Slow-motion genocide to exceed horrors of Srebrenica, warns Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 2009, 18:52 GMT]
Professor Boyle of University of Illinois College of Law, an international expert on Boznia and crimes of Genocide said Tuesday, "[s]ince the outset of this latest crisis in January, the GOSL has exterminated about 7000 Tamils in Vanni, certainly a "substantial part" of the Tamil population in Vanni and Sri Lanka. If not stopped now, the GOSL's toll of genocide against the Tamils could far exceed the recent horrors of Srebrenica." Prof. Boyle's call for urgent food drop to the civilians close to starvation in the Safe Zone, has gathered momentum, and international media are seeking his comment on the urgency of humanitarian support.

Boyle on Aljazeera GMT 20:30 today

In a note sent to TamilNet, Prof. Boyle says, "[t]he slow-motion genocide by the Government of Sri Lanka against the Tamils in Vanni is now accelerating to the point of outright extermination in violation of Genocide Convention Articles I, II(a), II(b) II(c), inter alia.

"Every state in the world has the obligation "to prevent" this GOSL genocide against the Tamils as required by the jus cogens, erga omnes rule of customary international law set forth in Article I of the Genocide Convention. These peremptory norms of international law apply to every state in the world, including the Member States of the United Nations Security Council, and especially its Permanent Members such as the United States, Britain and France, as well as to India.They must all exert maximum political, economic and diplomatic pressure upon the GOSL for an immediate cease-fire in conjunction with the massive provision of food, water, medicine and other humanitarian relief supplies by land, sea and air to the dying Tamils in Vanni.

"A generation ago the world turned away from the Nazi genocide against the Jews--and lived to regret it. Humanity is at a similar crossroads today. A generation ago the world designed the Genocide Convention to prevent a repetition of what Hitler and the Nazis had done to the Jews even "in part," according to Article II of the Genocide Convention. In the Bosnian case I convinced the World Court that the proper interpretation of this term taken from Article II of the Genocide Convention meant a "substantial part." The World Court later found that the Serbian extermination of 8000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica was genocide in violation of the Genocide Convention.

"Since the outset of this latest crisis in January, the GOSL has exterminated about 7000 Tamils in Vanni, certainly a "substantial part" of the Tamil population in Vanni and Sri Lanka. If not stopped now, the GOSL's toll of genocide against the Tamils could far exceed the recent horrors of Srebrenica," Boyle warns.

Chronology:


External Links:

Aljazeera:

Sri Lanka's continuing bloodshed