Monday, October 5, 2009

Sri Lanka should make public a list of all IDPs

With the end of the government’s military campaign, Crisis Group urges that:
The Sri Lankan government should make public a list all those being held in camps for the displaced and in places of detentions, to reassure worried families about the fate of their loved ones, to facilitate the reunification of divided families, and to protect against the threat of abduction and forced disappearance.
The ICRC and UNHCR must be given full and immediate access to every stage of the government’s “screening” for those suspected of involvement with the LTTE. The ICRC should be granted full access to all places of detention to ensure that surrendered and captured combatants and other terrorist suspects are treated in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and Sri Lankan law. The Sri Lankan government should make public its plans for the demobilisation and rehabilitation of former LTTE fighters.
The Sri Lankan government should remove all restrictions on the access and effective work of the ICRC, UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs in government camps for the displaced in Vavuniya, Mannar and Jaffna and in government hospitals and medical centres. Punitive restrictions on visas and on travel within Sri Lanka for international staff of humanitarian agencies must also be removed. Lack of access and the consequent reduction in services only compounds the already severe physical suffering and psychological hardships the displaced are enduring.
The Sri Lankan government should announce a clear and prompt timetable for the resettlement of all those recently displaced from the Vanni. The government should also establish an open and inclusive process of consultation with independent Tamil and Muslim leaders to devise a fair and sustainable plan for the resettlement of all those displaced from the Northern Province, including the nearly 100,000 Muslims forcibly evicted from Jaffna and Mannar in 1990.
The Sri Lankan government should make tangible and meaningful steps to assure Tamils, Muslims and other minorities that their rights will be respected and their equal citizenship and physical safety will be assured. The government should initiate a new and inclusive process of dialogue between legitimate and independent representatives of all ethnic communities in pursuit of a lasting political settlement that addresses the grievances and insecurities of all communities through constitutional guarantees of power-sharing and individual rights.

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=6070&l=1

8 comments:

  1. Thamil
    Civil Monitoring Commission (CMC) is contacted by thousands of family members of the IDPs from within the country and abroad.They are prepared to work with the government in launching a website so that not only the international community but most importantly millions of Sri Lankan Tamils living in the country and other countries would know the fates of their dear ones. The government should know that providing the IDP details to the family members in Sri Lanka and abroad is vital than providing it to the international community

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  2. Krishna Kapoor

    I’m surprised to note that while 54 NGO are permitted to be at the assistance of the IDPs while the elected parliamentarians who are office bearers of the Parliamentarians for Human Rights of the Parliament of Sri Lanka are not permitted to be at the services of our people. It is very apparent now that government through the attorney general’s department blocks the parliamentarians from visiting the IDP camps since we sought the intervention of the judiciary three months before.

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  3. Thambi

    Watch out for the Brothers' next witch-hunt for subversives.
    It looks like they've decided that the 17th amendment to the Constitution (like any other checks and balances)is nothing but a hindrance to the omnipotent President.

    Very soon, any talk of getting the government to implement that amendment would be deemed "unpatriotic" and touted as evidence of an "unseen foreign hand" bent on destabilizing the country.

    The "unseen foreign hand" theory has long been a favourite gripe of presidents (JRJ was one of the finest exponents) who could never stomach dissent. Remains to be seen what the Rajapakse cabal can come up with next

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  4. Sri Lanka is becoming a failed sate because at the moment there is not a single honest politician in SL who is capable of wresting control of Sri Lanka from the saintly thugs who are running riot now.

    All Sri Lankans are at the mercy of the set of thugs, Rajapakse and Co., who are in power now. MR., GR., BR., got the license to enjoy the riches and guide the country’s destiny.

    Sri Lankans have are now faced with a situation that they are forced to endure the good or the bad that they will be dished out to them by their heroes as Sri Lankans have no other choice.

    A few of the surviving old brigade are making feeble attempts to obstruct the chief of the robbers (King Mahinda) from ignoring all ethics and swindling the country but there are no apparent mass upheavals due to well organized repression.

    The opposition is in disarray and they are not capable of harnessing the support of the masses by exposing the massive corruption that is eating into every artery of the country.

    Thuggery and murder is the order of the day and the helpless citizens could only watch and wait.

    It will be massive task to eradicate the most inhuman, corrupt, greedy, murderous set of people who are running the Sri Lanka now, the President M.Rajapakse and brothers.

    After brutal imprisonment of 300,000 innocent civilians, Sri Lankans got what they deserve

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  5. mahindalover

    Sri Lanka's stock exchange is apparently returning over 104%!
    http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2009/10/05/afx6964943.html

    I'm not sure how this ties in with some commentators here who are claiming it's a failed state!

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  6. Sri Lanka has been here before. In 1989, when the second JVP insurrection was declared to be over, the GOSL called upon JVP cadres to surrender. Large numbers of Sinhala youth did. They were kept in detention camps, classified and released or handed over to the Police in short order and the camps were closed.The model is known if current rulers have the will to get the job done.A number of current politicians at all levels are among those who were delat with in that menner ! It was a national initiative no IOM's or UNO's were involved.

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  7. Thamil
    The Sinhala government and its hardcore elements are trying to portray srilanka as a Sinhala state by ancestry in the eyes of the IC, and the Tamils as immigrants from the south India.

    Part of that campaign is succeeding for example in the name of reclaiming their ancestral land; they are ethnically cleansing the north and the east and changing the demographical balance.

    The other thing is they change the Tamil villages into Sinhala names, for example the original Tamil name Thampalagamam is changed to Thampalagama a Sinhala name.

    If nobody is willing to protect these innocent Tamil people from the draconian rule of jungle based on deception, distortion and injustice, there will be no place for justice and humanity.

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  8. mahindalover
    When I see the way modern day Westerners report on Sri Lanka, I take what Sir Hugh Cleghorn said with a large helping of salt. I know there were regional rulers in Sri Lanka, but why this translates as a "nation" is beyond me. The lack of archaelogical evidence to prove this is another significant factor.

    Sri Lanka as a nation has the Mahavamsa, Chulavamsa, Dipavamsa AND MANY OTHER historical texts, but there is so much archaelogical evidence that goes hand in hand with these. I agree some parts and descriptions etc. are myth based, but the archaelogical evidence that makes no reference to a separate Tamil nation is overwhelming.

    And let me tell you, it is not a good idea proposing the break up of India with this comment "It is good for everyone that the Monster breaks up and fragments in the whirlwind of National Liberation". Especially when 60 millionn Tamil Nadu citizens have no problems being part of it.

    Tut tut.

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