As always, Jean has been up to a great deal over the last couple of months. Her latest newsletter is now available on her official MEP website, and it makes inspiring reading.
Among many other things, Jean is still working on the issue of the ongoing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka - something that has been largely ignored by many other politicians in the UK. This blog has covered her previous work on this issue, and this Saturday Jean spoke at a packed public meeting, as the excellent Green Ladywell blog explains. As well as this, she has an article in the latest New Statesman about the ongoing difficulties that journalists are experiencing in covering the story.
It's Register to Vote week as I write. Make sure you're registered, and that you vote Green on June 4th, if you want this kind of hard-working, progressive politics to last another five years in the European Parliament!
Showing posts with label sri lanka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sri lanka. Show all posts
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Saturday, 11 April 2009
Jean calls for Sri Lankan ceasefire
Jean spent today at the demonstration for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka, speaking out from the platform for human rights and respect for civilians on all sides. You'd expect nothing less, I suppose, from a representative who was named Justice and Human Rights MEP of the Year in 2005.
Unlike some politicians, who only seem to have discovered the situation in Sri Lanka over the last few days after the demonstrations and hunger strikes in the UK, Jean has been working on this issue for years. Regular readers of this blog will already know this, with Jean's involvement spanning both the need for a ceasefire and individual cases of human rights abuses.
As should be clear by now, if we want the EU to stand up for human rights around the world, we need more MEPs like Jean Lambert. As ever, if you don't believe us, how about listening to her opinions direct, in the video below?
Unlike some politicians, who only seem to have discovered the situation in Sri Lanka over the last few days after the demonstrations and hunger strikes in the UK, Jean has been working on this issue for years. Regular readers of this blog will already know this, with Jean's involvement spanning both the need for a ceasefire and individual cases of human rights abuses.
As should be clear by now, if we want the EU to stand up for human rights around the world, we need more MEPs like Jean Lambert. As ever, if you don't believe us, how about listening to her opinions direct, in the video below?
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Jean speaks out on Sri Lanka
Jean Lambert joined members of the Tamil community in London this weekend to discuss the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka. Jean is a member of the European Parliament’s Delegation to South Asia (SAARC), and so has a longstanding interest in the region's afairs.
About 100 people attended a public meeting with the Thames Tamil Association in Greenwich on Saturday [February 7], among them those with relatives in the area currently suffering the terrible effects of the conflict. Jean heard from Tamils living in London of their concerns for loved ones in Sri Lanka. Many have had no contact with them for days; others spoke of relatives who have been injured or killed in the fighting.
Jean is calling for an immediate ceasefire on the island, and for urgent action to free the 250,000 civilians trapped at the heart of the war zone.
She said:
“An immediate ceasefire on both sides is imperative. The situation in Sri Lanka is deteriorating by the day. A quarter of a million people are now trapped, and the fighting is getting ever closer to these civilians. It is crucial that the humanitarian corridor is opened up, to let these people out and to let desperately needed help, in the form of medical care, food, and mobile phones, in.
“It’s also time to let the rest of the world in. We have to ensure that international aid agencies are allowed safe access to the most vulnerable people, and can carry out their vital work without impediments of the kind we saw last Friday [February 6], when the Red Cross came under attack after false rumours that it had ordered 35,000 body bags in expectation of huge fatalities among Tamil fighters.
“While it remains impossible to build up a clear picture of exactly what is happening inside the conflict zone, because of the restrictions on journalists, we must maintain the pressure from the outside, and ensure that bringing an end to the suffering of innocent civilians remains a priority in the UK, Europe, and across the world.
“We need international monitors in Sri Lanka as a matter of urgency to assess the scale of the humanitarian crisis and lead moves towards a long-term political solution that will bring peace to the island and an end to violence and intimidation.”
About 100 people attended a public meeting with the Thames Tamil Association in Greenwich on Saturday [February 7], among them those with relatives in the area currently suffering the terrible effects of the conflict. Jean heard from Tamils living in London of their concerns for loved ones in Sri Lanka. Many have had no contact with them for days; others spoke of relatives who have been injured or killed in the fighting.
Jean is calling for an immediate ceasefire on the island, and for urgent action to free the 250,000 civilians trapped at the heart of the war zone.
She said:
“An immediate ceasefire on both sides is imperative. The situation in Sri Lanka is deteriorating by the day. A quarter of a million people are now trapped, and the fighting is getting ever closer to these civilians. It is crucial that the humanitarian corridor is opened up, to let these people out and to let desperately needed help, in the form of medical care, food, and mobile phones, in.
“It’s also time to let the rest of the world in. We have to ensure that international aid agencies are allowed safe access to the most vulnerable people, and can carry out their vital work without impediments of the kind we saw last Friday [February 6], when the Red Cross came under attack after false rumours that it had ordered 35,000 body bags in expectation of huge fatalities among Tamil fighters.
“While it remains impossible to build up a clear picture of exactly what is happening inside the conflict zone, because of the restrictions on journalists, we must maintain the pressure from the outside, and ensure that bringing an end to the suffering of innocent civilians remains a priority in the UK, Europe, and across the world.
“We need international monitors in Sri Lanka as a matter of urgency to assess the scale of the humanitarian crisis and lead moves towards a long-term political solution that will bring peace to the island and an end to violence and intimidation.”
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