letter 2 parliamentarians
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8/6/2019 Letter 2 Parliamentarians
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ADDRESS OF PARLIAMENTARIAN (or copy this text into an email)10/8/2011
****Please personalise this letter as much as possible for maximumimpact*****
Dear politicians name,
The situation in Sri Lanka is as grim as it has been in a long time. While manyare thankful that the war is over, the human rights situation has not improved.The Asian Human Rights Council has documented 1,500 cases of police torturesince 1998 and 1,700 people have been abducted for political reasons in the lastthree years.
Meanwhile allegations of war crimes perpetrated by the Government of Sri Lankaand the LTTE remain uninvestigated, even though found to be credible by a UN
panel of experts, while many of those on both sides alleged to have committedthe crimes are now members of the ruling government.
A significant part of the reason why the situation in Sri Lanka has become so badis the lack of independent media scrutiny. This in turn results from theextraordinary pressure the government of Sri Lanka has placed the media under.34 Journalists have been killed in Sri Lanka since 2005 and not onekiller has gone to jail. The Committee to Protect Journalists considers SriLanka the fourth most dangerous place to work in the world ahead ofAfghanistan, Russia, Mexico and Columbia.
The Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice has launched a report on media
freedom in Sri Lanka (http://tinyurl.com/3cyp5zl) and an action plan
(http://tinyurl.com/3qe23m7) to tackle the situation. Please support this
campaign. You can do so in the following ways:
1 Write to me and [email protected] that you support theaction plan. The Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice may list all thepoliticians who support the campaign on their blog so please make it clear if youdo not want to make your support public.
2 The action plan highlights 7 things our government could do to help journalistsin Sri Lanka get the truth out. Please write to our Foreign Minister [[IN USA
SUBSTITUTE Please write to the Secretary of State]] and ask him/her to:
Protest strongly to the Government of Sri Lanka whenever a journalistfrom our country is denied a visa to enter Sri Lanka or is denied access to
areas within Sri Lanka
Instruct our Embassy or Consulate in Colombo to give threatenedjournalists, and witnesses to the assassination of journalists, access to
safe houses, and facilities for leaving to a safer country through a fast and
timely in-country asylum system
Provide hosting assistance to exiled Sri Lankan journalists includingscholarships, language training and professional continuing-educationopportunities.
http://tinyurl.com/3qe23m7http://tinyurl.com/3qe23m7mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://tinyurl.com/3qe23m7 -
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Give an assurance that no journalists or human rights/democracy activistsseeking asylum will be returned until the situation in Sri Lanka improves
dramatically.
Make sure the UN Human Rights Council investigates the attack on eachand every journalist
Provide for victim support for the families of murdered or disappearedjournalists.
Press the Government of Sri Lanka to adopt a Freedom of InformationAct, and correct the culture that today so greatly damages free speech.
The asylum issue is particularly important as many journalists do not feel it issafe to tell the truth knowing how many others have been killed and how difficultit is to leave in a hurry. Given the lack of a proper witness protection system inSri Lanka, and the clear willingness of perpetrators to eliminate victims, theasylum process must be proactive, and based in-country, to ensure properprotection of those at risk. The superb service provided by the Swiss embassy in
Colombo shows what can be achieved
3 The assault on media freedom is a symptom of the culture of impunityprevalent in Sri Lanka. This has been encouraged and deepened by a lack ofinvestigation into the war crimes credibly alleged to have been committed in2009. [[UK ONLY]] Please sign EDM 1882 calling for an independentinternational investigation of these allegations. [OTHER COUNTRIES] Pleasesponsor a legislative motion calling for an independent internationalinvestigation of these allegations.
With your help we can bring free speech back to Sri Lanka
Kind regards,
Your name, address and email address