Sri lanka Event a Success

Today, Thursday July 22nd, the Amnesty International Midwest Office took a trip to Federal Plaza to raise awareness about war crimes in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka has been racked for almost three decades by a bloody civil war between the Sri Lankan state and the Tamil Tigers-- a separatist group seeking an independent state for the island's Tamil minority. The civil war finally came to an end last year, but at the cost of thousands of civilian casualties and hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people. The internally displaced have been subjected to poor living conditions and had their freedom of movement restricted by the authorities for most of last year. What is more, many victims of past crimes have been left without recourse to justice.

Amnesty International is calling on the international community and the United Nations to support an independent, impartial investigation into past atrocities and war crimes in Sri Lanka-- to demand accountability and to ensure that no one's human rights in Sri Lanka will be violated again. The Sri Lankan government is currently conducting its own investigation into the history of the civil war, but as one of the parties to the conflict, it can hardly be expected to be impartial-- it also has a poor record of investigating abuses in the past and holding those guilty accountable.

We must end impunity for war criminals and take a step toward righting past wrongs. Amnesty does not favor one side or the other in the Sri Lankan civil war-- both sides have committed gross atrocities, including bombing civilians, using human shields, and conscripting child soldiers. Accountability means holding both sides to the higher standard of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The interns at the Amnesty Midwest office held signs, distributed literature, and explained to the passers-by what is taking place in Sri Lanka and what needs to change. Our most important task of the day, however, was to collect signatures for a petition to President Obama, demanding that the United States provide international support and leadership on this issue. We received numerous positive responses from those who visited with us, and we thank the people of Chicago for their interest.

Help us keep the struggle for human rights in Sri Lanka alive. You can take action online here and here. Make your voice heard.