Following terrible events in Sri Lanka supporters of the three campaigns ‘Frieden Fuer Sri Lanka‘, the ‘Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka‘ and the ‘International Human Rights Association Bremen‘ met in June 2009 in Bremen, Germany, where the IMRV proposed to jointly organise a Tribunal. Subsequently we were successful in convincing the respected PPT to conduct the Tribunal, but they did not have the possibility to generate funds.
It was up to the campaigns in Germany and Ireland to find the money for the Tribunal (approx: 37,000 Euro). The Irish campaign had taken the difficult task, in short notice, to arrange a venue, accommodation for the judges, witnesses and the large number of volunteers who donated their time to arrange all the complex logistics needed to make the event a success. But most of the money needed mainly for transport costs was borrowed from well-wishers which has now to be returned. Judges and witnesses came from Sri Lanka, India, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, USA and several other countries. Some of the tickets are very expensive because we have had to get business class tickets for certain people because of their age and health situation. Because of the need to maintain neutrality in this politically controversial project the sources of funding were also limited to certain sources. This is expressed in the findings document in this way:
‘The PPT certifies that the resources which have covered the organizational and financial needs of the sessions correspond mainly to the voluntary work of the members of the NGOs supporting the initiative, and that no economic contribution has been derived from sources directly or indirectly related to Tamil organizations, nor to States involved in the events considered in this session.’
We request all people concerned with human rights in general and with the plight of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka in particular to assist us with settling the financial costs of the Tribunal. Furthermore, as the work of the Tribunal is seen as only the beginning of a longer process of bringing to light the atrocities of the Sri Lankan regime and its international backers and consequently persecuting the real perpetrators, we wish to request all people concerned to contribute to this process in what ever way possible. Every amount is appreciated. Financial contributions are tax deductible. Feel free to contact us for further information.
Our bank account details are as follows:
Internationaler Menschenrechtsverein Bremen e.V.
Account Number: 99 29 207
Bank Code Number: 200 100 20
Name of Bank: Postbank Hamburg
Key word: Sri Lanka Tribunal
For international transactions:
IBAN DE77 2001 0020 0009 9292 07
BIC PBNKDEFF