SRI LANKA: A HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE

Links to news, information and analysis
on the civil war and humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka

Jan 2009 displacement in the Vanni. Civilians are being displaced from parts of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu Districts as a result of the Sri Lanka Army’s military offensive. There are 350,000 displaced persons in the Vanni. The Govt of SL ordered the UN & international NGOs to leave the area in Sept 2008. (Courtesy: TRO Kilinochchi [Tamils Rehabilitation Organization]. Weblink: www.flickr.com/photos/tro-kilinochchi/3187678776/. This photo is available for download under a Creative Commons license. )

‘Final assault’ not the answer to crisis in Sri Lanka says agency
Ekklesia, 21 Apr 2009 – The Catholic aid agency CAFOD has expressed grave concern at the fate of an estimated 100,000 civilians as the Sri Lankan government announced its intention to conduct a ‘final assault’ in the Vanni in the north east of the country as a deadline for the Tamil Tigers to surrender expired. (Read full article at Ekklesia.)

The “human” costs of the “humanitarian” rescue operation
David Buell Sabapathy Jeyaraj, 21 Apr 2009 – Sri Lankan Tamil journalist D.B.S. Jeyaraj surveys the actual human toll of the Sri Lankan army’s April 20th assault that broke the LTTE’s defences in Northern Mullaitheevu district, a military offensive vaunted by the government as a successful humanitarian rescue operation. (Read full article.)

Day of Reckoning in Sri Lanka
Robert Templer, International Crisis Group-Asia, 20 Apr 2009 – Analysis on the imminent “mass slaughter of civilians” as the period set by the Sri Lankan government for the LTTE to surrender comes to an end at noon Tuesday, April 21st. (Read full article.)

A slaughter of Tamils
Concerned South Asian Citizens, 13 Apr 2009 – statement appealing for the international community’s intervention and urging the Sri Lankan government to halt its assault on the LTTE to avert the escalation of violence and mass deaths among Tamil civilians trapped in the northern Vanni region. (Read full article.)

Global Ministries and GMP Urge Obama Administration to End Violence in Sri Lanka
Global Ministries, 3 Feb 2009 – Letter from leaders of the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) urging President Barack Obama to work to end the violence in Sri Lanka. (Read full text of the letter.)

Sri Lanka: Disregard for civilian safety appalling
Human Rights Watch, 3 Feb 2009 – “A Sri Lankan government statement that it is not responsible for the safety of civilians who remain in areas controlled by the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) indicates an appalling disregard for the well-being of the civilian population and is contrary to international law...” (Read full article at ReliefWeb.)

IDPs displaced by the Sri Lanka Army & Air Force’s bombing and shelling during their current offensive into the Vanni. (Courtesy: TRO Kilinochchi [Tamils Rehabilitation Organization]. Weblink: www.flickr.com/photos/tro-kilinochchi/2759879558/. This photo is available for download under a Creative Commons license. )

PUCL Statement: Humanitarian Crisis in northern Sri Lanka
People’s Union for Civil Liberties, 31 Jan 2009 – In a statement released at a press conference in Chennai, the PUCL called on the United Nations to invoke the doctrine of ‘Responsibility to Protect’ and to intervene in the Sri Lankan crisis to avert further aggravation of the humanitarian crisis. (Read full statement.)

Churches and aid agencies speak out on brutal Sri Lanka conflict
Ecumenical News International, 31 Jan 2009 – “Franciscans International, a human rights organization, has joined international and church aid groups in expressing deep concern over the fate of more than 350,000 Tamil civilians it says are trapped in Sri Lanka’s northern region of Vanni...” (Read full article at Ekklesia.)

Children must be protected in the Sri Lankan conflict
United Nations, 21 Jan 2009 – Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, expressed her concern for the fate of children in the on-going conflict in Sri Lanka. Thousands of children are caught in the confrontation between Sri Lankan Government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). (Read full article.)

Sri Lanka: Humanitarian Profile – Jan 2009
ReliefWeb, 16 Jan 2009 – Created by ReliefWeb for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Features graphic presentation of facts and figures on different aspects of the civil war in Sri Lanka, includes a historical timeline of the six decades of conflict between the Sinhalese and the Tamils.
(Download the brochure.)

Letters of appeal from the WCC general secretary to the Sri Lankan President
Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia expressed concern over the destructive impact on the Sri Lankan people of the government’s increased military campaign in two letters sent to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. (Read Rev. Kobia’s letters of 1 Dec 2008 and
13 Jan 2009.)

Culture of Violence Getting Ingrained in Society
Inter-Press Service, 12 Jan 2009 – “One of the worst legacies of the decades-old civil war in this island country is the culture of violence and impunity that many fear has become ingrained in Sri Lankan society—once known for ‘serendipity’ and respect for Buddhist virtues.” (Read full article at IPS.)

Clerics refuse to desert civilians fleeing war in Tamil heartland
Ecumenical News International, 17 Nov 2008, Colombo – “Some Sri Lankans see parallels to Moses leading his people through the Egyptian deserts as written in the Bible’s Book of Exodus in the clerics who are accompanying those displaced by a brutal civil war in northern Sri Lanka..... While all aid workers including U.N. staff, on the orders of the Sri Lankan authorities, withdrew from the Vanni region which is held by Tamil rebels, the pastors decided to stay. They want to minister to their people who are seeking refuge as the government forces inch closer.” (Read full article at ENI.)

Due to the UN & international NGOs leaving the Vanni on 15 September, TRO is the only large NGO (there are several district based NGOs) working for 300,000 IDPs displaced by war who are no affected by the monsoon flooding in the Vanni - Nov 2008. (Courtesy: TRO Kilinochchi [Tamils Rehabilitation Organization]. Weblink: www.flickr.com/photos/tro-kilinochchi/3066400216/. This photo is available for download under a Creative Commons license.)

SOURCE: International Crisis Group

EXTERNAL LINKS:

• Human Rights Watch reporting on Sri Lanka
• International Crisis Group – Sri Lanka project
• OCHA Humanitarian Portal – Sri Lanka – run by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
• National Peace Council of Sri Lanka
• Sri Lanka Lawlessness – A blog on the collapsed rule of law and human rights problems in Sri Lanka by Basil Fernando
• Sri Lanka Updates – blog site maintained by the Christian Conference of Asia