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AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL
'Amnesty' was founded in 1961 by
Peter Benenson, a British labour lawyer, and Eric Baker,
a Quaker and nuclear disarmament activist. Its initial focus
was on letter writing campaigns in support of prisoners
around the world who were 'tortured, imprisoned or executed
because his opinions or religion are unacceptable to his
government'. In September 1962, the organization was renamed
Amnesty International (AI). Adopting 'prisoners of conscience'
became a favoured technique of the organization to exert
pressure on governments.
Eventually, the ambit of AI's interests
widened to include general human rights including the problem
of child soldiers, the death penalty, and abortion rights.
The latter was adopted only in 2007, to the fury of the
Catholic Church which was a traditional supporter of AI.
The question needs to be asked as to why abortion was given
a cold shoulder by AI up until that time. Was this right
suppressed in order to please the Catholic Church? And what
other issues have been ignored? There has been criticism
that the Israeli violations of human rights were ignored
by AI, although recent tussles with Israeli authorities
shows that that possible bias has now been corrected.
AI admits to focusing on democratic
governments in its criticism because they are more prone
to bending under public pressure. Famously, the Americans
rejected AI criticism of its behaviour at Abu Ghraib and
Gitmo. The Israelis piled into AI for 'the pattern of biased,
prejudiced, bigoted, one-sided judgments'. They have a point
because, by attacking democracies for the sake of convenience,
AI exempts terrorist organizations that cause democracies
to engage in conflict in the first place. Compared to the
lashings delivered to Sri Lanka by AI, the Tamil Tigers
have got off easily. Sri Lanka can take comfort in 'Moynihan's
Law' where the late US senator, a champion of human rights,
stated that the number of complaints about a nation's violations
of human rights is inversely proportional to actual violations.-Full
Report-(AIW)
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More
articles:
- Will HRW and AI charge the US for war crimes ?
9th May 2009 -9th May 2009 -Will HRW and AI charge the US for war crimes. A probe confirms deaths due to American airstrikes in Afghanistan: Afghan officials have estimated up to 147 people died in the battle in the western province of Farah on Monday.Saudi Arabia's leading newspaper The Arab News Said in an editorial, "stop killing and start caring about ordinary Afghans. Slaughtering them and then apologizing is contemptible." Aren't civilians everywhere considered equal? Will Human Rights Watch based in NY and Amnesty International based in London crucify us Americans for this? What about war crimes? (Hope we get a free pass!) - A possible Commando Operation, and the doctored reports by the Amnesty International.
19 April 2009 -By Charles.S.Perera -The Amnesty International the most incompetent and most interfering of Organisations says that the official two-day ceasefire in Sri Lanka which ended on Wednesday has not helped to end the suffering of around 100,000 civilians trapped in the conflict zone. It does not seem to understand that it was not due to any fault of the government. It was the terrorists who would not allow the Civilians to budge.
And this incompetent Organisations which has done nothing to ameliorate the situation in Gaza, Palestine, Iraq , Afghanistan, Burma or Pakistan, tries to make out that the suffering of the 100,000 civilians( wrong figures) , trapped in the conflict Zone is the fault of the Government because the 48 hour ceasefire was not long enough.
- AI Have you got any brains ? Open letter to AI
18 April 2009 -From Ben Silva UK -Media reports indicate that you want a ceasefire in Sri Lanka.
The UN reports that Tamil Tiger fighters killed six civilians trying to flee the conflict zone. Evidence indicate that LTTE will kill any one that is trying to leave and they will force civilians to fight against their will. LTTE have planted booby traps and mines to prevent civilians escape their grip.
Have you thought of asking LTTE to surrender ? If they do, then there would be an automatic ceasefire. Is it too much for your tiny brain to think ?
- London MPs again on the rampage
Sunday, 12 April 2009 -Prof Rajiva Wijesinha, Secretary General, Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process -With my adoration of things British, I had always thought of British Parliamentarians as splendid creatures. And I suppose they are, in a way, in that the latest set of effusions puts any exaggerations our Parliamentarians can manage in the shade. Of course the poor creatures are suffering from that well known disease of Parliamentarians, the need to hang on to one’s seat, and some British Labour MPs have a heightened form of this, given the proximity of the next election and the current state of Labour in the polls. - Tamil Protestors Breathing Life in to the LTTE , Not To The Civilians
12th April 2009 - Dr. Chandrani Gunaratna -The latest tactic of the LTTE is to scream that hundreds of civilians are killed daily by the Army shelling, a charge that Sri Lankan army vehemently denies.Certain humanitarian organizations and news agencies citing the so called government health officials, who, while shells are falling within few meters of them, provide daily phone updates on civilian casualties in the no-fire zone, have given credibility to the LTTE's misinformation campaign which is geared to agitate the international community including officials of Western governments against the Sri Lankan government.
- An Amnesty for the Tigers
Wednesday, 08 April 2009 -Rajiva Wijesinha Secretary General, Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process -Amnesty International, with pertinacity worthy of the LTTE, has once more returned to the charge against the Sri Lankan government. As usual it begins its diatribe with affirming its principled balance between an elected government and terrorists, between legitimate armed forces who do not attack civilians and terrorists who do this as a matter of principle, between those who are seeking to free the trapped people Amnesty purports to care about and those who are entrapping them. - Ceasefire would not help save the civilians
25 March 2009-By Neville Ladduwahetty Courtesy The Island -The EU, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and six US Senators have called for a cease-fire to the conflict in Sri Lanka. A cease-fire is expected to provide an opportunity to evacuate the civilians held hostage as a human shield by the LTTE. Since this suggestion has originated from responsible sources with authority, it is necessary to explore whether a cease-fire would in fact save the civilians give the particularities of the context, namely, that they are being held hostage for the specific purpose of providing protection as a "human shield" for the LTTE.
- BBC, Aid Agencies and Sri Lanka
Tuesday, 17 March 2009-Dr. P.A.Samaraweera -The activities of the Aid Agencies have been closely investigated by other countries as well. An extreme case is Sudan, where last week the Aid workers from the International Rescue Committee, Oxfam and Amnesty International were taken to task and asked to cease functioning. Thus the credibility of these organisations has been eroded due to their dual role in developing countries. - SCOPP Secretary General responds at UN dialogue on Displaced Persons
Monday, 16 March 2009 -Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat and Secretary to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights -I am grateful myself, Mr President, since though I was complaining earlier about having to stay on, in a cold and comfortless Geneva, the independent Sri Lankan press reported yesterday that the Peace Secretariat is amongst the targets of the 25 or so LTTE suicide cadres that have infiltrated the capital. It is therefore a relief to linger here to deal with the verbal pyrotechnics of Amnesty International et al, rather than face the real thing.Mr President, Amnesty International at least had the courtesy to have a discussion with us, and I am sorry that the countries of the European Union which raised queries turned down our invitation to discuss issues of concern - Amnesty International bombs South Asia
Friday, 13 March 2009-Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, Secretary General, Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process -Amnesty may well believe Tissainayagam to be innocent, but since it has not been suggested over the last couple of decades that the Sri Lankan judicial system is not independent, it should surely leave this decision to the courts. If it believes the Sri Lankan court system is not fair, it should say so. Amnesty could also urge for a swift trial, but it should bear in mind that the delays in this case are not exceptional. Finally, since there are clear charges issued, it is absurd that Amnesty should claim that 'statements by senior governments (sic) have indicated that the main reason for his arrest is because of his writing in the Sunday Times newspaper'. Amnesty International's resident Cluster Bomb Specialist Jim McDonald has gone on another of his shooting sprees. Over the weekend he sent out releases targeting both the Sri Lankan and the Pakistani governments.
Human
Rights imperialism and western intervention
By Gomin Dayasri
Western Paternalism has intervened in the affairs of the weaker
countries which are economically underdeveloped under the cloak
of human rights legalizing an extended international role for
itself in conflict situations. The thrust is made politically,
economically or militarily. From UN to NATO from IMF to World
Bank integrated are human right concerns and aid is conditional
on an ethical agenda. The Human Rights bandwagon has rolled
on from Bosnia to Sudan to Somalia to Haiti to Sierra Leone
to East Timor to Congo to Kosova to Afghanistan to Iraq during
the last decade. Under different pretexts Russia intervened
in Chechnya, India in East Pakistan and China in Tibet and the
United States in Cuba (Bay of Pigs),Nicaragua (Contras) Grenada
(removal of Maurice Bishop),Guatemala (overthrow of Jacobo Arabenz)
Viet Nam (Communist takeover ) Chile (installing Pinochet) El
Salvador (backing Salvadorian National Guard). Human Rights
after the Cold War and the War on Drugs replaced the Communist
threat to interfere and intervene. Such interventions breaches
international law, Article 2(4) of the UN Charter and disregards
the concept of sovereignty and therefore requires an ethical
and moral human face with human rights utilized as the licensed
vehicle to intervene in the affairs of other states. Hiroshima
and Nagasaki is never treated as genocide and what would otherwise
be termed barbaric and treated as uncivilized becomes moral
and ethical and lauded as an honorable triumph.-Full
Story-(ai-watch.net)
Human
Rights VS the right to life
Sri Lanka refutes misleading claims
The Permanent Mission of
Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva 11th December
2007
Mr Chairman, everyone prescribes for Sri Lanka,
while not everyone studies our situation deeply. We are as you
know in the throes of dealing with a very violent terrorist
movement. Other countries, dealing with proportionately less
dangerous, proportionately less murderous, organizations, have
had to make adjustments with regard to the rights they have
striven to uphold, and we are no exception. However, we continue
aware of the importance of human rights, and welcome all assistance
to maintain these, whilst we continue with our struggle against
terrorism that is so destructive of perhaps the most fundamental
right of all, the right to life
-Full
Report-(HRWW)
How
to Kill Civilians in the Name of “Human Rights”: Lessons from
Sri Lanka
Michael Radu, Ph.D., is Co-Chair
of FPRI’s Center on Terrorism, Counter-Terrorism, and Homeland
Security
After a conflict of more than a quarter of a century of terrorism
and civil war that killed 70,000 people, Sri Lankans finally think
they have defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),
perhaps the world’s most murderous terrorist organization. Why
and how a small country of 21 million succeeded in defeating such
a group where much bigger powers have failed is a good lesson
for those who study terrorism and counterinsurgency. These lessons
are primarily political and legal, but also military and diplomatic,
and they include both successes and pitfalls in a small country’s
road to peace and development. Key to understanding why the LTTE
lasted for so long and why India was involved in Sri Lanka on
and off at various times is the fact that some 60 million Tamils
live in three southern Indian states, primarily Tamil Nadu, and
many of those support the LTTE out of ethnic solidarity. Equally,
if not more, important, there is a large (ca. 800,000) Sri Lankan
Tamil diaspora, mostly in Canada, the UK, Australia, the U.S.,
and southeast Asia. This diaspora is radicalized and, like most
diasporas living in safety, more radical than co-nationals in
the country of origin. It still provides the funds, propaganda
support, and public relations vital to the LTTE’s survival.-Full
Story-(fpri.org/)
Amnesty
International strengthening terrorist efforts to embarrass Govt.
- Ex-director of AI was LTTE rep. in Geneva
Courtesy The Island 06-04-2007
by Shamindra Ferdinando
10th April 2007 The hotly disputed Amnesty International-led campaign,
styled ‘play by the rules’, written on dummy cricket balls targeting
the Sri Lankan cricket team, participating in the World Cup in
the Caribbean, reveals the growing relationship between AI bigwigs
and the LTTE. Authoritative sources said that this was a part
of a wider conspiracy against the Sri Lankan government. The sources
accused the London-headquartered human rights watchdog of strengthening
LTTE efforts to internationally embarrass Sri Lanka. The sources
said that the AI action was a continuation of an effort to isolate
Sri Lanka and strengthen the LTTE’s case against the State.-Full
Report -( AI-WATCH)
Benevolent
Foreign Intervention -The New Scourge of the Third World?
By: Gomin Dayasri
Gomin Dayasri is a leading Sri Lankan lawyer who was a delegate
to the peace talks in Geneva with the Tamil Tigers
8th March 2008
The New Scourge of the Third World? The discerning observer of
events sees the recent voices of a constructed calumny raised
against Sri Lanka, accusing it of being a major violator of human
rights, as an ominous sign of the malevolent designs of the Western
Powers to bring about the death and destruction of a great civilization
that has hitherto been the envy of many in the world. Is this
the revenge which the West seeks against Sri Lanka which has defied
the grim forebodings of inevitable defeat in the “unwinnable war”,
that was unfailingly preached during the last two decades, to
kill or undermine the Island’s determination to defend its sovereignty
and protect its territorial integrity? This serves as a timely
warning to all loyal and patriotic citizens of Sri Lanka to be
ready to man the barricades in defense of our motherland and meet
this challenge unflinchingly and with determination.-Full
Report-( AI-WATCH)
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