Thousands of civilians under attack as fighting intensifies
Statement by Amnesty International
Tens of thousands of people, trapped in 'safe zones' in the north eastern Wanni region are at increased risk from the escalation in attacks by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, Amnesty International said today.
As the fighting intensifies and the number of casualties goes up, Amnesty International called for an immediate humanitarian truce, to allow aid to reach trapped civilians and ensure the safe passage for all those that wish to leave. The organization also called on the United Nations and international donors to put pressure on Sri Lanka to ensure unimpeded humanitarian access to camps for the displaced people in the region.
"The deliberate firing on civilians by either side constitutes a war crime," said Sam Zarifi, Director of the Asia Pacific region at Amnesty International. "We cannot stress enough the importance of an immediate pause to allow the displaced to leave before thousands more are killed. The UN and international donors must put pressure on both parties to end this major humanitarian catastrophe."
The organization has received credible and consistent reports that the LTTE has forcibly displaced civilians and pushed them into areas under their control in the Wanni, where they are effectively held hostage and used as a buffer against the Sri Lankan armed forces – a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. Most independent observers estimate there are between 150,000 to 200,000 civilians trapped in the midst of the heavy fighting. The LTTE is also reported to have deliberately attacked civilians that have tried to escape from areas under their control.
The Sri Lankan government has intensified the suffering of the displaced people by cutting off international humanitarian assistance to a region where there are no longer any functioning hospitals.
Those people that risk their lives and flee face further ordeals when they enter government-controlled areas. Amnesty International has received information that the government is using the screening process at checkpoints and in transitional "welfare villages" as an excuse to discriminate against large groups of ethnic Tamils and to detain families for indefinite periods of time.
Reports show that the "welfare villages" established by the authorities are overcrowded and have inadequate facilities. In camps in Vavuniya and Jaffna the displaced are held in de facto detention, not being allowed to leave. There is also a continued military presence inside the camps which puts the civilians at further risk.
"The Sri Lankan government's attitude so far has been to seek international assistance while rejecting international standards or scrutiny" said Sam Zarifi. "The United Nations and donor government must ensure Sri Lanka acts on its obligations and ends the discrimination and suffering of the displaced people."
To address the human rights crisis in the Wanni region, Amnesty International is calling on:
- The Tamil Tigers must allow all civilians to leave the conflict area and any parties in a position to exercise influence over the Tamil Tigers should urge them to do that;
- The Sri Lankan government ensures that civilians trapped in the conflict area receive sufficient humanitarian assistance, while those civilians who seek to leave have safe passage out of the conflict zone;
- The Sri Lankan government ensures that displaced people receive adequate shelter and assistance, and are allowed to resettle quickly and voluntarily, in conformity with international standards;
- Sri Lanka's international donors, including the UN, ensure that the assistance they provide is only used when international human rights law and standards are met, and cannot be used to support abusive government policies.
8 Comments
Well said AI:
"The Sri Lankan government's attitude so far has been to seek international assistance while rejecting international standards or scrutiny" said Sam Zarifi.
"The United Nations and donor government must ensure Sri Lanka acts on its obligations and ends the discrimination and suffering of the displaced people."
Sadly, the AI has a very bad reputation in Sri Lanka, and are not taken to be impartial in whatever they propose. The Carribean antics in partnership with the TTTs are also too fresh in the minds of the Sri Lankans.
Dexter, have you missed anything...
I feel you have read only what is against the Sri Lankan Government. haven't you forgotten the first point..
"The Tamil Tigers must allow all civilians to leave the conflict area"..self destructive reading..anyway all the best
Mandy I saw this - "The Tamil Tigers must allow all civilians to leave the conflict area"..
But it is not going to happen- these people have lives a livelihood. Why they would want to be in internment camps.
if not for these internment camps - it's fair for them to be asked to leave the conflict zone.
Whereas Sri Lanka going around the world looking for $$$ is a fact.
Tamil Diaspora, please Please, PLEASE tell the LTTE to let the Civilians go from the war zone.
Mandy
Tamil tigers are not killing Tamil people. But SriLankan government is accused of shelling safety zone. And that shelling is killing at least 100 person a day.
This is the reason, why Tamils are not criticizing LTTE.
What will happen when those poor people come to Government controlled area?
People will be put in concentration Camp.
Those captured area will be declared High Security Zone.
People will be bared to enter those areas.
India will build a power plant.
Good bless Tamil people in Hell/Heaven.
Does any human being expect the Tamils to go into internment camps of the SL, and to serve the needs of the army?
It appears that the AI has closed its eyes!
With the assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunga more than twenty senior journalists left the country, not just ten. Since this government came to power around eighteen journalists have been brutally murdered. LanakaDissent has put up shutters, and other newspapers and electronic media have all been cowed. Countless humanitarian workers and rights activists have been simply slaughtered. Numerous Tamil social activists, any one with a bit of public spirit trying to help fellow Tamil men, women and children have been killed mercilessly.
There is no effective dissent now in Sri Lankan south that is worth writing home about. It is only the Tamil rebellion that is keeping the ‘political space’ open from total dictatorship! There is hardly any form of organised political dissent present in the south amongst Sinhalese that would cause this fascist government to sit up and listen.
The relentless vilification of Tamils by the Sinhala-Buddhist supremacist fraternity has led to the belief even by ordinary Sinhala masses that Tamils do not belong to the island – Tamils belong to Tamil Nadu and not to Sri Lanka is what the Sinhalese are taught to believe. A Sinhala commentator succinctly put it only last week that the Sinhala supremacists derive their moral code from Mahavamsa – an exaggerated admixture myth and history of Sinhalese – when they should be deriving their moral code from Dhammapada – Buddhist scripture – which emphasises non-violence. It is an excellent observation that goes to very heart of Sinhala-Buddhist fundamental source of woes.
It is this presumptuous belief that Tamils are second class citizens and that they don’t belong this island that led to successive Sinhala governments ordering the Sinhala Army to invade Tamil homelands without any hesitation or compunction whatsoever, to prosecute a brutal war.
Standing in the 1977 Parliamentary elections on a separate state platform the TULF won a resounding victory to demand secession, from the Sinhala racist Sri Lankan State. However, the TULF in its dying days at present has stooped to lick the boots of the Sinhala supremacists, and their invidious governments against the very people whom they claim to represent, completely ignoring its original mandate for vicarious satisfaction and a sense of revenge, all which handsomely rewarded by internationally coveted awards, with further satisfaction of having deprived more deserving peace activists of their award.
It is quite clear that the Sinhala Sri Lankan fascist government is pouring out every drop of its poisonous genocidal venom against Tamils. Tamils in safe zone are worst affected as they are concentrated in a small area.
Hence, there is only one source of terrorism in Sri Lanka, which is the state terrorism – which again is the mother-of-all terrorisms! 2800 killed and over 7000 severely injured in the space of only less than seven weeks since January 20th is a conservative estimate.
QUIT TAMIL EELAM: Based on irrefutable historical facts, Tamils have every right to secede from the fascist Sinhala State of Sri Lanka. What right have the Sinhala fascists to lay siege to over quarter of a million Tamils in a small sliver of land in the Vanni? How is even possible for these Hitlerite monsters to intern Tamil civilians in Concentration Camps? What business does the fascist Sinhala Army have in Tamil? When is the fascist Sinhala Sri Lankan government going to demilitarize Tamil homeland?
But, first I urge you kindly to continue to canvass opinion amongst the international community to put an end to this unending war and provide unfettered access to humanitarian assistance to those Tamil people who have been repeatedly displaced and have suffered untold hardships for over two decades or more, as a matter of utmost urgency.