Advocating for Civilians in Sri Lanka
By Some professors in Canada are attempting to “bridge the theory/policy divide.” 125 Canadian academics circulated a statement last week calling on the Canadian government to spearhead efforts to resolve the worsening humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka.
The group makes a compelling case:
“Most independent observers estimate that more than 200,000 Tamil civilians, many already displaced multiple times, have been under siege in the tiny coastal strip with at least 50,000 still there. Confirmed reports indicate that more than 6,400 civilians, including 700 children, have been killed since January 2009.
Displaced persons who have managed to flee the fighting have been placed in de facto detention camps by the Sri Lankan government where they are denied freedom of movement, in contravention of international standards. There are over 40,000 displaced people being held in 13 sites in the Vavuniya District in overcrowded conditions without adequate access to healthcare, food and water. There are reports of rape, torture and killings in the camps (Medico International, Germany, April 16, 2009). Civilians who are suspected of LTTE ties have been taken into government custody, leading to fears of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, tactics the government and its allied militias have employed in significant numbers over the past few years (Amnesty International, ASA 37/004/2009).
Recent artillery attacks by Sri Lankan forces have indiscriminately targeted civilians and civilian objects, in contravention of international humanitarian law. There are credible reports that the Sri Lankan army may be using illegal cluster bombs as well as thermobaric bombs in the safe zone with high civilian casualties. There have been more than two dozen incidents of artillery shelling or aerial bombardment on or near hospitals, in flagrant violation of the Geneva Conventions. The presence of wounded combatants in hospitals does not turn them into legitimate targets. Deliberately attacking a hospital is a war crime. At the same time we deplore the LTTE’s forcible recruitment of civilians, including children, for untrained military duty and for labour in the combat zones as well as its practice of forcing civilians to retreat with its forces, deliberately preventing civilians under its effective control from fleeing to safety. Nevertheless, violations of the laws of war by one side to a conflict do not justify violations by the opposing side. They do not permit the indiscriminate use of force by the Sri Lankan forces in response (Human Rights Watch, 20 Februrary 2009).
Amen. However, reading this left me with a few questions about this group’s strategy. First of all, while most of the claims above are indisputable, a few leave me wondering, and for a statement prepared by academics, there is a dearth of sources cited (a few parenthetical citations give too little information for me to follow sources online so that I could link to them in this post).
What, for example, is the authors’ “credible source” on Sri Lanka’s use of thermobaric weapons? I have seen this concern raised (e.g. here) and (the LTTE has also been accused of using thermobarics as long ago as 2005). But these do not strike me as particularly credible sources, especially given the authors’ misperception that thermobaric weapons are banned in international law (they should be, but they’re not). And David Hamblin at Danger Room points out that none of these claims are verifiable – not that they should matter, slaughter is slaughter, thermobaric or not. Anyway, I’d have expected the academics writing this statement to distinguish between clear-cut facts and the variety of claims out there, or at least provide a citation to some independent report of which I, and more importantly their target audience, might simply not be aware.
I completely support this group’s aims. But I worry that failing to distinguish facts from claims and provide documentary evidence of such statements undermines these scholars’ very worthy case, and more importantly their value-added as academics.
Which leads to a different question. Were these concerned citizens really writing as academics or as Canadian citizens, and what’s the difference if anything? In a statement to the press, Sherry Aiken who initiated the petition said:
“The fact that so many Canadian Tamils are continuing to lose family members and riends in the ongoing crisis is what prompted us as concerned Canadian academics to stand in solidarity with them.”
I wonder if you need to be an academic in order for such concerns to have resonance. And I wonder whether academics should be taking stands as academics on issues that concern them primarily for personal reasons.
OK, lots of different issues raised here, comment away.