Former Australian PM Malcom Fraser Accuses Liberal Party of Risking Lives

Go to ABC News Radio, here, http://www.abc.net.au/newsradio/, and find this audio (at least today, I am guessing) on the left.

Malcom Fraser, former Australian PM for the Liberal party, made some good points in this interview. The Liberal party has been claiming that the increase in people setting sail for Australia to seek asylum can be blamed on Labour's asylum policies. Mr Fraser pointed out that the way Tamils are being treated in Sri Lanka is likely to alone be sufficient to cause more to flee. Anyway, well worth a listen. Thanks, mr Fraser!

Several Hundred Thousand Tamils Still Held in Prison-like Camps

[L]ess than 5% of the 300,000 Tamils [have been] released from what the United Nations describes as "internment camps". ...

The Sri Lankan authorities recently allowed humanitarian relief workers
into Manik Farm [which is one of the camps]. The immediate criticism was that there were persistent water shortages. Then heavy rains sent rivers of sewage cascading through tents and tin sheds.

Now there are growing fears that with monsoon rains due in October, the camps could become a sea of thick mud and slop.

Doctors in the main hospital in Vavuniya, the largest town near the camp, say that more 1,000 people have died since May, mainly due to "malnutrition-related complications", and warn of an impending disaster if conditions do not improve.

Read on in the Guardian here. The Sri Lankan governments excuse is that there may be LTTE rebel soldiers hiding among the civilians, but it is hard to see how that can justify bereaving so many of their human rights in this way.

Recall that Sri Lanka in May managed to manipulate the Human Rights Council of the UN to praise its victory over the LTTE and to and refuse to investigate allegations of war crimes on both sides of the conflict. They managed to get a resolution passed saying that the war was a "domestic matter that doesn't warrant outside interference".

Recall also the earlier action about five doctors being held by the Sri Lankan government, at risk of torture. Four of these have been released, but one is still being held.

Doctors at risk in Sri Lanka

ASA 37/018/2009

(I could not find the document on the AI servers yet, but this is the right UA, it has the same text as the word file I was sent.)

There is fear for the well being of five doctors who spoke out against the Sri Lankan government's methods of warfare during the recent war with the LTTE. They are now being held, and recently a press conference was held in which they recanted their previous accusations. Sri Lanka has a history of torture and ill treatment of prisoners.

AI writes:

Before their capture the doctors had provided eyewitness reports to the media and the international community from hospitals and makeshift medical centres in the conflict zone. Contrary to information from the government, their reports detailed the suffering of ordinary civilians, many of whom died from war-related injuries. Their reports also highlighted shelling of areas with large concentrations of non-combatants.

Please send appeals, before 23/09/09, to:
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 23 September 2009:

• His Excellency the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Presidential Secretariat, Colombo 1, Sri Lanka, Fax: +94 11 2446657 (Salutation: Your Excellency)
• Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Minister of Defence, Ministry of Defence, Public Security, Law and Order, 15/5, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka, Fax: +94 11 245 1529 (Salutation: Dear Minister). NB: I was unsuccessful in getting a fax through to this number.

Send copies to your local Sri Lankan diplomatic mission. In Australia:

• His Excellency Mr Senaka C.B. WALGAMPAYA PC, High Commissioner, High Commission of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, 35 Empire Circuit, Forrest ACT 2603, Fax: (02) 6239 6166, Email : admin@slhcaust.org (Salutation: Your Excellency)

My letter is below.

His Excellency the President Mahinda Rajapaksa
Presidential Secretariat
Colombo 1
Sri Lanka
Fax: +94 11 2446657

Ole Koksvik
Philosophy, RSSS
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia, Tuesday, 18 August 2009


Your Excellency,

My name is Ole Koksvik. I am a Norwegian citizen, an Australian Permanent Resident and a PhD Candidate at the Australian National University.

I write to express my grave concern for doctors Veerakkathipillai Shanmugarajah, Thurairaja Varatharaja, Thangamuttu Sathyamoorthy, Kathirvel Ilancheliyan Vallavan and S. Sivapalanm, who have not been charged since their detention on 15 May 2009.

I call on you to release the doctors immediately, unless they are charged with recognisably criminal offences.

I futhermore call on the Sri Lankan government to repeal or revise emergency regulations and other special security legislation so as to bring them into line with international human rights law and standards.

I also note that I regard with suspicion the retractions of earlier statements which were given by the doctors on the press conference on July the 8th. I call on you to do ensure that the doctors are treated well while in custody, and to ensure, in particular, that they are not subjected to torture or other ill treatment.

Thank you for taking the time to read my concerns.

This letter has been made public here: http://aiua-sent.blogspot.com/

Yours sincerely,

Ole Koksvik