Impose sanctions on Sri Lanka, report urges

TORONTO - Canada should impose sanctions on Sri Lanka in response to the country's deteriorating human rights record, says a report that was to be released at a Conservative party fundraiser last night.

The report, written by a group of Ontario lawyers and Canadians of Sri Lankan origin, says the rule of law is collapsing in the war-torn South Asian nation, where there have been rising government-backed killings and abductions.

It urges Ottawa to consider economic and diplomatic sanctions on Sri Lanka, and suggests tying foreign aid contributions to improvements in human rights conditions.

"Historically, Canada has led the Commonwealth in bringing peaceful resolution to conflicts involving member states," said Chuck Konkel, who hopes to run for the Conservatives in the federal riding of Scarborough-Guildwood. "It's time to resolve the violence and human suffering that has torn apart Sri Lanka."

A tea-growing island formerly called Ceylon, Sri Lanka is in the midst of a bloody civil war between Tamil Tiger guerrillas seeking independence for the country's ethnic Tamil minority and government forces trying to keep the country united.

The conflict reverberates in Canada, which is home to the largest population of Sri Lankan Tamils outside South Asia. Many are refugees of the war, which has killed an estimated 70,000 people in 30 years of fighting.

Canadian police and intelligence officials believe the Tamil Tigers are using Canada as a base for supporting the guerrilla campaign. The RCMP is currently investigating the World Tamil Movement for allegedly bankrolling the Tigers.

The National Post revealed this week that RCMP counterterrorism officers had seized the World Tamil Movement office in Montreal and the group's bank accounts in Ontario and Quebec.

The Conservatives took action against the Tamil Tigers shortly after coming to office in 2006, adding them to Canada's list of outlawed terrorist organizations. But some Tamil Canadians complain that Ottawa has been less aggressive in its efforts to reign in abuses by the Sri Lankan government. Human Rights Watch recently reported that government forces were implicated in the abduction and killing of hundreds of ethnic Tamils.

Sri Lanka has "effectively eliminated" the rule of law, the report says. Judges who oppose the government are removed, journalists are threatened and killed and opposition politicians are being assassinated, it adds.

The report asks the federal government to encourage both sides to restore an abandoned ceasefire agreement, and to support calls for the appointment of a United Nations envoy to monitor the conflict.