Gather in Upper Senate Park 10:00 for March to White House
Rally in Lafayette Park in front of the White House 12:00 –4:00pm
Rally in Washington, DC
Friday Nov. 20
Let the Tamil People Go
November 20 is Day 194 of the continuous rally at the White House.November 20 also marks the entry of the BREAK THE SILENCEmarch from Toronto to DC.
Call 1-800-GENOCIDEand tell your Congressperson
to sanction Sri Lanka, and investigate war crimes.
Visit Amnesty’s Unlock the Camps Campaign atwww.amnesty.org
www.ustpac.org
www.tamilsagainstgenocide.org
250,000 Tamils indefinitely interred in concentration camps.
202-595-3123
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For immediate release
November 13, 2009
Rally to Unlock the Camps in Sri Lanka
WASHINGTON,DC: Tamil Americans from around the country will be joined by Tamil Canadians to bring attention to the end of the 180 period promised by Sri Lankan President Rajapakse to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on May 23, 2009 for the release of 300,000 Tamils detained in internment camps in Sri Lanka since the final stages of the war. Two thirds of these Tamils continue to be detained in poor conditions without accountability, family reunification or a timetable for release.
According to a USTPAC spokesman, "These people are being subjected to collective punishment for their demands for political, social and cultural rights in their own traditional homeland. We support all efforts to allow these innocents to return freely and with dignity to their homes in a secure environment."
The rally also indicates the culmination of an epic 6 month long walk by three young men from Toronto, Canada to Washington, DC through Chicago, IL to ‘Break the Silence’ about abuses against Tamils in Sri Lanka during and after the war. These young men walked through the heartland of America making crimes committed on the other side of the world personal for thousands of American citizens and officials. The rally will honor them for their selflessness and perseverance.
During the past month, as international pressure has mounted for the release of the hundreds of thousands of Tamils detained by the mono-ethnic Sinhalese military, the government of Sri Lanka has started making statements that the numbers of detainees have been cut by half. According to UNHCR and other sources, many of these people are simply being moved to more dispersed detention centers. Many of those actually released are left on the streets without resources or the right to return to their homes. Those lucky enough to have friends or relatives to stay with or who are able to go home continue to have little freedom of movement due to military restrictions throughout the Tamil areas.
Of grave concern to all Tamils are purported plans to change the demographics of the Tamil areas through the settlement of large numbers of Sinhalese military, administrators, businessmen and convicts along with their families under the guise of reconstruction and control of a restive population. The government has moved large numbers of Sinhalese into Tamil areas since independence in state-sponsored irrigation schemes, accompanied by dilution of the Tamil vote and voice in national affairs.
For further information call 202 595 3123. Visit us at www.USTPAC.org
Rally in Lafayette Park in front of the White House 12:00 –4:00pm
Rally in Washington, DC
Friday Nov. 20
Let the Tamil People Go
November 20 is Day 194 of the continuous rally at the White House.November 20 also marks the entry of the BREAK THE SILENCEmarch from Toronto to DC.
Call 1-800-GENOCIDEand tell your Congressperson
to sanction Sri Lanka, and investigate war crimes.
Visit Amnesty’s Unlock the Camps Campaign atwww.amnesty.org
www.ustpac.org
www.tamilsagainstgenocide.org
250,000 Tamils indefinitely interred in concentration camps.
202-595-3123
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For immediate release
November 13, 2009
Rally to Unlock the Camps in Sri Lanka
WASHINGTON,DC: Tamil Americans from around the country will be joined by Tamil Canadians to bring attention to the end of the 180 period promised by Sri Lankan President Rajapakse to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on May 23, 2009 for the release of 300,000 Tamils detained in internment camps in Sri Lanka since the final stages of the war. Two thirds of these Tamils continue to be detained in poor conditions without accountability, family reunification or a timetable for release.
According to a USTPAC spokesman, "These people are being subjected to collective punishment for their demands for political, social and cultural rights in their own traditional homeland. We support all efforts to allow these innocents to return freely and with dignity to their homes in a secure environment."
The rally also indicates the culmination of an epic 6 month long walk by three young men from Toronto, Canada to Washington, DC through Chicago, IL to ‘Break the Silence’ about abuses against Tamils in Sri Lanka during and after the war. These young men walked through the heartland of America making crimes committed on the other side of the world personal for thousands of American citizens and officials. The rally will honor them for their selflessness and perseverance.
During the past month, as international pressure has mounted for the release of the hundreds of thousands of Tamils detained by the mono-ethnic Sinhalese military, the government of Sri Lanka has started making statements that the numbers of detainees have been cut by half. According to UNHCR and other sources, many of these people are simply being moved to more dispersed detention centers. Many of those actually released are left on the streets without resources or the right to return to their homes. Those lucky enough to have friends or relatives to stay with or who are able to go home continue to have little freedom of movement due to military restrictions throughout the Tamil areas.
Of grave concern to all Tamils are purported plans to change the demographics of the Tamil areas through the settlement of large numbers of Sinhalese military, administrators, businessmen and convicts along with their families under the guise of reconstruction and control of a restive population. The government has moved large numbers of Sinhalese into Tamil areas since independence in state-sponsored irrigation schemes, accompanied by dilution of the Tamil vote and voice in national affairs.
For further information call 202 595 3123. Visit us at www.USTPAC.org