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Urge the UN to provide aid, safety to refugees

December 4, 2008

I am writing to you today to call your attention to the mounting conflict in Sri Lanka, and to establish a safe-zone for refugees in the war-torn north. Since the Sri Lankan government ordered international aid organizations to evacuate the Vanni region in September, the ICRC is the only international humanitarian organization engaged in relief efforts in the northern region. Meanwhile, over 300,000 Tamils have been internally displaced as they flee from the intensive military onslaught, aerial bombardment and artillery shelling. A United Nations-mandated safe-zone is necessary to ensure the safety of civilians in this besieged region.

Amnesty International released an urgent plea last week for greater humanitarian acess to the refugees languishing in the northern warn zone. Amnesty said, "The Sri Lankan government must immediately end its policy of blocking humanitarian aid needed to reach an estimated 300,000 displaced people in the Wanni region of northern Sri Lanka." Human Rights Watch made a similar plea after Cyclone Nisha displaced another 60,000 - 70,000 people. Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW said, "The Sri Lankan government should stop playing games with aid organizations and let them get on with their life-saving work.... Tens of thousands of people in flooded areas of the Vanni are without adequate shelter and need help now."

The UNHCR previously had offices in Kilinochi, the de facto capital of the region controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. From here the UNHCR was able to track the situation and regulate the aid going into the north and east. Since the Sri Lankan government's September ban on humanitarian aid in the region, the UNHCR office has been shut down, and there is no longer any way of ensuring the safety and security of the refugee population.

In the past, UN resolutions have established safe zones in volatile territory which would be "free from any armed attack or any other hostile act." A safe zone would provide shelter and security to the internally displaced refugees struggling for subsistence and survival The crisis is mounting: people are dying daily as monsoon rains deluge their makeshift shelters and the military offensive continues. I call upon the High Commissioner to work towards establishing desperately-needed safe zones for refugees. Peace may not come any time soon, but aid must.