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Le portail rinoceros d’informations sur les initiatives citoyennes pour la construction d’un autre monde a été intégré au nouveau site Ritimo pour une recherche simplifiée et élargie.

Ce site (http://www.rinoceros.org/) constitue une archive des articles publiés avant 2008 qui n'ont pas été transférés.

Le projet rinoceros n’a pas disparu, il continue de vivre pour valoriser les points de vue des acteurs associatifs dans le monde dans le site Ritimo.

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People’s Tribunal on Sri Lanka

The war in Sri Lanka commenced in July 2006 with the final collapse of the internationally backed 2002 peace process between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The declared objective of the Sri Lankan government was to eliminate the LTTE and capture all areas previously controlled by it. This war, with such a terrible humanitarian cost, was declared as over by the Sri Lankan government on 18 May 2009. The international media characterised this last phase of the war as a ’war without witness’ due to the fact that journalists and other potential witnesses like aid workers were prevented by the government from remaining in the area.

In May 2009 the members of the Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka (IFPSL), in consultation with sister lobby groups in Europe, decided to appeal to a group of internationally renowned eminent persons to write to the Sri Lankan government to seek permission to visit the detention camps in Sri Lanka. As scepticism grew regarding obtaining permission from the Sri Lankan government (due to the deportation of several groups and individuals who reported to the world about the detention camps) members of IFPSL initiated a discussion with the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) based in Milan which has a long history of carrying out independent investigations into human rights abuses ranging from Vietnam to Guatemala. The meetings with PPT were facilitated by Prof Francois Houtart who is an expert in People’s Tribunals ranging from Vietnam to Iraq. As a result of these discussions the PPT has agreed to conduct a People’s Tribunal on Sri Lanka following the methodology of the Bertrand Russell-Sartre Tribunal on Vietnam.

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Why a Tribunal on Sri Lanka
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Add your name to the list of supporters of the People’s Tribunal on Sri Lanka

Trade & war in Colombia

The Colombian government is threatening to reject Plan Colombia II funding if they don’t get the FTA - let’s make sure this threat is realized!

Congress is gearing up for a vote on the U.S. Colombia Free Trade Agreement while the House drafts its version of the foreign aid bill. The bill will determine the make-up of "Plan Colombia II," which plans to extend more than $600 million to fund the War on Drugs that has failed to reduce production and trafficking of cocaine. You can sway their vote.

What’s at stake

U.S. policy is on the path towards making the conflict in Colombia worse if military aid continues and the FTA is ratified. In Mexico NAFTA caused 1.7 million peasants to be displaced it will likely do the same in Colombia. Let’s not carry on policies that will add to the 3.8 million people who have fled their homes from violence over the last two decades.

Call today to tell Congress to change direction on trade and war in Colombia!

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