PPT judgement upholds Eelam Tamil identity and nomenclature
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 January 2014, 10:42 GMT]The full report of the judgement of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal
on Sri Lanka (Bremen Session), released on Wednesday, came out with a
discussion on the choice of nomenclature to identify the victims of
genocide and has decided on the use of the term “Eelam Tamils as a
national group.” This recognition, coming for the first time, from a
credible global body of humanity such as the Peoples’ Tribunal,
nullifies the so-called legitimacy in the insistence of the use of the
term ‘Sri Lankan Tamil’ thrust on the victims by various States and
their international organisations. This part of the PPT judgement is of
equal importance like the verdict on genocide, complicity etc., and the
implementation of it is of much practical value to the people’s struggle
of the victims, said Tamil civil activists.
PPT verdict released at Geneva Press Club
Dr Gianni Tognoni, the secretary general of the PPT
“Regarding the characterization of
the victims as belonging to a particular national, ethnical, racial or
religious group population, the Tribunal specifies that the victims are
in this case the Eelam Tamils as a national group,” said the PPT
judgement report (5.1.4.3).
In coming out with its verdicts, the
PPT judgement report has been widely using phrases such as, Eelam
Tamils, Eelam Tamil national group, Eelam Tamil group, Eelam Tamil
people, Eelam Tamil population, Eelam Tamil women, Eelam Tamil
generations, Eelam Tamil territory, Eelam Tamil areas, Eelam Tamil
identity etc.
Dr Dennis Halliday, former assistant secretary-general of the United Nations
The PPT judgement recommendations
to the UN, EU, Germany, Sri Lanka and to the international organizations
and agencies – governmental as well as non-governmental – have also
asked them to respect and promote the
Eelam Tamil identity and rights of Eelam Tamils in the island as well as in the diaspora.
The
universal implementation of the PPT judgement on the identity and
nomenclature mainly depends on the will power of the Eezham Tamils in
consciously avoiding the use of Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan and Sri Lankan
Tamil in their interactions among them and with others, commented
diaspora activists.
* * *
Further excerpts from the judgement on identity:
Dr. Haluk Gerger, a Turkish academic and Middle East analyst
“According to both the objective
and subjective approaches of the group accepted by the International
Criminal Tribunals and the International Court of Justice, the protected
group should be ‘stable and permanent, sharing a common national
identity’ as with the Eelam Tamils (objective approach); it is also
perceived as such by the members of the group themselves (subjective
approach).”
“The Eelam Tamil designation refers to the Tamils in
the north and east of the island, and it is important to note that the
Eelam Tamil identity pre-dates the armed struggle, emerging
progressively and with increased intensity in recent years, indeed as a
result of the oppression that compelled the Tamils to assert their right
to self-determination in their traditional homeland.”
“While the
word “Eelam” had earlier been used by Tamils as the name for the whole
of the island, it became increasingly used to denote the area and people
of the desired independent north and east.”
* * *
However, the PPT judgement report has not used the term “Eelam Tamils as a nation.”
The
prosecution of the Tribunal, while making its statement, has put the
following among others for the consideration of the judges, and the term
Eelam Tamil nation has been used:
“The peoples of the world
should recognize the legitimate struggle of the Eelam Tamil nation that
is denied by genocidal violence. Their voluntary wish is a separate
state,” the prosecution statement said.
While delivering the judgement, the following observations were made by the judges:
“A
national group often comprises several different ethnic groups.... The
concept of nation therefore does not coincide with the ethnic group but
is characterized by a common wish to live together, a common ideal, a
common goal and common aspirations,” the judgement cited the fourth
report of the Special Rapporteur on the Draft Code of Offences Against
the Peace and Security of Mankind.
“It is clear that the main
target of this particular genocide has been the Eelam Tamil national
group, even if it did not constitute the whole of the Tamil group, but
that part of it that expressed the will of living in common, with common
ideals, goals and aspirations,” the judgement said.
It seems Eezham Tamils are yet to present a more powerful case at the PPT to prove them a nation.
* * *
PPT verdict finding Sri Lanka guilty of the crime of genocide and ongoing genocide:
“On
the strength of the evidence presented, the Tribunal reached the
consensus ruling that the state of Sri Lanka is guilty of the crime of
genocide against Eelam Tamils and that the consequences of the genocide
continue to the present day with ongoing acts of genocide against Eelam
Tamils.”
* * *
Verdict on the complicity of the UK:
“The
Tribunal found that UK complicity in the genocide against the Eelam
Tamils during the period of the armed struggle and its repression was
overt and explicit and qualifies as “‘aid or assistance’ furnished by
one State for the commission of a wrongful act by another State", under
Article 16 of the International Law Commission’s Articles on State
Responsibility. Further, the Tribunal views the events of 2009 as the
logical manifestation of the structural genocide that had been put in
place during the colonial period and in the construction of the newly
independent unitary Sri Lankan state.”
* * *
Verdict on the complicity of the USA:
“Active
US complicity in the genocide arises not only from its sustained
efforts to increase the power and effectiveness of the Sri Lankan
military, the direct perpetrator of the genocidal acts taking place in
the last months of the war, but perhaps even more significantly from its
role in blocking and even reversing political and diplomatic
initiatives to implement the peace process and in blacking out
information on the unfolding critical situation and the unprecedented
worldwide protests by Tamil communities in the diaspora. These military
and non-military actions constitute “the provision of means to enable or
facilitate the commission of the crime”, as determined to be included
in “complicity” in genocide by the International Court of Justice in
February 2007.”
* * *
On the Alleged Complicity of the Indian State:
The
Tribunal was asked to consider the accusation that “the Indian state is
guilty of being complicit in the crime of Genocide against the Tamil
people".
“In the late 1980’s India intervened against the LTTE in
order to gain control over the Tamil population in Sri Lanka as a
strategic asset, an action that resulted in the death of 12,000. In the
1990’s India, played the role of a junior partner in a strategic
alliance with the United States, and has continued to subordinate its
strategic policy approach towards Sri Lanka under the US war paradigm.”
“Owing
to the complexity of India’s shifting role within the conflict in Sri
Lanka and, as there was neither sufficient material evidence nor time
for the Tribunal to consider properly the afore-stated Accusation, the
panel of judges decided to postpone deliberations of the question.”
[The
prosecution in its statement has said the following on India’s
complicity with genocide: “The panel has been provided with a
comprehensive documentation pack that we ask be fully studied, although
we recognise it arrived quite late in the process, through no fault of
its authors....]
* * *
On India, China and others:
Recognizing
that the Sri Lankan state alone did not have the capacity to achieve
its genocidal ambitions, and given the evidence presented, the Tribunal
believes that the UK, the USA and India are guilty of complicity in
genocide. Further, the Tribunal judges that the UK and the USA are
clearly accomplices in the genocidal process. Regarding the charge
against India, the Tribunal decides to withhold its final decision
pending the consideration of additional evidence, which could include
examination of the potential responsibility of other States, such as
China.
* * *
Some highlights among recommendations:
To the UN:
“To give maximum priority to the
establishment of a strategy aimed primarily at stopping the ongoing
genocide, and also at creating concrete conditions for the Eelam Tamils
to exercise their rights to peace and self-determination.”
To the EU:
To review its external policy, in
order to assure that the political, economic, and cultural rights of the
Eelam Tamils are respected and promoted with specific attention to the
difficult situation of denial and repression created by the Sri Lankan
government.
To Germany the host country of the tribunal:
“In
particular, to promote and request within the pertinent European
institutions – including the Council of the EU, European Commission and
the European Parliament – the adoption of measures directed to ensure
the protection and promotion of the rights of the Eelam Tamil diaspora
in EU member states, specifically with regard to their right to asylum,
work and association, since the protection of the Eelam Tamil diaspora
is one of the paramount means of fostering the security and well-being
of Eelam Tamils in Sri Lanka.”
To international organisations and NGOs:
- To
coordinate as far as possible their actions so that peaceful processes
of civic resistance, and restitution and promotion of the identity of
Eelam Tamils can take place in their homeland in Sri Lanka, as well as
in their diaspora.
Recommendation on universal observation of Mullivaikkal Day:
“Finally,
the Tribunal invites worldwide civil society and governments to
commemorate the victims of the genocide that took place in Sri Lanka and
acknowledge the anguish and trauma of the victims and their families by
marking 18 May as ‘Mullivaikkal Commemoration Day.’ This symbolic step
can signal the redemptive process that the global community should
embark on to safeguard the memory of the victims.”
* * *
Excerpts from what the prosecution in its statement had asked the judges to consider:
[On behalf of the prosecution team, Andy Higginbottom and Karen Parker have made the prosecution statement.]
“This
is a Genocide in which the question of national self determination and
the legitimacy or not of an armed struggle for independent statehood is
at stake. The denial of national self determination is at the heart of
this genocide. As a result of their experiences of persecution, physical
and cultural destruction, and abandonment over decades, the Eelam
Tamils refuse to accept the paradigm that they remain a second class
minority within the unitary Sri Lankan state. They determine themselves
as Eelam Tamils, not Sri Lankan Tamils, seeking their own homeland.”
“We
appeal to the panel of judges and we call on all people of conscience,
social movements and states around the world to speak out against the
genocide and recognize the legitimacy of Eelam Tamils to national self
determination. The prevention of genocide and realization of national
rights are inseparable in this case.”
The PPT Panel at Bremen in December 2013
The PPT Panel at Bremen in December 2013
Chronology:
