Unlock the Camps in Sri Lanka: Amnesty International

Hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the recent war in North East Sri Lanka and living in camps are being denied basic human rights including freedom of movement, said Amnesty International as Secretary General Irene Khan today launched the Unlock the Camps campaign at the start the organization's International Council Meeting, a gathering of international delegates in Turkey.

Two months after the end of the fighting, the Sri Lankan authorities are still not addressing properly the needs of the newly displaced. The camps are overcrowded and unsanitary.
In addition, these are effectively detention camps. They are run by the military and the camp residents are prevented from leaving them; they are denied basic legal safeguards. The government's claim that it needs to hold people to carry out screening is not a justifiable reason to detain civilians including entire families, the elderly and children, for an indefinite period.
Displaced people have even been prevented from talking to aid workers. With no independent monitors able to freely visit the camps, many people are unprotected and at risk from enforced disappearances, abductions, arbitrary arrest and sexual violence.
According to government figures, the fighting between the Sri Lankan army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) displaced over 409,000 people. At least 280,000 are displaced from areas previously under LTTE control. A dramatic influx of people fleeing the fighting and crossing to government controlled areas took place from March 2009. The displaced people, including at least 50,000 children, are being accommodated in 41 camps spread over four districts. The majority of the displaced are in Vavuniya District where Manik Farm is the biggest camp.
When United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited some of the camps in May, he said: "I have travelled around the world and visited similar places, but this is by far the most appalling scene I have seen."
While some progress had been made on providing basic needs, much still needs to be done on the right to health, food, water, family reunion and access to relatives.
Amnesty International has also called on the government of Sri Lanka to end restrictions on liberty and freedom of movement; ensure that camps are of a truly civilian nature and administered by civilian authorities, rather than under military supervisions; and give immediate and full access to national and international organizations and observers, including aid agencies, in order to monitor the situation and provide a safeguard against human rights violations.
The Sri Lankan government said on 21 May that the displaced will be resettled in 180 days. But very few have so far been allowed to return to their homes or to join friends or family elsewhere, and people remaining in the camps are not at liberty to leave camp premises. Amnesty International is calling on the Sri Lanka government to end its policy of forcibly confining people to camps, which amounts to arbitrary detention. The Sri Lankan government must allow persons who require temporary shelter in these facilities to come and go freely.
With assistance and support from the international community and the involvement of displaced people themselves, the Sri Lankan government must set up clear benchmarks and timelines to ensure that displaced people can safely return home or find other durable solutions (such as relocation) as soon as possible.
As part of the Unlock the Camps campaign Amnesty International is posting a video on Facebook, calling on the Sri Lankan government to allow freedom of movement and on the Government of India to monitor the aid pledged to the Sri Lankan government and to press for the immediate transfer of the management of the displaced people camps from the military to the civilian authorities.

Tamils to Endure Three Years of Barbed-Wire Incarceration

By Satheesan Kumaaran



Tamils and human rights activists are panicked and shocked at Colombo’s decision to keep the Tamils in internment camps in Vavuniya and even more so with New Delhi’s direct support to keep the Tamils in the camps for the next three years. Sri Lanka once again hoodwinks the international community, including the UN, with the false promise to resettle the Tamils, who are now held in camps behind barbed-wires with tight security provided by the Sri Lankan army, from Vanni. Sri Lanka’s original agenda before the Tamils reached Vavuniya from the LTTE’s former held areas was to keep them in the camps for at least three years.
However, when the plight of the civilians in the camps reached a high peak in the international community, Sri Lanka played teeter-totter and changed its tune saying that it will resettle up to 90% of the people, at least 80% within 180 days. This promise was given to the UN Secretary General in May 2009, but now things are changing. Colombo is going back to its original agenda and India is echoing Colombo’s agenda to keep the Tamils in the camps for the next three years.
Political analysts argue that Colombo and New Delhi plan to keep the Tamils in the camps for the next three years so that the deep wound caused to the Tamils will be healed by then. Further, Colombo could bring a permanent solution to the Tamil national question with minimal powers, possibly something closer to the powers granted to urban council in the North using the Tamils as human shields to get their plan executed.


The Three Year Agenda Benefits New Delhi and Colombo


New Delhi wants to calm the sentiments of people in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and union territory of Puducherry because people are sick and tired of New Delhi’s inability to protect Eelam Tamils when they were dying at the hands of the Sri Lankan armed forces at the end of Eelam War - IV. So, keeping the Eelam issue silent for three years will bring calm in India. By then, Indian Congress Party gets its work done and then starts playing again in the guise of helping Tamils in Sri Lanka, which they think that will bring a positive political outcome and will help the Congress sweep the next parliamentary elections in India. Then they could go to the people in the south saying that New Delhi, under United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Congress, did everything good for the betterment of Tamils in Sri Lanka.


Further, New Delhi does not want the LTTE to emerge once again as a strong military force because the LTTE would then create political problems for New Delhi. So, New Delhi calculates that keeping the Tamils in the camps for the next three years under heavy security will prevent the LTTE reorganization because they think that many LTTE’s hardcore cadres are in the camps already and they will forget everything by three years and return to a normal life abandoning their associations with LTTE. They assume the LTTE would not be able to rise up again if they do not receive support from the people within the next three years. So, keeping the Tamils under tight security whether it is in Jaffna, Mannar, Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, or Amparai under army occupation will not provide another chance for the LTTE re-emerge.


Colombo calculates that Mahinda can win the next presidential elections to be held early next year with the slogan that they conquered the LTTE. Also, Colombo realizes that it could get monetary aid from foreign governments claiming that they need funds to feed the displaced civilians in Vavuniya. Further, it could seek more aid to develop the Tamil areas, but in fact after receiving the funds they would not do so. A classic example is the misappropriated funding provided by the global governments when the tsunami hit Sri Lanka’s North-East in 2004. Politicians in Colombo did not even allow NGOs to help the tsunami-damaged people in the North. Also, medicine meant for the North-Eastern people donated by foreign governments and INGOs were stored in the South and never sent the affected people on time. However, reliable sources revealed that after the validity of the medications expired, they were sold privately at higher prices to dealers and sold them in the market in the Northeast.


Despite all the misappropriations, Colombo, with the support of New Delhi, has been acting vigorously to keep the Tamils in the camps for the next three years, and New Delhi has offered manoeuvres to the Tamils in the camps. India also has the power to bring the global community on its knee because India is emerging as an economic powerhouse and it is closely working with its old enemies like China and Pakistan. So the political, economic, and military pyramid has made the old enemies as new allies with India. As a result, India has influence in the world arena now as never before.


Keeping the global community in the interest of New Delhi would not be a problem. But, New Delhi is an opportunistic and hypocritical player because if the Tamils, numbering around 75 million, come out strongly against New Delhi and if they demand New Delhi not support Colombo forever, and especially if Tamil Nadu does not agree with the home grown solution to be offered by Colombo in the future to end the conflict, New Delhi will have no choice but to withdraw support from Colombo.


New Delhi will support Colombo unless Tamil Nadu boils over. Also, the Diaspora Tamils have the greater role in educating the global governments about Tamils’ grievances. Tamils’ activities in India and elsewhere should parallel and the rights of Eelam Tamils who are in the hands of Indian and the Diaspora Tamils.


Dropping dhal in 80s and now demining intervention


Unless Tamils do not rise up, New Delhi will support Colombo on various sinister forms. Since 2003, India has deployed thousands of India’s former military officials in the guise of de-mining. But, New Delhi and Colombo remain mum about the exact number of Indian soldiers in Tamil homeland.
Before intervening in 1987, India dropped dhal (paruppu) to the Tamils from the air without the consent of the Sri Lankan government to show Colombo that India would not be a silent spectator in the affairs of Tamils because Tamils were starving as the military operations between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan armed forces intensified. And when the Sri Lankan military was becoming defeated military, President J. R. Jayawardana sought India’s intervention.


Already India showed its intention by dropping dhal to the Tamils from the air without Sri Lankan government permission. The cunning President Jayawardana managed to manipulate the young and inexperienced politician Rajiv to fall on his knee in order to save Sri Lanka’s military defeat. So, J. R. Jayawardana and then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi signed an accord and sent the military as ‘Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF)’ to the Tamil homeland.


Eventually, the Tamils realized the real Indian motives. India’s ploy was not to save the Tamils. Rather, the IPKF was sent to save Colombo and to weaken the Eelam demand. So, they demanded the LTTE lay down their arms and eventually they did, successfully with conditions, including full protection to the LTTE cadres and Tamil civilians. However, IPKF failed to provide protection to the defenceless Tamils and the LTTE. As a result, the LTTE leader ordered the LTTE cadres to continue fighting the IPKF.
Things changed after the withdrawal of IPKF from Eelam in 1990. India lost its former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who was the man sent by the IPKF to Sri Lanka.
Now, the LTTE is a banned organization in India and LTTE leader V. Pirapaharan and LTTE’s intelligence wing leader Pottu Amman are wanted by Indian judicial courts as they are the first and second accused in the Rajiv assassination. So, India was not able to intervene directly as they did in 1990s, but like dropping dhal in 1987, they sent hundreds or even thousands of their military to the Tamil areas after the LTTE and Sri Lankan government entered into ceasefire agreement in 2002. The Indian ex-soldiers, under the guise of removing landmines, were sent to Jaffna, Mannar, Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Amparai. But, India maintains that the de-miners were privately owned and they were deployed by invitation from Colombo. Now, they have deployed many more to Vanni. India never revealed its de-mining intervention earlier, but now they openly declared that they sent de-mining experts along with mobile hospitals consisting of military doctors and other healthcare workers.
So, India has already intervened in Sri Lanka. The question is whether India will change sides helping the Tamils obtain their freedom by embracing the LTTE now that the LTTE has changed its strategy towards obtaining Tamil Eelam through political and diplomatic means as per LTTE leader Pirapaharan who asked his cadres to silence their guns in May 2009. So, if India does not want to endure the Tamil conflict, it should lift the ban on the LTTE and invite the LTTE for dialogue in India. Or the question is whether India will not change sides helping Colombo in its agenda of restraining the Tamils for more than three years in the camps and thereby weakening the Eelam struggle.
In any event, India will have no choice but to make wise decisions and India must choose whether to support the Tamils or Colombo. And the Tamils will know soon. The wheel is in the hands of Tamils and the Tamils in India will have to keep India in favour of Eelam Tamils while the Diaspora Tamils have the responsibility to keep the global community in support of Eelam Tamils. So, the global support through Tamils’ marches will liberate Eelam Tamils making Colombo and New Delhi’s agenda of restraining the Tamils for the next three years impossible and will liberate the 285,000 Tamils from the camps. Free Tamil Eelam will have to be done simultaneously with the support of global governments, which would only end the conflict in the Indian Ocean island, which has existed for decades and will continue to exist unless the Tamils’ grievances are fulfilled.

India take control of coastal surveillance in Sri Lanka via Barnas International Private Limited

India Government in a bid to strengthen its power base in Indian Ocean, won a coastal surveillance project in Sri Lanka via Barnas International Private Limited, security analysts said. Barnas International Private Limited, which has bagged a 30 million Sri Lankan rupee contract to provide surveillance solutions in the Sri Lankan capital, will also take up similar projects in the island's northern regions that had recently been wrested from the LTTE, company sources here told to an indian media.

Under the project, the entire Sri Lankan coast will come under a specially- designed surveillance system with sophisticated thermal-imaging cameras and a software that can detect the nature of the moving object. "Thermal-imaging cameras, unlike conventional ones, are so powerful that they can pick up images from distances nearly 20 km into the sea. A specially-designed software will analyse the nature of the images and sound out an alarm in the central control centre when a boat or ship approaches the coast," Barnas vice-president Sivaji Rao, who is taking care of the Sri Lankan operations, told to an indian media.
He said the Sri Lankan government had realised the difficulty of monitoring the entire coast manually and gone in for an unmanned surveillance system.Sivaji Rao said the Sri Lankan government was worried about the security situation and had embarked on the project of enhancing its surveillance systems on a war footing."Apart from providing coastal security, all sensitive areas will be brought under strict surveillance under the project. We are not using conventional cameras and digital video recorders here but are using highly sophisticated and specially-designed equipment and software.
All the cameras involved will be internet-enabled and can be monitored by senior officials even when they are on the move through cell phones and laptops," Sivaji Rao added.The company will also be taking up similar projects in the war-ravaged northern parts.

http://www.tamilsydney.com/content/view/2361/37/

Sri Lanka’s State Terrorism Spreads to Foreign Soil - Extraordinary Rendition?

The Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA), the umbrella organisation of peak Tamil Associations in Australia and New Zealand condemns in the strongest terms, the manner in which Mr. Selvarasas Pathmanathan has been seized in Malaysia and taken to Sri Lanka for interrogation by the Sri Lankan security agents. AFTA considers the abduction and transfer of Mr. Pathmanathan to Colombo as an act of Extraordinary Rendition. Tamil Diaspora is gravely concerned that if this dastardly act goes unchecked, no Tamil would be safe in any part of the world.

According to international news agencies Mr. Pathmanathan spearheaded a move to direct the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) movement, to continue its struggle for self-determination of Tamils through democratic and diplomatic means. His recent efforts in taking steps to form a Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (PTGTE), through a democratic process amongst the Tamil Diaspora were welcomed by AFTA.
The Thai government spokesman has stated that Mr. Pathmanathan is married to a Thai national and lived in the north of the country. Mr. Pathmanathan is believed to be a Thai national as well. Although Sri Lankan authorities initially claimed that Mr. Pathmanathan was arrested in Thailand and taken to Sri Lanka for interrogation, Thailand's prime minister said on Friday 7th August that he had been seized but denied that it happened in Thailand. All the independent media reports indicate that Mr. Pathmanathan was seized in Malaysia in an illegal manner by the Sri Lankan military intelligence with possible support of some sections of the Malaysian law enforcement agencies.
Extraordinary Rendition is illegal and should be challenged by people who believe in democracy and rule of law and signatories to the relevant Geneva Conventions. Even states which are not a party to conventions against Torture are bound by international norms to stamp out torture and not facilitate such acts. Article 3 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment prohibits Extraordinary Rendition. Article 3(1) prohibits parties from returning, extraditing or refouling any person to a state where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture. The Committee against Torture has held that this danger must be assessed not just for the initial receiving state, but also to states to which the person may be subsequently expelled, returned or extradited. It further states that for the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.
It is alarming to note that such an act could be permitted despite the International Community including Malaysia and Thailand being fully aware of the abductions, torture and indiscriminate killing of Tamils are common place in Sri Lanka.
Reuters news agency quoted Sri Lankan defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella as saying, "We are quite capable of demolishing LTTE activities anywhere in the world. We have the capacity and assistance". Reuters quoting three senior military sources has said that, three senior Sri Lankan military sources speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that three teams were deployed to Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia to hunt down and kill Pathmanathan, not capture him. "We didn't want him to be brought down here. But the circumstances didn't allow us to do that," one military intelligence officer told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

AFTA is of the opinion that if these statements by Sri Lankan military sources are true no Tamils from Sri Lanka, irrespective of their current nationality are safe on the streets of the country of residence.

AFTA feels that Sri Lanka has abducted Mr. Pathmanathan to deny a source of evidence of “war crimes” committed by Sri Lankan government officials, including the former DFAT official Dr. Palitha Kohona, who was involved in the surrender arrangements of the LTTE political wing leaders. These leaders were shot and killed by the Sri Lankan army while surrendering unarmed and carrying a white flag on the order of Government officials. Mr. Pathmanathan only negotiated the modalities for the surrender and he had played recently some of the recordings of these conversations to the international media.

AFTA appeals to

• the ICRC to demand immediate access to Mr. Pathmanathan to ensure his safety and his well being including supply of essential medication. ICRC also should facilitate the availability of a lawyer to represent him to assist in the investigation by the Sri Lankan authorities and protect this key witness who is vital for future independent international “war crimes” investigations.
• all the States who are against Extraordinary Rendition, including Australia and New Zealand, to condemn the illegal seizure of Mr. Pathmanathan, irrespective of any crime if committed by him, and the subsequent transfer of him to Colombo.
• the Malaysian government to break its silence about the alleged involvement of any of its law enforcement agencies in this matter.
• Thai Government to secure the release of its national; and
• The human rights organisations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch to seek a just resolution to this matter

AFTA also appeals to the independent media to use investigative journalism to expose blatant disregard displayed by the parties involved in violating international norms.

Media Enquiries:
Sydney: Dr. Victor Rajakulendran 0402 484 209
Melbourne: Mr. Siva Sivakumar 0404 894 591
Canberra: Dr. Raga Ragavan 0402 387 920
Auckland: Dr. Siva Vasanthan 021 023 51 007
Wellington: Mr. Mani Maniparathy 027 448 0340

http://www.tamilsydney.com/content/view/2362/37/

Sri Lanka under pressure to clarify circumstances of Tamil Tiger leader capture

The Sri Lankan government was facing calls to explain how it captured and extradited the new Tamil Tiger leader 'KP' Selvarasa Pathmanathan last week

By Dean Nelson, South Asia Editor

Selvarasa Pathmanathan, formerly the LTTE's chief fundraiser and arms supplier, was reported to have been seized from a hotel Kuala Lumpur Photo: AP

Pathmanathan, formerly the LTTE's chief fundraiser and arms supplier, was reported to have been seized from a hotel in Kuala Lumpur by a Sri Lankan intelligence team acting with support from Malaysian officials. His capture has dealt a serious blow to the LTTE's hopes of regrouping as a political force.

Diplomats in Colombo said Pathmanathan had not faced an extradition hearing while human rights campaigners said they feared he could be tortured in detention. They compared his arrest with American 'rendition' detentions.
According to Tamil sources, Pathmanathan had left his home in Bangkok, where he is believed to live with his Thai wife and daughter, for a meeting with other senior LTTE figures. One was Balasingham Balendran, the brother of the Tigers' former political chief, Nadesan, and Nadesan's son, both of whom are understood to be based in London.

According to the D B S Jeyaraj, an influential Tamil commentator with close links to LTTE leadership figures, Pathmanathan had been in a room at Kuala Lumpur's First Tune Hotel when he received a call and left the room to continue his conversation. He never returned to his guests. His caller has said he had heard a 'thud' on the line and a commotion before the line went dead.
The LTTE has denounced his arrest as an act of state terrorism, but there had been an Interpol warrant for his arrest for sometime. It is understood that the Sri Lankan government had intensified moves to track the former gun-runner and financier with the appointment of a senior brigadier as deputy high commissioner to Malaysia specifically tasked with his extradition.
The Malaysian authorities have so far refused to comment on his arrest, while Human Rights Watch has called for an explanation of how he was deported, and expressed concern for his welfare in Sri Lankan custody.
"The Sri Lankans do not have a good reputation on the treatment of terrorism suspects. We're approaching the Sri Lankan government and Kuala Lumpur for further information. We remain concerned about the detention process. He should have received the [proper] judicial process before a court," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia spokeswoman for Human Rights Watch.


Sri-Lanka-under-pressure-to-clarify-circumstances-of-Tamil-Tiger-leader-capture.html

Adopt international inquiry for aid worker killings: HRW

Third Anniversary of ACF Murders Marked by Government Inaction, Intimidation; For three years since the ACF massacre, the Rajapaksa government has put on an elaborate song and dance to bedazzle the international community into believing justice is being done. It’s time the UN and concerned governments say ‘the show is over’ and put into place a serious international inquiry, says James Ross, legal and policy director of Human Rights watch.

The Sri Lankan government's gross mishandling of the investigation into the execution-style slaying of 17 aid workers in the northeastern town of Mutur three years ago demonstrates the need for an international commission of inquiry, Human Rights Watch said Monday. Since mid-July 2009, government actions in the case - for which no one has been arrested, let alone convicted - raised further concerns about an already deeply troubling investigation, Human Rights Watch said.
On August 4, 2006, 17 Sri Lankan aid workers with the Paris-based international humanitarian agency Action Contre La Faim (ACF) were summarily executed in their office in Mutur, Trincomalee district, following fighting between government security forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for control of the town. The aid workers, 16 Tamils and one Muslim, were engaged in a program to help survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
"For three years since the ACF massacre, the Rajapaksa government has put on an elaborate song and dance to bedazzle the international community into believing justice is being done," said James Ross, legal and policy director at Human Rights Watch. "It's time the UN and concerned governments say ‘the show is over' and put into place a serious international inquiry."
Since mid-July, the government commission investigating the case has, without sufficient basis, ruled out the involvement of the Sri Lankan armed forces. It unfairly and dangerously denounced local human rights organizations participating in the commission. And government authorities improperly pressured the families of the murdered aid workers to demand that France obtain for them greater compensation from ACF.
On July 14, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry, created in November 2006 to investigate 16 major human rights cases, publicly announced its findings in the ACF case. The commission exonerated the Sri Lankan army and navy in the ACF killings, primarily on limited witness testimony that these forces were not in the vicinity at the time. It blamed the killings on either the LTTE or auxiliary police known as home guards. Its full report to the president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, remains unpublished.
The commission rejected the detailed findings of the nongovernmental University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), which in April 2008 published eyewitness accounts, weapons analysis, and information on the government security forces that it believes were responsible for the atrocity. However, the commission chair told the media that the commission was hindered by the absence of a witness-protection program and noted that the government blocked video testimonies that would have permitted at-risk witnesses to testify from outside the country.
Excerpts from the commission's final report posted on the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense website sharply criticize the role of local organizations in the ACF inquiry. These organizations provided legal support for witnesses and made a number of written submissions on the case. The commission stated that the "main function" of seven named nongovernmental organizations was to "attempt to discredit every possible institution and authority of this country before the Commission, and attempt to hold one party responsible for the gruesome crime.... They appeared not to ascertain the truth but to engage in a fault finding exercise of the security forces of Sri Lanka." The commission said the groups adopted "a suspiciously narrow outlook" and engaged in a "preconceived plan or conspiracy to discredit the Commission ... for the consumption of some of the international organizations."
Human Rights Watch said that such accusations, made in the current context of continuing threats and physical assaults against media and civil society groups labeled "traitorous" or otherwise anti-government, place individuals and organizations at serious risk.
Sri Lanka sources and the media reported that the Sri Lankan authorities have also placed improper pressure on the families of the ACF victims. Victims' families summoned to a government office in Trincomalee on July 19 were given three letters to sign and return by July 25. All three form letters demanded that the French government seek further compensation for the families from ACF on the basis of the commission's finding of ACF's "gross negligence."
One letter was addressed to the French embassy and another to Sri Lanka's attorney general. The third letter, to Rajapaksa, explained that the signatory was "extremely grateful" to the president for appointing a commission of inquiry and for "ensuring that justice prevailed." Some families expressed apprehension about possible retaliation if they did not sign the letters, though several reportedly refused to do so.
"Instead of doing all it can to get justice for this horrific crime, the Sri Lankan government is further traumatizing the ACF victims' families by trying to shift the blame to others," Ross said.
Human Rights Watch called for the United Nations secretary-general or other UN body to create an international commission of inquiry to investigate the ACF killings and other human rights abuses by all parties to the armed conflict in Sri Lanka, and make recommendations for the prosecution of those responsible. On May 23, Rajapaksa and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a joint statement from Sri Lanka in which the government said it "will take measures to address" the need for an accountability process for violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.
Human Rights Watch has long reported on the government's failure to impartially investigate and prosecute those responsible for the numerous human rights abuses committed during the 25-year armed conflict with the Tamil Tigers, which ended in May with the Tigers' defeat.
Human Rights Watch previously criticized the Presidential Commission of Inquiry for being an insufficient governmental response to ongoing human rights abuses, the absence of a presidential obligation to act on its recommendations or make its findings public, and improper interference in the commission by the attorney general. In April 2008, the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) withdrew from its role monitoring the commission because it had "not been able to conclude ... that the proceedings of the Commission have been transparent or have satisfied basic international norms and standards."
"On the third anniversary of the murder of 17 aid workers, the Sri Lankan government is no closer to uncovering the truth or prosecuting those responsible," said Ross. "Instead, the government is using the atrocity to threaten local rights groups, intimidate the victims' families, and score political points against the French government."

'It is time for the Lankan govt to reach out to Tamils': Deepak Obhrai, Canada

Canada's conservative Member of Parliament Deepak Obhrai, who's also Parliamentary Secretary to Minister for Foreign Affairs Lawrence Canon, was on an official visit to Lanka from July 5 to July 7 to visit refugee camps and ensure that Canadian aid is reaching the Tamil refugees there.


In a telephonic interview from Phuket, Thailand, where he's currently attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers' Conference, Obhrai tells rediff.com's Ajit Jain about his visit and the direction of the Sri Lankan government's foreign policy.

What was the main objective of your visit to Sri Lanka [ Images ]?

Canada has contributed heavily towards the rehabilitation of Lankan refugees, so I visited the internally displaced persons' camps to find out what the government has done so far for the repatriation of these refugees. Most importantly, I also wanted to find out what the government of Sri Lanka is doing to reach out to the local Tamil community for the reconciliation process.

What has been Canada's contribution towards helping the Lankan refugees?

Canada hIn a telephonic interview from Phuket, Thailand, where he's currently attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Foreign Ministers' Conference, Obhrai tells rediff.com's Ajit Jain about his visit and the direction of the Sri Lankan government's foreign policy.

What was the main objective of your visit to Sri Lanka [ Images ]?

Canada [ Images ] has contributed heavily towards the rehabilitation of Lankan refugees, so I visited the internally displaced persons' camps to find out what the government has done so far for the repatriation of these refugees. Most importantly, I also wanted to find out what the government of Sri Lanka is doing to reach out to the local Tamil community for the reconciliation process.

What has been Canada's contribution towards helping the Lankan refugees?

Canada has been engaged with Sri Lanka for a long time. Canon has already announced $7.1 million aid for helping refugees. So, it was important to see what was happening on the ground, whether aid was reaching the refugees or not.

The Sri Lankan government gave me the permission to visit IDP camps. I also talked to the local authorities -- military and civilians. I informed the Sri Lankan authorities that the Tamil Diaspora (in Canada) would like to contribute towards the resettlement of the refugees and rebuilding of the areas heavily damaged during the conflict. The government welcomed that and assured that they would set up some mechanism to ensure that the process of reconstruction of those areas commences soon.

I also saw the work the Sri Lankan government is doing to help the refugees. I have earlier visited IDP camps in Dar-e-Salam, Kenya and elsewhere and based on my visits to IDP camps, I would say that no matter what you do, it is still a refugee camp. The sooner these people go home the better it is.

What was the response of the Sri Lankan authorities to your suggestion?

They said yes, but at the same time they explained that there are still lots of heavily mined areas, and it was dangerous to allow people to go back unless those areas are de-mined. In fact, an Indian team of experts with de-mining equipment will visit Sri Lanka to help the government.

Did you meet the foreign minister of Sri Lanka?

Yes, I had lengthy discussions with Foreign Minister Roitha Bogollama and also Foreign Secretary Dr Palitha Kohona.
I met Minister for Rehabilitation Rishard Badurdeen, who had himself been displaced by the LTTE [ Images ] and has lived in an IDP camp. He also discussed the rehabilitation and repatriation process.

During my meeting with Bogollama, we discussed the important issue of how the government of Sri Lanka would now reach out to the Tamil community for the reconciliation process. He pointed out that till now, there was a war going on and they were preoccupied with the war.

Now that the war has ended, the Lankan government can work for the peace process. In many areas, where the government was not able to do anything, it is time for them to reach out to Tamils. The foreign minister assured me that they would do that.

Are there any concrete signs that the Sri Lankan government is in fact moving in that direction?

They have made a statement and we will see how that process moves forward. I was informed by the Sri Lankan foreign minister that they have had meetings with the Tamil Diaspora as well, including people from Canada.

Did you meet any Tamil Canadians while you were in Sri Lanka?

I am going to be very candid with you. The issue is not with Canadian Tamils. The issue is with Tamils in Sri Lanka. The ultimate political solution has to come in consultation with the Tamils in Sri Lanka and not Tamils in Canada. While I appreciate the concerns of Tamils living in Canada and their willingness to contribute towards rebuilding of Tamil areas, I do not personally believe that Sri Lankans who live outside the country are the ones who will be instrumental in the direct political settlement in Sri Lanka.

Did you meet people from the Tamil community at the IDP camps?

I would say that they are people who are just caught in the fighting. It is most important that these people go home. I also visited a hospital that is being run by Indians and talked to the doctors there.

The Canadian government is in favour of the Sri Lankan government allowing the IDPs to repatriate as soon as possible.

Yes, I have suggested that these people should be allowed to leave the IDP camps, allowed to go home. Of course, those areas are heavily mined. I did indicate to the Sri Lankan authorities that there's a desire on the part of Sri Lankans in Canada to be more active, but I would clearly state that they cannot be involved in the political process.

But the Canadian foreign affairs minister has repeatedly made statements in support of the human rights of the Tamil people. Also, representatives of the foreign media have not been allowed inside Sri Lanka?

We discussed the reconciliation process and the Lankan politicians said that the process is going to move forward. The protection of all citizens is the responsibility of all citizens here as well, and that includes Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese.

I must make it clear we have to engage with the government of Sri Lanka. We have historical ties with the Sri Lankan government. as been engaged with Sri Lanka for a long time. Canon has already announced $7.1 million aid for helping refugees. So, it was important to see what was happening on the ground, whether aid was reaching the refugees or not.

The Sri Lankan government gave me the permission to visit IDP camps. I also talked to the local authorities -- military and civilians. I informed the Sri Lankan authorities that the Tamil Diaspora (in Canada) would like to contribute towards the resettlement of the refugees and rebuilding of the areas heavily damaged during the conflict. The government welcomed that and assured that they would set up some mechanism to ensure that the process of reconstruction of those areas commences soon.

I also saw the work the Sri Lankan government is doing to help the refugees. I have earlier visited IDP camps in Dar-e-Salam, Kenya and elsewhere and based on my visits to IDP camps, I would say that no matter what you do, it is still a refugee camp. The sooner these people go home the better it is.

What was the response of the Sri Lankan authorities to your suggestion?

They said yes, but at the same time they explained that there are still lots of heavily mined areas, and it was dangerous to allow people to go back unless those areas are de-mined. In fact, an Indian team of experts with de-mining equipment will visit Sri Lanka to help the government.

Did you meet the foreign minister of Sri Lanka?

Yes, I had lengthy discussions with Foreign Minister Roitha Bogollama and also Foreign Secretary Dr Palitha Kohona.
I met Minister for Rehabilitation Rishard Badurdeen, who had himself been displaced by the LTTE [ Images ] and has lived in an IDP camp. He also discussed the rehabilitation and repatriation process.
During my meeting with Bogollama, we discussed the important issue of how the government of Sri Lanka would now reach out to the Tamil community for the reconciliation process. He pointed out that till now, there was a war going on and they were preoccupied with the war.

Now that the war has ended, the Lankan government can work for the peace process. In many areas, where the government was not able to do anything, it is time for them to reach out to Tamils. The foreign minister assured me that they would do that.

Are there any concrete signs that the Sri Lankan government is in fact moving in that direction?

They have made a statement and we will see how that process moves forward. I was informed by the Sri Lankan foreign minister that they have had meetings with the Tamil Diaspora as well, including people from Canada.

Did you meet any Tamil Canadians while you were in Sri Lanka?

I am going to be very candid with you. The issue is not with Canadian Tamils. The issue is with Tamils in Sri Lanka. The ultimate political solution has to come in consultation with the Tamils in Sri Lanka and not Tamils in Canada. While I appreciate the concerns of Tamils living in Canada and their willingness to contribute towards rebuilding of Tamil areas, I do not personally believe that Sri Lankans who live outside the country are the ones who will be instrumental in the direct political settlement in Sri Lanka.

Did you meet people from the Tamil community at the IDP camps?

I would say that they are people who are just caught in the fighting. It is most important that these people go home. I also visited a hospital that is being run by Indians and talked to the doctors there.
The Canadian government is in favour of the Sri Lankan government allowing the IDPs to repatriate as soon as possible.
Yes, I have suggested that these people should be allowed to leave the IDP camps, allowed to go home. Of course, those areas are heavily mined. I did indicate to the Sri Lankan authorities that there's a desire on the part of Sri Lankans in Canada to be more active, but I would clearly state that they cannot be involved in the political process.

But the Canadian foreign affairs minister has repeatedly made statements in support of the human rights of the Tamil people. Also, representatives of the foreign media have not been allowed inside Sri Lanka?

We discussed the reconciliation process and the Lankan politicians said that the process is going to move forward. The protection of all citizens is the responsibility of all citizens here as well, and that includes Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese.
I must make it clear we have to engage with the government of Sri Lanka. We have historical ties with the Sri Lankan government.

British Govt issues new travel advice: warns on anti-Western rhetoric

The British Government has issued a new travel advice to British nationals visiting Sri Lanka. It advices British on increased anti-Western (particularly anti-British) rhetoric in Sri Lanka due to the upsurge of Sinhala extremism. The travel advice said: "The end of the military conflict has seen an upsurge of nationalism in Sri Lanka. As a result,anti-Western (particularly anti-British) rhetoric has increased, including from senior Government figures. This has led to violent protests against the British High Commission and other diplomatic premises."


The summary of travel advice:

* We advise against all travel to the north of Sri Lanka. This includes all areas north of the A12 road connecting Puttalam in the west with Trincomalee in the east. It does not include Anuradhapura or the spit of land to Kalpitiya west of Puttalam.

* We advise against all but essential travel to most parts of eastern Sri Lanka, including the districts of Batticaloa (all areas), Trincomalee (rural areas), and Ampara (north and eastern areas). We do not advise against travel to the following areas in the east: Trincomalee Town, including the A6 road corridor to Trincomalee; Block One of Yala National Park; areas of Ampara District south of the A4 road including Arugam Bay; areas of Ampara District, west of the A25 and A27 roads.

* The conflict between the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, or “Tamil Tigers”) ended in May 2009. All territory in Sri Lanka is now under Government control. However, politically-motivated violence, abductions and criminality persist throughout the country, particularly in the north and east. The Government maintains its State of Emergency, under which it has extensive anti-terrorism powers. Heightened security measures including checkpoints are expected to remain throughout the country. Always carry formal photographic identification with you. Detentions do occur, particularly of people of Tamil ethnicity. If you are detained, you should ask the authorities to contact the British High Commission.

* The end of the military conflict has seen an upsurge of nationalism in Sri Lanka. As a result, anti-Western (particularly anti-British) rhetoric has increased, including from senior Government figures. This has led to violent protests against the British High Commission and other diplomatic premises. Although no protests have so far been directed at the British community more generally, you should be vigilant and avoid demonstrations.

* The World Health Organisation (WHO) has raised its Pandemic Threat Alert Phase to Level 6. The WHO website at: www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html as further details. You should also monitor local media reports for any developments and advice. There is a dedicated Swine Flu page on the FCO website: http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travelling-and-living-overseas/swine-flu . Guidance on Pandemic Flu can be obtained on the UK Department of Health website at www.dh.gov.uk.

* The Government of Sri Lanka has introduced surveillance measures at Katunayake (Bandaranayake) International Airport. On arrival in Sri Lanka travellers from affected countries (including the UK) should be prepared to be asked questions or be checked for symptoms by medical staff. Travellers suspected of having A (H1N1) will be admitted to the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) in Angoda for compulsory quarantine, testing and treatment. Travellers should be aware that transfer from the IDH to a more modern and better equipped private facility will not be permitted for those with suspected or confirmed H1N1. Travellers should consult their healthcare provider before travelling to Sri Lanka.

* There is a high threat from terrorism in Sri Lanka. Although foreign tourists and visitors have not been targeted in the past, attacks have occurred in places frequented by foreigners. Attacks have continued in 2009 and have affected a variety of targets including government and military sites and public gatherings. Although the LTTE has suffered a military defeat further terrorist attacks may occur. See the Terrorism section of this advice for more details.

* The majority of visits are incident free, although there are an increasing number of incidents of credit card fraud, road accidents and drownings. You should wear a seatbelt when travelling by road and use credit or debit cards only in reputable establishments (e.g. major hotels). Take local advice before bathing in the sea. A number of tropical diseases are also prevalent, including dengue fever, Chikungunya and rat fever (Leptospirosis). Cases of dengue fever in particular have risen sharply in recent months.

* About 94,000 British nationals visit Sri Lanka each year (source: Sri Lanka tourism board). The main types of incident for which British nationals required consular assistance in 2008 were: replacing lost or stolen passports; deaths, mostly from natural causes; and arrests or detentions.

* We recommend that you obtain comprehensive travel and medical insurance before travelling. You should check any exclusions, and that your policy covers you for all the activities you want to undertake. See the General (Insurance) page of this advice and the Travel Insurance page of the FCO website for more details. We also recommend that British nationals resident and/or working in Sri Lanka, or visiting for over one month, should register with the British High Commission in Colombo.

Safety and security

Terrorism

There is a high threat from terrorism in Sri Lanka. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers. For more general information see the Terrorism Abroad page of the FCO website.
The conflict between the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, commonly known as the “Tamil Tigers”) ended in May 2009. The LTTE has traditionally combined guerrilla warfare with terrorist attacks on government and civilian targets. Although the military conflict has ended the LTTE is likely to retain some capability to mount terrorist attacks.
Although the conflict is over, the Government has extended the State of Emergency, under which it has extensive anti-terrorism powers. Heightened levels of security (e.g. checkpoints, road blocks) are therefore likely to be maintained for the foreseeable future. You should exercise a high level of vigilance. The risk for the most part is one of being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. In order to minimise this, you should avoid military, government and paramilitary locations. Always carry formal photographic identification with you. Stop and show your ID when asked to do so. If you are detained, you should ask the authorities to contact the British High Commission.
Fatal attacks have occurred throughout the country, including Colombo and other areas frequented by foreigners. Since the beginning of 2009 at least 50 civilians have been killed in terrorist attacks across Sri Lanka. Most attacks have been directed against Government and military targets though a number have been focussed on civilian targets such as crowded public places, public transport and market areas. Some of the most significant recent attacks include:

* On 10 March 2009 a suicide bomb attack at a political gathering in Akuressa, near Matara, resulted in 14 deaths and a number of injuries.

* On 21 February 2009 21 civilians were shot dead in a village in rural Ampara district.

* On 20 February 2009 an LTTE air raid on military targets in Colombo resulted in four deaths and injured a further 12.

* On 9 February 2009 a suicide bomb attack in an IDP centre in Mullaithivu district killed eight civilians and 20 soldiers.

* On 2 January 2009 a suicide bomb attack near the headquarters of the Sri Lankan Air Force in Colombo resulted in three deaths and injured a further six.

Crime

Credit card fraud is the most common type of crime affecting visitors. It is advisable to use cash wherever possible and to use ATMs attached to banks or major hotels. Do not let your credit card leave your sight when you use it. Some travellers experience problems using their credit / debit cards on arrival in Sri Lanka when their banks’ automated fraud protection system blocks transactions. It may be useful to inform your bank in advance of your intended travel arrangements. If your card is blocked, you will need to contact your bank to re-activate it. There are plenty of money changers in tourist areas if you want to change cash.
Violent crimes against foreigners are relatively infrequent, although there have been reports of sexual offences and muggings. When travelling around Sri Lanka, you should make arrangements through reputable travel companies (such as those identified in your guidebook or local listings information) and exercise appropriate caution. Women should take particular care when travelling alone and carry personal alarms. For more general inforamtion see Rape and Sexual Assault Abroad.
There has been an increase in the number of reported thefts from hotels and guesthouses. You should take sensible precautions to safeguard your valuables, especially passports and money.

For more general information see Victims of Crime Abroad.

Political Situation

As stated in the Summary, the conflict between the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ended in May 2009.
Travellers should note that the end of the military conflict has seen an upsurge of nationalism in Sri Lanka. As a result, anti-Western (particularly anti-British) rhetoric has increased, including from senior Government figures. This has led to violent protests against the British High Commission and other diplomatic premises. Although no protests have so far been directed at the British community more generally, you should be vigilant and avoid demonstrations.
There have been a number of “hartals” (widely enforced general strikes) and curfews, particularly in the north and east. You should avoid political gatherings or demonstrations. You should follow local news and maintain a high state of vigilance during such events
Foreign nationals have been detained by the police after taking photographs of buildings or vehicles used by VIPs. These include numerous sites in central Colombo. Use of video and/or photography is prohibited near military bases and government buildings.

Local Travel

We advise against all travel to the north of Sri Lanka. The Government has recently concluded an intense military campaign against the LTTE in the north. Parts of this area are heavily land-mined and it is possible that pockets of LTTE cadres remain. Violence could break out in these areas with little or no warning. The High Commission is very limited in the assistance it can offer visitors to this area. For the purposes of this travel advice we consider the north to be all areas north of the A12 road (which runs from Puttalam in the west to Trincomalee in the east). This includes the Jaffna peninsula, but does not include Anuradhapura or the spit of land to Kalpitiya west of Puttalam.
We advise against all but essential travel to the eastern Sri Lankan districts of Batticaloa, Trincomalee, and Ampara. The security situation across the east is volatile. Violent incidents and paramilitary activity are frequently reported, especially at night. This includes incidents of shootings, abduction, and civil unrest. Foreigners have not previously been targeted, but there is a risk that British nationals could become involved in an incident through being in the wrong place at the wrong time. British Nationals of Sri Lankan origin or descent should exercise particular caution.
Travellers should note that we do not advise against travel to the following areas in the east: Trincomalee Town, including the A6 road corridor to Trincomalee; areas of Ampara District south of the A4 road, including Arugam Bay; areas of Ampara District, west of the A25 and A27 roads.
We do not advise against travel to the Yala National Park, but you should ensure that any visit is on an officially approved tour that visits only “Block one” of the park, (in practice, most organised tours only visit this area). A number of security incidents have occurred since 2007 in “Block two” to “Block five” of the Yala National Park (the outlying areas of the park) and these areas remain closed to visitors. You should not attempt to visit Blocks Two - Five.
Many rural areas in the north and east are heavily land-mined. Always obey signs warning about the danger from land-mines and do not step off main roads.

Did the Govt. death squad kill the arrested Tamil Tiger leaders in the prisons?

The Sri Lanka Guardian in its online news said that information filtering through highly restricted government sources confirms a number of LTTE leaders arrested in the IDP camps immediately after the military defeat of the LTTE have been killed after severe torturing in the prisons in the southern Sri Lanka.

The news report further said: ‘Over one hundred odd LTTE men have been silently and systematically wiped out by the government death squads’ said one source. The sources said LTTE’s Balakumar (former EROS head), Yogaratnam Yogi, Karikalan and Pulavar Puthuvai were some of those being killed. They were arrested in the IDP camps and taken to Colombo for interrogation.
‘The government is maintaining dumbfounded silence about their arrests and whereabouts and only revealing the situation faced by Thaya Master and Suba Thamilchelvan’s interpreter George to sidetrack the massacre’ said another source anonymously.
The sources further said that the government failed to report the arrests and whereabouts of the LTTE men to the ICRC.

‘Sri Lanka can’t quell the Tamils’ thirst for equality and freedom’

Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, the coordinator of the committee for the formation of provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) in an exclusive interview to 'Tehelka,' shared his thoughts on the transnational government that they are trying to establish.


Excerpts from his interview:

Q: How confident are you about the success of the TGTE? How would it be different from the existing ‘governments in exile’ in various regions of the world?

A: We are very confident that this initiative will succeed. Even though the Government of Sri Lanka has brutally crushed the armed struggle, they cannot quell the Tamils’ thirst for dignity, equality and freedom. At present, not only is the survival of Tamils in Sri Lanka in danger, they also have no space to articulate their political aspirations. Thus, the Tamils’ political campaign can be pursued only from outside. What we are trying to establish is not a government in exile. We envisage a transnational government (TG) that does not require a host state. This government will be elected by the Tamil diaspora. There is no precedent of a TG created by an ethnic group. The TG we conceptualise will be our contribution to politics and political theory.

Q: Will Tamil refugees living in Tamil Nadu be part of the process? Will you seek the support of state parties and the Indian government?

A: Definitely. We will seek their support.

Q: Do you intend to visit Tamil Nadu to meet Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and other Tamil leaders?

A: We intend to meet [CM] Karunanidhi, Jayalalithaa [AIADMK chief], Nedumaran and Vaiko [both pro-Eelam leaders], Pandian [CPI state secretary] and other political leaders. We also intend to have discussions with civic leaders and intellectuals in Tamil Nadu and Delhi. India’s support is very important.

Q: When is your realistic deadline for electing the constituent assembly of the proposed TG? What will be the method of election?

A: We hope to have the elections during April 2010. However, we have been asked by many people to expedite the process. What we envisage is people going to the booths and voting.

Q: ‘Sri Lanka brutally crushed the LTTE, but they can’t quell the Tamils’ thirst for equality and freedom’

A: What would be your roadmap for achieving Eelam?

The TG, through its legitimacy, popularity and international support will become a power centre and create an equilibrium of power between the Sinhala nation and the Tamil nation. It will contribute towards creating a political arrangement where Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils can live in peace.

Q: Have you received a favourable response from any country?

A: International support is essential for the success for this initiative. Since the TG is to be established in accordance with democratic principles, we hope democratic countries will support our initiative. We have received favourable responses from some countries.

Free civilians from detention camps: They deserve their freedom

Eventual resettlement no excuse for holding 280,000 displaced Tamils; keeping several hundred thousand civilians who had been caught in the middle of a war penned in these camps is outrageous. Haven’t they been through enough? They deserve their freedom, like all other Sri Lankans, says Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch.

The Sri Lankan government should immediately release the more than 280,000 internally displaced Tamil civilians held in detention camps in northern Sri Lanka, Human Rights Watch statement said Tuesday.
The government, in violation of international law, has since March 2008 confined virtually all civilians displaced by the fighting between government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in detention camps, euphemistically called "welfare centers" by the government. Only a small number of camp residents, mainly the elderly, have been released to host families and institutions for the elderly.
"Keeping several hundred thousand civilians who had been caught in the middle of a war penned in these camps is outrageous," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Haven't they been through enough? They deserve their freedom, like all other Sri Lankans."
The United Nations reported that as of July 17, 2009, the government was detaining 281,621 people in 30 military-guarded camps in the four northern districts of Vavuniya, Mannar, Jaffna, and Trincomalee. Camp residents are allowed to leave only for emergency medical care, and then frequently only with military escort. Inside the camps, humanitarian workers are prohibited, on threat of being barred from the camps, from discussing with residents the fighting in the final months of the conflict or possible human rights abuses.
Premkumar, 44 years old, told Human Rights Watch that he, his wife, and their 3-year-old daughter have been confined to a camp since they escaped the war zone in mid-May. He has been allowed out only once, when he managed to obtain a referral to a hospital.
"The way I see it, we are not internally displaced persons, we are internally displaced prisoners," Premkumar said. "We used to be in a prison controlled by [LTTE leader] Prabhakaran. Now we are in a prison controlled by the government."
In Kalimoddai and Sirukandal camps in Mannar district, established more than a year ago, some residents have been granted permission to leave the camp for short periods during the day. In these camps, they have to register with the military twice a day. Human Rights Watch has received reports that if a person fails or is late to register, the military may apply punitive measures, such as forcing the person to stand still under the sun for a period of time or to perform manual labor.
Sri Lanka's policy of confining the displaced to detention camps has been widely condemned. On May 15, for example, Walter Kälin, the UN secretary-general's representative on internally displaced persons, said: "Prolonged internment of such persons would not only amount to arbitrary detention but it also aggravates the humanitarian situation needlessly."
In response to domestic and international criticism, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has tried to justify the detention policy by claiming that anyone in the camps could be a security threat. The government has sought to play down the situation, insisting that the displaced civilians will be quickly resettled. In May, the government said it would resettle 80 percent of them by the end of this year. Now the Minister of Foreign Affairs says the goal is 60 percent. The government has not provided any concrete resettlement plans, however, and displaced persons have not received any information about when they might be allowed to return home.
The military has reportedly removed several thousand camp residents for alleged membership or support of the LTTE, and transferred them to rehabilitation centers for LTTE fighters or to Colombo, the capital, for further interrogation. In many cases, the authorities have failed to inform relatives remaining in the camps about the fate and whereabouts of those removed, raising concerns of possible ill-treatment or enforced disappearance. The order to humanitarian workers not to talk to camp residents limits their ability to protect people from abuse.
While the Sri Lankan authorities are entitled to screen persons leaving the war zone to identify Tamil Tiger combatants, international law prohibits arbitrary detention and unnecessary restrictions on the right to freedom of movement. This means that anyone taken into custody must be promptly brought before a judge and charged with a criminal offense or released. Although human rights law permits restrictions on movement for security reasons, the restrictions must have a clear legal basis, be limited to what is necessary, and be proportionate to the threat.
"Vague promises about the future release of the people illegally locked up in detention camps are no justification for keeping them there," said Adams. "Every day in the camp is another day that the government is violating their rights."
The situation of camp residents is aggravated by inadequate living conditions in the camps. Many are overcrowded, some holding twice the number recommended by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. According to the UN, there is a shortage of latrines and access to water is inconsistent, causing hygiene problems. In June alone, health officials recorded more than 8,000 cases of diarrhea, as well as hundreds of cases of hepatitis, dysentery, and chickenpox.
Numerous reports indicate that camp residents are getting increasingly frustrated with the inadequate food, overcrowding, and inability to visit relatives in adjacent camps or elsewhere. In late June, they held at least two protests in the camps, which were dispersed by the security forces.
The government has effectively sealed off the detention camps from outside scrutiny. Human rights organizations, journalists, and other independent observers are not allowed inside, and humanitarian organizations with access have been forced to sign a statement that they will not disclose information about the conditions in the camps without government permission. On several occasions, the government expelled foreign journalists and aid workers who had collected and publicized information about camp conditions, or did not renew their visas.
On July 24, the executive board of the International Monetary Fund approved a US$2.6 billion loan to Sri Lanka, granting the government an "exceptional level of access to Fund resources." Several countries – including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Argentina – abstained from the vote, reflecting concern about human rights violations during the conflict and continued abuses, including mistreatment of internally displaced persons. Installments of the loan will have to be approved every three months.
"The world recognizes that Sri Lanka needs money to rebuild the country," said Adams. "But the government's treatment of its Tamil population in recent months has drained much of the sympathy for the challenges it faces. The government needs to change course or expect greater international scrutiny in the future."

Rajapakse’s “final resolution” of the Tamil problem and India’s options

The death of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo, Velupillai Prabhakaran, circa May 18, 2009 remains an enigma wrapped in mystery. The exact details of what happened, we may never know. Things have never been what they appeared on surface. Colombo’s media management techniques are a legion. Therefore, peering through a looking glass into the future of Sri Lanka becomes quite problematic.

The bottom line, of course, is that a question mark must be put on the intentions of President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the period ahead. He presides over a virtual military-political camarilla in Colombo that rides roughshod over the parliament, judiciary and the media, which he will be extremely loathe to dismantle.
Equally, the outside world is hardly aware of the murky activities of the death squads that have carried out hundreds of abductions, “disappea-rances” and murders in the recent months, inclu-ding prominent politicians and editors. The key political decisions are taken by the president and his brothers and a small cabal of trusted aides, and military and police chiefs.
Clearly, strong vested interests have developed through the brutal civil war, involving the military, bureaucracy, Buddhist clergy and the business elite, who will not easily vacate their vantage positions on the mere plea that war has ended.

Clausewitzean War

This has been a Clausewitzean war. Army Commander Lt General Sarath Fonseka told a western interviewer with absolute non-chalance: “I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese. We being the majority of the country, 75 per cent, we will never give in and we have the right to protect this country. They (minorities) can live in this country with us. But they must not try to, under the pretext of being a minority, demand undue things.” Rajapaksa will whip up Sinhalese chauvinism to consolidate himself politically.
What all this boils down to is that Indian policies operate within strict parameters. One, any “political solution” to the Tamil problem will be on Rajapaksa’s terms. The Sinhalese regard their country as the last bastion of Theravada Buddhism. India’s locus standii is inherently controversial in the Sinhalese perceptions.
Two, the Sinhalese are highly sophisticated practitioners of diplomacy. In March 2007, they signed an Access and Cross Servicing Agreement with the US that allows American warships and aircraft to use facilities in Sri Lanka as quid pro quo for Washington’s political and military support for Rajapaksa’s all-out war against the LTTE.
But in March 2009, they depended on China and Russia to block a US move in the UN Security Council for humanitarian intervention in Sri Lanka. If India is not “cooperative”, Rajapaksa will not hesitate to show us the door. He knows he has options other than India.
Three, Rajapaksa indeed has a blueprint for the final resolution of the Tamil problem. It involves the systematic colonisation by the Sinhalese of the Tamil homelands north of Elephant Pass so that over the next decade or so, the demography of those regions will be altered to the disadvantage of Tamils. This was how Colombo “solved” the Tamil problem in the eastern provinces of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara.
Four, the Sinhalese establishment will promote an exodus of Tamils to India as a matter of state policy. As victims of state discrimination, Tamils will be willing or even eager to migrate to India as time passes. This will constitute the Sinhalese establishment’s “permanent solution” to the Tamil problem.
Alas, these are unpalatable thoughts. But what are India’s options? Paradoxically, Delhi’s political leverage over Colombo will diminish in the post-LTTE era. Delhi needs to make up for its loss of influence by working with the international community.
It suits Delhi to promote an urgent international monitoring mission in Sri Lanka, which safeguards the welfare of the hundreds of thousands of displaced Tamils who are interned in virtual concentration camps and are highly vulnerable to coercion and violence. India must also mobilise the international opinion in favour of initiating a political process with the aim of finding a durable settlement of the Tamil problem within a reasonable timeline.

Visceral Opposition

The Sinhalese establishment will no doubt show visceral opposition to any outside intervention. Quite conceivably, a Sudan-like diplomatic stalemate may arise. But then, Sri Lanka faces a worsening foreign exchange crisis and is urgently in need of a $1.9 billion dollar IMF loan. Rajapaksa’s regime faces growing popular unrest over declining living standards due to the costly war and the global economic crisis that has caused a sharp fall in commodity prices and export earnings.
Sri Lanka has virtually exhausted all access to domestic borrowing and international markets. The IMF conditionalities should include a verifiable commitment by Rajapaksa to move forward with an internationally supervised peace process. The European Union has done the right thing by calling for an inquiry into war crimes.
A complicating factor is that Sri Lanka has become a theatre of big-power rivalry. The Sinhalese establishment views China as its “steadfast ally.” The payoff for Beijing has been the $1 billion deal to construct a major port facility comprising container port, bunkering system, oil refinery, airport, etc. in Hambantota, which China fancies as a trans-shipment hub.
India has a common interest with the US in countering China’s strategy. No matter the motives behind the US’ current emphasis on a “political settlement”, after having been a staunch supporter of Rajapaksa’s war, Delhi must closely work with the Barack Obama Administration.



by M K Bhadrakumar, Bhadrakumar is a former diplomat; Courtesy: Deccan Herald

The urgency of bearing witness: Conflict may be over, not the battle to reach victims

First they were captives of a conflict in which their freedom and security was thwarted at every turn. Now huge numbers of the Tamil population of Sri Lanka find themselves trapped again, unseen for the most part and wholly unprotected, says the Medical Foundation for the care of victims of torture (torturecare.org).

The torturecare.org in its feature article on Monday said, the conflict may officially be over, but the battle to reach the victims is not. Aid agencies, the media and even the Red Cross have all been denied access to the military-run camps where an estimated 300,000 civilians are languishing in dangerously impoverished, hostile conditions.
The Sri Lankan government maintains that it will resettle those currently interned, describing its battle against the Tamil Tigers as "a humanitarian operation to safeguard the people of the area". But the reality is far different.
The UN has accused the Sri Lankan government of waging "a war without witnesses". While those still locked inside the camps are prevented from speaking out, the testimonies of those who were fortunate to survive provide ample testimony to a worsening humanitarian crisis.
Since 2006, when the peace process was finally abandoned and northern Sri Lanka was once again gripped by conflict, waves of survivors have sought help from the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture (MF). In 2005, before the e re-escalation of the conflict, just 50 people were referred. By 2008, that number had almost quadrupled to 187.
Stories of rape, sexual abuse, burnings with hot irons and long periods of solitary confinement are commonplace. All parties to the conflict, from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to the police and paramilitary groups, have been implicated. The Sri Lankan army is particularly notable for its appetite for torture. Yet the army has evaded an investigation into its actions during the war and since, in the military-run camps now being operated in the north.
One of many young Tamil men to have survived the notorious military-run Joseph Camp in Vavuniya is fretful about the fate that may have met the family he was forced to leave behind when he fled Sri Lanka last year. He was detained by the military during one of many sweeps that the authorities made of Tamil Tiger controlled areas, picking up young people regardless of whether they had any active involvement with the LTTE.
He was beaten and sexually abused almost daily for the two months he was held. He was never allowed out of the bare cell in which he was kept, but he vividly recalls hearing the screams of other Tamils, particularly women, being tortured.
Just one week ago, he spoke to a close friend who is still detained in an army camp in the north, who told him of life in the barbed-wire surrounded camps, where there is practically no food and people are treated like animals: "Tamils are dying and disappearing, this is a genocide that the government is aiding and abetting and nobody has lifted a finger to help while our people are being butchered.
"We need the whole world to put pressure on the Sri Lankan government to give access to foreign countries otherwise most of the people will be killed before anyone sees. They should give access to the war zone to see how many people have been buried there and to witness what life has been like for so long amidst all this destruction.
"I don't believe anything the government says now about protecting the Tamils - after the experience that I had when I hadn't even committed a crime, I cannot believe them now."
Any aspirations that the younger generation of Tamils had to build jobs, careers and families, feel lost to them. Their only memories are of violence and war. If they are to be given a chance to rebuild a future, "the world must be allowed in to see and the Tamils must be freed from the camps and allowed to return to their houses".
But those exiled to the UK only hear horror stories via phone calls from people in Sri Lanka and messages relayed through the Tamil community in the UK, of young people being abducted from the camps and of suggestions that the army is still intent on wiping out the Tamil population.
Another young woman recalls the brutality of the camps, the incessant torture which saw her whipped with canes, kept in solitary confinement, burnt with cigarettes and suffocated with a petrol-soaked bag for more than two months. She too is filled with dread thinking about what may have happened to the family she has had no contact with since she escaped to the UK last year:
"Other women who were arrested at the same time as me are still in the camps, who knows how many are living and how many are dead."
Exiled from their country and with their families feared trapped in the camps or worse, a small group of Tamils have come together in a therapeutic group established at the MF to form links between a people whose connections to all that they held dear have been severed by war.
By far what galvanises their resolve more than anything else is the determination to counter the Sri Lankan government's attempts to deny reports of torture and ill-treatment. One young man says: "There are so many more people like us, we are not the only ones, and yet the international community doesn't really know the truth." Another woman says: "This really happened to me, why shouldn't the government know it?"
With the people of Sri Lanka increasingly cut off from the outside world, it is now more important than ever that the outside world demands to be allowed in, to provide help that is so obviously needed and to see the uncensored reality.

End of conflict brings no respite to children from human rights abuses

Despite the end of hostilities, children in Sri Lanka continue to be at risk of forced recruitment, arbitrary detention and other human rights abuses, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (Coalition) said Tuesday. In a new briefing to the Security Council Working Group (Working Group) on Children and Armed Conflict, the Coalition urged the Sri Lankan authorities to act immediately to protect conflict-affected children.

Children are among dozens of people who have been detained by security forces in internally displaced person (IDP) camps in Vavuniya, apparently for their alleged links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In one case in June 2009, a group of four or five girls and boys from a camp in Menik Farm were reportedly detained and questioned by members of the Sri Lankan military. One of the girls admitted that she had been with the LTTE for two days. The children were subsequently taken away and there has been no news of them since.
“The families of children taken by the security forces from detention camps have no idea where they are -- if they are in detention, have been taken to rehabilitation centres or have disappeared” said the Director of the Coalition, Victoria Forbes Adam.
Given the background of large-scale disappearances in Sri Lanka, there are grave fears that some of the reported incidents of children and adults being removed from IDP camps may represent enforced disappearances.
“There are simple steps that can be taken to enhance the security of children in IDP camps including allowing unhindered access to independent human rights monitors and maintaining a centralized register of all persons in the camps. Families should also be informed of where their children have been taken and their access to them should be facilitated” said Victoria Forbes Adam.
The Coalition has received reports of continued abductions for ransom and forced recruitment of children by pro-government armed groups. Unverified reports indicate that young boys in rehabilitation centres in Vavuniya have been forced to join pro-government armed groups including the Eelam People‟s Democratic Party (EPDP) and Tamil People‟s Liberation Front (TMVP). They are now reportedly collecting „protection money‟ from merchants and traders in Vavuniya town. There are also sporadic reports of child recruitment in Batticaloa district by the TMVP and cadres loyal to the former TMVP leader, V. Muralitharan, known as Karuna.
“Armed groups are clearly operating with the support of the security forces who are allowing them access to IDP camps and centres for surrendees and using them to identify individuals formerly associated with the LTTE. The Sri Lankan authorities must act immediately to prevent armed groups from entering facilities where children are housed and must investigate reports of ongoing abductions and recruitment by them” said Victoria Forbes Adam.
An entrenched culture of impunity in Sri Lanka facilitates ongoing abuses against children. In 2007 the government initiated an investigation into elements of the armed forces suspected of complicity in the forced recruitment of children by the TMVP. Twenty-three months later it has yet to be completed. In the meantime, Karuna, the former head of the TMVP, has been made a government minister. Karuna also stands accused of recruiting thousands of child soldiers when he was an LTTE commander prior to his split with the group in 2004. No known action has been taken against any member of the security forces or of any armed group suspected of child abductions or forced recruitment.
Intense recruitment of children by the LTTE during the final phase of the conflict has created serious challenges for the release and reintegration of underage recruits. While the government has set up a framework to provide support for children leaving armed groups through the establishment of accommodation and rehabilitation centres, the efforts fall short of internationally recognized best practice. Under the framework, there are concerns that former child soldiers may be held in custody for up to one year without clear grounds. Further, there are concerns about the inadequate access of these children to their families; the incomplete separation of children from adults; and the security of children in the centres.
“The end of the 25-year long conflict represents a unique opportunity to release and reintegrate all former child soldiers and to assist thousands of other conflict-affected children in Sri Lanka. It will take concerted and coordinated efforts by the Sri Lankan authorities and the international community to ensure that this opportunity is not squandered.”

US concerned over Sri Lankan camps; Reconciliation vital

Visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration Eric P. Schwartz expressed concern over hundreds of thousands of people displaced by war and continued to be confined in military-run camps for more than two months now. He pledged funds to help their resettlement.



Eric P. Schwartz spoke to reporters Monday in Colombo after visiting the Manik Farm, the largest camp for IDPs in Vavuniya. He said the U.S was "deeply concerned about a range of issues where further progress is essential.


He also announced $8 million to help hasten the resettlement and recovery process of 280,000 displaced Tamil people living in internment camps.


"In particular the vast majority of displaced persons remain confined to camps," "Moreover there remain burdensome limitations on access to those camps for those international humanitarian organizations and others who are in a position to ameliorate the conditions faced by these victims of conflict," Associated Press reported quoting Eric P. Schwartz.


AP further reported Schwartz saying, that President Mahinda Rajapaksa and other top officials have assured him of "significant and substantial returns" of displaced people to their homes over the next month.


Foreign diplomats and aid workers fear that the camps are actually internment camps where the displaced people are being held indefinitely. Schwartz said he raised the issue with government officials who insisted that camps were only temporary.


He said the government also invited him back to observe the process of return and recovery. He said he hoped to do so. He added that the extent of relations between Sri Lanka and the US hinges on the outcome of the reconciliation process in Sri Lanka.

IMF defends Sri Lanka loan amid human rights worries

The International Monetary Fund defended a $2.6 billion loan to Sri Lanka on Monday saying it is aware of human rights concerns by donors but the funding is needed to prevent a devastating balance of payments crisis.


The loan was approved by the IMF board on Friday with opposition from several countries including the United States, Britain, Germany, France and Argentina, which expressed concern at human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.

"In Sri Lanka's case they have been hit by the global crisis and the IMF's mandate is to address and ward off balance of payments crises," IMF mission chief to Sri Lanka, Brian Aitken told reporters on a conference call.

"The balance of payments crisis sounds rather dry but it really would have a devastating impact on the economy and on the people, particularly the most vulnerable," he added.

Aitken said the IMF was in regular contact with humanitarian groups and diplomats over human rights worries.

Months after the end of the civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the Sri Lankan government continues to hold thousands of Tamils displaced by the fighting in detention camps, according to Human Rights Watch.

Aitken said none of the IMF funding would be directed through the government budget. Instead, the entire loan is going toward rebuilding the central banks currency reserves, which have been drained by the collapse in global trade that has affected the country's mainstay garment industry.

"The hope is that the loan provides a framework in which multilateral and bilateral donors can support the reconstruction effort directly," he added.

He also said it was important that Sri Lanka's foreign exchange policy remained flexible to meet targets for rebuilding international reserves to at least 3.5 months of imports by the end of the 20-month program.

"The program is targeted to increase reserves and the exchange rate under those circumstances needs to be flexible to respond to changes in foreign exchange flowing into the country," Aitken said.

Aitken said as the global crisis dissipates, Sri Lanka's growth should rebound quickly on the back of post-war rebuilding. He said the IMF agreed with the central banks' forecast for economic growth of 3 percent for 2009. ((Reuters, Washigton; by Lesley Wroughton)

Can Sri Lanka fulfill agreed economic reforms with IMF?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a $2.6 billion loan for Sri Lanka to help the country through the global financial crisis and rebuild following a 25-year civil war.



Sri Lanka will immediately be able to tap the first disbursement of $322 million under the 20-month programme but the rest will be phased in, subject to quarterly reviews.


Following are some questions and answers on key conditions and whether the government will be able meet them.


What is the hardest condition for Sri Lanka to meet?


Maintaining a 7 percent budget deficit in 2009. Latest Ministry of Finance data showed the deficit has already hit 4 percent in the first four months of this year and economists expected the full-year figure to reach at least 9 percent.


They say the government will be forced to revise its populist policies to more economically rational ones if it wants to receive the entire $2.6 billion loan.


The 5 percent fiscal deficit target in 2011 will also be a difficult task for President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who faces a parliamentary and presidential election before then.


Analysts say the Rajapaksa administration, which has already promised to cut military expenditure after the war, could introduce new indirect taxes to increase revenue.


But that might be unpopular with the electorate. So Rajapaksa could take advantage of his current high popularity and call for elections early and, assuming he wins, implement the less popular policies afterwards.


What will IMF do if Sri Lanka fails to meet the conditions?


Initially, the IMF is likely to be flexible, taking into consideration Sri Lanka's post-war situation. However, continued failures to meet conditions will compel the lender to stop disbursement of the loans, which would be negative for domestic markets. The IMF discontinued a previous loan programme due to Sri Lanka's failure in adhering to its conditions in 2001.


What impacts will the conditions have on the economy?


Inflation is expected to pick up. The government has agreed with the IMF to halt subsidies to loss-making state enterprises Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC). That is likely to lead to higher inflation via increased energy prices, raising pressure for policy rates to rise.




Will the exchange rate policy be an issue?


No. One of the conditions state that the central bank must allow flexibility in the foreign exchange rate and limit intervention to smooth volatility in the market. But the IMF has also said the flexibility should help maintain exporters' competitiveness, suggesting it is in line with the current central bank policy of intervening only when the rupee is depreciating.


Central bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal told Reuters on Monday that the rupee is trading at a reasonable rate and it will continue to maintain a stable exchange rate.




Traders also expect the rupee remain steady.(Reuters, Sri Lanka)