Action Alert Archive

Sri Lanka Armed Forces' targeted attacks on civilians escalate

December 13, 2007

We are writing to call your attention to egregious violations of international humanitarian law and standards of warfare in Sri Lanka. We urge Congress to pressure the Sri Lankan government to stop attacking civilians and to allow human rights monitors unimpeded access throughout the island.

A few days ago was Human Rights Day, an internationally honored day to commemorate the adoption of the United Nations Human Rights Declaration. As the scrutinizing gaze of the international community focuses on the genocide in Darfur and attacks on Buddhist monks in Burma, attention must also be given to the under-reported conflict in Sri Lanka.

Within the last few weeks, the Sri Lankan government has escalated its bombing campaigns against the Northern region of the country, which is overwhelmingly inhabited by the minority Tamil people. Air Force jets fly over Tamil villages multiple times a day, bombing refugee camps, schools, orphanages and twice a shelter for mentally-ill women. These attacks have terrorized the civilian population, which has already been forced to withstand decades of economic embargoes and the daily violence of war.

In the last 6 months, the SLAF has bombed Tamil civilian settlements in North East Sri Lanka 31 times. The SLAF has bombed civilian settlements in Pooneryn, Jeyanthinager, Murikandi, Mullaiththeevu, Puthukkudiyiruupu, Vanni, Visuvamadu, Kilinochchi, Vavuniyaa, Poonakari, Alampil, Tharmapuram, and Meesaalai.

One especially tragic day was November 27th, when a government claymore attack on a vehicle killed six Tamil school children and three adults. The same day, a civilian radio station was bombed, killing ten Tamil civilians and injuring many more. During that bomb attack, a UN building and FORUT building were also damaged. Reporters Sans Frontiers called this attack a "war crime." Free Media Movement similarly deplored the bombing. Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said of the bombing: "Such action contravenes the Geneva Convention which requires the military to treat media workers as civilians."

Despite these escalating human rights abuses, the United States government continues to provide financial assistance to the Sri Lankan military. We urge Congress to make military aid to Sri Lanka contingent upon an improvement in their human rights record, as Section 690 of the Senate-passed version of HR 2764 mandates. We ask the United States government to support HR 2764, which also calls upon the Sri Lankan government to accept international human rights monitors to help end the pervading climate of impunity.