The war is not over - No Fire Zone screening at Kings College London

23 February 2 !" The con#lict on the island o# $ri Lan%a continues today& stated 'lan Keenan o# the (nternational Crisis )rou* and Callu+ ,acrae& director o# -No Fire Zone.& at a screening o# the docu+entary in Kings College London earlier this wee%/ 0osted by the 1ar Cri+es 2esearch )rou* at Kings College London& director Callu+ ,acrae introduced the docu+entary& stressing the need #or i++ediate action on the issue/ 0e stated& -This is not just an academic exercise on accountability - this is a live issue... The international community catastrophically failed, now they must do something at least to create justice. -A precondition for reconciliation is justice... The 9, ! and year old survivors, in ! years time, if the international community fails to deliver justice, will get justice by their own hands. 0is co++ents were echoed by 'lan Keenan& a senior analyst on $ri Lan%a at the (nternational Crisis )rou*& who noted& -"hat we see in #yria today perhaps wouldn$t be happening %uite as it did we had a clear commitment in #ri &an'a. Keenan went on to add that& $ri Lan%an do+estic en3uiries *roducing *rosecutions were -#ew and #ar between. stating there were -literally only a hand#ul o# cases and certainly no senior levels o# *rosecution./ -"e don$t have a body that will establish with any ease an international independent investigation... The ()*+, has no teeth. -f it can$t establish

an investigation, then calling on a government that is %uite possibly guilty itself, is not going to happen, added .eenan. 2es*onding to a 3uestion in the audience on other +easures that could be ta%en by +e+ber states& Keenan re#erred to a Feb 2 !3 (C) re*ort 4see here5& which called on states to consider travel restrictions on +e+bers o# the $ri Lan%an govern+ent/ Noting that both 6e#ence $ecretary )otabhaya 2a7a*a%sa and ,inister #or 8cono+ic 6evelo*+ent 9asil 2a7a*a%sa were re*ortedly :$ citi;ens& Keenan went on to add that govern+ents could use their own legal syste+s to *rosecute +e+bers o# the $ri Lan%an govern+ent/ 0e went on to add& -/overnments have their own responsibility under international law to pursue war criminals... A lot of tools are available to governments around the world. 6iscussing the #inal stages o# the ar+ed con#lict& ,acrae noted& -"hile these massacres were going on Tamils were screaming... 0utside of the *ouses of 1arliament Tamils were camped out every day and nobody listened.... 2"hat happened was3 the catastrophic results of failure to listen to Tamils. -There is a fundamental problem which is that the Tamils were not listened to and they are the voice that need to be listened to the most. Keenan also stated that& -"e have a pretty clear picture of what happened by both sides, principally by the government of #ri &an'a. 0e went on to recount his e<*erience in the 8uro*ean =arlia+ent when 9ritish Conservative ,8= Ni7 6eva *ressed that the $ri Lan%an ar+y was engaged in a -hostage rescue +ission. labelled an -absurd *ro*agandistic clai+./ 9oth s*ea%ers also re#lected on the current situation on the island& with ,acrae stating& -The governmet is destroying everything that is Tamil. &and grabs are ta'ing place on a massive scale, sexual violence on a huge scale... 4specially with the use of rape as a weapon of oppression - it$s so culturally destructive. ,acrae recounted the co++ents o# an ar+y co++ander in >a##na& who *roclai+ed that Ta+ils were no longer -*ure Ta+ils. because $inhalese blood was in the+ and that a +assive 2s/ ? +illion had been *aid out by the govern+ent to +ilitary #a+ilies having their third child/

-This process is going on in every minute... "ith every month that passes the possibility of a political solution gets less and less. The war is not over, added 5acrae. $tating that the di##erence between attac%s on Ta+ils and attac%s on $inhalese was -*ro#ound. ,acrae also said& --n the )orth-4ast it is an attac' on the people. -t is a conscious and deliberate decision... 2it is a3 drive to destroy Tamil ma'e up of )orth, a profound and thought out process. Keenan agreed that there was -an ongoing assault on Ta+il character o# North-8ast. but added the -central issue o# con#lict between two co++unities does not e<*lain it all./ $tating that -+ilitarisation is beginning to worry the $inhalese too.& Keenan went on to say& -0ne has to be careful to recognise ethnicity... 6ut simultaneous see other rights being violated... The Tamils suffer because they are Tamil but also suffer because they want rights. $*ea%ing on whether the ter+ genocide was a**licable to the situation on the island& ,acrae stated that he had not ta%en a *osition on the ter+/ 9ut he said that a %ey test o# genoide is whether there is intent/ 0e added --t does seem #ri &an'a is determined by what they$re doing now 2to the Tamils in the )orth-4ast3 that there was intent all along. $ee our live tweets #ro+ the event on our Twitter account here/