Sarah Hanson-Youn backs war crimes investigation

Statement by Senator Hanson-Young on Sri Lanka

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Greens spokesperson on Human Rights:

“The Australian Greens are extremely concerned about recent reports expanding on allegations of human rights violations perpetrated during the Sri Lankan civil war.

“We would like to see a fully independent international investigation into these allegations. It is important that any investigation should have consequences for anyone found to have committed human rights violations.

“The Greens believe that this process could and should operate in conjunction with the UN’s Advisory Panel on Sri Lanka which was set up earlier this year.

“There is a groundswell of concern around the world about the situation in Sri Lanka – British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has voiced his concern about the allegations of human rights violations, while numerous members of the US House of Representatives and Senate have called on the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, to support an investigation.

“An independent inquiry that is free to find the truth of what happened in the civil war is necessary if Sri Lanka is to have any chance of ongoing peace and reconciliation. We call on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to add the Government’s support for this independent investigation.”

Greens Lee Rhiannon speaks about SL war crimes to 1200 people

At the SYDNEY Wikileaks rally last Friday which had over 1200 protesters and more than a dozen journalists – Greens Senator-elect Lee Rhiannon in her speech mentioned the Wikileaks cable which named Mahinda Rajapakse as responsible for the massacre of the Tamils.

Lee Rhiannon also called for the Australian Prime Minister to back calls for a war crimes tribunal for Sri Lanka. From the audio recording of her speech [which we hope to attach to this blog post soon] you can hear that this was received with much applause from the protesters.

Part of the transcript is as follows:

[LEE RHIANNON] I would just like to give a couple of examples of how important this Wikileaks material is – how it can make a difference to the lives of people particularly in low income countries and I believe save lives. There was a cable sent by the US Ambassador in Sri Lanka on the 15th of January –  this is Patricia Butenis and she is referring to war crimes committed in Sri Lanka. I will just read out the words.  She says in Sri Lanka:

TAKEN FROM THE US EMBASSY CABLE : responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country’s senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and the opposition candidate.

[LEE RHIANNON] Now that statement right now is putting pressure on government leaders – particularly western government leaders around the world to back a war crimes tribunal – and that is what is needed – and again if the Prime Minister of this country is to start restoring her integrity she should get behind it. War crimes were committed against the Tamil community, hundreds killed and injured, suffering continuing to this day, and the war crimes tribunal must be established. [END]

Along with Greens leader Bob Brown, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young and her other Green colleagues all across Australia – Lee Rhiannon has consistently shown her solidarity to the human rights and human dignity of all human beings including the Tamils who are continuing to suffer immensely at the hands of the Government of Sri Lanka.

Lee Rhiannon speaking at the Wikileaks rally in Sydney

Rallies were held all over Australia in support of Julian Assange