03-16-2006, 11:18 AM
Disgraced HRW maintains long silence
Written by Administrator
Thursday, 16 March 2006
Human Rights Watch (HRW) which yesterday published a report of allegations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Tamil Diaspora, for the second day running continued to ignore questions raised by the Tamil community.
The HRW alleged that the LTTE was using the threat of violence to collect large sums of cash from the Tamil Diaspora, and the latter having a minimal grasp of western laws was allowing itself be intimidated.
The Tamil Diaspora who took great offence at this sweeping generalisation of a community of some 800, 000 individuals had written and called the HRW branches in their respective countries of residence to query further about the so called evidence on which the report was based.
‘All contacts made with the HRW has been in vain,’ said one research scientist from a UK University.
‘The methodology given in the report is very vague. It is the sort a school teacher would expect from a 14 year old,’ condemned the scientist.
He went on to say that ‘HRW has a fine reputation, so I have been attempting to get some key questions answered, before dismissing this whole report as being cooked up’.
The two questions the prominent scientist wanted answers for were;
How were the interview subjects chosen?
‘Was I as likely to be chosen for interview as any one else or was HRW selective on whom it would interview’ thus making the whole report prejudiced from the beginning.
‘Of course they may have just interviewed anyone who contacted them, in which case there is the second question’ he added.
What was the sample size?
‘In other words, did they just interview 100 people from the UK who contacted HRW voluntarily, and then concluded that every one of the 100, 000 Tamil Diaspora in the UK was facing a similar situation.’
‘I am a Diaspora Tamil who has never been approached by the LTTE. So it came as a great shock to me when colleagues at work approached me on Wednesday morning as if I was the victim of some sort of horrendous crime,’ said a Tamil solicitor from the UK.
‘Clearly HRW had tried to give the impression that we have no understanding of the law and the level of anonymity and protection the law able to offer us, if we do indeed become victims of crime,’ she added.
The level of anger amongst the Tamil Diaspora was clearly demonstrated by the volume of emails received by tamileditors.com. We have also contacted HRW several times in vain. We will be publishing a full report on this scandal, as soon as we receive a response from HRW.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 16 March 2006 )
Many thanks to Tamileditors.com
Written by Administrator
Thursday, 16 March 2006
Human Rights Watch (HRW) which yesterday published a report of allegations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Tamil Diaspora, for the second day running continued to ignore questions raised by the Tamil community.
The HRW alleged that the LTTE was using the threat of violence to collect large sums of cash from the Tamil Diaspora, and the latter having a minimal grasp of western laws was allowing itself be intimidated.
The Tamil Diaspora who took great offence at this sweeping generalisation of a community of some 800, 000 individuals had written and called the HRW branches in their respective countries of residence to query further about the so called evidence on which the report was based.
‘All contacts made with the HRW has been in vain,’ said one research scientist from a UK University.
‘The methodology given in the report is very vague. It is the sort a school teacher would expect from a 14 year old,’ condemned the scientist.
He went on to say that ‘HRW has a fine reputation, so I have been attempting to get some key questions answered, before dismissing this whole report as being cooked up’.
The two questions the prominent scientist wanted answers for were;
How were the interview subjects chosen?
‘Was I as likely to be chosen for interview as any one else or was HRW selective on whom it would interview’ thus making the whole report prejudiced from the beginning.
‘Of course they may have just interviewed anyone who contacted them, in which case there is the second question’ he added.
What was the sample size?
‘In other words, did they just interview 100 people from the UK who contacted HRW voluntarily, and then concluded that every one of the 100, 000 Tamil Diaspora in the UK was facing a similar situation.’
‘I am a Diaspora Tamil who has never been approached by the LTTE. So it came as a great shock to me when colleagues at work approached me on Wednesday morning as if I was the victim of some sort of horrendous crime,’ said a Tamil solicitor from the UK.
‘Clearly HRW had tried to give the impression that we have no understanding of the law and the level of anonymity and protection the law able to offer us, if we do indeed become victims of crime,’ she added.
The level of anger amongst the Tamil Diaspora was clearly demonstrated by the volume of emails received by tamileditors.com. We have also contacted HRW several times in vain. We will be publishing a full report on this scandal, as soon as we receive a response from HRW.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 16 March 2006 )
Many thanks to Tamileditors.com
Summa Irupavan!