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Utilize Japan's leverage to secure full access to IDP internment camps

June 5, 2009

Japan is uniquely positioned to play a lead role in fostering a sustainable peace in Sri Lanka. I am writing to urge you to use your pending trip to Sri Lanka as an opportunity to foster justice and rehabilitation for the ethnic Tamils who have suffered greatly over the past few weeks, months and decades. While the Government of Sri Lankan claimed 'victory' three weeks ago, the Tamils have yet to see any semblance of peace and reconciliation. Instead, 300,000 Tamils remain trapped in government-controlled internment camps without access to humanitarian aid, human rights monitors or journalists.

Conditions in these camps are appalling and the death toll continues to rise within them. UN watchdog Inner City Press reported on June 2nd that 13,100 Tamil IDPs appear to have disappeared from Sri Lanka's internment camps between May 27th and May 30th reports by the UN's Office for Humanitarian Affairs. OCHA insists that the decrease between the two reports was due to "double counting"; however, UN sources in Colombo disclosed that higher-up UN officials of Sinhalese ethnicity are downplaying the missing IDPs. Considering Sri Lanka's sordid history as having the highest rate of disappearances in 2006 and 2007 in the world, the 13,100 missing IDPs reflect an alarming trend that Sri Lanka is again "disappearing" thousands of innocent civilians.

Major news sources have recently and urgently reported that disease outbreaks are imminent due to overcrowding and lack of basic supplies such as soap, water and food. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the camps remain inadequate to meet the vast needs of the detainees. Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that "entire families are currently in these camps, where they are denied their liberty and freedom of movement, either for work or to move in with other families." Such violations of basic human rights at the hands of a nationalist government deny ethnic minorities any chance of hope and peace-building. Furthermore, recent UN reports estimate the death toll during the final days of war to be 20,000. If conditions in the internment camps continue to deteriorate at the control of the Sri Lankan government, thousands more will die.

Reports by the Associated Freedom Press reveal that on Thursday, the government seized a vessel carrying "884 tonnes of food, medicine and other essentials for Tamil civilians affected by the fighting." HRW recently released a report warning of the Sri Lankan government's increasing violations of human rights. Asia Director for HRW, Brad Adams, said "the country desperately needs healing. The government should make clear to everyone, especially Tamils, that it will respect their rights."

As you prepare for your trip to Sri Lanka next week, I hope you recognize the honor and responsibility you have of helping this wounded country to heal. Do not allow the promises and statements of the Sri Lankan government distract you from the facts: 300,000 innocent civilians are in dire need of help, as 13,100 refugees have 'disappeared' already. Please use your role as Representative for Peace-Building, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in Sri Lanka to truly make a difference. I urge you to utilize diplomatic and economic sanctions against Sri Lanka as leverage to force compliance with unrestricted access for humanitarian organizations, journalists, and human rights monitors in Sri Lanka as you proceed with your trip next week. Thank you for being a catalyst for peace.