Hilary Rajakarunanayake, Editor – Sri Lanka, Asian Tribune
Colombo, 21 May, (Asiantribune.com): "Japan expects the Government of Sri Lanka to follow the proper legal procedures in its dealings with LTTE cadres who laid down their arms and surrendered". This was stated in a press release issued by the Japanese Embassy in Sri Lanka.
The Geneva Conventions are probably the most broadly familiar of all international agreements. Novels and movies about war have long used them as short-hand for international law as a whole, and anyone familiar with such popular treatments will have concluded, correctly, that in some general way the Conventions forbid casual brutality or deliberate abuse of civilians, prisoners, and others who, being caught up in war, are unable to defend themselves.
When people speak of the Geneva Conventions today they usually mean the four Conventions concluded in 1949, to which virtually every government on earth, has adhered; and perhaps also to the less firmly established Additional Protocols, concluded in 1977, which further elaborated the protections afforded by the 1949 agreements and extended them to a wider range of military conditions, including those that arise from civil war and revolutionary insurgency. But these are merely the most prominent in a long line of treaties extending back to the Brussels Declaration of 1874, the first attempt to spell out the legal rights of those surrendering as non-combatants in war.
"Japan, while welcoming the end of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka involving the LTTE and the Government, expressed its profound sympathy for the many precious lives lost over the past 25 years", the Japanese Embassy said.
Japan also emphasized the need for assistance and resettlement of a large number of internally displaced persons and the necessity for a swift political process for reconciliation and agreed for continued support towards this end.
- Asian Tribune -
Comments
Post new comment