SRI LANKA
(War Crimes and Crimes Against humanity)
Facts to the United Nations
Human Rights Council
Information Nations Unies
Conseil des droits de l'homme
Informativos a Naciones Unidas
Consejo de Derechos Humanos
Website : www.tchr.net
Second session / Deuxime session / 2 perodo de sesiones
3rd session / 3eme session / 3ra sesion
27/11/2006 -- 08/12/2006
Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR
Centre Tamoul pour les droits de l'Homme - CTDH
Centro Tamil para los Derechos Humanos
(Established in 1990)
Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR
Centre Tamoul pour les droits de l'Homme - CTDH
Centro Tamil para los Derechos Humanos
(Established in 1990)
Website : www.tchr.net
TCHR participation in United Nations World conferences
and other meetings
* The Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR) was accredited to participate in the United Nations Conference on Anti-corruption Measures, Good Governance and Human Rights, in Warsaw, Poland 8–9 November 2006.
* A meeting was held on 7 March 2006, in the European Parliament – titled "EU contribution to the peace process in Sri Lanka". This was jointly organised by TCHR and Mr. Robert Evans, a member of European Parliament of Labour Party in UK.
* TCHR accredited by the United Nations to participate in the World Summit on the Information Society – WSIS in Tunisia, 16 – 18 November 2005.
* Officially accredited in the NGO forum of the UN World Conference Against Racism – WCAR in Durban, South Africa, from 28 August to 1 September 2001. TCHR held an information stall including an exhibition at the forum. The TCHR representatives also attended the main WCAR conference held in Durban, 31 August to 7 September 2001.
* A meeting was held on 14 October 1998, in the European Parliament – titled "Press censorship in Sri Lanka". This was jointly organised by the Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR) and Ms. Anita Pollack, a member of European Parliament of Labour Party in UK.
* In 1993, TCHR held an information stall and a photo exhibition on human rights violations, in the United Nations 2nd World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna, Austria, from 14-25 June.
* TCHR participates in meetings of Treaty bodies and submits reports to the same.
Fact finding missions to the North East of the Island of Sri Lanka
* May 2003 (http://www.tchr.net/report_studymission_2003.htm)
* December 2003 – addendum report (http://www.tchr.net/report_studymission_2003add.htm)
* July-August 2004 (http://www.tchr.net/reports_visite_2004.htm)
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Contents
Page
Appeal 03
Introduction
Hardliner wins Sri Lanka election 04
Year of misery and violence
Pope - Benedict XVI – on Sri Lanka 06
Recorded figures - Arrests, Killings, Disappearances, Rapes, Displacements, etc 07
(Since 17 November 2005)
Children
Sri Lanka youth 'seized to fight' – BBC News 08
UNICEF condemns abduction and recruitment of children
Freedom of Expression and Movement
Gunmen 'kill two' at Jaffna paper – BBC News 09
Warning over Jaffna press freedom
Troops fire during Jaffna protest 10
Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) - MSF withdraws from Jaffna Peninsula
Arrests / Abductions / Disappearances
Hundreds detained in Sri Lanka – BBC News 12
TRO - Fear for Safety/ possible "disappearance" – Amnesty International
Fears grow over Tamil abductions 13
Fr Jim Brown - Fear for safety/possible "disappearance" – Amnesty 14
Killings and Massacres
Killings of Parliamentarians
Peace suffers as Tamil politicians killed – BBC News 15
Former Tamil MP killed in Jaffna
Gunmen kill Sri Lankan politician 16
Resolution adopted by consensus strongly condemns - IPU
ICRC deplores attack on civilians 18
Lanka army 'kills 45 civilians'
Sri Lanka war 'killing civilians' 19
Sri Lankan civilians found dead
ICRC extremely concerned about the human cost of conflict
Killing of Children
Sri Lanka strike 'hits orphanage' - Mullaithivu 20
Dispute over Sri Lanka air raids
UNICEF - Children are victims of the conflict in Sri Lanka 21
Sri Lanka Tamil massacre mystery
Killings of Humanitarian workers
Sri Lanka deaths stun aid agency - AFC 22
Two more aid workers found dead 23
Aid worker shot dead in Sri Lanka
Monitors' statement on Sri Lanka killings – SLMM 24
ICRC deeply concerned about increasing mine casualties 25
Sri Lanka Tamil activist 'killed' 26
Internally Displaced People
130,000 Sri Lankan refugees cut off from aid-group
Jaffna bishop appeals to government - Bishop Savundaranayagam 27
Humanitarian Crisis in Sri Lanka - Bishop Savundaranayagam
Attack on displaced civilians must be investigated – Amnesty International 28
1
Food supplies run low for Sri Lankan families – UNICEF 29
Just another day for the displaced – ICRC 30
Blackouts and blockades
Sri Lanka - with supplies cut serious problem looms in Jaffna - UN 31
Sri Lanka - increase in numbers of displaced – UNHCR
Sri Lanka - Over half a million displaced people – Amnesty International 32
Bishop of Mannar, writes to the Vatican 33
Sri Lanka - increasing levels of violence cause concern – ICRC 34
Concern of the United Nations
UN adviser finds Sri Lankas children at risk' - Allan Rock 36
Secretary-General calls for end to bloodshed in Sri Lanka 37
UN Condemns indiscriminate use of force in Sri Lanka
Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions urges General Assembly
Secretary-General deplores escalation of violence in Sri Lanka 38
Secretary-General increasingly alarmed at ongoing violence in Sri Lanka 39
Emergency relief coordinator condemns killing of aid workers in Sri Lanka
Secretary-General concerned about increased violence 40
Secretary-General concerned by major sea, air attacks in Sri Lanka
UN calls for protection of civilians in Sri Lanka
Secretary-General very concerned about escalating violence 41
Secretary-General very concerned about deteriorating security situation
Secretary-General condemns Sri Lanka violence,
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Hopes new inquiry Commission will prove effective 42
Louise Arbour's address to the Human Rights Council
Statement from Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions 43
UN Independent Experts express serious concern 44
High Commissioner condemns attack on civilians in Sri Lanka 45
High Commissioner expresses concern 46
UN Special Rapporteur calls for urgent measures to end political killings 46
2
27 November 2006
The President
Members and Delegates
2nd and 3rd Sessions - Human Rights Council
United Nations
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Distinguished Sirs / Mesdames,
Since the establishment of our organisation in 1990, we have been bringing our concerns to all UN Human Rights forums, regarding the situation in Sri Lanka, our main focus at present.
Therefore, once again, we bring our deep concerns to this august forum, about the massive human tragedy in the North East of the island.
The Memorandum of Understanding and Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) signed between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in February 2002 has created normalcy in all the provinces, except the North East.
Since the present President who is the Commander in chief of the Sri Lankan security forces took office, the North East has been facing a merciless and bloody war, in which the vast majority of victims are Tamil civilians. The daily occurrence of abductions, disappearances, political killings, aerial bombings and artillery shelling are causing terrible hardship to the people in the North East. There are people in Colombo who are also severely affected by disappearances and killings.
Since 17 November 2005 to October 2006 – 1206 people have been arrested; 1127 have been abducted and disappeared; 1202 have been killed; 88 women have been raped; 1856 have been injured and more than 279,200 people have been displaced.
The situation of IDPs remains critical. The government is preventing them from resettling in their own homes due to the militarised zones that have taken over their land. Food, medicine and daily essentials are being blocked from reaching hundreds of thousands in the North East, causing death from starvation and disease.
Fishermen are still severely restricted in pursuing their livelihood; they are constantly harassed, intimidated and killed by the Sri Lanka Navy and armed forces.
Our attached report contains information on the recent deteriorating human rights situation in the North East, for your kind perusal and to inform any constructive action you consider it appropriate to take.
It is highly surprising that Sri Lanka, with its abysmal human rights record, still remains a member in the Human Rights Council. It is well known that Sri Lanka has been systematically flouting its obligations under International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law for several decades and has developed a range of approaches to avoid scrutiny of the United Nations at all cost.
Members and delegates will be aware that during the last session of the Human Rights Council, Diplomats of the European Union took the initiative and Finland as the holder of the EU presidency tabled a draft decision 2006/..... Sri Lanka (A/HRC/2/L.37) on Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, as anticipated by many, this was unsuccessful and it is doubtful whether it will be successful during the current sessions.
International human rights law and international humanitarian law are severely and massively violated by Sri Lanka. Considering all the realities and administrative difficulties, the best mechanism in hand which can be used, is to charge the President of Sri Lanka, the Commander-in-Chief of the Sri Lanka Security Forces and other Military officials with War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity.
This is the most appropriate option left in the hands of any country, international institution or other concerned bodies, committed to taking realistic and appropriate action on the dire situation in Sri Lanka.
In addition, we urge this session to take immediate steps to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe that is being deliberately inflicted by the government of Sri Lanka on civilians in the North East.
In order to prevent imminent famine and more deaths – enough food, medicine and basic essentials must be immediately sent to the North East especially Vaharai and Jaffna. Also, the stumbling block, the only road to Jaffna - the A9 - must be opened by the Sri Lanka government without pre-conditions, for the public use.
We urgently appeal to you and other distinguished delegates to seriously consider the available mechanism for international scrutiny mentioned here, and also to take prompt action to alleviate the urgent humanitarian needs in the North East.
Thank you,
Yours sincerely
S. V. Kirubaharan
General Secretary
3
Introduction
Hardliner wins Sri Lanka election
BBC News - 18 November 2005
Sri Lankan premier Mahinda Rajapakse has won the presidential election by a narrow margin, officials have said.
Mr Rajapakse secured a little over 50% of the popular vote against main opposition rival Ranil Wickramasinghe.
Mr Rajapakse, who has taken a hard line with Tamil Tiger rebels, said after his victory he would "bring about an honourable peace".
Turnout was put at 75% in the south and west, but almost no Tamils voted in some minority Tamil areas.
He opposes privatisation and wants subsidies for farmers.
In pre-poll deals with Marxist and Buddhist parties he pledged a hard line in peace talks, including a renegotiation of the ceasefire agreement.
The Tamil Tigers warned Mr Rajapakse not to use his victory to adopt "military means to occupy our land or wage a conflict".
Political wing leader, SP Thamilselvan, told the BBC such actions would have "negative implications for the other side and we hope that they will understand the reality" (Excerpt)
Year of misery and violence
BBC News - 20 November 2006
When Sri Lanka chose a new president and a new administration a year ago, some hoped that the change could bring new thinking and a new approach in solving the ethnic conflict.
Though considered a hardliner, President Mahinda Rajapakse was viewed by moderate Tamils as a pragmatist who had the potential to evolve a consensus by convincing the majority Sinhalese community to find a political solution to the ethnic conflict.
But many of his supporters argued that while the president - elected on 18 November 2005 - would pursue the peace process, he would also adopt a hard-line approach towards Tamil Tiger rebels.
The dramatic escalation of violence in the past year - and the subsequent change in perceptions of both the Sinhalese and Tamil sides - appear to have taken the country back to the position it was in prior to the signing of the February 2002 ceasefire agreement.
Deliberate provocation
According to official figures, more than 3,000 people have been killed in the last year - including civilians, soldiers and rebels. While those figures are the source of some dispute, events on the ground suggest that the war-ravaged country may well be sliding back into full-scale conflict.
So what has gone wrong?
"The militaristic approach of the government seems to have eroded the confidence of even moderate Tamils," says Sri Lankan analyst Yuvaraja Thangaraja.
But the government offers its own justifications for military action.
Within weeks of the new president taking office, a series of claymore mines exploded in the northern part of the country killing scores of soldiers.
Many viewed this as a deliberate provocation which could have forced the new leader to withdraw from the Norwegian-brokered ceasefire agreement.
4
To its credit, there was no knee-jerk reaction from the new government. But when the violence escalated and civilians also became targets, the international community stepped in to arrange talks in Geneva in February 2006.
However, both sides reneged on their promises made in Switzerland. There were allegations that the security forces were actively aiding and abetting paramilitary groups, including those of the renegade Tamil Tiger commander, Colonel Karuna, in the eastern region.
The colonel's forces increased their attacks on Tiger bases, a tactic that annoyed the rebel leadership.
Retaliatory air attacks
Few people believed rebel denials that they were not behind the claymore attacks and they too were seen to have failed to live up to promises made in front of international facilitators.
In reality, both parties were waiting for the other to be the first to take the significant step of formally withdrawing from the 2002 agreement.
So while the ceasefire nominally at least remained in place, the violence continued in earnest, rendering it to all intents and purposes null and void.
A suicide attack on the army commander, Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka, led to the army launching retaliatory air attacks and artillery barrages.
This was followed by naval battles and counter attacks by both sides.
Thousands of trapped civilians suffered, and hundreds were reported killed. More than 200,000 people were displaced because of the violence. Most of them are still languishing in makeshift camps and in open areas.
The prospects for peace were only made worse by the decision of the European Union (EU) to place a ban on the rebels.
The rebels responded by refusing to co-operate with EU ceasefire monitors on the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) who were forced to withdraw.
Some say this significantly eroded the SLMM's peace monitoring efforts.
'Gross ceasefire violations'
Muslim civilians in the eastern town of Muttur bore the brunt of the fighting as thousands were forced to leave their homes. The rebels were accused of driving the Muslims away.
But the government, too, came in for criticism over the killing of aid workers in Muttur town.
For the first time since the signing of the ceasefire agreement, Sri Lankan forces captured territory from the rebels and the front lines shifted in the north.
"Both sides were committing gross ceasefire violations. In fact, the tit-for-tat attacks of each protagonist steadily eroded the ceasefire agreement," says Helen Olafsdottir, an SLMM official.
Analysts say that the best hope for peace now lies in the hands of the government: if it can come up with a political solution in the near future, further deterioration of the situation could be prevented.
The government for its part says the agreement between the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) is a crucial step in proposing long-term solutions to the ethnic conflict.
They hope that in the coming months they will indeed be able to put forward a political package.
But the government, which appeared to have strong international support until recently, has now come under increased scrutiny.
5
The recent bombing of civilians in the east, the shortage of food in the north and the east and the accusation of a senior UN official that some elements of the security forces were involved in forcefully recruiting child soldiers for the Karuna group seem to have worked against the government.
The Tigers too are accused of continuing with their killings and indulging in forceful child recruitment.
But perhaps the most worrying aspect of Sri Lanka's decline over the past year is the plight of civilians in the north and the east.
Conditions for them have significantly deteriorated, and many now are literally living in terror.
Distressingly for them, neither side appears to have focused on the issue, and an end to their suffering does not look to be immediately on the cards.
Solemnity of the assumption of the blessed virgin Mary
BENEDICT XVI – ANGELUS - Castel Gandolfo
Tuesday, 15 August 2006
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Christian tradition has placed, as we know, in the heart of summer a most ancient and suggestive Marian feast, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Like Jesus, risen from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father, so Mary, having finished the course of her earthly existence, was assumed into Heaven.
We are also in communion with the Pastors and faithful of the Church in the Holy Land who are gathered in the Basilica of the Annunciation at Nazareth with the Pontifical Representative to Israel and Palestine, Archbishop Antonio Franco, in order to pray for the same intention.
My thoughts go also to the dear Nation of Sri Lanka, threatened by the deterioration of the ethnic conflict; to Iraq, where the terrible daily bloodshed delays the dawn of reconciliation and rebuilding.
May Mary obtain for all sentiments of comprehension, the will to understand and the desire for harmony! (Excerpt)
6
Since Mahinda Rajapaksa became the President of Sri Lanka
17 November 2005 – October 2006
Recorded figures of Arrests, Killings, Disappearances, Rapes, Displacements
and Injuries* to the people in the North East
(These are the recorded figures – real figures are higher)
Arrests/ **
Years Torture Disap. Killing Rape Injuries Displaced
2005 Nov 89 133 152 03 197 ---
2006 Oct 1117 994 1050 85 1659 279200
Total 1206 1127 1202 88 1856 279200
Arrests/ **
District Torture Disap Killings Rape Injuries Displaced
Amparai 91 94 51 15 54 21000
Batticaloa 335 355 280 22 127 67000
Trincomalee 177 107 247 14 1055 110000
Vavuniya 215 227 102 12 102 8000
Mullaithivu --- --- 65 --- 112 ---
Killinochchi --- --- 15 --- 25 ---
Mannar 97 19 57 6 91 18200
Jaffna 291 325 385 19 290 55000
Total 1206 1127 1202 88 1856 279200
* = Property and material damages caused in aerial bombing and shelling are not included.
** = Only a very few disappeared have been found
Parliamentarians (including one former) 03
Journalists 03
Religious leaders 02
Humanitarian workers 28
Educationalists +22
Businessmen +100
Students +105
Social workers +300
Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR Centre Tamoul pour les Droits de l'Homme
Email : tchrgs@tchr.net / tchrdip@tchr.net Website : www.tchr.net
20 November 2006
7
Children
Sri Lanka youth 'seized to fight'
BBC News – 13 November 2006
Elements in the Sri Lankan military are helping a breakaway rebel faction to abduct children as soldiers to fight Tamil Tiger rebels, the UN has said.
A senior UN official said there was "credible evidence" that troops had rounded up children to fight with the renegade rebel group led by Col Karuna.
His faction split from the Tamil Tigers, long accused of using children.
Sri Lankan security forces say they are "perturbed" by the "completely misleading" allegations.
A Karuna spokesman also denied the allegations, saying his group merely offered protection to children fleeing fighting with the rival Tamil Tigers.
Complicity
But Allan Rock, a special adviser to the UN representative for children and armed conflict, said government forces had forcibly rounded up young Tamil children to fight with Col Karuna's group.
"We encountered both direct and indirect evidence of... complicity and participation," he said of the government security services.
The BBC's Dumeetha Luthra, in Colombo, says the allegation, the first of its kind made by the UN against the Sri Lankan military, follows a 10-day fact-finding mission.
The army has long denied allegations that it actively supports the efforts of the rebel faction led by Col Karuna, following his split from the Tamil Tigers in 2004.
'Corroding law'
Mr Rock spoke of 13 and 14-year-old children being kidnapped from villages, and no arrests or investigation being carried out by the security forces.
He said there was both eyewitness and anecdotal evidence to back up his claims.
In a statement the Sri Lankan Armed forces said Mr Rock's claims that government troops were actively involved in the recruitment of child soldiers were "regrettable".
"Security forces... vehemently deny having any involvement whatsoever with the LTTE breakaway group for abductions in Batticaloa."
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has promised a full investigation into the allegations.
Mr Rock said the fact that Sri Lankan troops were complicit in the recruitment of child soldiers meant that Tamil Tiger rebels would continue to do so, as it corroded the rule of law. (Excerpt)
The United Nations Children's Fund - UNICEF
News note
Condemns abduction and recruitment of
Sri Lankan children by the Karuna group
COLOMBO, 22 June 2006 – UNICEF in Sri Lanka is calling for immediate action to halt the abduction and forced recruitment of children by the Karuna group. Over the past week, the agency has verified reports of thirty cases in Batticaloa district. Reports of abduction and forced recruitment of boys under the age of 18 from the area have increased since March of this year.
8
While calling on all armed groups in Sri Lanka to stop using child soldiers and to send all such victims of the conflict home, UNICEF is also appealing to the Government of Sri Lanka to investigate all abductions and ensure that children in affected areas are given the full protection of the law.
Recruitment of children often takes place in circumstances designed to add to a climate of fear in communities. This is already being seen in falling attendance at schools in the area. These gross violations of their rights will also expose children to brutality and extreme violence with lifelong consequences.
UNICEF is working with communities and parents to verify exact details of cases that are reported to the agency.
Freedom of Expression and Movement
Gunmen 'kill two' at Jaffna paper
BBC News - 2 May 2006
Gunmen have killed two members of staff of a Tamil-language newspaper in the northern Sri Lankan town of Jaffna, the paper's editor says.
Masked men wearing black burst into the offices of the Uthayan daily and opened fire indiscriminately, the paper's editor N Vidyadharan told the BBC.
Two other employees were seriously injured, he said. It is not clear who carried out the attack.
The attack comes amid mounting tensions between the military and Tamil rebels.
It took place on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, during which the lobby group, Reporters Without Borders, is due to add armed Tamil groups in Sri Lanka to its list of those threatening the media.
'Staff hid'
Mr Vidyadharan said the two employees died instantly.
"Hearing the gunfire, other employees either ran away or hid in different parts of the building," he told the BBC Tamil service.
Another member of staff blamed the attack on government-backed paramilitary forces. (Excerpt)
Warning over Jaffna press freedom
BBC News - 22 December 2005
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) says the government may be clamping down on the media in Sri Lanka's Jaffna peninsula.
Recent incidents in the district show that the government is "targeting" media and journalists, the IFJ says.
On Thursday a newspaper delivery man, K Navarathnam, was shot dead in front the offices of a Tamil daily, Thinakkural.
Some reports suggest that he was involved with a group that had close links with the Tamil Tigers.
The identity of Mr Navarathnam's assailant is not known and the reasons behind his killing are unclear.
'Journalists arrested'
Jaffna peninsula in northern Sri Lanka has witnessed numerous clashes between the rebels and the government since the last month and at least 25 have been killed.
The IFJ says, since the beginning of December three journalists were beaten up by the army.
9
In another incident, three journalists were arrested despite producing their identity papers and press cards and were released only after the intervention from a Tamil legislator, says the IFJ.
The media watchdog said that the army had also searched the offices and interrogated the staff of a Tamil daily, Namathu Eelanaadu.
"The concern is that these three incidents are just the beginning of the targeting of media and journalists in Jaffna which will result in a total clampdown of freedom of expression," says the IFJ president, Christopher Warren.
The IFJ said the four Tamil dailies in Jaffna were being targeted because of their sympathetic editorial stand towards the Tamil Tigers.
Troops fire during Jaffna protest
BBC News - 19 December 2005
Sri Lankan soldiers have fired shots in the air to disperse protesters in the northern town of Jaffna, the army says.
Jaffna Teaching Hospital said it had received 14 casualties, one of them with a gunshot wound, Reuters reports.
An army spokesman blamed Tamil Tiger rebels for encouraging protesters to throw stones at army checkpoints. He denied demonstrators had been shot.
The incident comes as donors meet in Brussels to review fragile peace moves following a recent upsurge in violence.
Reports say the crowd was protesting at alleged harassment by troops. (Excerpt)
MSF withdraws from Jaffna Peninsula
All
MSF medical activities suspended in country
Field News - October 19, 2006
An increase in violence and fighting in 2006 has led Doctors Without Borders/Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) to return to Sri Lanka to provide medical assistance to the war affected population. Since August of this year, approximately 200,000 people have been displaced by the fighting. Despite requests from the Sri Lanka's ministry of health for MSF to provide assistance to several hospitals in the north of the country, MSF has so far only been allowed to begin activities in Point Pedro Hospital on the Jaffna Peninsula. However, MSF teams have now had to suspend their medical activities and withdraw from the only hospital where it had been permitted to work. Dr. Rowan Gillies, president of the international council of MSF, and Dr. Guillermo Bertoletti, director of operations of MSF in Paris, recently went to Sri Lanka to see if it was possible to find a solution. Dr. Bertoletti explains why MSF suspended its activities and provides an update of the situation following his visit.
Why has MSF suspended its activities and withdrawn from Jaffna Peninsula?
Since the September 30, false allegations have been leveled in the Sri Lankan
media accusing MSF teams of participating in the conflict. We have been cited
as a "threat to national security" and have been accused of actively
supporting the Tamil Tigers. Simultaneously we received a letter from the
government canceling our existing visas and asking us to leave the country,
followed shortly by a second official letter saying we could stay in the
country until "further notice," stating we are under investigation.
Though MSF has not been officially accused of anything, the false allegations made in the media, combined with a lack of clear support from the government as a whole, have made the risk for our personnel unnecessarily high. As a result, the MSF team in Point Pedro has ceased providing medical assistance, and has left the Jaffna Peninsula.
10
Seeing as the government has now said MSF can stay, isn't it an overreaction to stop medical activities just because of some articles in the media?
This is not a decision we have taken lightly. It was especially hard to leave
the patients and to stop collaborating with our colleagues in the hospital,
knowing that the situation on the peninsula continues to deteriorate and that
currently there is heavy bombing in the area. Throughout 2006 the security
situation in the country has greatly degraded, creating acute needs for the
civilian population as well as increasing the risk taken by humanitarian
organizations. The assassination of 17 members of Action Against Hunger/Action
Contre la Faim (ACF) was a terrible shock to us and illustrates how dangerous
the situation can be for humanitarian workers also.
Within this context, like in any armed conflict, our independence and neutrality must be respected. If we are to help the civilian population affected by the conflict, we need the false allegations and inaccurate statements made in the media cleared up. We need a strong message that the government as a whole, and that authorities at all levels, are ready to welcome and facilitate the work of an internationally recognized, independent, and neutral medical-humanitarian organization. Without these assurances, we cannot send our teams to provide medical assistance to those in need.
Why were these accusations leveled against MSF? Maybe this is just a misunderstanding?
The accusations are absurd and completely unfounded. MSF has a long record of
impartial and independent action in all the major armed conflicts of the last
30 years. We speak out on the humanitarian issues we face, but we don't take
sides in a conflict. We worked in Sri Lanka during 17 years of armed conflict,
and have proved that we are a medical emergency organization responding to the
needs of the population. This situation is all the more puzzling taking into
account that the hospitals we had proposed to support are all government
hospitals, in government controlled areas, following requests made by the
Ministry of Health. Yet, thousands of people living in the LTTE-controlled
areas are also in desperate need of assistance.
However, there are a series of factors that may help to understand why this has happened. The accusations and restrictions on MSF, and other humanitarian organizations, are occurring in a context of increasing distrust and sometimes outright rejection of the involvement of international actors in Sri Lanka. On the one hand the general disappointment and frustration with the reconstruction efforts following the tsunami has translated into a profound disappointment and mistrust of NGOs. On the other hand, there is a strong opinion against the involvement of foreign organizations in the conflict. Many foreign entities, be them international organizations, states, or international NGOs, are all grouped together and perceived as being pro-LTTE (Tamil Tiger) or as profiting from the war. This is why it is extremely important for us to explain our action and to be publicly and officially recognized as being independent, neutral, and impartial. Finally, it may be that the government does not want an international presence in the areas where war is being waged.
Following your visit, do you think this situation will be resolved? What will MSF do if there is no progress?
We have made a commitment to work in Sri Lanka, and are prepared to honor that commitment.
We have grave concerns for the population living in the war-affected areas.
Fighting is increasing. Heavy bombing has displaced tens of thousands of people
who are in need of assistance. Hospitals are in need of support in order to
meet the demands. It is deplorable that we are not allowed to bring medical
assistance to the population living in areas where heavy fighting is underway.
Following several meetings we had in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, I believe there are members of the government who are concerned by the need for medical assistance in the north and east, and would like MSF to provide this assistance. However, this needs to translate into concrete actions. MSF surgeons, nurses, and other staff have been on standby for months in Colombo and in Europe, ready to provide care to Sri Lankans. Nevertheless, we cannot keep our teams on standby indefinitely. Today our name is not cleared up and we are not granted permits and authorizations to carry out our work. This means that we remain blocked, with no security for our teams and no humanitarian space to carry out our activities. If this doesn't change soon, if the government as a whole doesn't show that we are welcome to work in Sri Lanka, then I will consider this a situation that may force us to leave the country. (http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/2006/10-19-2006.cfm)
11
Arrests / Abductions / Disappearances
Hundreds detained in Sri Lanka
BBC News - 31 December 2005
Security forces in Sri Lanka say they have detained hundreds of people in a sweep for suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in the capital, Colombo.
Some 900 people have been detained in searches in five predominantly Tamil dominated districts, an official said.
The police said most of those detained would be released after questioning.
Security in Sri Lanka has been stepped up in recent weeks following a series of attacks blamed on the Tamil Tiger rebels.
Foreign monitors say a four-year-old ceasefire agreed by the government and rebel forces is under severe strain.
Reports say the police and soldiers carried out door-to-door searches in Colombo looking for rebel suspects. (Excerpt)
Amnesty International
Fear for Safety/ possible "disappearance"
Urgent Action 55/06 - AI Index: ASA 37/007/2006 - 10 March 2006
Kasinathar Ganeshalingam (m), aged 50, Director of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) and Co-ordinator of Pre-School Education Development Centre, North-East Province
Kathirkamar Thangarasa (m), aged 43, TRO Driver
Thanuskody Premini (f), aged 25, Chief Accountant for TRO in Batticaloa town and Student
Shanmuganathan Sujendram (m), TRO Accountant, Mankikkavasar Childrens Home
Thambiraja Vasantharajan (m), TRO Accountant, Batticaloa
Kailayapillai Ravindran (m), aged 26, TRO Accountant, Vipulananda Childrens Home
Arunesarasa Satheesharan (m), TRO Accounts Trainee, Vellavali
Kasinathar Ganeshalingam, Kathirkamar Thangarasa, Thanuskody Premini, Shanmuganathan Sujendram, Thambiraja Vasantharajan, Kailayapillai Ravindran and Arunesarasa Satheesharan, all employees of the Tamil relief and development charity, Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), were abducted in two separate incidents in late January 2006 in eastern Sri Lanka. It is feared that they may have "disappeared" and there aregrave concerns for their safety.
On 29 January, Kasinathar Ganeshalingam, Kathirkamar Thangarasa and three female TRO employees were driving from the town of Batticaloa in eastern Sri Lanka, on their way north to the TRO headquarters in the town of Kilinochchi in northern Sri Lanka. According to two TRO workers who were later released, at about 8pm they saw a white Toyota Hi-Ace van following their vehicle. They were stopped and subjected to checks at the Sri Lanka Army checkpoint at Welikanda, on the borders of Batticaloa and Polonnaruwa districts, and saw the white van parked behind their vehicle. When they moved a short distance from the checkpoint, the white Hi-Ace van came behind them, overtook their vehicle and stopped them. An unknown number of armed men got out of the van and assaulted both Kasinathar Ganeshalingam and the driver, Kathirkamar Thangarasa, tied them up and dumped them in the back of the TRO vehicle. The TRO vehicle was then driven for about three hours and finally stopped at a camp in a jungle area at about 11.30pm. The five TRO staff members were held overnight in the camp.
The women, who were reportedly held separately from their male colleagues, claim that they heard the two men being beaten by their captors. The following evening at around 9pm, two female staff members, Punniyamoorthy Nadeswari and Sithiravel Sivamathi, were released, taken to the nearest main road and put on a bus by their abductors, who warned them not to speak to anyone about what had occurred. A third female TRO staff member, S Dosini, was released later. However, Kasinathar Ganeshalingam and the driver, Kathirkamar Thangarasa, are still missing.
12
Five more TRO employees apparently "disappeared" on 30 January
in similar circumstances in the same area. At 4pm, 15 TRO staff members were
travelling from the organization's Batticaloa District office to the town of
Vavuniya to attend a training session, when their way was blocked by a white
van approximately 100 metres after the Sri Lanka Army checkpoint at Welikanda.
According to those who were later released, the white van had previously been following them. Five armed Tamil-speaking men, aged between 20 and 25, reportedly got out of the white van and boarded the TRO vehicle. One of them dragged the driver out of his seat and then drove the vehicle to a jungle area. All 15 of the captives were then blindfolded. Thanuskody Premini, Shanmuganathan Sujendram, Thambiraja Vasantharajan, Kailayapillai Ravindran and Arunesarasa Satheesharan were removed from the TRO vehicle and the remaining 10 were taken back to the main road and released. The released TRO workers reported that when one of the abductors shouted out that there was a police jeep ahead, another of the abductors replied that this would not present a problem to them. Before the 10 TRO staff members were released, they were told by the abductors that they should prepare the funeral rites for the five remaining abductees.
The TRO has stated that it has filed police reports with the Batticaloa Police
Station and some of the relatives of those missing have attempted to file
police reports. Police took statements from the two young women who were
released, who were kept overnight at the police station in Batticaloa. The
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) also investigated and took statements
from the two women but have not to date made their findings public. The TRO
staff have continued to cooperate with the authorities and the NHRC. (Excerpt)
Fears grow over Tamil abductions
BBC Sinhala Service - By Saroj Pathirana - 26 September 2006
Members of the minority Tamil community in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, have appealed for government help to tackle a spate of abductions.
They say the police and government have not done enough to investigate the kidnappings of nearly 50 Tamils in recent weeks.
Campaigners met Sri Lanka's president on Tuesday to request more protection.
The police say they have not been given enough information by victims' families to carry out investigations.
Those kidnapped include an eminent Tamil journalist working for a private media network in Colombo.
Mano Gaheshan, leader of the Western Peoples' Front, a Tamil political party, told the BBC that that he had sent a detailed list of 20 missing Tamils to the Sri Lankan human rights minister.
But no action had been taken so far, he said.
The MP said more people had gone missing since then.
He said that some kidnap victims had been released after reportedly paying huge ransoms.
A few have been found dead, but the fate of many is unknown.
'No trace'
An eminent journalist, Nadarajah Guruparan, working for a leading local private media network, was kidnapped and released within a day in the last week of August.
He was unable to identify his kidnappers.
Another man, Sothilingam Krishanthan, 21, disappeared on 3 September as he arrived in Colombo from the eastern town of Trincomalee.
A close relative of Mr Krishanthan said that he rang her from his mobile on his way to Colombo on the night train.
"Since then, there is no trace of him. He had all his identity documents with him," she told the BBC.
13
"We informed the national Human Rights Commission, the ICRC and went to every police station in Colombo."
Sinnakkalee Karunaharan, a travel agent in the capital, Colombo, has been missing since 27 December.
Family members, who wished to remain anonymous, told the BBC that he was abducted by a group of men in a white van in Wellawatta.
Protection promised
The image of the "white van" invokes memories of the "era of terror" in the late 1980s when death squads abducted and killed thousands of Sinhala youth in the south of the country.
But Colombo MP Mano Gaheshan says Tamils have "lost faith in the police system".
"It is up to the police to build confidence with the public," he says.
"It is their duty to protect the public, not the abductors and murderers." (Excerpt)
Amnesty International
Sri Lanka - Fear for safety/Possible "disappearance"
Urgent Action - AI Index: ASA 37/023/2006 - 29 August 2006
Reverend
Fr. Thiruchchelvan Nihal Jim Brown (m)
Wenceslaus Vinces Vimalathas (m)
Reverend Fr. Thiruchchelvan Nihal Jim Brown and Wenceslaus Vinces Vimalathas
went missing after a friend left them at a Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) checkpoint on
Kayts Island off the northern peninsula of Jaffna on 20 August at approximately
14:10. There is great concern for their safety, and Amnesty International fears
that they may be victims of "disappearance".
Father Jim Brown, a
parish priest in the village of Allaipiddy on Kayts Island, and Wenceslaus
Vinces Vimalathas left Allaipiddy by motorbike around 12:30pm on 20 August
heading for the nearby village of Mandaithivu. The SLN did not allow them to
enter Mandaithivu, and Father Jim Brown and Wenceslaus Vinces Vimalathas
decided to return to Allaipiddy. On the way back to Allaipiddy, they
met a friend who accompanied them to the Allaipiddy SLN checkpoint. The friend
left Father Jim Brown and Wenceslaus Vinces Vimalathas standing at the
checkpoint at approximately 14:10, which is the last confirmed sighting of the
two men.
Inquiries about their whereabouts have been made at a number of churches across
the Jaffna peninsula and in surrounding areas. As Kayts Island is strictly
controlled by the SLN, there are suspicions that the two men may have been
taken into custody. Rear Admiral Upali Ranaweera, Commander of the SLN's
Northern Region, has denied that the two men were arrested. Navy personnel at
the Allaipiddy checkpoint have stated that Father Jim Brown and Wenceslaus
Vinces Vimalathas passed through the Allaipiddy checkpoint and returned soon
after in the direction of Jaffna town. However, when Kayts police requested
that they produce the registration of the two men passing through the
checkpoint on their return from Allaipiddi, they refused.
Father Jim Brown had
assisted a number of civilians in moving from Allaipiddy to the town of Kayts
following armed conflict in Allaipiddy between the SLN and the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on 13 August, during which at least 15 civilians
were killed and 54 injured. In the days following this incident, he allegedly
received a number of death threats from the Commanding Officer of
the Allaipiddy Naval Camp, accusing him and other civilians of assisting the
LTTE to dig bunkers.
(Excerpts)
14
Killings and Massacres
Killing of Parliamentarians
Peace suffers as Tamil politicians killed
BBC Sinhala service editor - Priyath Liyanage
16 November 2006
Tamil human rights campaigner-turned politician Nadarajah Raviraj was cremated this week after unidentified gunmen shot him in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo.
He joined a long list of Tamils who had chosen politics, rather than violence, to be gunned down in the prolonged conflict in Sri Lanka.
It appears that Raviraj's killers wanted to stop him from speaking up for the country's Tamil minority.
Raviraj was unique among Tamil politicians because he could argue with Sinhalese politicians in their own language and often ridicule them in debate. Many Sinhala nationalists hated him for that.
Tamil politicians like Raviraj have often been identified as being close to one or other armed faction in Sri Lanka. Yet, they remained dedicated to the existing political process.
Unknown killers
The day before he was killed, Raviraj, along with many Sinhala and Tamil campaigners, demonstrated in front of the United Nations offices in Colombo at the deaths of civilians from military shelling in the east of the country.
Earlier he had taken part in a protest inside the parliamentary chambers, forcing the session to be closed. Yet recently Raviraj had publicly criticised the Tamil Tiger leadership for sending their children abroad to be educated in luxury while poor Tamil children were suffering in their homeland.
His death comes less than a year after another Tamil National Alliance leader, Joseph Pararajasingham, was gunned down in church while attending Christmas mass.
Before that, senior Tamil politicians like Kumar Ponnamabalam, who were considered by the Colombo mainstream as sympathetic to the Tamil Tigers, were murdered in the heart of Colombo by assassins who seem to operate with complete impunity.
No one has ever been accused of these crimes. The investigations into the killings have gone nowhere. The government has been accused of, at best, showing little enthusiasm to find the killers.
The killing of Tamil moderates over the years has narrowed the options for ordinary Tamils, pushing their fate further into the arms of those who choose violence.
It has hindered possible dialogue, making peace harder to achieve, and further polarised communities.
The conflict in Sri Lanka is spiralling ever further out of control. It is becoming increasingly dangerous to be a moderate Tamil politician in a country where killing a moderate politician does not seem to be a crime that will be punished. (Excerpt)
Former Tamil MP killed in Jaffna
BBC News - 21 August 2006
A former Tamil MP and pro-rebel newspaper chief has been killed in northern Sri Lanka, police say.
Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah was found shot dead on Sunday night outside his home in the Jaffna area.
He was a member of the Tamil National Alliance which is linked to the Tamil Tigers. It is not clear who killed him. His death is the latest in a spate of killings this year in Sri Lanka. It comes amid recent heavy fighting between troops and Tamil Tiger rebels.
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Gunmen kill Sri Lankan politician
BBC News - 25 December 2005
Unidentified gunmen have shot dead a pro-Tamil Tiger politician at a Christmas Midnight Mass in Sri Lanka.
Joseph Pararajasingham, 71, was shot at close range at St Michael's Church in Batticaloa, 300km (189 miles) east of the capital, Colombo.
At least eight other people, including his wife, were injured in the shooting in the crowded church, police said.
The attack comes amid escalating tensions in Sri Lanka, although the motive for the killing is unclear.
Mr Pararajasingham represented the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) party in parliament. (Excerpt)
INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION chemin du pommier 5 1218 LE GRAND-SACONNEX /
GENEVA (switzerland) telephone + 41 22 - 919 41 50 - fax + 41 22 - 919 41 60 - e-mail postbox@mail.ipu.org
CASE No. SRI/49 - JOSEPH PARARAJASINGHAM - SRI LANKA
Resolution adopted by consensus by the IPU Governing Council at its 178th session
(Nairobi, 12 May 2006)
The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,
Having before it the case of Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, assassinated on 24 December 2005, which has been the subject of a study and report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians following the Procedure for the Treatment by the Inter-Parliamentary Union of Communications concerning Violations of the Human Rights of Members of Parliament,
Taking note of the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, which contains a detailed outline of the case (CL/178/12(b)-R.1),
Considering that Mr. Pararajasingham, killed at the age of 71, was a member of parliament for Batticaloa district, the leader in Parliament of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and executive member of the Commonwealth and the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Parliamentary Association, that he was a well-known human rights advocate, documenting and exposing human rights violations in the north-eastern part of Sri Lanka in national and international forums, and that he was dedicated to a peaceful negotiated settlement of the longstanding ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka,
Considering the following evidence on file concerning the circumstances of and the investigation into Mr. Pararajasinghams murder:
- At a meeting of TNA parliamentarians with President Mahinda Rajapakse and top military leaders on 21 December 2005, Mr. Pararajasingham, who, owing to the many threats he had received, was living in Colombo, was encouraged to visit his home town of Batticaloa;
- On 24 December 2005, Mr. Pararajasingham and his wife attended the Christmas Eve midnight mass in St. Mary's Cathedral in Batticaloa. After receiving communion, Mr. Pararajasingham was shot dead by gunmen inside the Cathedral, in the presence of some 300 persons. His wife was also struck by two bullets and taken to hospital in critical condition. According to the sources, because of the nearby military camp, St. Mary's Cathedral is located in a high-security zone, between two military checkpoints. At the time of the murder, additional security forces were on duty and the Cathedral was reportedly surrounded by military personnel, which means that the culprits could only have escaped with the complicity of the security forces;
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- The Government reportedly stated the following day that the murder had been committed by Tamils. The Central Investigation Department has initiated an inquiry which has revealed that the two assailants used automatic weapons. The empty casings were sent to the Government Analyst for examination. One eyewitness has been traced who gave a detailed description of a suspect responsible for the shooting. According to the authorities, his image was subsequently published in the form of an identikit likeness in all newspapers, requesting the publics assistance. The authorities affirm that inquiries in this connection are in progress. According to the source, the image in question, a hand-drawn sketch by the eyewitness, only appeared in one Colombo newspaper, namely The Island, reportedly well known for its racist views. According to the source, soon after the assassination, Mr. Pararajasingham's family and other TNA parliamentarians handed over to President Rajapakse the names of three suspects. No action has been taken against these persons, who are reportedly still moving freely around the Batticaloa area,
Considering that in an article published on 22 January 2006 in the Sri Lankan Sunday Leader, President Rajapakse was quoted as having told TNA parliamentarians that Mr. Pararajasingham could not have been assassinated without the complicity of the security forces,
Considering further that on 7 April 2006 Mr. Vanniasingam Vigneswaran, the person who was intended to replace Mr. Pararajasingham as member of parliament, was also assassinated; moreover, in recent years many human rights advocates have been killed in Sri Lanka and those killings have remained unpunished to date; and noting also that, following Mr. Pararajasingham's murder, three TNA members of parliament have reportedly left the country,
Bearing in mind that Sri Lanka is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and is thus bound to guarantee the right to life, which entails the obligation for the State to conduct a diligent, effective and thorough investigation into any murder in order to identify the culprits and bring them to justice,
1. Is shocked at the murder of Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, which it strongly condemns;
2. Is alarmed that such a crime could be committed in a high-security zone with the abundant presence of security forces;
3. Consequently expresses concern that, four months after the murder, scant progress has been made in the investigation, particularly since the murder was committed in the presence of more than 300 persons and information which might lead to the identification of Mr. Pararajasingham's murderers exists and has been provided to the authorities;
4. Stresses that the authorities have a duty to conduct a prompt, thorough and independent investigation into Mr. Pararajasingham's murder in order to identify those responsible for this crime and to punish them in accordance with the law; and wishes to be kept informed of progress made in the investigation;
5. Recalls that impunity is a grave breach of human rights and of the rule of law, since it encourages the repetition of crime, as amply demonstrated by the situation in Sri Lanka; and affirms that strong action to combat impunity is a prerequisite for lasting peace and reconciliation;
6. Is deeply concerned at the potential effect of the murder of Mr. Pararajasingham on the exercise of freedom of expression in parliament, as it may deter any parliamentarian from speaking out on human rights violations and from defending minority rights; and wishes to ascertain what measures have been taken to guarantee that they may express themselves freely and without fear;
7. Affirms that the murder of a parliamentarian stands as a threat to all members of the parliament in question and to the institution of parliament, and ultimately to the people whom it represents; and that Parliament should therefore avail itself of its oversight function to ensure that the competent authorities comply with their duty to conduct full and effective investigations to identify and prosecute those responsible for Mr. Pararajasingham's murder, and thus to prevent any repetition of such crimes; and would appreciate receiving information on any steps taken in this regard;
8. Requests the Secretary General to convey this resolution to President Rajapakse, to the parliamentary and competent authorities, and to the source;
9. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held during the 115th IPU Assembly (October 2006).
17
International Committee of the Red Cross
Press Release - 06/124 -- 9/11/2006
ICRC deplores attack on civilians
Colombo/Geneva (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) deplores the tragic loss of life and the injury to civilians resulting from the shelling yesterday of the densely populated area of Kathiraveli, a coastal hamlet north of Vakarai, where several thousand internally displaced people had sought shelter.
An ICRC convoy of six ambulances, a bus, a truck and three cars reached Vakarai hospital, to which the dead and the wounded had been brought, and transferred 69 serious cases to Valaichchenai hospital, a better equipped facility in the government-controlled area. A second ICRC convoy returned to the area today to deliver aid to civilians there.
With fighting continuing between the Sri Lankan security forces and the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the eastern district of Batticaloa, the
ICRC reminds the parties to the conflict of their obligation to comply with
international humanitarian law. In particular, it urgently calls on the parties
to ensure that the civilian population is respected and protected in all
circumstances, in accordance with the principle of distinction between civilian
and military targets and thus avoiding indiscriminate attacks. They must also
take all feasible precautions to protect civilians under their control against
the effects of attacks by the other side. Finally, the ICRC urges the parties
to respect the freedom of movement of internally displaced people.
The ICRC has been active in Sri Lanka since 1989, in particular in the
north-east of the country, acting as a neutral intermediary, protecting and
assisting the civilian population, visiting detainees, restoring contact
between members of separated families and promoting international humanitarian
law.
Lanka army 'kills 45 civilians'
BBC News - 8 November 2006
At least 45 civilians have been killed in eastern Sri Lanka after army shells hit a camp for people displaced by the fighting, Tamil Tiger rebels say.
Independent monitors who visited the scene confirm that many people were killed or injured. They say the attack seems to have come from army areas.
Another 125 were wounded in the shelling in the Vakarai region, rebel spokesman S Puleedevan told the BBC. The army accused rebels of using civilians as human shields in the area.
Ceasefire monitors from the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) say they have counted 23 bodies, and there could be many more. "It seems a school where some internally-displaced people were residing has been hit in the attack," an SLMM spokesperson said.
"We can confirm lots of people are dead," the spokesperson said. "The numbers are unclear, but initial reports show 50 to 60 people have been killed. The injured could number several hundred." Tamil Tiger rebels say the number of deaths could be as high as 100.
'Massive incident'
The government agent for Batticaloa, S Puniyamoorthy, said more than 1,000 refugees were living in the camp - a school building in the town of Kathiraveli near Vakarai.
According to reports, bombs fell in the area for about an hour around midday. A doctor at a local hospital, Muthulingam Atchuthan, said he had been told about a "massive incident" and that he had dispatched 10 ambulances and a bus to recover casualties.
The Red Cross said their aid workers have seen 18 corpses, Reuters news agency reports. They said 50 wounded had been taken to a hospital in Vakarai.
Violence
The government and the SLMM, a group of European observers overseeing a 2002 ceasefire which now exists only in name, say more than 3,000 civilians have been killed in violence since the beginning of this year. (Excerpt)
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Sri Lanka war 'killing civilians'
BBC News - 28 September 2006
At least 200 civilians have died in two months of intense fighting between Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels, ceasefire monitors say.
Both the government and rebels have openly violated a 2002 ceasefire agreement, said monitoring mission head Maj Gen Lars Johan Solvberg.
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) also accused both sides of hampering the work of aid agencies and monitors.
Correspondents say the ceasefire now seems to exist only on paper.
The monitors also said that intense fighting had led to several thousand people being internally displaced, "creating a serious humanitarian crisis in the eastern and northern part of Sri Lanka".
(Excerpt)
Sri Lankan civilians found dead
BBC News - 18 September 2006
The funerals of 11 murdered Muslims have taken place in eastern Sri Lanka.
Their bodies were found after they had apparently gone to repair an irrigation system. Local Muslims have called for an inquiry into how the men died.
Hundreds of angry Muslims earlier gathered outside a mosque in Ampara where the bodies were displayed.
The government accused the Tamil Tigers of the killings, but the rebels have blamed the army, pointing out that they happened in a government-held area.
Months of heavy fighting have displaced more than 200,000 people in Sri Lanka. Hundreds have been killed. Both sides have condemned the latest killings, which took place in a remote part of Ampara district.
Friction
The military says the civilian men had been working on a water project on Sunday. When they failed to return home, a team went to investigate on Monday morning and found the bodies.
"They had gone to renovate a sluice gate and went missing. They have been found dead, hacked and chopped," an unnamed military spokesman quoted by the Reuters news agency said.
Another man was injured, but survived the attack. The BBC's Dumeetha Luthra in Ampara says that locals say there has been friction between the Muslim community and the Sri Lankan security forces.
Our correspondent says that many in the town accuse the Special Task Force (STF) of the killings, and now want the local police unit transferred immediately, along with a full investigation.
The STF have denied the allegations. (Excerpt)
International Committee of the Red Cross - ICRC
Press briefing - 1/09/2006
Extremely concerned about the human cost of conflict
The ICRC's delegate-general for the Asia-Pacific region, Reto Meister, has called on both parties to the conflict in Sri Lanka to clearly respect the rules of war as laid down in the Geneva Conventions and customary law. He also underlined the human cost of the hostilities
19
Although neither the Sri Lankan government nor the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have officially renounced the ceasefire of February 2002, the ICRC's delegate-general for the Asia-Pacific said that the situation on the ground was now clearly illustrative of a non-international armed conflict.
He said those not participating in the hostilities must be protected at all
times.
Speaking at a press conference at the ICRC's Geneva headquarters after
returning from a five day mission to Sri Lanka, Reto Meister underlined the
role the ICRC continues to play as a neutral intermediary and emphasized the
trust placed in the institution by both sides. He said this often allows it
unique access to those in conflict zones, although recent security
considerations have hampered movements in some areas.
He said the ICRC is extremely concerned about the humanitarian consequences of
the fighting. Recent clashes near Trincomalee and Batticaloa in Eastern
Province and fighting on the Jaffna peninsula have resulted in many fatalities
and the displacement of civilians.
The ICRC has access to around 110,000 displaced people, including about
50,000 in Trincomalee and 35,000 in Batticaloa. The total number of displaced
is higher, with estimates varying between organizations.
Mr Meister said the ICRC's ability to deliver more aid to the Jaffna peninsula
was complicated by a lack of agreement among the two parties about whether
access should be by sea or road. A cargo ship flying the ICRC flag did manage
last week to deliver to the peninsula 1,500 metric tonnes of food and medicines
provided by the Sri Lankan government and the World Food Programme.
Further supplies are now needed for both the resident and displaced population
in Jaffna which has been cut off for three weeks. The ICRC continues to be
concerned about the lack of access to Jaffna.
In partnership with the Sri Lanka Red Cross, the ICRC aims to assist up to
200,000 residents and displaced people affected by the conflict by supplying
water and shelter and by strengthening health structures where necessary. A
surgical team is to be sent to the Vanni, in the north of Sri Lanka.
killing of Children
Sri Lanka strike 'hits orphanage'
BBC News - 14 August 2006
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have accused government forces of bombing an orphanage, killing 61 schoolgirls and injuring 150 other children.
The rebels said the air strike took place in the rebel-controlled northern district of Mullaitivu.
The government has denied the attack, saying the air force had targeted an LTTE training camp.
Hours later, a bomb explosion in the capital Colombo killed seven people and injured 17 others.
The Tamil Tigers' military spokesman, Irasaiah Ilanthirayan, told the BBC they were not responsible for the blast.
There has been fierce fighting between government forces and Tamil Tigers in the north and east in recent days. (Excerpt)
Dispute over Sri Lanka air raids
BBC News - 15 August 2006
UN officials and truce monitors in Sri Lanka say those killed in a bombing raid in a rebel-held northern area were pupils from local schools.
The target of the air strike has been described by the government as a rebel camp and by the rebels as an orphanage.
Tamil Tigers rebels say 61 children died and hundreds were wounded.
20
The strike took place in Mullaitivu district on Monday. Teams from the UN children's fund (Unicef) and truce monitors went there the same day.
Unicef and Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission officials who visited the site said the victims came from local schools.
Unicef spokeswoman Joanna Van Gerpen told the BBC: "We did see more than 100 [wounded] in the local hospitals, some with loss of limbs, head and shrapnel injuries."
She said most of those injured were girls aged 16 to 19, and there was no evidence that any were rebels.
Ms Van Gerpen added: "From what we understand at this point, these children were from surrounding communities."
She could not confirm how many people had died in the raid.
A spokesman for the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) - which also visited the area - said no sign of rebel activity had been recovered from the site. (Excerpt)
The United Nations Children's Fund - UNICEF
Children are victims of the conflict in Sri Lanka
Press release – 15/08/2006
COLOMBO/NEW YORK/ GENEVA, 15 August 2006 – The bombing on Monday of a Vallepuram compound in Mullaitivu district that reportedly killed dozens of girls and wounded many more is a shocking result of the rising violence in Sri Lanka, UNICEF, said today.
These children are innocent victims of violence, said Ann M. Veneman, UNICEF Executive Director.
We call on all parties to respect international humanitarian law and ensure children and the places where they live, study and play are protected from harm.
According to press reports, the compound in Vallipunam in the northern part of the country was bombed, reportedly killing as many as 40 adolescent girls. Some 100 children were wounded, many critically. Girls from various schools in the districts of Mullaituvu and Kilinochchi were staying overnight at the compound, attending a two-day course in first-aid.
UNICEF staff from a nearby office immediately visited the compound to assess the situation and provide counseling services to those in need.
This latest incident comes amidst escalating hostilities in Sri Lanka in recent weeks, where tens of thousands of children were displaced from their homes. Hundreds of children have been injured, lost family members, and live in constant fear of the violence and continuous shelling of their communities.
Sri Lanka Tamil massacre mystery
BBC News - 25 May 2006
Sri Lanka is in a dirty war. Almost 300 people have been killed since the beginning of April.
Increasingly civilians have become the pawns in the conflict between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels.
In one of the worst recent incidents, 13 civilians were murdered. Both sides have been accused of the crime but it is unlikely the culprits will ever be caught.
The island is controlled by the navy. Allaipiddy is a village of some 800 people. It is one of three places where the recent killings took place.
21
In one house a family of six were shot dead whilst they slept. One was a four-month-old baby, another a four-year-old boy.
Devarasan Dixon is a family member. He shows us where the victims had been sleeping when they were shot. "All that I know is that four men came in and shot them," he says.
Warning posters
The permutations are endless. It could have been the Tamil Tiger rebels.
They in turn blame the navy, either acting alone or with a Tamil group opposed to the Tigers. It depends who you ask. However, the question has mobilised the entire village.
Rabindran Parameswari is crouching outside her home ready to leave. A few sacks of her belongings lie alongside, her children huddled around her.
"We mostly think it is the military, and the paramilitaries along with them. They're blaming someone else, but we are certain that it's done by them," she says.
Posters put up days after the killings have warned everyone to go. No one is sure who's behind them. No one is waiting to find out.
Whoever is behind the killings, he says the state failed to protect civilians.
"The navy camps are also close to the shops and the houses where people were killed. So the people are asking the court, why didn't they give us protection, even when we were in the church, why didn't they give the protection?
"We did nothing for them, at the same time the police, navy and other security personnel failed to give proper protection to the people."
The villagers are all packed onto buses, and they are not sure where they are going. Some are aiming for rebel-held territory.
The problem is they do not know where they will be safe or who has their best interests at heart. (Excerpt)
Killing of Humanitarian workers
Sri Lanka deaths stun aid agency
BBC News – 7 August 2006
The head of a French aid agency says they are "stunned" by the murder of 15 of their workers in north-eastern Sri Lanka over the weekend.
Benoit Miribel said that members of Action Against Hunger had so far been unable to recover the bodies.
The Sri Lankan government has promised an independent investigation into the killings of the 11 men and four women.
Renewed shelling
The Paris-based Action Against Hunger group (AAH) said that the 15 employees were shot over the weekend in Muttur, where they helped survivors of the December 2004 tsunami and people affected by violence in the country.
Mr Miribel, the Director-General of AAH, said that the charity had not suffered such a loss in its 25 years of existence.
The organisation says that it is now reviewing its presence in the country.
Mr Miribel said the group wanted to send a team to the area but was prevented from doing so by soldiers. (Excerpt)
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Two more aid workers found dead
BBC News - 8 August 2006
A French relief agency, Action Against Hunger, says two more of its workers have been found dead in the Sri Lankan town of Muttur.
On Sunday, 15 aid workers were found dead in their compound lying face down and shot at close range.
There has been widespread international outrage at the killings, which came as government and rebel forces fought over a water dispute.
Both sides have accused each other of the killing of the aid workers.
The two new bodies were found in a car - they had apparently been killed while trying to flee the scene of the attack on the aid group's compound.
Action Against Hunger has suspended all its work in the area and says it is waiting for the results of a post mortem.
The Sri Lankan government has promised an independent investigation into the killings of the workers - 13 men and four women.
Separately on Tuesday, the Sri Lankan military said suspected Tamil Tiger rebels had ambushed a government patrol near an air force base in the north-east, killing one person and injuring two others.
Shock at killings
The Paris-based Action Against Hunger group (AAH) said that the 15 employees were shot over the weekend in Muttur, where they helped survivors of the December 2004 tsunami and people affected by violence in the country.
AAH Director-General Benoit Miribel said the charity had not suffered such a loss in its 25 years of existence.
It is now reviewing its presence in the country.
Mr Miribel said the group wanted to send a team to the area but was prevented from doing so by soldiers.
The killings have been strongly criticised by the international community.
Amnesty International pressed the government to seek international help in its investigation.
"While we welcome the government's statement that this investigation will be treated as a matter of high priority, we are concerned that other high profile cases of killings and disappearances remain unresolved months and even years after the crime," Natalie Hill, deputy Asia director of the watch group, said.
Fighting between the army and Tamil Tiger rebels erupted in the Muttur area more than two weeks ago, after the rebels cut the water supply to mostly Sinhalese villages.
Aid worker shot dead in Sri Lanka
BBC News - 21 August 2006
A female aid worker has been shot dead in northern Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan Red Cross said the 23-year-old woman had been working since the beginning of August on a community health programme.
She was killed on Sunday night by two unidentified gunmen outside her home in Cheddikulam in Vavuniya district.
Local authorities are investigating the murder. Correspondents say at least 18 aid workers have been killed in the north and east since May.
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Monitors' statement on Sri Lanka killings
BBC News - 30 August 2006
Following is the full text of the statement from Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Head Ulf Henricsson on recent attacks in which civilians have been killed.
I. ASSASSINATION OF 17 CIVILIAN AID WORKERS IN MUTTUR ON 4 AUGUST 2006
Noting the facts outlined in the SLMM findings there are very strong indications of the involvement of the security forces in the act despite their denial. Firstly, the SLMM cannot find the reasons for the restrictions of movements into the said areas especially in above-mentioned circumstances acceptable, thereby strongly indicating the GoSL's [government of Sri Lanka's] eagerness to conceal the matter from the SLMM.
Taking into consideration the fact that the security forces had been present in Muttur at the time of the incident it appears highly unlikely to blame other groups for the killing. Provided that was the case it would in particular be illogical for the security forces to prevent the SLMM from entering the area and making proper inquiries in order to find the perpetrator(s).
The head of SLMM has also had confidential conversations with highly reliable sources regarding the party who most likely has been responsible for the act. The views have not proved contradictory and the security forces of Sri Lanka are widely and consistently deemed to be responsible for the incident.
Concluding with the supporting information arisen from the persons interviewed and the conversations with the representatives of the international community the SLMM is, with the obtained findings, convinced that there cannot be any other armed groups than the security forces who could actually have been behind the act.
Consequently, the killing of the 17 civilian aid workers in Muttur on 4 August 2006 is ruled as a gross violation of the CFA [ceasefire accord] by the security forces of Sri Lanka.
The committed act of assassination has approved to be one of the most serious recent crimes against humanitarian aid workers worldwide and has been strongly condemned internationally. I urge the GoSL to take all necessary actions to immediately stop any kind of violence against the civilians of Sri Lanka and to do its utmost that the matter is thoroughly investigated by the Sri Lankan authorities.
II. CLAYMORE MINE ATTACKS CONDUCTED BY THE GOSL IN LTTE-CONTROLLED AREAS BETWEEN 1 APRIL AND 15 JUNE 2006.
SLMM findings and internal analysis of both individual claymore mine attacks, as well as of the pattern arising from the same show that deliberate, planned and co-ordinated offensive military operations were conducted between 1 April and 15 June 2006 in LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam]-controlled areas to execute these claymore mine attacks. SLMM findings have also verified two attempted claymore mine attacks carried out by the GoSL security force's special units in LTTE-controlled area on 13 and 15 June 2006. Two SLA [Sri Lankan Army] soldiers from the special units were killed by the LTTE in an exchange of fire and subsequently transported to GoSL area under the convey of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The aforementioned claymore mine attacks were carried out using a high level of military expertise with regards to planning, co-ordination and execution. The attacks required very good knowledge of the specific area, excellent intelligence skills along with the capability and skills of deploying and handling such weapons professionally. Moreover, it is clear that the units/groups executed these attacks with the possibility to escape into GoSL-controlled areas where safe exit/entry points, logistic and other assistance must have been provided by the security forces and/or GoSL/police units deployed along the Forward Defence Line (FLD). Based on the verified activities of the SLA special unit soldiers in LTTE-controlled areas there are firm indications of the involvement of the SLA in such attacks.
Both under the clauses of the CFA, international human rights law as well as treaty-based and customary international humanitarian laws, it is absolutely forbidden to deliberately attack civilians or without due care for civilian lives and property carry out attacks against an adversary in an armed conflict. Also all places of worship are protected under the CFA and international humanitarian laws and all parties to the CFA should refrain from using or execute attacks at places of worship such as the Madhu area, including such roads leading to and from the shrine.
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Despite the binding laws and regulations it is particularly serious to notice that a) the vast majority of the attacks have been directed or resulted in death and serious injuries to civilians; b) seven of the attacks/detonations using claymore mines have taken place in and around the area where the holy Madhu shrine is located.
Considering all the findings and assessed plausible motives SLMM is convinced that there can be no other than GoSL security forces or other armed elements with the support and assistance from the GoSL security forces who have been capable of having carried out these series of claymore mine attacks in the Mannar and Vavuniya districts during the relevant period indicated above. Therefore, the GoSL security forces, having the motive, capability and capacity to carry out such attacks against the LTTE in the north-east, bear the responsibility for killing and injuring the LTTE cadres and the civilians caught in the blast from these attacks.
Consequently, the executed and attempted attacks during the period 1 April - 15 June 2006 are part of a pattern of a deliberate strategy against LTTE cadres and civilians in LTTE-controlled areas in Mannar and Vavuniya districts by the GoSL security forces or by other armed elements with the substantial assistance and support from the GoSL security forces. These attacks are ruled as a gross violation of the CFA by the GoSL.
I urge both parties to the CFA to put an end to all forms of attacks, protect civilians lives and the Madhu shrine area as well as to investigate any reported killing of civilians executed by individuals or groups of the LTTE or the armed forces of Sri Lanka or affiliated armed group(s).
III. ATTACK ON A CIVILIAN BUS IN KEBITIGOLLEWA AREA ON 15 JUNE 2006
SLMM findings have shown that the attack on the civilian bus was carried out by using military expertise with regards to planning, co-ordination and execution. The attack required very good knowledge of the area and intelligence skills along with the capability and skills of deploying and handling such weapons professionally.
The LTTE has condemned the Kebitigollewa attack and denied their involvement in the incident expressing that another armed element, the Karuna group, has had a motive to execute the attack in order to discredit the LTTE. The SLMM does not find that plausible based on various grounds.
Based on SLMM inquiries and the well known modus operandi for the LTTE, the SLMM considers highly probable that there can be no other armed element than the LTTE and LTTE-affiliated forces that have had the motive to carry out the attack, in particular in GoSL controlled areas. Taking specifically into account the prevailing circumstances and obtained findings there are strong indications that the attack on Sinhalese civilians had been a deliberate retaliation for the recent killings of civilians and LTTE cadres in LTTE-controlled areas in the north and the east.
Both under the clauses of the CFA, international human rights law as well as treaty-based and customary international humanitarian laws it is absolutely forbidden to deliberately attack civilians or without due care for civilian lives and property carry out attacks against an adversary in an armed conflict.
Therefore, being the only element with the motive, capability and capacity to carry out the attack, the LTTE must bear the responsibility for the killing of civilians. Consequently, the attack on the civilian bus in Kebitigollewa on 15 June 2006 is ruled as a gross violation of the CFA by the LTTE.
Ulf Henricsson,
Head of SLMM
International Committee of the Red Cross - ICRC
Press Release - 06/62 - 15/06/2006
ICRC deeply concerned about increasing mine casualties
Geneva/Colombo (ICRC) – The number of civilian casualties caused by explosive devices in northern and eastern Sri Lanka has sharply increased in recent weeks.
A mine blew up a bus today in Kebitigollawe, a city in the north of the country, claiming the lives of at least 50 civilians, among them small children, and wounding at least 30 others. Only last week some 60 civilians were killed as a result of at least 16 mine explosions and other violent incidents.
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The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is deeply concerned about
the worsening situation in the country and especially its effects on civilians.
It calls on the parties to the armed conflict to respect the rules and
principles of international humanitarian law, in particular by:
- distinguishing at all times between civilians and fighters
- directing attacks only against fighters and military objectives; indiscriminate acts of violence are prohibited
- taking all feasible precautions to avoid, or at least to minimize, loss of civilian life
The ICRC has stepped up its emergency activities to protect and assist those
affected by the armed conflict. On 7 June, together with the Italian Red Cross,
it administered first aid to the victims of a mine explosion in Vadamunai
(Batticaloa district) and brought seven severely wounded people to Batticaloa
hospital for further treatment. ICRC delegates are closely monitoring the
situation with a view to protecting civilians, providing health care, shelter
materials and other vital supplies and responding to any other urgent needs
that may arise.
Sri Lanka Tamil activist 'killed'
BBC News - 7 April 2006,
Unidentified gunmen have shot dead the head of a Tamil activist group in eastern Sri Lanka, police say. Vanniasingham Vigneswaran was killed while entering a bank in the eastern city of Trincomalee, they said. Mr Vigneswaran was the president of the Trincomalee District Tamil People's Forum and is believed to be a supporter of the Tamil Tiger rebels.
Mr Vigneswaran was going to be named as the replacement candidate for a pro-rebel parliamentarian, Joseph Pararajasingham, who was killed last December. (Excerpt)
Internally Displaced People
130,000 Sri Lankan refugees cut off from aid-group
GENEVA, November 16, 2006 (Reuters) - Uprooted by fighting, 130,000 people in Sri Lanka have been cut off from international assistance and are vulnerable to serious human rights abuses, a Norwegian aid group said on Thursday.
Renewed conflict in the island's north and east between the government and Tamil Tiger (LTTE) rebels has displaced about 200,000 people in all, the Norwegian Refugee Council said.
"The government as well as the LTTE have severely restricted access to conflict areas under their control, thus leaving ... displaced people and other affected populations without adequate international protection and humanitarian assistance," the aid group said in a report.
It urged both sides to allow international humanitarian organisations access to the affected populations.
Food is in especially short supply in the Jaffna region in the north because the military has shut the main north-south highway that runs through Tiger territory, saying rebel artillery fire made it unsafe.
Food is being shipped in by boat. Residents receive rations but say they are not enough.
The report put the total number of internally displaced in Sri Lanka at 600,000 to 800,000, including some 450,000 people who remain homeless due to the tsunami in December 2004.
More than 3,300 people have been killed this year in the violence and it "may be spreading to areas hitherto spared or on the fringes of the fighting", the report said.
Each side accuses the other of trying to rekindle a two-decade conflict that has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983.
The government rejects the Tigers' demand for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in the island's north and east, where they run a de facto state, and any meaningful peace deal is seen years off.
(Excerpt)
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Jaffna bishop appeals to government
"Help us, we are in an open prison"
AsiaNews.it - by Danielle Vella – 3 November 2006
Bishop Savundaranayagam has sent an urgent telegram to President Rajapakse calling for the re-opening of the A-9 highway to allow the delivery of necessary supplies to the worn out population of the peninsula. In Jaffna, people are queuing for food and kerosene as prices of goods continue to rise.
Jaffna (AsiaNews) – The Bishop of Jaffna has urged the Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapakse to reopen the A-9 highway or to find another way to deliver desperately needed supplies to more than 600,000 people facing a humanitarian crisis in Jaffna peninsula.
The A-9 highway links the northern peninsula to the rest of the island and is the only road that can be used by heavy vehicles. Since the government closed it three months ago due to escalated warfare between the Tamil Tiger rebels and the Sri Lankan security forces, Jaffna residents have faced severe shortages food, medical and fuel supplies.
The tragic situation prompted Bishop Thomas Savundaranayagam to send an urgent appeal to the president yesterday: I request you to open the A-9 Road or to provide another land route for the people of Jaffna so we will no longer feel we are constrained to live in an open prison. The bishop has also called on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to facilitate the reopening of this important highway.
The bishop faulted the government, army, foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and traders for what he described as a rapidly deteriorating scenario. The situation has worsened within this short period of three months. Now the familiar sight in Jaffna is long queues of people standing to buy food.
Bishop Savundaranayagam said people were queuing for rations and outside any shop selling food, especially bread and rare items like powdered milk, match boxes and garlic. Kerosene is also in high demand. As essential items are in very short supply, prices have shot up. Local residents say the price of fish has also risen since the authorities imposed a quasi-total ban on fishing in Jaffna, a decision affecting around 100,000 members of families of fishermen.
The bishop laid the blame for the humanitarian crisis first and foremost on the Sri Lankan government, which refuses to open the only link road or to provide another alternate land route. He also accused the army of continuing to give the wrong picture to the government that there is enough food and fuel stocks in Jaffna. But foreign NGOs are also guilty, because they are indifferent or lethargic about the essential food needs of the people of Jaffna peninsula. The government is ferrying emergency supplies to Jaffna by sea but local NGOs and other civil society leaders have claimed that supplies coming by ship fall far short of real need.
The reopening of the A-9 highway was a key demand of the LTTE in peace talks held in Geneva on 28 and 29 October. The governments refusal to open the route led to the failure of the talks. The reasons cited by the government for refusing were that the Tamil Tigers attacked the road and extorted fees from vehicles using it, and that opening the route would allow the rebels to freely transport their weapons and fighters. The government later said it would reopen the A-9 if the rebels stopped acts of hostility.
But continuing violence in the northeast does not leave much room for hope that hostilities will cease. Only yesterday, 2 November, the rebels accused the Sri Lankan air force of killing five civilians in a raid on Kilinochchi, a claim backed by European monitors.
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=7654
Concerns of Humanitarian Crisis in Sri Lanka
13 November 2006 – 'The Universe'
By John Pontifex
Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need has stepped in to help as a humanitarian crisis grips Sri Lankas northerly Jaffna province.
The peninsulas Catholic bishop put out an appeal to the charity for suffering
Christians, describing his people as living in an open prison, lacking
virtually all contact with the outside world.
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In comments made during an interview with ACN, Dr Thomas Savundaranayagam of
Jaffna went on to say that the Catholic community was deeply depressed and
discouraged by the continuing silence over the fate of 34-year-old Jaffna
priest Fr Jim Brown, whom he now presumed was dead.
The priest disappeared at the end of the summer after his church was targeted
by Government forces who suspected that rebel forces had infiltrated the crowds
taking refuge there.
In the face of renewed conflict between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE), the Colombo-based Sri Lankan government has effectively placed Jaffna
peninsula under quarantine, blocking off communications by land, air and sea.
The blockade – which crucially includes a road-block on the A9 Elephant Pass
linking Jaffna to the rest of Sri Lanka – has plunged the peninsula into
crisis with a dire shortage of food, electricity for only nine hours per day
and spiralling unemployment.
Bishop Savundaranayagam pleaded with the Government to ease the blockade and
now comes news that President Mahinda Rajapakses administration has sent ships
with emergency rations of rice, sugar and flour.
But in the ACN interview, Bishop Thomas denounced the aid relief as
inadequate and in response the charity has agreed an emergency aid package of
20,000 (13,400). The bishop expressed outrage at the governments insistence
on charging the people to receive the rations rather than distributing them
free.
The ACN aid will enable the Church to buy rations on behalf of people unable to
afford it. The bishop said that many essential needs were not being met by the
governments relief effort including supplies of coconut oil for cooking, baby
food and petrol.
Stressing the regimes apparent disregard for the peoples suffering, Bishop
Savundaranayagam said: The government has banned access to many things in
Jaffna for fear of them getting into the hands of the LTTE.
They seem to forget that there are people here in Jaffna – not just
Tamil Tigers.
He said the ACN aid would add to the Churchs existing emergency aid relief in
which up to 7,000 people were benefiting thanks to a grant from Catholic
humanitarian organisation Caritas.
He went on to say that rebuilding work following the tsunami had ground to a
halt because as part of its blockade, the government had stopped the transport
of building materials into the peninsula.
Amnesty International
Press release - ASA 37/032/2006 - News Service No: 288 - 8 November 2006
Sri Lanka -
Attack on displaced civilians must be investigated
At least 50 people have died and over 100 have been injured after an attack on a camp for internally displaced people in Batticaloa, Eastern Sri Lanka, according to Tamil Tiger sources. In response, Amnesty International's Asia Pacific Director Purna Sen said:
"It is appalling that the military should attack a camp for displaced
people -- these are civilians who have already been forced from their homes
because of the conflict."
"We condemn all attacks on civilians and are particularly saddened and
shocked to see such a large-scale attack on civilians just days after the
government's announcement of its Commission of Inquiry into human rights
abuses."
"Killing and injuring civilians can never be justified. The government
must investigate this terrible attack as a matter of urgency. It must ensure
that those responsible are brought to justice to signal to the rest of the
military that attacking civilians will not be tolerated."
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The United Nations Children's Fund - UNICEF
Food supplies run low for Sri Lankan families displaced by violence
By Francis Mead
UNICEF - JAFFNA, Sri Lanka, 26 October 2006 – Sri Lankas Jaffna Peninsula
has already seen decades of conflict. Now its population of 600,000 is feeling
the effects of the recent upsurge in fighting between the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam and government forces.
Apart from the sound of occasional shelling in the distance, the streets of Jaffna town are quiet. Because of fuel shortages there are few motorized vehicles on the road, and due to security concerns few businesses are operating at all. Many people have no work, and transportation into Jaffna is currently limited to air and sea.
In the town, queues form outside food shops. Although the government is continuing to bring in supplies by ship and has set up a rationing system, almost everyone talks about shortages of flour, rice, sugar and lentils. On the black market, sugar and petrol now cost about four times their normal prices.
More than 50,000 people are displaced across the peninsula. The majority have squeezed into the houses of relatives and friends. Others have gathered at temporary accommodation centres.
Noises in the night
In Jaffna town, over 1,300 people are living in school buildings on the grounds of Our Lady of Refuge Church. The families here have clustered their few belongings – some clothes, mattresses, blankets, pots and pans – on the stone floors.
They fled from two villages, Allaipiddy and Mandaithevu, on the islands
to the west of Jaffna. The residents of Allaipiddy have been forced to leave
their village twice this year – once in May, after the killing of 13
civilians, and again in August, when fighting broke out in the area.
A shell landed on our village and I was wounded in the leg, recalls Jeyapiria
Jeyaratnam, 10. Ive seen a lot of fighting. I hear noises in the night and
Im very scared. I feel that a shell is going to fall here, and I get frightened
when I hear about fighting on the radio.
Her mother, Mary Angaleena, says the family decided to sleep in a church when the shelling started. She was wounded as well, and the family was evacuated by ambulance. We lost everything, even our clothes, she says.
Jeyapira now spends her time with other children at Our Lady of Refuge. She
also helps fetch water when her mother cooks. She is in Grade 5 and says shes
disappointed she had to miss her exams because of the conflict.
Living with host families
Children like Jeyapira are registering for school and hope to start lessons soon. UNICEF has been working with the government and other partners to support the families at the church and additional centres in the area, creating spaces for children to play and take informal lessons.
The parish priest at Our Lady of Refuge worries that poor sanitary conditions
might lead to the spread of disease at the site, and says he is trying to find
another location for the people staying there. Meanwhile, UNICEF and its
partners have supplied water tanks, toilets, washing areas and wells to
accommodation centres across Jaffna.
Northeast of Jaffna town, in the Karaveddy area, about 7,000 people are
displaced – two thirds of them living with host families. They fled from
fighting on the front line in the east. In one small village, four families
with 11 children between them are living together in a single-storey house.
Food is the main problem, says the owner of the house. Theres not enough
flour and rice, but everyone will stay here until the problem is solved.
Because of the security situation, the families are afraid to return to their
village.
At a temporary accommodation centre nearby, another 36 families are staying at a school. They have received three rounds of rations but supplies are running low. Mothers at the centre say they cook rice porridge for breakfast. They can sometimes buy vegetables in the market, but in the evenings they skip meals so that they can feed their children.
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International Committee of the Red Cross - ICRC
Just another day for the displaced in north-eastern Sri Lanka - ICRC
Stories from the field – 10/10/2006
After the tsunami, the District of Batticaloa had slowly begun to get back on its feet when violence erupted once more last July. The ICRC's Maryam Kashefi describes a typical day in the bursting refugee camps that have had to accommodate over 58,000 displaced people in the last two months.
ICRC convoys of assistance to the most vulnerable people living in unclear areas (those controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) were deployed within days of the outbreak of violence. The convoys provide clean water and sanitation, non-food items, medical assistance, as well as shelter to improve living conditions.
Sri Lanka - Blackouts and blockades
No respite for internally displaced persons in war-ravaged Sri Lanka
Commentary by Animesh Roul for ISN Security Watch (22/09/06)
The humanitarian crisis that has emerged due to the conflicts in northeast Sri Lanka has reached a crucial phase. The Sri Lankan government forces have resorted to indiscriminate assaults, targeting civilian areas while, at the same time, blocking relief materials and supplies to internally displaced persons (IDP) and enacting stringent directives for aid agencies.
This twin track strategy has proven to be detrimental to the thousands of civilians affected by the resumption of hostilities between Sri Lankan forces and Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam (LTTE) rebels in May 2006.
Another obvious concern for aid agencies is the personal security of aid workers and volunteers in the country, especially after the death of 17 volunteers working for French aid agency Action Against Hunger in early July.
The general perception is that the Colombo administration is openly flaunting international law by using humanitarian services as a weapon of war and by placing many parts of the Northeast under information blackout and essential items blockade.
An estimated 200,000 people, mostly Tamils, have been displaced internally and spread across northeastern Sri Lanka. The World Food Programme (WFP) has placed the number even higher, adding another 40,000 people. After a short respite in the violence in late August, renewed fighting in Trincomalee district has put an end to the return of refugees from areas close to Kanthale and Muttur.
In addition, over 11,000 Tamil refugees have arrived on the shores of southern India since January this year. They alleged that due to harassment by the Sri Lankan navy and military personnel, they could no longer continue with their traditional fishing activities for livelihood. Many of them sold off their fishing boats and nets to pay for the perilous one-hour sea voyage over the Palk Strait from Talai Mannar in Sri Lanka to Rameswaram in India.
The WFP's operations have been severely hampered by the restricted opening of the Omanthai crossing into the Vanni, which is a LTTE-controlled area in the north. The agencys Selvi Sachithanandam told ISN Security Watch that the UN body plans to provide basic food rations to all 240,000 IDP [in the area] but their high degree of mobility as well as limited humanitarian access presents significant challenges in programming and pre-positioning of food.
The UN Common Humanitarian Action Plan (CHAP), launched in Geneva in last month, has already appealed for a total of US$37.46 million to provide shelter, emergency supplies and protection for the displaced as part of a joint UN humanitarian action plan for the war ravaged country. The WFP has already delivered 2,583 tons of mixed food commodities to newly displaced people and have pledged more in the coming days.
Hopefully, this will not prove too little and too late for the people caught between the devil and deep sea. (Excerpt)
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Sri Lanka - with supplies cut serious problem looms in Jaffna, UN warns
22 September 2006 – A serious problem is looming in Sri Lankas northern Jaffna peninsula where escalating violence between the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and Government forces has cut food supplies and driven 60,000 people, nearly half of them children, into displaced persons camps, United Nations agencies have warned.
The power has been cut, the head of UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) Jaffna office, Judith Bruno, said. In the last few days we have only one hour of electricity. There is no petrol in Jaffna. There are no construction activities. Everything has stopped.
Roads to Jaffna are blockaded because of the increased violence, which started on 11 August, and emergency supplies are not getting into the district by land. Ms. Bruno said two boatloads of government provisions had been delivered, including a total of 5,000 metric tons of food.
This is against a need of more than 10,000 metric tons for the whole population for a month, she noted. If food shortages continue, children and mothers will face serious effects on their health. We are on the verge of a serious problem.
Children are the ones most affected by displacement, suffering from the scarcity of water and sanitation facilities, lack of adequate food, no electricity and conditions too dangerous to attend school.
You must remember that last year they were displaced by the tsunami, Ms. Bruno said. And now again they are displaced, and many of them have lost family members in the conflict. It will take some time to be able to deal with this emotional stress.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said a majority of the displaced are from the families of fishermen, farmers and day labourers, all of whom have lost their livelihoods due to the conflict. Most of the humanitarian workers in the region, who were in Sri Lanka to help rebuild after the tsunami that struck a year and a half earlier, left in August due to the dangerous conditions.
UNHCR reported last month that overall nearly 205,000 people had been driven from their homes since renewed violence in April in the Indian Ocean islands north and east.
The UN Refugee Agency
25 August 2006 - UNHCR Briefing Notes
Sri Lanka - increase in numbers of displaced
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 25 August 2006, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
Over the last few days, as our staff has gained greater access to areas of the country previously cut off by fighting, we have dramatically revised the number of people who have had to flee their homes. The number of people displaced since April this year now stands at 204,602.
While humanitarian agencies are still not able to reach all of the sites where displaced families are sheltering, UNHCR is pleased that agencies are now able to move into Muttur town, an area that has been at the centre of military operations in Trincomalee District. A joint UN mission is assessing security and immediate needs in Muttur, to make sure we provide the right sort of aid over the coming days.
Conditions in Kanthale, which hosts most of the families who fled from Muttur, are now improving with the government active in coordinating relief. Local authorities have identified new sites where displaced communities can be housed in emergency shelters, freeing up the schools and other public buildings where they have been sheltering.
In the north, the people of Jaffna town have been enjoying improved freedom of movement following a recent relaxation in daytime curfews, which allows residents five hours to buy essential food and other items. However, significant numbers of displaced persons are still trapped on the islands off Jaffna peninsula, awaiting much-needed assistance. UNHCR is working hard to gain access to these areas as soon as possible.
In addition to the people displaced within Sri Lanka, another 8,742 Sri Lankan refugees have arrived in India since the start of the year. After five people drowned on 17 August when their boat capsized in strong winds, we repeat our deep concern for those fleeing across the Palk Straits on often unseaworthy and overcrowded vessels.
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Amnesty International
Press release - 29/06/2006
Over half a million displaced people suffer effects of intensifying violence
The increasing violence in Sri Lanka is creating new waves of displaced people and adding to the fear and insecurity felt by the hundreds of thousands of people who already have been forced from their homes by the conflict and the tsunami.
"The state's failure to provide adequate security and to ensure that
attacks against civilians are prosecuted has resulted in widespread fear and
panic," said Purna Sen, Asia-Pacific Director at Amnesty International.
"Almost every major attack in recent months has had a devastating ripple
effect as people flee from their homes and villages in search of
sanctuary."
Many of those displaced -- including those living in organized camps -- continue to be extremely vulnerable to violence and harassment by the Tamil Tigers, other armed groups, and even members of the Sri Lankan security forces.
On 17 June, one woman was killed and 44 others injured when grenades were
lobbed into a church in the northern village of Pesalai, where thousands of
people had sought refuge from fighting between the Tamil Tigers and government
forces. Consistent eyewitness accounts have identified members of the Sri
Lankan security forces as responsible for the attack on the church.
A total of 39,883 people have been displaced in the north and east of Sri Lanka
since 7 April 2006, according to UN figures.
A report released today by Amnesty International also describes how as insecurity increases, people who have already been displaced several times are being forced to move yet again. Many have been unable to return home for decades and the increase in military activity is a major barrier preventing them from resettling and rebuilding their lives.
"It is the government's responsibility to protect the rights of these
displaced people -- and numbering over half a million they make up a shockingly
large constituency. The worsening security situation makes it imperative for
the government to provide them with increased protection," said Purna Sen.
Manikkam Maniyam, a 62-year-old Tamil man, is one of the many Sri Lankans who
has had to move between several temporary homes within the country and abroad
over the last 25 years. He first fled his home in Trincomalee in 1990 because
of fighting and because his thatched house was burned down. He and his family
paid a local fisherman to take them to India, where they lived in various
refugee camps. In 1992 they were advised that the security situation was
improving and moved back to Sri Lanka, living in a welfare centre in Alles
Garden. Their shelter at the welfare centre was then destroyed by the 2004
tsunami. There are many other thousands of displaced people who are still
waiting to return home.
Fighting between government forces, the Tamil Tiger rebels and other armed
groups has been intensifying for the last six months, with more than 700
people killed this year alone according to the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission. Civilians face killings,
abductions and 'disappearances'. Children are being recruited as soldiers.
Displaced people are particularly vulnerable to these abuses because they lack
the support networks of their communities and local authorities. The violence
also hinders development and aid agencies in their work with internally
displaced people. In separate incidents in May a Norwegian Refugee Council
employee was shot dead and three NGO offices were hit by synchronised grenade
attacks.
On top of the insecurity, displaced people have to cope with a lack of employment
opportunities and limited local health and education services. Alcohol abuse
and high levels of domestic violence continue to cause concern.
While most tsunami camps are well-funded and of a reasonable standard, camps for those displaced by the conflict often lack electricity, transport and proper drainage. Residents in some camps say they fall ill from drinking dirty well water.
More than 639,400 people are estimated to remain displaced in Sri Lanka. Latest
UN figures state that 314,378 people were displaced by the conflict. Around
325,000 people are estimated to remain displaced by the tsunami.
The increasing violence is forcing many Sri Lankans to flee the country
altogether -- more than 2,800 people have sought international protection in
India so far this year, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
32
Bishop of Mannar, Rt Rev. Dr.Rayappu Joseph
writes to the Vatican
18 June 2006
His Excellency the Apostolic Nuncio, Apostolic Nunciature
220 Bauddhaloka Mawatha
Colombo 7.
Your Excellency
Shedding of innocent blood in St. Marys Church, Pesalai in the island of Mannar at 8.20 AM on Saturday 17th of June,2006 sent with my kind request to be forwarded to the Holy See, Rome.
Pesalai is a large village that lies to the North-West of the island of Mannar with a population of 8000 people 90% of whom are Catholic Fisher folk and the rest being Hindus and Muslim fisher folk in the main village of Pesalai and the adjacent villages of Kaataspathri and Siruthoppu. They are a peace loving people. The Sri Lanka Navy which has one of its camps in the Pesalai area on the shores of a little village called Siruthoppu and the sea tigers of the LTTE were engaged in a battle in the sea off Pesalai. Two days before this incident i.e. on the 15th inst., an exchange of fire had taken place between the Police who are stationed at the very entrance of the village of Pesalai and the LTTE, at 8.00 PM. At this incident the people of Pesalai had fled to their Church for shelter. During this incident, six houses and a shop in the village suffered extensive damage due to RPG mortar attack from the Police Post. The people numbering over 6000 spent the whole night in the main Church and in the buildings in the church compound. The same people chose to stay there even on Friday night On the early morning of Saturday the 17th inst., as the people were trying to go to their homes, they were held back by the sound of the battle that had started between the Navy and the LTTE in the Pesalai sea.
As this battle was dying out around 8.00 AM, the people heard heavy firing
coming from the side of the Siruthoppu Navy camp and they knew that the Navy
was advancing towards the village of Pesalai and towards the Church. On the
way, the Navy had set fire to the Cadjan houses of the fishermen at a costal
location known as Vankalai Padu and gutted down several of them together with
fishing nets, outboard engines and other valuables. This location was deserted
by the fishermen who had taken shelter in the Church at Karisal a kilometer
away from this their habitation, a towards the interior. The Navy personnel
proceeded further towards Pesalai it is related by eye witnesses and on the way
they signaled to six fishermen who were returning to the shores at a costal
location called Kaataspathri.
The fishermen came down from their boats with their Identity Cards in hand. The Navy men asked them to go on their knees and fired at them through the mouths. Four of them fell dead still holding in their hands their Identity cards. The rest of the two had tried to run away and one of them was caught by the Navy and fired through his mouth and his body was found in one of the boats and the other sustained injuries on his stomach and holding his stomach, he ran and fell down at one of the houses at the village and he was immediately taken to the nearby church of Kaataspathri. He was removed by the SLRC to the Mannar hospital after an hour at 9.30 AM and had been sent from Mannar. to Anuradahpura hospital for special treatment.
The Navy personnel proceeded to Pesalai blindly firing around and several houses at Pesalai are seen damaged. They came around the Church of Our Lady of Victory at Pesalai and took positions outside its walls. At this point four men one of whom was in shorts and t-shirt and three in camouflage uniform rushed into the church compound by the main entrance riding on two motor cycles it is said. They started firing at the church walls, doors and windows where over 3000 people, after having fastened all the doors and windows from within, were taking shelter. Some Navy personnel fired into the church through the opening between the main door and the floor and as all the people in the Church were lying down on the floor, many of them sustained injuries.
One of the Navy personnel, then had opened one of the windows and hurled one after the other two hand grenades in to the church. One of these fell back striking the window grills and the other blasted in the church with a big noise and heavy smoke resulting in one ladys head being blown off in the church and wounding 47 people, some of whom received serious injuries. Pesalai hospital lies in the adjoining compound of the Church and these four men in the words of the Doctor, entered the hospital and pointing the gun at the neck of the Doctor and pushed him to the ground scolding him in filth.
I, the Bishop of Mannar when informed about the incident, contacted the area commander of the Sri Lanka Army in Mannar and he advised me not to proceed to Pesalai. After much efforts, the Divisional Secretary and myself were able to send the Mannar Police with the Ambulances to bring the seriously
33
wounded to the Mannar Hospital .Finally at 9.10 A.M., I was able to move towards Pesalai with the SLMM (Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission), SLRC (Sri Lanka Red Cross) and the Divisional Secretary of Mannar. We managed to send the remaining wounded people and also dispatched the six dead bodies to the Mannar Hospital in the SLRC vehicles.
In the meantime, the military sources had tried to spread false news stating that there had been an attack by the LTTE on land at Pesalai on the Police and the Navy had to open fire etc. They also had been stating that a grenade held by one of those inside the Church had exploded etc. and that the Security Forces are not responsible for the explosion in the Church. All the people of Pesalai say that there was absolutely no incident on land in their village on that morning and the grenade story as stated by the military sources is adding insult to injury.
I informed the Vice Admiral, the commander in chief of the SL Navy of the above facts as testified by the people of Pesalai and their Parish Priests. I invited the local commander of the Navy and organized a meeting with the people of Pesalai numbering 7000 at 4.30 in the evening of the same day of the incident. These people related to him in the above terms, of the inhuman incident perpetrated by the SL Navy in their village of Pesalai. They cried for their security against the Security Forces. They wanted him not to prevent them from fleeing to India or to go to the LTTE controlled Wanni for their safety.
If not they said he could bring all his men and shoot all of them once and for all. Even if a sacred place like a Church is unsafe for them, where else will the innocent civilians find safety?
Details of those killed by the Navy at Siruthoppu Navy camp in Pesalai, Mannar on 17.06.2006:
1. Mrs. Manaval Claramma Leela aged 75 yrs, Catholic, Ward 4, Pesalai killed in the Church.
2. Mr.Jesuthasan Jude Nixon 23 yrs old, Catholic, unmarried; Ward 8, Pesalai.
3. Mr.Cyrilappar St.Jude 22 yrs old Vidathalthivu; Catholic, Unmarried.
4. Mr. Turairaja Vijekumar 39 yrs old, Hindu, married with three children of 16,13,and 10 years of age, Kaattaspathiri, Pesalai.
5. Kodalingham Linganathan 20 yrs old, Hindu, unmarried, Kaattaspathri, Pesalai.
6. Abdul Raheem Latheep, 28 yrs old, Muslim, married with wife and four children all under nine years of age, Puthukudiiruppu, Erukilampiddy.
In the broader perspective of the very explosive situation in the country, our deeply felt and earnestly expressed expectations expressed in the name of peace and in the name of the innocent civilians who are increasingly getting killed and in the name of us all who are living in utter fear, tension, helplessness and uncertainty in this our land are the following:
1. That the Government and the LTTE immediately with no loss of time bring to halt all types of killings and murders, through the intervention of the international community and of the Norwegian Facilitators of the Peace process.
2. That both these parties openly commit themselves to strictly & scrupulously observe all the terms of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) under the continued facilitation of the Government of Norway.
3. That both the parties openly reject war in all its forms and appearances, with no loss of time.
4. That thus, creating an atmosphere of good will, seriously seek out ways to fruitfully resume the Peace Process on the footing of equality of partnership of the parties of the CFA as far as matters related to the Peace Process and Conflict Resolution are concerned.
Reported by the
Bishop of Mannar
Rt Rev.Dr.Rayappu Joseph. 18.06.2006, Mannar. (Excerpt)
International Committee of the Red Cross - ICRC
Sri Lanka - increasing levels of violence cause concern
10/05/2006 - After a three-year assignment in Sri Lanka, the ICRC's outgoing head of delegation, Thierry Meyrat, talks about the ICRC's activities since the signing of the 2002 ceasefire and current concerns as violent clashes increase.
What are the most important activities
that the ICRC has focused on since the ceasefire between the Sri Lankan
authorities and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in February 2002?
With the signing of the ceasefire agreement, the ICRC was able to decrease its
assistance programmes on behalf of the population. We entered a new phase in
which development projects were to replace a number of the emergency programmes
related to the conflict. For example, the ICRC had a shuttle boat
34
that ran from the northern part of the island to the south and this ceased operation in July 2002 with the reopening of road links between Jaffna and Kandy. This was a major development that enabled people to move about again. The ICRC was requested by the two sides to be present in areas between the territories controlled by the Government and those controlled by the LTTE to ensure the safe passage of civilians from one area to another. In three areas – two on the main road linking Jaffna to Kandy and a third in the district of Mannar the ICRC therefore posted delegates on a daily basis in no-man's land in order to ensure it remained neutral territory, that no weapons bearers entered and that civilians and goods could cross without encountering problems. This has been an essential task for the ICRC since 2002 and has permitted safe and smooth passage for millions of people into the northern part of the island. This is a specific task that highlights the ICRC's role as a neutral intermediary.
The ICRC has continued some assistance programmes in the field of health,
helping communities help themselves with support and training programmes
implemented in four districts in the north and east in cooperation with the
National Societies of various countries. The aim is to respond to an
unfortunate situation where there are few medical personnel present in the
north east to treat the local population. In these communities we have also
been involved in water and sanitation projects and, since 2005, economic
security programmes. It has been very typical of a situation of transition
where there is no war but no peace either and whereby the humanitarian
dimension remains a challenge.
How fragile is the peace process in Sri Lanka today?
There were many hopes in 2002 that peace would come early to the country but
unfortunately this has not been the case. This means that protection work has
remained very important and the ICRC has continued to visit persons detained
both by the Government and by the LTTE. It has continued to follow cases
affecting the civilian population too mostly relating to underage recruitment,
hostage-taking and missing persons. Incidents have been fewer than they were
but still numerous enough to show that the situation was not as calm as we
would have hoped. This has been particularly true since 2004 onwards when
Karuna followers split from the LTTE and the district of Batticaloa has
been particularly tense with a number of killings. To give a figure, from
February 2005 to February 2006 some 250 people were killed due to this internal
violence and obviously this was a major concern to us.
Do you fear a return to full-scale conflict?
Since December 2005, the situation has deteriorated a lot in all northern and
eastern districts. We do fear a renewed conflict. There are daily incidents and
the role of the ICRC is, unfortunately, becoming more important again as people
are displaced and detained. The humanitarian needs are increasing.
What does the ICRC do to try to ensure the respect for international humanitarian
law in Sri Lanka?
We have continued to help the Sri Lankan government sign up to a number of
international humanitarian law treaties. Sri Lanka has, for example, now joined
the 1980 Convention on certain conventional weapons. This was particularly important
because one of the protocols to this Convention deals with anti-personnel
mines; as Sri Lanka is not yet party to the Ottawa Convention the fact that it
signed the second protocol led to some measures limiting the impact of land
mines -- marking areas and having them mapped for instance. So this was a
positive development. In addition, Sri Lanka has become party to the 1954
Convention on the protection of cultural properties. The promotion of IHL is a
core aspect of the ICRC's work and we continue a number of programmes both with
the armed forces and the LTTE in the promotion and integration of international
humanitarian law into their instructions, doctrines and training.
35
Concern of the United Nations
UN adviser finds Sri Lankas children at risk from
all sides in the bloody conflict
14 November 2006 – Elements of Sri Lankas security forces are helping a breakaway rebel group abduct children to fight the separatist Tamil Tigers, while the rebels themselves continue to use child soldiers in their conflict against the Government, a United Nations adviser has said after a 10-day assessment mission to the strife-torn country.
It is increasingly clear that children are at risk from all sides, Allan Rock, the Special Adviser to the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict on Sri Lanka said yesterday.
The so-called Karuna faction continues to abduct children in Government-controlled areas of the East, particularly Batticaloa district, the mission said in a statement. Since May of this year, 135 cases of under-age recruitment by abduction have been reported to the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF), with evidence that this trend is accelerating, it added.
The mission also discovered a disturbing development involving the Karuna abductions. It found strong and credible evidence that certain elements of the Government security forces are supporting and sometimes participating in the abductions and forced recruitment of children by the Karuna faction.
Sri Lankas President Mahinda Rajapakse assured Mr. Rock that he will order an immediate and thorough investigation into the allegations and if they are proved correct, he will hold accountable those who are responsible.
Karunas political wing also said it would forbid under-age recruitment and release any children who may now be in its ranks, adding it would also work with UNICEF and arrange the release of those abducted children whose families have complained to the agency.
The mission also found that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have not complied with their commitments under the Action Plan to stop child recruitment and release all the children within their ranks.
Under-age recruitment continues and the LTTE have yet to release several hundred children as verified by UNICEF. The Action Plan was endorsed by the Government and the LTTE during peace talks in 2002 and 2003 to work with UNICEF to end the recruitment of children and to release under-age recruits.
The LTTE also assured Mr. Rock that they would immediately start working with UNICEF to speed up the release of all child soldiers, with the objective of completing that process by January 1, 2007, the mission said.
Wherever I travelled, I saw with my own eyes that systems meant to safeguard childrens rights are either deteriorating or absent. It is apparent that there is an urgent need for an independent monitoring capacity to ensure that children affected by the conflict are protected, said Mr. Rock.
Apart from the issues of child recruitment and abductions, the mission also observed the deteriorating humanitarian situation in certain areas of the North and East. In particular, during his visits to Vaharai and Jaffna, Mr. Rock saw first hand the fear, isolation and critical unmet needs of internally displaced children there.
Fighting between Government forces and the LTTE has intensified since April, and especially over the past few weeks, despite a ceasefire agreed in 2002 aimed at ending a conflict that has lasted for more than 20 years and claimed some 60,000 lives. (UN News Centre)
36
Secretary-General calls for end to bloodshed in Sri Lanka
SG/SM/10728 - 10 November 2006
This statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan:
The Secretary-General is increasingly disturbed by the mounting loss of life in Sri Lankas long-standing conflict. He deplores the many civilian casualties caused by the on going hostilities between Government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The Secretary-General emphasizes the urgent need to bring an end to the spiral of violence. The bloodshed is making it ever more difficult to heal the deep divisions in the country. He calls on the parties to make every effort to return to the peace process as soon as possible.
United Nations Condemns indiscriminate use of force in Sri Lanka
Press Release - IHA/1240 - 9 November 2006
NEW YORK, 9 November 2006 (OCHA) -- Yesterdays massive attack on civilians shows that force continues to be used indiscriminately in the conflict in Sri Lanka, said Jan Egeland, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.
A Sri Lankan Army artillery bombardment yesterday hit Kathiravelli School, which was hosting some 1,000 internally displaced persons in the Vaharai area of Batticaloa District. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, in its initial report on Wednesday, said they had counted 23 bodies, and 135 people were being treated in the hospital with serious and minor injuries, but the number of fatalities is expected to increase. The Monitoring Mission found no evidence of military installations. However, there have been equally disturbing reports that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) prevented some 2,000 civilians from fleeing to safety. Shelling between the two parties has continued in Vaharai over the last few days.
The people trapped in this camp are terrified and feel that they are completely at the mercy of others, said Allan Rock, Special Adviser on Sri Lanka to the United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. The time has come for all parties to respect the basic human rights of these people, which are simply not being observed at the moment, he added. After his visit to the camp today, Mr. Rock described it as a shocking sight.
Vaharai is a narrow peninsula north of Batticaloa in eastern Sri Lanka, controlled by the Liberation Tigers. It hosts over 30,000 internally displaced persons who left their homes in Trincomalee province due to the fighting in August 2006. They have since lived in public buildings and ad hoc camps in the location, which is quite close to the frontlines. At the moment, United Nations agencies' access to the area has been limited by the fighting.
The fighting in Sri Lanka between the LTTE and the Government has displaced almost 200,000 people since April 2006. In addition, hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans are displaced due to previous conflict, and by the tsunami of 2004.
On 2 November, a Sri Lankan Army aerial bombardment hit the vicinity of the hospital in the LTTE-held town of Kilinochchi, northern Sri Lanka. The bombing killed five civilians and damaged the hospitals maternity ward.
I call upon all parties to the conflict to ensure the protection of civilians under all circumstances, in accordance with International Humanitarian Law, Mr. Egeland said.
UN General Assembly
GA/SHC/3859 - 20 October 2006
Sixty-first General Assembly - Third Committee - 25th & 26th Meetings (AM & PM)
Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions Urges
Establishment of Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Sri Lanka
PHILIP ALSTON, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, focused on two particular concerns related to challenges confronting the system of special procedures, and the need to sound an early warning alarm in relation to developments in Sri Lanka. He noted that the creation of a new Human Rights Council represented a major achievement, but was only a first step. The real
37
challenge emerging from that period of upheaval and renewal was to re-establish the credibility of the United Nations itself to protect human rights effectively, consistently and fairly. If the Council failed to rise to the challenge, a great deal of damage would be done to the credibility of the United Nations as a whole.
He said that one of the ways in which the system of special procedures risked being undermined was in the failure of States to issue invitations sought in response to requests for visits, which had reached close to crisis proportions. Of the 22 countries to which he had directed requests, 19 had either failed altogether to respond or proved unable to make any concrete progress on arrangements for a potential visit. It was especially problematic to note that eight of those 19 countries were Human Rights Council members, each of which specifically undertook to uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights, [and to] fully cooperate with the Council. The General Assembly should specifically call upon those States to uphold their commitments to cooperate with the Council and their procedures. He was deeply troubled that a great deal of energy within the Council appeared to be devoted to efforts to change the rules of the game in such a way that the special procedures would be severely constrained.
Turning to the situation in Sri Lanka, he said that the alarm was sounding as the country stood on the brink of a crisis of major proportions. The issue had placed squarely before the Human Rights Council last month, but signs were that any action the Council might take in November would do very little to make a difference, as the tragic situation threatened to reach the bursting point. The first challenge was to acknowledge the need for significantly more sustained and high-level international involvement to pressure the parties to move toward a peaceful resolution of the conflict. The second challenge was to accept that there was no national institution capable of monitoring human rights throughout Sri Lanka and, third, to establish an effective international human rights monitoring mechanism. His report urged the General Assembly to call upon the United Nations Secretariat to establish a full-fledged international human rights monitoring mission in Sri Lanka.
He also briefly touched on his report on Nigeria, in which he urged the Government to commute the death sentences of all those who had spent more than five years on death row, and to international standards regarding the use of lethal force by law enforcement officials.
* * * * *
Turning to a question about how the newly established National Commission of Inquiry in Sri Lanka could achieve maximum impact, he pointed to a precedent from Nigeria, where that Government had appointed a judicial commission to investigate the killing of six people, known as the Apo Six. That inquiry was a model, he said, public throughout, with no closed-door consultations, and fully transparent. Its final report had been published, and the Nigerian Government had responded quickly and affirmatively by taking up each of its recommendations. He called on the Government of Sri Lanka to undertake a similar initiative.
He said that he would continue to focus on the situation in Sri Lanka, as he believed that the Assembly and the Human Rights Council had responsibilities to its people and its Government. Asked about the plight of the Muslim community in Sri Lanka, he said there was no question that the community had not been adequately involved in the peace negotiations and hoped that was changing. The full participation of the Muslim community in the peace process was indispensable.
Secretary-General deplores escalation of violence in Sri Lanka,
Calls on parties to refrain from force, return to negotiations
SG/SM/10686 - 16 October 2006
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan:
The Secretary-General is alarmed by the upsurge of violence in Sri Lanka in the past several months, including todays appalling suicide bombing of a convoy of military buses. The Secretary-General deplores the escalation of violence.
The Secretary-General stresses once again that a return to civil war will not resolve the conflict. He calls upon all parties to refrain from the use of force and to return to the negotiation table at the end of this month, as tentatively agreed between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
38
Secretary-General increasingly alarmed at
on going violence in Sri Lanka
SG/SM/10598 - 14 August 2006
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan:
The Secretary-General is increasingly alarmed at the ongoing violence in Sri Lanka.
He is profoundly concerned at the rising death toll, including the seven people killed in a bomb attack in Colombo today, and reports of dozens of students killed in a school as a result of air strikes in the north-east. He deplores the assassination over the weekend of Ketheshwaran Loganathan, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Government Peace Secretariat and veteran Tamil human rights advocate. The Secretary-General extends his sincere condolences to the bereaved families and to the Government of Sri Lanka.
The Secretary-General calls on both parties to allow humanitarian agencies free and unimpeded access to the affected population. He draws attention to the appeals by Sri Lankas humanitarian community for both sides to allow the civilian population to leave the contested areas.
The Secretary-General stresses that a return to civil war will not resolve the issues involved. He joins the Sri Lanka Co-Chairs in calling on the parties to cease hostilities immediately and to return to the negotiating table.
Emergency relief coordinator condemns killing of
aid workers in Sri Lanka
Press Release - IHA/1211 - 7 August 2006
NEW YORK, 7 August (OCHA) -- Jan Egeland, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, today deplored the recent killing of 17 Sri Lankan aid workers in the north-eastern town of Muttur, Sri Lanka.
I strongly condemn this deliberate targeting of humanitarian workers, stated Mr. Egeland. They were aid workers trying to provide essential services to some of the most disadvantaged communities in Sri Lanka who paid with their lives for their good intentions.
The workers, who were employed by the non-governmental organization Action Against Hunger (ACF), had been carrying out post-tsunami humanitarian relief in Sri Lanka. The Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) carried out a mission to Muttur on 6 August and confirmed the deaths.
The current wave of violence in Sri Lanka, which began on 28 July, constitutes the most significant breach of the ceasefire between the Government and the LTTE since 2002. Some 25,000 civilians have fled their homes and villages in the vicinity of Muttur. Humanitarian agencies have had no access to the conflict-affected area since the onset of this most recent fighting, despite calls by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Country Team (IASC-CT) in Sri Lanka.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sri Lanka, this targeting of humanitarian staff is unprecedented throughout the conflict in Sri Lanka. Moreover, it could have serious consequences for the humanitarian response in Sri Lanka, both post-tsunami operations and those aimed at assisting the populations affected by the recent violence.
In expressing his concern, the Emergency Relief Coordinator drew attention to the statement by the IASC-CT statement released today from Colombo, Sri Lanka, which condemned the killings and called for respect for the ceasefire, safe passage for civilians and aid workers, especially in the north-east of the country, and the immediate establishment of an independent investigation into the killings.
Mr. Egeland expressed his condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to their colleagues at Action Against Hunger. He called upon the relevant authorities to investigate the incident and to ensure that those responsible were brought to justice.
Given the violence that continues to affect the civilian population, I appeal yet again for full protection for all civilians in Sri Lanka and that the humanitarians be allowed full and secure access to the affected populations, he concluded.
39
Secretary-General concerned about increased violence over
Sri Lanka water dispute, call for unimpeded humanitarian access
to affected population
SG/SM/10582/Rev.1* - 3 August 2006
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan:
The Secretary-General is very concerned about the increasing violence in Sri Lanka, and the escalation that has resulted from a water dispute in the North-East. He is disturbed by reports that there have been many civilian victims, including children, as well as large displacements of people. He calls on all the parties to allow humanitarian agencies unimpeded access to the affected population.
The Secretary-General notes the efforts under way by Norway to resolve the conflict, and calls on the parties to cease hostilities immediately to create a conducive climate for negotiations over the water issue. He reiterates his appeal to the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to resume peace talks.
Secretary-General concerned by major sea, air attacks in
Sri Lanka calls on parties to resume dialogue
SG/SM/10460 - 12 May 2006
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan:
The Secretary-General is disturbed by the news of major sea and aerial attacks in Sri Lanka, including an attack on a vessel that had unarmed international monitors on board. These attacks have caused the deaths of 18 Sri Lanka navy personnel and a number of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) members.
The Secretary-General has taken note of the statement by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), demanding that the LTTE immediately cease all operations at sea, and describing these as a serious violation of the Ceasefire Agreement. He adds that it is unacceptable to attack vessels that are carrying SLMM monitors.
The Secretary-General appeals to both the Government and the LTTE to change course and bring the country back on a path to peace. He repeats his call on all the parties to summon the political will to resume their dialogue under the facilitation of the Norwegian Government.
UN calls for protection of civilians in Sri Lanka
Press Release - IHA/1193 - 27 April 2006
NEW YORK, 27 April (OCHA) -- In light of recent violence, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation of civilians in the north and east of Sri Lanka, following weeks of escalating tension and violence.
Civilians continue to suffer and I fear that, if the situation is not controlled, communal violence will again occur and aggravate further the tensions between the communities, said United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland.
The insecurity in Sri Lanka has claimed over 100 lives in recent weeks, with increasing civilian casualties. Several thousands have also fled their homes as a result of the recent violence, adding to over 300,000 long-term internally displaced people from the conflict in Sri Lanka.
The loss of life, the new displacement of families, the destruction to businesses and property, as well as threats to humanitarian workers, are creating a climate of fear and tension for civilians, said Mr. Egeland. It is imperative that the delivery of vital humanitarian assistance and tsunami operations in these vulnerable areas continue unabated.
I appeal to both the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to ensure full protection of civilians. I also appeal to them to enable humanitarian relief to be provided to the affected population, added the Emergency Relief Coordinator.
40
Secretary-General very concerned about
escalating violence, loss of life in Sri lanka
SG/SM/10419 - 12 April 2006
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan:
The Secretary-General is very concerned about the escalating violence and loss of life in Sri Lanka, including mine attacks on soldiers and police and targeted killings of political activists. He notes that crucial talks between the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are scheduled to take place from 19 to 21 April in Geneva under Norwegian facilitation.
The Secretary-General believes that it is of utmost importance to find ways to implement the Ceasefire Agreement, start rebuilding trust and lay the foundations for a lasting peace.
The Secretary-General appeals to both the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to meet in Geneva as planned.
Secretary-General very concerned about
deteriorating security situation in Sri Lanka;
urges resumption of dialogue, respect for human rights
SG/SM/10304 - 16/01/2006
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan:
The Secretary-General is very concerned about the deteriorating security situation in Sri Lanka. He deplores the attack on Saturday on the facilities of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). Escalating violence in the past few months has put a severe strain on the ceasefire that had ushered in a new era of hope in Sri Lanka and brought significant benefits for its people over the past four years. The impact of renewed violence is once again being felt by the civilian population.
The Secretary-General stresses that a return to conflict will not resolve outstanding differences between the parties. He strongly urges the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to shore up the ceasefire, ensure respect for the human rights of all Sri Lankans, and urgently resume their dialogue under the facilitation of the Norwegian Government.
Secretary-General condemns Sri Lanka violence,
appeals to all to uphold 2003 ceasefire
SG/SM/10249 - 06/12/2005
The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan:
The Secretary-General strongly condemns the recent violence in Jaffna and the north-east of Sri Lanka, in which more than 20 soldiers and civilians have reportedly been killed over the last three days. The Secretary-General is very concerned about the increasing tensions in the country and appeals to all parties to uphold the 2003 ceasefire agreement. He hopes that the violence will not undermine the commitment of the new Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to the peace process.
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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
High Commissioner for Human Rights hopes new inquiry commission on killings and disappearances in Sri Lanka will prove effective
Press Release - 6 November 2006
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour today welcomed the Sri Lankan President's establishment of a Commission of Inquiry into extrajudicial killings and disappearances, expressing hope that it will see the perpetrators of serious human rights violations brought to justice.
The High Commissioner underlined the significance of this initiative in
addressing impunity for human rights violations related to the on-going
conflict in Sri Lanka. She noted that the Government has also invited a group
of international observers in the form of an International Independent Group of
Eminent Persons to monitor, provide advice as requested, and report on the
Commission's work.
The High Commissioner thanked the Government for inviting her to provide
advice on the terms of reference for the Commission of Inquiry and the observer
group in line with international standards. She expressed satisfaction that
many of the comments by her Office had been taken into account in establishing
the Commission, including the need for witness protection and measures to
increase the transparency of the inquiry.
The High Commissioner expressed concern, however, over several shortcomings in
the national legal system that could potentially hamper the effectiveness of
the Commission of Inquiry, particularly the absence of any legal tradition of
establishing command responsibility for human rights violations. She also noted
that many recommendations of past commissions of inquiry, including into
disappearances, had not yet been fully implemented.
"It will be critically important for the Commission to establish not only
individual responsibility for crimes, but the broader patterns and context in
which they occur", the High Commissioner said.
The High Commissioner also noted that any commission of inquiry can only
investigate a selection of cases, and that a broader international mechanism is
still needed to monitor, ultimately prevent, human rights violations in the
longer term.
At the invitation of the Government, the Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights (OHCHR) has submitted a list of names of suitable candidates
who could potentially serve as observers to the inquiry. These persons, if
selected, would serve in their personal capacities and would not represent the
High Commissioner or OHCHR.
Address by Ms. Louise Arbour – Human Rights Council
on the Occasion of the 2nd session - Geneva, 18 September 2006
Mr. President,
Also in Sri Lanka conflict has flared up again. In the past six months, the
country has descended further into violence with the death toll climbing to
include an increasing number of civilians. As the Special Rapporteur on
extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary killings will report to this session,
scores of extrajudicial and political killings, allegedly committed by
Government security forces, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and
other armed elements, continued. At present, several cases of killings and
disappearances are reported each day in the Jaffna area. Since April 2006, some
240,000 people have been newly displaced from their homes, in addition to the
hundreds of thousands who were forced to flee during earlier stages of the
conflict as well as by the tsunami. Restrictions on humanitarian access have
been imposed by both sides, worsening the vulnerability of these populations.
The LTTE's persisting record of forced military recruitment, including
children, is a major concern.
While LTTE abuses continue on a large scale, human rights violations by State
security forces, and the failure of the Government to provide the protection of
the rule of law to all its citizens also generate serious concerns. The
Government's public commitment to investigate these crimes, including the
killings of 17 humanitarian workers of Action Contre la Faim, is welcome. In
too many cases, however, investigations have failed to produce results and
victims have been denied justice and redress.
There is an urgent need for the international community to monitor the
unfolding human rights situation as these are not merely ceasefire violations
but grave breaches of international human rights and humanitarian law. (Excerpt) 42
Statement from UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions
5 September 2006
The situation in Sri Lanka has deteriorated significantly since I visited Sri Lanka and met with Government officials, members of civil society, and representatives of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at the end of 2005. Recent events have confirmed the dynamics of human rights abuse identified in my report (E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.5) and demonstrate the urgent need for an international human rights monitoring mission.
International human rights monitoring is not, of course, an invariably effective response even to situations involving widespread human rights abuse, but there are specific factors indicating that such an approach would be extremely valuable in Sri Lanka. One of these is that civilians are not simply "caught in the crossfire" of the conflict: Rather, civilians are intentionally targeted for strategic reasons. Such killings are quintessentially human rights violations demanding a human rights response.
Another factor suggesting the value of international monitoring is that the conflict between the Government and the LTTE is ultimately a struggle for legitimacy, not territory. The conflict has no military solution, and mere adjustment of the facts on the ground will not fundamentally change either party's position in future negotiations. The LTTE's hopes for autonomy or independence rest on persuading the domestic and international communities that this would be the best solution in human rights terms. However, the LTTE has a record of using killings to deter civilians from exercising freedoms of expression, movement, association, and participation in public affairs. "As it stands, no outside observer could wish rule by the LTTE on the entire Tamil community, much less on the Sinhalese and the Muslims of the North and East.
The Government should not, however, interpret the widespread proscription of the LTTE as a terrorist organization as an endorsement of its own record. Indeed, it is an enduring scandal that convictions of government officials for killing Tamils are virtually non-existent, and many Tamils doubt that the rule of law will protect their lives.
A resolution of this conflict that would merit the international community's endorsement will require the Government, the LTTE, or both, to demonstrate genuine respect for human rights. The strategic importance of achieving and maintaining international legitimacy grounded in respect for human rights is not completely lost on either the Government or the LTTE. Indeed, the discourse of human rights is central to the parties' own understandings of the conflict's origins and conduct. However, by using proxies, the subversion of accountability mechanisms, and disinformation, both parties have been able to commit deniable human rights abuses. Effective monitoring would foreclose the possibility of employing a strategy of deniability, pressuring the Government and the LTTE to seek legitimacy through actual rather than simulated respect for human rights.
When I visited Sri Lanka, my conclusion was that the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), which was established to monitor the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) of 2002, could be strengthened in ways that would permit it to provide relatively effective human rights monitoring. Indeed, the SLMM has played a commendable and increasingly assertive role with respect to extrajudicial killings. However, as I observed in my report, "For pragmatic reasons [strengthening the SLMM] seems to be the best interim measure, but before long significantly more will be needed. If the ceasefire fails, and that now appears to be an all too real possibility, the SLMM's role will be in question and there will be an urgent and pressing need to establish a full-fledged international human rights monitoring mission." (E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.5, para. 47). Since then, the SLMM has been severely weakened by the LTTE's decision to insist on the withdrawal of monitors who are nationals of EU member states, and either party could elect to unilaterally terminate the CFA at any time, thus withdrawing the SLMM's mandate. It is time for an international human rights monitoring mission in Sri Lanka.
It is thus appropriate to reiterate some of the requirements for effective monitoring in the particular situation of Sri Lanka today:
The details of alleged incidents, the results of investigation, and the basis for the monitoring mission's determination of responsibility should be made public (even if information is redacted to protect individuals).
The investigative process should be designed to prioritize the protection of
witnesses against intimidation and violence.
43
The mandate of the monitoring mission should not be geographically-limited,
inasmuch as conflict-related human rights violations occur throughout the
country.
Because a key purpose of monitoring is to limit the possibility of conducting
deniable human rights abuses, the monitoring mission should command a high
level of investigative and forensic capacity. This requires, inter alia, persons with police training,
persons with medical training, and Sinhala and Tamil interpreters.
The monitoring mission should be independent of any peace process. Two
implications of this are that:
o Regardless whether the CFA remains in force, the monitoring mission should
not be called upon to investigate violations of the CFA. The distinction
between violations of human rights and humanitarian law, on the one hand, and
of violations of a ceasefire agreement, on the other, must be preserved.
o The monitoring mission should report to a neutral body.
This list should not be considered comprehensive. It is intended simply to
highlight certain requirements for effective monitoring that are specific to
Sri Lanka in light of the dynamics and logic of human rights abuse in that
country. The United Nations would be well-situated to establish a mission
fulfilling these requirements.
UN Independent Experts express serious concern over
the escalation of violence in Sri Lanka
Press Release - 11 August 2006
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders, Hina Jilani; the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary executions, Philip Alston, and the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Jean Ziegler, issued the following statement today:
We are shocked and alarmed
by the recent escalation of violence in Sri Lanka which has culminated in the
brutal killing of 17 humanitarian workers of the NGO Action Contre la Faim on
Sunday, 6 August, and the car bomb blast in Colombo on 8 August killing two
civilians, including a three-year old child.
The deliberate targeting of humanitarian workers is a serious violation of the
basic principles of international human rights and humanitarian law and the
Declaration of Human Rights Defenders. Humanitarian workers serve every day as
implementing partners for UN agencies. They deliver and distribute food, water,
medicine, clothing and other material assistance. They provide medical care and
psychological support for victims of sexual violence and other trauma. They
help transport people when they are ready to return home. Humanitarian workers
are, without question, human rights defenders who help people stay alive during
times of conflict. Without them, especially in times of conflict, many more
civilians would be vulnerable to violations of their civil, cultural, economic,
political and social rights such as their right to life, physical integrity,
liberty, food, health and adequate housing. In the face of that reality, the
responsibility of the Government to extend effective protection to humanitarian
workers is heightened.
We urge the Government to ensure immediate and independent investigations are
carried out into these killings and that the perpetrators of these despicable
acts are brought to justice. We therefore welcome the Government's strong
condemnation of the murders, its promise to conduct such an investigation
expeditiously and its request to the Government of Australia to send a forensic
expert who will assist the Sri Lankan special investigations team, a request
the Australian Government has agreed to. The vigorous independent investigation
into the killings of the 17 humanitarian workers is vital not only to bring the
perpetrators to justice, but to restore confidence to humanitarian workers and
the populations they serve. We also urge the Government to render the findings
of its investigation public as soon as it is completed. An investigation,
however independent, impartial and professional, whose results remain covered
by secrecy is of little use.
The on-going wave of fighting between Sri Lankan Government forces and the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) has only served to strain an already
precarious ceasefire agreement.
The recent spike in fighting is also related to the closing of sluice gates of
a water reservoir south of the eastern Muslim-dominated town of Muttur, halting
the water supply to vast areas of farm land in government controlled territory,
and thus threatening the livelihoods of the farmers in the area. We welcome the
recent reopening of the sluice gates.
44
The Independent Experts further express concern over the disproportionate
effects the current fighting has had on the Muslim population in Muttur town
and surrounding region. It is reported that this latest escalation has created
a climate of fear making life intolerable for the affected communities.
According to the most recent reports, more than 50,000 out of the 63,690
inhabitants of the district have fled their homes and villages. A large
proportion of those displaced are part of the Muslim community. The Independent
Experts appeal to those involved in the fighting to ensure that all civilians
are granted immediate protection and that humanitarian agencies are granted
access to the conflict-affected areas to deliver assistance to the civilian
population. Civilians and humanitarian workers need guarantees of security and
access as well as a meaningful commitment by both the Government and the LTTE.
We strongly urge the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to immediately halt
the violence, the deliberate targeting of civilians and promptly return to
negotiations to solve this current impasse.
High Commissioner for Human Rights condemns
attack on civilians in Sri Lanka
Press Release - 15 June 2006
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour condemned
today's attack on a civilian bus in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, which reportedly
killed 62 civilians and injured more than 40 others, including school-aged
children.
"This attack is much more than a ceasefire violation, it is a grave breach
of the most fundamental tenets of humanity", the High Commissioner said.
"The Government must urgently investigate this case, so that those
responsible not only face justice, but the full censure of the international
community".
The High Commissioner recalled that today's attack comes against the backdrop
of an alarming trend in recent months in which civilians, including children,
are increasingly becoming the targets of escalating violence in Sri Lanka. On
13 May, 13 Tamil civilians were killed on the island of Keyts in Jaffna,
including an infant and a young child. On 29 May, 12 Sinhalese construction
workers were killed execution-style near Welikanda in Batticaloa. On 9 June, a
Tamil family of four including two children, were brutally murdered near
Mannar. To date, investigations into these attacks on civilians have yet to
produce results.
The High Commissioner urged the Government of Sri Lanka to ensure effective
measures are in place to prevent any communal backlash and protect civilian
life and property for all communities in Sri Lanka, including those displaced
from their homes.
High Commissioner for Human Rights expresses concern over increasing number of killings of civilians in Sri Lanka
Press Release - 23 May 2006
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour today expressed deep concern about the rising violence in Sri Lanka, in particular the increasing killings of civilians, including children. The victims have also included staff of humanitarian agencies, which are facing increasing threats in their important work.
"These violations are not only ceasefire violations, but also serious
breaches of international human rights and humanitarian law", the High
Commissioner said. She stressed that the Government of Sri Lanka and LTTE have
obligations beyond the Ceasefire Agreement to respect basic human rights and
humanitarian norms and these obligations apply regardless of the status of the Ceasefire
Agreement and whether the country is at peace or war.
Paramount among these is respect for the right to life, said the High
Commissioner, noting the concerns raised by the Special Rapporteur on
extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary killings in his recent report about the
targeting of both civilians and members of the security forces taking no active
part in hostilities.
A duty of the state in maintaining security and law and order is to ensure
crimes of this nature are properly investigated and punished, whoever is
responsible, she said.
45
The High Commissioner also expressed concern about recent threats and
obstruction to the work of the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission and urged the
parties to give their fullest cooperation and reinforce SLMM's capacity to
respond to violations.
"I recommend that the Government of Sri Lanka seek international police
and forensic support for investigations into killings to ensure justice and
accountability", she said.
The High Commissioner urged the parties to take immediate steps to de-escalate
the violence, resume dialogue and strengthen the monitoring and protection of
human rights.
UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON EXTRAJUDICIAL,
SUMMARY OR ARBITRARY EXECUTIONS CALLS FOR
URGENT MEASURES TO END POLITICAL KILLINGS AND TO STRENGTHEN PROTECTION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SRI LANKA
Press release - 27 April 2006
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
executions, Professor Philip Alston, today called on the Government of Sri
Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to take urgent measures
to end political killings and to strengthen protection for human rights as
conflict looked set to spiral out of control.
'The current impasse in negotiations is no excuse for either side not taking
immediate steps to end political killings and protect human rights," he
said. "The dangerous escalation of the conflict in recent days is a direct
consequence of killings being allowed to run unchecked."
The Special Rapporteur has recently released the final report of his
fact-finding mission to Sri Lanka in December 2005. His report draws on visits
and interviews undertaken in Ampara, Batticaloa, Colombo and Kilinochchi with
Government officials, representatives of the LTTE, the Sri Lanka Monitoring
Mission (SLMM), representatives of the diplomatic community, witnesses of
extrajudicial killings and relatives of those killed, representatives of
various political parties, and members of Sri Lankan civil society.
The Special Rapporteur expressed deep concern about the widespread killings and
violence that has continued to spiral since his visit, culminating in a suicide
bomb attack on the army chief in Colombo and retaliatory military strikes on 25
April. These included the assassination of Tamil National Alliance MP
Joseph Parajasingham while attending church on Christmas Eve 2005; the apparent
extra-judicial execution by security forces of five students in Trincomalee on
2 January; and the killing of a prominent Tamil community leader in Trincomalee,
Mr J Vigneswaran, on 7 April. The victims also include members of the Sinhalese and
Muslim communities, including transport workers, business people and government
officials. During the same period, there have been numerous claymore mine and
other attacks on police and security forces.
Alston observed that "Every such killing represents a major setback to the
peace process, and every retaliatory death plays into the hands of those whose
interests do not lie in the restoration of peace. In responding to the
situation, the Government must give primacy to protecting civilian lives."
The Special Rapporteur noted the difficulties in attributing responsibility for
many attacks in the absence of effective investigation by Sri Lanka's law
enforcement bodies or the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission that oversees the
ceasefire. Both parties appear to be exploiting the ambiguities presented by
the ceasefire agreement and the weakness of its monitoring mission to
consolidate and advance their position. He noted also that the national Human
Rights Commission currently had its hands tied due to the Government's failure
to appoint new members through the Constitutional Council.
The Special Rapporteur found the LTTE's denials of responsibility for many
attacks unconvincing, and warned that itsapparent use of surrogate groups to
attack the security forces represented a dangerous escalation of the conflict.
He also noted that the LTTE's characterization of its political opponents
within the Tamil community as paramilitaries is a gross oversimplification of a
complex situation.
At the same time, the Special Rapporteur reported a dangerous indifference on
the part of the Government to other armed elements responsible for attacks,
including the Karuna group. While he found no clear evidence of official
collusion during his visit, he reported strong circumstancial evidence of at
least informal cooperation between Government forces and these factions.
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The Special Rapporteur noted the Government had failed to effectively investigate
most political killings. Few suspects are pursued or identified, let alone
apprehended. In many cases, the police act as if the ceasefire agreement itself
prevented them from fulfilling their law enforcement functions. Even where
arrests have been made, witnesses face threats and prosecutions rarely proceed.
The Special Rapporteur expressed special concern about serious threats made in
recent weeks to Dr Manohoran, the father of one of five students killed in
Trincomalee on 2 January who had given eyewitness testimony, and urged the
authorities to expedite this case while ensuring full protection to the
witnesses and families. He was also disturbed by the re-emergence of reports of
deaths in custody and disappearances at the hands of the security forces,
problems that have wracked Sri Lanka in the past.
At the same time, the Special Rapporteur noted that the SLMM has taken an
overly narrow view of its mandate as excluding investigation, making it appear
simply as a recording agency. While the SLMM has made an invaluable
contribution over the past four years, the time has come to reinforce its work.
He urged the parties to accord the SLMM a stronger and better-equipped role to
enable it to carry out more in-depth monitoring of killings and to publicly report
its findings of the facts in different cases. This would build public
confidence and help quell the claims, counter-claims and rumours that were only
fuelling the cycle of retaliation and conflict.
Longer term, the Special Rapporteur said a broader human rights framework and
more comprehensive international monitoring mechanism is needed to address the
many human rights issues that went beyond the ceasefire. He commended to the
parties the options presented in this regard by their human rights advisor, Mr
Ian Martin.
In his report, the Special Rapporteur also stressed the need for reforms to the
criminal justice system as a whole to improve law enforcement, prevent problems
of torture and deaths in custody, and better safeguard the human rights of all
Sri Lankans.
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