war crimes un what do you do ?

Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:06 am » by **Truthseeker**

yes un what do you do a no fly zone a war with nato no nothing its not got oil so who cares .
Channel 4 to broadcast Sri Lanka's Killing FieldsFriday 10 June 2011 A special one-hour film showing devastating new evidence of war crimes committed during the Sri Lankan civil war is to be broadcast in the UK. The film documents the final bloody weeks of the Sri Lankan civil war and features damning new evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The film Sri Lanka Killing Fields includes footage of apparent extra-judicial massacres of prisoners by Sri Lankan government forces, the aftermath of targeted shelling of civilian hospitals and the bodies of female Tamil fighters who appear to have been sexually assaulted.

The film does not only focus on the Sri Lankan government troops - it also examines atrocities carried out by the Tamil Tigers, including the use of human shields, and footage depicting the aftermath of a suicide bombing in a government centre for the displaced.

Presented by Jon Snow, Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, was shown to the United Nations Human Rights Council at the end of May.

The UN screening was attended by a number of ambassadors from nations including the US and UK.

Jon Snow says the film is "one of the most important" stories he has ever reported saying:

"It tells the story of the bloody end to Sri Lanka's civil war - in which at least 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed. I have reported civil wars before, not least in Central America in the 1980s but I have never seen such graphic evidence, often at the hands of government soldiers themselves of what have all the hallmarks of war crimes.

"The film is important in that it represents one of the most shocking films ever screened on Channel 4. It has to be so, there are accusations of war crimes by both sides.

"This film is also vastly important because, it represents the conclusion of two years' worth of courageous journalism by the Channel 4 News team in the face of great adversity including repeated challenges to our integrity by the Sri Lankan authorities.

"It forms a vital part of the evidence of alleged war crimes - crimes, allegations which the UN itself has called "credible". It shows Channel 4 putting a campaign for truth and justice at the very centre of its News and Current Affairs output. And above all, it shines bright unflinching light on a terrible crime - a crime which so far has gone unpunished."

Channel 4 News first broadcast the footage allegedly showing government troops executing Tamil prisoners in August 2009.

Last November, a second video of the same massacre emerged, revealing the naked dead bodies of at least seven women. The faces of some of the government troops could also be seen.

Following an investigation, Channel 4 News identified of one of the female victims in the video as a high profile member of the Tamil Tiger communications team. A potential date and location of the massacre was also determined.

A UN special envoy said the footage appeared to be evidence of "serious international crimes".

The Sri Lankan government has consistently rejected the footage as falsified.

As the UN says it will continue its investigations, pressure has increased on the Sri Lankan authorities to allow an international inquiry into allegations that thousands of civilians were killed at the end of the 26-year war.

Channel 4's Head of News & Current Affairs Dorothy Byrne, who commissioned the programme, says:

"The footage is probably the most horrific the channel has ever shown. The decision to show it at length was made only after serious and careful consideration. We believe this dossier of visual evidence combined with harrowing eye-witness testimony represents prima facie evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by forces of the Government of Sri Lanka. It is of the greatest possible public interest and as such we have a duty to journalistically scrutinise it."

The film, directed by Callum Macrae, provides powerful evidence - including photographic stills, official Sri Lankan army video footage and satellite imagery - which contradicts the Sri Lankan government's claims of a policy of 'Zero Civilian Casualties'. The film raises serious questions about the failures of the international community to intervene and prevent the deaths of up to 40,000 people and lends new urgency to the UN-appointed panel of expert's call for an international inquiry to be mounted.

Macrae said: "The Sri Lankan government wanted a war without witness - deporting journalists and pressurising UN representatives to leave - but it didn't allow for the extraordinary power of mobile phone and satellite technology. We have trawled through hours of painfully raw recordings of the some of the most awful events I have ever seen in many years of war reporting. Sri Lanka's Killing Fields raises serious questions about the consequences if the UN fails to act - not only for Sri Lanka but for future violations of international law."

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields will be transmitted in the UK on 14 June, and will be available online shortly afterwards.
More on this storyUN screens Channel 4 Sri Lanka war crimes film 03 June 2011 Channel 4 News Sri Lanka execution footage: UN calls for investigation 31 May 2011 Channel 4 News Sri Lanka 'war crimes': UN chief can't order probe 26 April 2011 Channel 4 News Sri Lanka 'war crimes' video: woman's body identified 08 December 2010 Jonathan Miller

Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:11 am » by **Keniwaki**

I didn't know they had a civil war.
Thanks for posting.
I guess UN should do something about this. Just because this country has no natural resources, it shouldn't be ignored.

Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:15 am » by **Truthseeker**

Lifting the lid on Sri Lanka's war crimesMy film Sri Lanka's Killing Fields exposes atrocities committed against civilian Tamils that the UN must not ignore

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Callum Macrae guardian.co.uk, Monday 13 June 2011 16.30 BST Article history
The Sri Lankan government stands accused of targeting civilians in 2009. Photograph: Ishara S.Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images
It is a moment that speaks volumes. While the Kfir combat jets of the Sri Lankan airforce scream overhead and the heavy artillery of the Sri Lankan army maintains a remorseless barrage on the ground below, a family of terrified Tamil civilians huddle in a shallow trench.

It is January 2009, and the beginning of the end of the 25-year war for an independent state of Tamil Eelam. The increasingly battered remnants of the secessionist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are on the run and along with perhaps 400,000 Tamil civilians, they are being herded into an ever smaller area of land in north-east Sri Lanka.

The brutal Sinhalese government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa – armed with the rhetoric of the "international war on terror" and the tacit support of most of the world – believes it has a licence to eradicate the Tamil Tigers for ever. The UN and other international agencies have been pressurised into leaving, the world's media have been excluded and critical local journalists have been exiled, disappeared or murdered. The world is looking away.

As the shells fall, the trench provides little protection. It is only three feet deep and the adults, crouched protectively over their children, can barely get their heads below the level of the ground. But someone has not jumped into the trench; someone with a small video camera. Despite the nearby crump of the shells, he keeps filming. A woman in the trench is clutching a baby and crying desperately. "Please get in the bunker! Don't take the video!" she shouts in Tamil. "What are you going to do with the video? They are killing everyone …"

Over the next four months, two things happen. First the government does appear – through the deliberate targeting of hospitals and laughably named "no-fire zones" – to try to kill as many Tamils as possible; perhaps 40,000 civilians, perhaps far more (that they were in effect aided and abetted by the Tamil Tigers who used those same civilians as human shields does not in any way lessen the government's culpability.)

The other thing that happens is that the cameraman – or camerawoman – keep filming. As do many others. Sometimes on small domestic cameras, sometimes on phones. The Tamil side gets many of these images out on the internet. Other footage – grotesque images of war crimes, execution and brutality by Sri Lankan armed forces – is recorded by the perpetrators themselves on mobile phones. And so two years later there is an answer to that woman's terrified question: "What are you going to do with the video?"

We have been able to make that footage – along with many hours of even more disturbing images – into a film which might, belatedly, play a part in bringing the perpetrators of those crimes to justice. It is called Sri Lanka's Killing Fields and will be aired on Tuesday night on Channel 4.

The film has been creating a stir partly because some of the images are probably the most horrific ever to have been broadcast on mainstream television (hence the late-night slot). But we hope it will be remembered for another reason: we hope it will act as a reminder to those who would massacre their own people – and perhaps more importantly to the UN, the international community and the world's powers – that modern technology means you will never again get away with committing these kind of war crimes and crimes against humanity in secret. From now on, the victims – and all too often the perpetrators as well – will keep a record.

But that is only the first stage. The next is to ensure that this awful evidence is not ignored. These pictures push to the limit every normal rule of what is acceptable on television. You will see prisoners, bound and gagged, being executed in cold blood. You will see innocent civilians dying in agony on the ground in makeshift hospitals, which have been denied medicines and supplies by the Sri Lankan government. But if this is the only way to make people take this seriously, we believe it is the right thing to show these images.

Two months ago the UN's "panel of experts" concluded that the allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity by both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers are "credible", and called on Ban Ki Moon to create an international mechanism to properly investigate them. So far he has declined – saying he doesn't have the authority. That is debatable, but the nation states of the UN through bodies such as the security council and the human rights council do have that authority. If the UN fails yet again, the message to every tyrant and repressive government will be clear: if you want to kill your own people with impunity, you will probably get away with it.

Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:20 am » by **Boondox681**

this is one of my favs.
THE U.N.DECEPTION

right on,free :flop:

Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:50 am » by **Truthseeker**

chanell 4 shows in the last part killing of civilians from the soldiers mobile phones this is distressing channel 4 uk as evidence of war crimes un you have proof that hospitals 65 times and more where it with artilery ,rape and exercutions and one soldier saying kill them they are state property ,is this the way the un loose controll or do they alow it its the same as bosnia the un let it happen why are the un not in libya is this libya future when the rebels get in to the capital of libya .

Wed Jun 15, 2011 8:31 am » by **Mediasorcerer**

many countries are guilty of war crimes,george bush,tony blair,and many more,
they killed millions over nothing,
murdered millions,for a false war,all wars are false,
interesting but sad read,thanx.

Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:42 am » by **1ofakind**

From Rwanda to Burma and right now Syria. Other places like Saudi and Bahrain. It is quite clear that the UN is about as usefull as Osama Bin Ladens bodyguards. This is just more proof of the UN losing it's backbone and stepping aside when it is needed the most. This is one of many nails hammered in the UN's coffin.
I must warn you this is really graphic and not for everyone.