As the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session is scheduled to discuss Sri Lanka’s human rights record on Wednesday (21), war-affected Tamils warn the UN body not to be deceived again by the tales of the government about land forcefully occupied by the security forces.
While still thousands of acres of land are still under the occupation of the security forces, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) told the UN Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in February that most of the occupied land have been returned to the owners which is contrary to the truth.
The UNHRC that champions a ‘victim centered approach’ has time and again gone by what the government says. Tamils affected by the war and continued to be oppressed feel the repeated falsehoods of the government has not been apparently scrutinized by the UN.
The Government's claims in two consecutive reports of the UN within two years contradict each other on the extent of the lands occupied by the military in the North and East of the island.
Two years ago, the UN had quoted the government saying over 92 percent of private land is to be handed back. “..around 89.26 per cent of State lands and 92.22 per cent of private lands held in 2009 had been returned by 31 December 2019,” said the UN Human Rights Commissioner in 2021. That was when Gotabaya Rajapaksa, ousted by popular uprising, was president.
A team led by Foreign Minister Ali Sabry told the UPR working group on Sri Lanka: “A total of 92 per cent of private lands retained by the military in the Northern and Eastern Provinces had been released to the legitimate civilian owners through the local government authorities, as of January 2023. Over 100 acres of land under the army and navy in Palaly in the Northern Province would be released shortly”.
Tamils and their elected representatives highlight that the statement is not only misleading but totally untrue. They fear the misrepresentations by the Ranil Wickremesinghe led Government this time again will be yet another blow to reclaiming their lands and taking forward their livelihoods.
Tamil people demand the UNHRC and other international bodies to come and see for themselves independently and verify the claims by the Government.
Sri Lankan security forces are still holding thousands of acres of land across the traditional Tamil homeland in the North and East depriving them of their livelihood and putting them into grave economic deprivation, senior Tamil MP Sivagnanam Siritharan has accused again.
Terming the Government’s statement to the UNHRC on details of lands occupied by the security forces as a “white lie”, MP Siritharan says anybody visiting the North and East of the country can see for themselves the extent of lands forcefully occupied by the security forces.
The Office of the Human Rights Commissioner had then endorsed the Government’s statement which was termed ‘disappointing and humiliating’ by the Tamils at that time.
In the Jaffna district alone, more than 3000 acres are still being held by the security forces where they involve in agriculture activities and sell the produce to local public, similarly in Pooneryn, the military is running hotels, security posts in lands belonging to the Tamil people, Siritharan further pointed out.
More than 180 military checkpoints and camps are functioning in the private lands of the Tamils in the Jaffna district and efforts are on to take over them permanently for the military, he further alleges.
“In the town areas of Kilinochchi district 40% of the lands are either military camps or military bases even now. In the whole nation, Kilinochchi is the only district which doesn’t have a city and the reason is most places are under military occupation,” he said.
Adding further, the Jaffna district MP said the huge land area just behind the Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank, Kilinochchi Maha Vidyalaya and its playground are under army control. Even lands belonging to temples have not been released and as nowhere in the country a military camp is functioning in a two-acre area within the District Secretariat (Kachcheri) in Kilinochchi.
And, the list is extensive, says Siritharan.
The 400 acres of land of the state agriculture farm in Vaddakkachchi in Kilinochchi district belongs to the public, which is still occupied by the military.
“In Kowthari Munai beach, the military is collecting 300 rupees per head for the locals to bathe in the sea. Even beaches have been occupied. Instances of the military occupying public places is widespread depriving locals of their democratic rights," he added.
He accuses the government of a sinister plan of colonizing the traditional Tamil areas. “The Government is deliberately taking forward actions to change the demography of the North East region by realigning villages expanding the Sinhala colonisation thereby perpetuating genocidal acts by annihilating the dwelling places of the Tamils”.
Tamil people are pained by the ‘pro-state’ of the UN bodies who are fed by state information.
“Unfortunately, the world believes what the Sri Lankan Government says. The UN Human Rights Council or the UN Secretary-General and even the UN bodies just listen and take it as gospel what’s being said by the state, but fail to either understand the reality or find the truth," he observed.
Siritharan adds that international bodies should do some independent studies and ascertain the truth and not fall victim to state lies.
“When the Government deliberately lies through its teeth, the International Community and the UN bodies believe it without fact checking. The Tamils feel very much pained by such a stand. Even now the government continues its false propaganda”.
In Trincomalee-Kuchchaveli area alone, lands have been occupied to construct 32 Buddhist Shrines. The international community should be aware of such acts, he adds. “We have not only been killed by bullets, but being killed continuously through a structurally planned cultural genocide. In another five or ten years it will be a big question mark if Tamils will live in their traditional homeland in the North and East”.
None of the 294 recommendations by the UPR working group is on the issue of handing back military occupied land.
The UN apparently playing second fiddle to the GoSL is a worrying thing for the Tamils.
(Siva Parameswaran)
