Jessica Devi Chandrashekar is the media team coordinator for Canadian Humanitarian Appeal for Relief of Tamils (Canadian HART) . Jessica is also a Ph.D. candidate and she is enrolled in the Women’s Studies program at York University in Toronto. Her doctoral research focuses on humanitarian issues in Sri Lanka, specifically those pertaining to Tamil women’s rights and the gendered effects of war. Jessica holds a B.Sc. in Human Biology (2007) and an M.A. in Women’s Studies (2008) both from the University of Toronto. She has been involved in human rights advocacy projects for several years.

Please tell us a little about your background and how you became involved with this organization.
I started working with Canadian HART in January 2009 after a friend asked me if I wanted to join. It was after Canadian HART launched its first campaign around the IDP (Internally Displaced Peoples) crisis in Sri Lanka. Early September 2008 the Sri Lankan government asked all NGOs and the UN to pull out of the Wanni region in the North of Sri Lanka so that it could proceed with its ‘war without witness.’ The military invasion into Wanni caused 300,000 internally displaced people. Canadian HART was created by concerned members of the Tamil Canadian community who wanted to raise awareness about the atrocities against the Tamil minorities in Sri Lanka.

Please tell us about the composition and history of the Sri Lankan community in Toronto, the impact of the civil war in Sri Lanka, and how many Tamils from there are now living in the area.
Since independence in 1948, the Sri Lankan state has systemically discriminated against minority groups in Sri Lanka, and most specifically against the Tamil speaking population. Most Tamils fled Sri Lanka after the 1983 anti-Tamil pogroms in Colombo. These attacks were well planned with the help of the Singhalese majority Sri Lankan government. There had been several anti-Tamil attacks since Sri Lanka became independent in 1948, but the attacks of 1983 were by far the worst—3,000 Tamils were killed in a period of 3 days in the nation’s capital and many Tamil businesses were destroyed. As a result of the 1983 attacks, over 1 million Tamils fled Sri Lanka. There are approximately 3 million Tamils left in Sri Lanka and over 1.5 million of them are internally displaced. Many Tamils fled to Canada as refugees and there are currently over 250,000 Tamils living here and the majority live in the Toronto area. This is the largest Tamil diaspora outside of South Asia. The events of 1983 are known as “Black July” and it is this date that is used to mark the official beginning of the war in Sri Lanka. While Tamils have faced state-based violence for 61 years, they only began pushing for a separate state 26 years ago.

How did Canadian Hart get started? Who do you work with?
Canadian HART is a grassroots organization. In November 2008 a small group of concerned people in the Tamil community in Toronto came together to talk about the IDP crisis in Sri Lanka. Out of this conversation, Canadian HART was created. We originally started as a campaign called “Open Your Eyes for HART.” Through this campaign, we began to raise awareness about the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka. In December 2008 The Genocide Prevention Project, an independent genocide-monitoring group, declared Sri Lanka to be a ‘Red Alert’ country. This is the highest score available and indicates the state has particular systems in place to commit genocide. In response to the international recognition of the genocidal campaign against Tamils in Sri Lanka, we launched our “Halt Genocide” campaign in January 2009. Since this time, Canadian HART has continued to focus on the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka. We work in collaboration with other Tamil community organizations in Toronto as well as anti-war organizations. Canadian HART has a broad network of volunteers most of whom are youth and university students. We are an entirely volunteer-run organization.

What is the work you do for Canadian Hart? What does it do as an organization?
My role with Canadian HART is the media team coordinator. As is well known, Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places for journalists. This makes it difficult to share information about the condition of Tamils in the country. Our media team seeks to disseminate information that mainstream media may not have access to because of the difficulties for reporters to investigate independently in Sri Lanka. With the media team, we also try to build relationships and dialogues with the mainstream press.

Since its inception, Canadian HART has grown into a very large organization. We have an NGO team that networks with the international community. Our NGO team recently sent a delegation to Geneva to speak with representatives from the United Nations. Our women’s rights advocacy committee has organized several campaigns, which focus on the conditions of Tamil women in Sri Lanka. We marched in solidarity with several feminist organizations during the International Women’s Day march in Toronto. Canadian HART has many artistic volunteers who organized a documentary team. They are in the process of putting together a short film that will be used as an educational resource.

How did you get information before? How are you getting information now given that the Sri Lankan government is not allowing international media or humanitarian agencies to the affected areas?
It is very difficult to get accurate information regarding the human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. The government has asked all NGOs to leave and it is very dangerous for independent media. Our organization is able to access information and statistics from a variety of sources. The Inner City Press is an independent United Nations monitoring group, which reports on information that the United Nations media centre does not always share with the public. For example, The Inner City Press published UN satellite pictures of the ‘safety zone’ where the Sri Lankan government had set up refugee camps for Tamil civilians caught in the middle of the conflict. The government had repeatedly denied shelling this area but the satellite images proved otherwise. Another source of information about the war crimes the Sri Lankan government had been committing over the past few months were reports Dr. Sathiyamoorthy, Dr. Varatharajah and Dr. Shanmugarajah. These three medical doctors reported from the ‘safety zone’ and were able to communicate to the international community the details of the war. They are now being held incommunicado in detention centers by the Sri Lankan government. Some other sources of information are:

www.tamilcanadian.com/news/ - this site compiles daily top news from various sources regarding the conflict
www.tamilnet.com -this site has up-to-date reports on casualties and first hand reports from civilians
www.un.lk - the United Nations web source on Sri Lanka
www.innercitypress.com – investigative reporting on the United Nations

Do you work with local NGOs in Sri Lanka or internationally? If so, what do you do with them?
Canadian HART works in collaboration with international organizations through our NGO team as well as with Canadian-based organizations. It is difficult to work with NGOs in Sri Lanka itself as there is next to no international presence in the country. However, we have been able to develop a strong network within Canada. Local unions and student-run organizations have been very supportive of our campaigns. Nationally and internationally, we still have some work to do. However, we have found that taking a grassroots approach and building relationships with non-Tamil communities from the ground up has been the most successful approach so far. Toronto is the most diverse city in Canada and there are many communities here who can relate to the experiences of the Tamil community.

What are your concerns about the status of Tamils living in Sri Lanka now that the war is over? What are some of your present goals given the way the war was concluded?
We are incredibly concerned about the status of Tamils in Sri Lanka. If the war is over, why are there 300,000 Tamils trapped in internment camps? These Tamils are caged in camps surrounded by barbed wire and patrolled by the army. Because international aid organizations have pulled out of the country, there is not nearly enough food, clean water or medicine for the Tamils trapped in these camps. Furthermore, many of these people are suffering from injuries related to the shelling of the ‘safety zone’ and have not received treatment. Groups of 30 people are crammed into tents made for families of 5 and are expected to seek shelter from monsoon rains in these flimsy, overcrowded tents. There are countless reports of the raping of women and the abduction of men and children by pro-government paramilitaries. Throughout Sri Lanka there are reports of Tamil businesses being robbed and violence against Tamils. The North and East of Sri Lanka used to be relatively safe for Tamils; however, the military now has control over these areas. The system of impunity that is in place leaves the Tamil minorities no official avenue to have their harassers held accountable.

The government continues to deny the international community and media access to the country and the Tamil people are incredibly concerned about their future. As a humanitarian organization, Canadian HART continues to focus on the plight of civilians. Our focus now is to demand that our Canadian government and the international community put pressure on Sri Lanka to release the 300,000 Tamils trapped in internment camps, allow NGOs and the media into the country, push for a political solution between the Tamil people and the Sri Lankan government and investigate Sri Lanka for war crimes.

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Harmit Atwal, Editor, Institute of Race Relations
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Senem Doganoglu, Attorney for Pembe Hayat (Pink Life)
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Jim Harrington, Director, Texas Civil Rights Project
Prof. Brian Levin, Director, Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism
Juliana Rotich, Program Director, Ushahidi.com
Christina Iturralde, LatinoJustice PRLDEF
Anene Ejikeme Assistant Professor, Trinity University
Alexander Verkhovsky, Director, SOVA Center for Information and Analysis (Moscow)
Innokenty Grekov, Human Rights First
Paul St. Clair, Executive Director, Roma Community Centre
Rev. Allan Ramirez, Latino Advocate
Dr. Agapito López, M.D.
Bill Habern, defense attorney
Anya Cordell, activist
Rais Bhuiyan, survivor
Allison Moore, Volunteer