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Refugees languish without humanitarian aid, basic rights

June 19, 2009

Sri Lanka has slipped from world headlines, but up to 300,000 Tamil civilians continue to languish in government-run internment camps in Sri Lanka. The conditions are appalling. Humanitarian aid organizations, including United Nations agencies, are being given only limited access to these camps, as reports of death by starvation emerge.

According to a June 11 Human Rights Watch report, the camps are overcrowded with shortages of water and food, and the lack of sanitation has to an outbreak of disease. HRW reports that the Sri Lankan military has placed severe restrictions on the number of vehicles allowed to enter camps, which significantly impedes aid distribution. Brad Adams, Asia Director for Human Rights Watch said, "The poor conditions in the camps may worsen with the monsoon rains. Holding civilians who wish to move in with relatives and friends is irresponsible as well as unlawful."

The Sri Lankan government has continued to ignore calls from the international community to allow the refugees to leave the camps and return to their homes. Commissioner Guterres, you stated in your June 16th article, "We are also facing a hardening of attitudes on state sovereignty, particularly in internal displacement situations." Sri Lanka epitomizes a circumstance in which it is not only justifiable, but necessary to overrule the boundaries of sovereignty. The Sri Lankan government has proven itself unwilling and incapable of providing for the needs of Tamil people on the island. This responsibility now falls to international bodies such as the UN to step in and help the helpless.

You poignantly wrote in your June 16th article that, "World Refugee Day is ... a good time to remember the 42 million uprooted people around the world who are still waiting to go home. They are among the most vulnerable people on earth and they must be a priority." I urge you to push the UN to enforce targeted economic and diplomatic sanctions against Sri Lanka until the Sri Lankan government re-settles all refugees in their own homes. On June 20th, I ask you to pressure the UN to play a strong and robust role in sending home these 300,000 Tamil refugees. Before the monsoons come and destroy what is left of those suffering in Sri Lanka, let World Refugee Day 2009 end with a few less refugees and a few more liberated people.