temporary welfare centers set up to receive the exodus of Tamils leaving the Tiger clutches. 

The welfare camps set up by the Sri Lankan Government to receive and hold the escapees of Tiger terror are seen as “squalid government-controlled camps and hospitals with little access to the outside world”. These are empty emotive words which are freely bandied about by these INGOs to show that they have such lofty standards. What amazes one is that in these very areas there have been a multitude of INGOs and NGOS “tirelessly working” to develop these people over the last thirty or more years but have not a single hospital, school, house, toilet, road, pavement or a drain to show for all that time and all that ‘hard’ work! While HRW as well as the Sri Lankan Government would prefer five star comfort for these “civilians” the reality is that the Sri Lankan Government has had to put up accommodation for hundreds of thousands of people at short notice; these facilities are but temporary with the government’s intention being the re-settlement of civilians in their own villages once the terrorist menace has been wiped out. These are facilities that are run free of charge by a poor Government of a developing country. Sri Lanka is offering its best to these people who are in dire need of a roof over their heads, a square meal and some medical care. Though there are hoards of international busybodies to criticize and chastise Sri Lanka there is hardly anyone out there to actually donate a coat of paint to one of these buildings. When it comes to feeding, clothing and providing medical care for the Tiger escapees it has always been the Sri Lankan Government that has been the sole provider. It is pathetic that INGOs such as HRW can not comprehend that people trapped in the Tiger held areas do not earn money, they do not produce food in the terrorist held area and the Tiger terrorists are not spending their money to provide food and medical care for them. It is and it has been the Sri Lankan Government for the last 26 years that has been the provider of pensions, food, fuel, education and medical care for them if not which these people would have perished many years ago. 

When other INGOs such as Amnesty International (AI) come out and complain that “The situation at Vavuniya hospital was appalling. …Patients were being discharged and sent straight to the camps long before their injuries were healed…. When Human Rights Watch visited …. many of the hospital beds had no sheets, blankets, or pillows” it only shows the superficiality of understanding of the very issues they claim to deal with. The hospital beds may not have Egyptian cotton bed sheets and tri-pillows but what matters to us is that these people are given medical care as best as the country could afford and are fed and clothed and kept safe until the terror gang is completely liquidated when they will have the prospects of being rehabilitated and resettled. 

It is also ironic how HRW made the visit referred to by AI above. Daily Mirror newspaper carried a report on Monday, March 02, 2009 of how Anna Neistat, Senior Emergencies Researcher at HRW told the US Senate during a hearing on Sri Lanka last month that she had visited the Sri Lanka two weeks ago and carried out research on the plight of displaced people from the Wanni. Daily Mirror reported: 

“When contacted by the Daily Mirror the researcher confirmed that she visited Vavuniya and interviewed people. “I was in the hospital and at the camp sites but not inside the camps. But I did interview IDPs who were outside the camps as well as people who work in the camps,” she told the Daily Mirror. 

However when asked if clearance was given for the HRW to carry out such research in Sri Lanka both the Minister of Human Rights and Disaster Management Mahinda Samarasingha and the Foreign Ministry said no such clearance was issued and a probe into the matter will be launched. 

“We have not given such clearance for anyone under that name Anna Neistat or for Human Rights Watch to come here and carry out research. They might have come as tourists and done work which is a clear violation of immigration laws. It is a serious matter and we will probe this and deal with it accordingly,” Minister Samarasingha told Daily Mirror.” 

When I say that this is ironic what amazes me is the nonchalance and the contempt with which Neistat and HRW treat Sri Lanka and its immigration laws. While spouting out warning after warning against Sri Lanka about law and order her ability to slip through the Sri Lanka Customs and Immigration under the pretext of being tourists and visit any part of the country speaks volumes not only about the thickness of HRW skin but also of the fact that HRW has got accomplices on the Sri Lankan soil, namely the same medical spies working in the affected areas who pump sensationalized and bigoted information to HRW. 

HRW can not differentiate a ‘No fire zone’ from a ‘picnic zone’ 

Brad Adams states that “Sri Lanka’s so-called ‘no-fire zone’ is now one of the most dangerous places in the world.” Well spotted! Brad! You must be a genius or something! Really, this is an amazingly obtuse statement even for HRW! The only reason why the Sri Lankan Government wanted to declare a ‘no fire zone’ was because there was firing and the place was dangerous. It is never likely that a ‘No Fire Zone’ created in the middle of a theatre of war would be serendipity complete with blossoming flowers, chirping birds and playing kids. The Government did not name it a “picnic zone” for that very reason. Even for future reference of HRW who are bound to be faced with war situations, a ‘No Fire Zone’ will always be a dangerous place because it always is going to be in the middle of a war! You do not declare a ‘No fire Zone’ in the middle of Sunset Boulevard for fun. HRW, please do us all a favour and remember when you see a ‘No Fire Zone’ anywhere in the future it usually means there is normally ‘Fire’ in the area and it is only by decree someone ‘wants’ the area avoided when firing- which may not be respected by the other party/ies concerned. 

Safety provided by a ‘No Fire Zone’ depends on the respect your opponents will have for your decree that the area remains free from fire. When you have the misfortune of dealing with an opponent that knows no chivalry, has no standards, principals or morals, then whatever action you take in good faith is bound to be abused. This is the case where the opponent is the unprincipled, immoral, cowardly, despotic LTTE. What was demarcated by the Sri Lankan Government in good faith as being a safe area for non-combatants could have been left as a safe zone if the LTTE had principles, morals or a sense of propriety; instead the LTTE is misusing the facility by entering the safety area hiding behind the women and children and using their cover to fire at the Sri Lankan military. What exactly do people like HRW expect the Sri Lankan military to do in this situation? Just throw hands up in the air in exasperation and say ‘Shucks! Can’t fire because of the civilians and let’s go back to Colombo and wait till LTTE realizes their folly and let the civilians go”? If HRW is thinking that then they are smoking something stronger than ‘three roses.’ 

HRW’s aversion to the Truth 

HRW’s assertion that “the military has largely prevented relief supplies entering LTTE-held territory despite the fact that for weeks tens of thousands of refugees have been struggling to survive without adequate food, shelter, clothing and medical supplies” is a despicable canard when the Sri Lankan Government has repeatedly ensured regular convoys of food and other essentials in partnership with Red Cross into the terrorist held areas despite attacks on these convoys by the LTTE. More often than not the food and medicine is paid for by the Sri Lankan Government; this is money that could have been used to alleviate poverty and suffering of others in other parts of the country- but no one is complaining. 

It is even more despicable that HRW is attempting to justify the LTTE attacks on the supply convoys to the terrorist held areas, by offering “excuses” for such attacks. HRW says that it has recorded the accounts of eyewitnesses who described how the army had used food convoys to advance on LTTE positions- as a result, a convoy was fired on and delayed. This is how Westerners justify atrocities committed by criminal elements that have their blessings such as LTTE while tut tutting the Governments of small, poor countries they do not like. This is how it goes- LTTE did that because the Sri Lankan Government is doing this- as if to say it was the Sri Lankan Government that caused the LTTE attacks on supply convoys! It is an open secret that the LTTE attacks the supply convoys to rob them to sustain their cadres. Another open secret is that the goods sent to these areas get robbed by the LTTE and sold to the ‘civilians’ at black market prices. According to first hand accounts given by escaped ‘civilians’ to the Government held areas, 500g of black pepper (a highly sought after ingredient in Tamil cooking) sells for Rs4,000. 

This is what people in ivory towers such as HRW either do not know or do not want to know; and, these are called ‘ground realities’.   

At the end of the day, when all is said and done, it is good to know that HRW is able to acknowledge even unintentionally that the Sri Lankan Government does send in supply convoys for the people trapped in terrorist held areas. 

Evacuate the civilians NOW? HOW? 

HRW calls on the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE to urgently facilitate the safe evacuation of civilians from the conflict area. Sri Lankan Government is doing its darndest to get the civilians out unharmed which is why they are walking in inch by inch clearing the area for over three months now rather than dropping a couple of kilos of explosive stuff from the air and clearing the area in half an hour. Let’s hope the LTTE hears HRW call and shows some respect to it. 

HRW is encouraged to reserve their spiel about prosecutions for war crimes for those who actually commit war crimes. Sri Lanka is not worried about any threats for criminal prosecutions in this area despite the moles HRW may hire from within the war zone to make up sensational claims. Over the past 30 years or more some Tamils have proved themselves capable of selling Sri Lanka for a quick buck (as some Sinhalese have done) but after many years and millions of dollars spent by them in trying to destroy Sri Lanka- Sri Lanka has proved that truth prevails above all! 

Yes Mr Adams, responsibility is a two way street indeed! You responsibility is to find the truth and speak only the truth! 

Ramanie de Zoysa