Tamil Americans rallied in front of the UN last Tuesday to protest the UN's inaction over the killings of more than 20,000 Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan forces in the last few weeks of the civil war and UN's impotence on the forcible confinement of nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians in internment camps.
Joe Ratnam, a spokesman for the US Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC) said, "USTPAC endorses and supports this rally by the activists concerned about human rights. Sri Lanka is attempting to destroy the Tamil community on the island and this crime is NOT being effectively challenged by the United Nations."
He added "Over 125,000 Tamils have been killed in total by shelling, disappearances, extrajudicial executions, and anti-Tamil pogroms in an effort to destroy the Tamil community in Sri Lanka. Currently 282,000 Tamil civilians are being held indefinitely in military-controlled internment camps in unsanitary conditions without adequate food and water.
Ratnam decried the conditions in the camps as 'pathetic'. Ratnam said "Inhumane health conditions get even worse when heavy rain sends rivers of sewage cascading through tents and tin sheds, Malnutrition-related complications have resulted in increased deaths, Doctors in the camps have warned of 'impending disaster if conditions do not improve.'"
Another USTPAC activist said "While Western nations call for an investigation of war crimes, the Sri Lankan government continues to deny independent investigators and journalists' access to war-torn areas. They recently sentenced a Tamil journalist J. S. Tissainayagam to 20 years of hard labor. The Sri Lankan government continues to expel aid workers who dare to speak up, including a UNICEF spokesperson, James Elder, earlier this month."
The USTPAC spokesman recalled an event when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was taken to the internment camps on a conducted tour last May "where Ban Ki-moon said, 'I was so sad, and so humbled by what I have seen. I have traveled all around the world and visited similar places, but this is by far the most appalling scene I have seen'".
The spokesman said "Yet the UN, under the leadership of Ban Ki-moon, has done precious little to unlock the internment camps and hold the Sri Lankan government accountable for its war crimes.
"The situation has gotten even more appalling now," said Ratnam, "with no effective response from the UN." "The UN is unable to free its own staff members from the camp," the spokesman added.
