Karmenu Vella

Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries

Cecilia Malmstrm
Commissioner for Trade
Neven Mimica
Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development
Dear Commissioners
Why shouldnt the EU lift the ban on import of Fish from Sri Lanka until
Please share the following with the other commissioners:
We are writing this with respect to:
EU to ban fish imports from Sri Lanka for illegal fishing,
26.01.2015, http://eu.oceana.org/en/press-center/press-releases/eu-ban-fish-importssri-lanka-illegal-fishing
We are appealing to you not to import fish from Sri Lanka until firm steps are taken to
serve Tamil fishermen justice. Many retired ethnic majority Sinhalese, including Jayantha
Dhanapala, told Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission that successive
governments have been oppressing the ethnic minorities from the time of
independence(1948) till today.
The rulers in 1956-1959 and 1965-1969 abrogated conciliation pacts made with Tamil
leaders. Successive rulers had massive support from Sinhalese Buddists(75% of
population) when they formed governments but refused to grant ethnic minorities
equality for fear of losing re-election.
The last nine years had been the worst oppressive period for the ethnic minorities.
They, desperate to oust the oppressive Rajapakses, voted for the new President without
any conditions. The new President in his election campaign refrained from mentioning
anything about resolving the ethnic issue in order to get votes away from the
Rajapakses. The ethnic minorities are holding their breath to see if the new President will
stand apart from all the previous rulers and be fair to them risking vehement protests
from Sinhala extremists. The President and most of the Ministers were with the
Rajapakses for nine years and left him weeks and days before the election. The task of
clearing up the mess left behind by the Rajapakses is daunting to say the least. The
Rajapakses are already rearing up for the general elections in April.
We dont know what the present government that is opposed to the UNHRC action and
that has pardoned the previous Army Commander and made him the Defense Minister
will do about resolution of the ethnic conflict (which is not only one of the most
protracted but also one of the most vicious in post-WWII era). Therefore the
international community should not take the promises of the present government but
must wait to see at least the beginning of urgent action such as reducing militarisation of
the North and the East, returning thousands of acres of land of IDPs languishing in
camps for up to 25 yrs, rescinding regulations issued under the PTA in August 2011
following the lapsing of the state of emergency and releasing and or charging thousands
of Tamil suspects imprisoned for up to 10,15, 20 yrs
Does IUU fishing cover the discrimination of ethnic minority fishermen by ethnic majority
government?
1. Tamil fishermen are pushed inland by the Navy in the North:
Residents of coastal village of Mullikulam in Mannar district displaced to inland shrubland
by the Navy several years ago are still waiting to go back home.
Sinhalese fishermen from the South are brought to Mannar by the Navy and Tamil
fishermen are intimidated and beaten by the Navy.
2. The land of Tamil IDPs given over to Sinhala fishermen by the Army in the North:

After the residents of Mullaitivu coastal villages were displaced by the war and detained
in Menik Farm camps, Sinhalese fishermen were settled in some of the villages in
2010/2011. Most of the original residents of these villages were compulsorily settled in
jungles several kilometres inland.
3.Tamil fishermen are pushed inland by the Army in the East to make way for Sinhalese
fishermen:
France24 produced a video showing some Tamil fishermen families in Trincomalee
pushed inland to make way for Sinhalese fishermen with an army camp for protection.
EU parliamentarians visiting Sri Lanka in July 2008 were prevented from going to
Trincomalee.
A large number of Tamil and Muslim families from coastal villages in Trincomalee district
have been languishing in camps for several years without livelihoods and existing on
handouts from restricted but sympathetic NGOs while the army/navy/and
Sinhalese/foreign businessmen run tourist hotels on their coastal villages.
4. Ffishing laws are violated in the North by Southern fishermen protected by the army
and the navy: Use of dynamite and small-eye net and catching banned species such as
the conch shells.
5. The governments post-war development strategy has led to an increased asymmetry
in the distribution of the benefits of economic growth between ethnic communities:
Fishing in turbulent waters, International Centre for Ethnic Studies Working Paper,
August 2012, http://www.ices.lk/fishing-in-turbulent-waters-by-sumith-chaaminda/
6. While Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith was taken in December 2012 by the Defense
Secretary to the displaced Tamil fishermen of Mullikulam to appeal to them to accept the
promise of development of the jungle they are displaced to, Haoliang Xu, UNDP AsiaPacific and UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director, visiting SriLanka in February
2014, was taken to Mullaitivu to open an ice plant for Mullatitivu (to benefit mainly
Sinhalaese) fishermen.
7. After an EU investigation panel(2008/9) found that Sri Lanka failed to meet eligibility
criteria(of implementing three UN Conventions ICCPR, CAT and CRC) not only in its
application but also in the period(2005-2008/9) under investigation , EU terminated
GSP+ to Sri Lanka in 2010 after granting it in 2005.
That means Sri Lanka lied in its two applications made in 2005 and 2008. That means
EU had a weak monitoring mechanism when it launched GSP+ scheme in 2005 but made
it rigorous in 2011. PR firm was employed to present false image:
Bell Pottinger has since 2005 lobbied the EU institutions on behalf of Sri Lanka, whose
government is accused of systematic human rights violations'' - Corporate Europe
Observatory, May 2010
The following shows that Sri Lanka will do anything to get benefits for the Sinhalese and
will avoid anything to keep oppressing the Tamils GSP+ benefits the Sinhalese in the
South and the implementation of human rights reduces the oppression of Tamils:
In June 2010 the ESri Lanka refused the offer made by the EU to extend the concessions
for six months from August 2010 in return for some progress in outstanding issues on
human rights, mainly those affecting the (oppressed) Tamils. After the report of the
investigation panel was released in October 2009, Sri Lanka had sent Archbishop
Malcolm Ranjith with representatives from other religions in November 2009 to Italy to
press the EU to grant GSP+ to SriLanka:
http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2009/11/06/italy-spearhead-damage-control-acturge-eu-review-gsp-suspension
This same Archbishop was also taken by the Defence Secretary to Mannar District in
Northern Sri Lanka to appeal to the group of displaced fishermen to accept the terms

offered by the government driving them to a jungle: http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?

catid=79&artid=35913
Sri Lanka committed atrocious human rights violations in 2008/9 mentioned in
the Internal Review Panel on UN Action in Sri Lanka which led to the UN adopting the
''Rights Up Front'' programme in December 2013
8. UNDP is taking the rest of the world with MDGs, SDGs, Post-2015 Development
Agenda, ...... while the ethnic minorities in Sri Lanka, just as the people oppressed by
their own governments around the world, have neither Human Security nor Millennium
Development Rights. They were denied due portion of the foreign tsunami aid that
overwhelmed Sri Lanka. While the South was enjoying the GSP+ benefits in 2005-2010,
those in the North and the East not only were subjected to the worst human rights
violations but also had the UN, ICRC and other aid agents severely restricted from
helping them by not only the occupation army but also by the Presidential Task Force for
Resettlement, Development and Security in the Northern Province which was formed two
weeks before the end of the war and continue to be made of 19 members from the
central government ministries and all the armed forces and without a single Tamil or a
representative from the North.
The new government has sent Jayantha Dhanapals to Geneva to brief the UNHCHR of its
policies. Jayantha Dhanapala and many other retired Sinhalese civil servants told LLRC
that successive governments have been forming Commissions of Inquiry only to ward
off international sanction and that they appeared before LLRC with reserved hope. The
last government failed to implement the LLRC recommendations. Dhanapala is in Genev
now proving what Amnesty International said in its report:
This new style of diplomacy emphasized form over function. SriLanka was able to
postpone donor sanction by stringing critics along from one presidential order to the
next, creating Commissions of Inquiry and temporary agencies, none of which delivered
legal accountability for grave violations or real reform of systems. In the meantime, Sri
Lankas human rights record remained among the worst in the world
TWENTY YEARS OF MAKE-BELIEVE: SRI LANKAS COMMISSIONS OF INQUIRY, June 2009
Under international pressure to investigate a variety of crimes, the previous President
appointed 18 Commissions that submitted reports to him but he never published them:
List of Commissions of Inquiry and Committees Appointed by the Government of Sri
Lanka (2006 November 2013), Centre for Policy Alternatives, January 2014
The international community should not take the promises of the present government
but must wait to see at least the beginning of urgent action such as reducing
militarisation of the North and the East, returning thousands of acres of land with houses
of IDPs languishing in camps for up to 25 yrs, rescinding regulations issued under the
PTA in August 2011 following the lapsing of the state of emergency and charging or
releasing thousands of Tamil suspects imprisoned for up to 10,15, 20 yrs among
convicted criminals.
Making Ethnic Conflict: The Civil War in Sri Lanka, Ronald J Herring in Carrots, Sticks
and Ethnic Conflict(2003):
Civil war in Sri Lanka cannot be understood without the
attention to external development flows.
Paradise Poisoned: Learning about Conflict, Terrorism and Development from Sri Lanka
's Civil wars, John Richardson(2005): The 'we' of these questions are, principally,
political leaders and citizens of the nations, from Angola to Zaire, that have been
victimised by civil war. There is another group of individuals, too, who must continue to
pose questions about the causes and prevention of civil wars. Foreign political leaders,
multilateral and non-governmental organisation leaders, leaders in the private sector
and development practitioners share in the responsibility for causing civil wars, though
they bear few of the costs. .... My vision is of a day when no citizens in today's

developing nations will have to ask 'how did we come to this?' Paradise Poisoned will
have achieved its purpose when that day comes.
Yours sincerely
P.Selvaratnam
Women for Justice and Peace in Sri Lanka
14, Tamarind Yard
London E1W 2JT