[UN]

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is appealing for $18.6 million to assist an estimated 500,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka who have been uprooted by decades of armed conflict. The funds - part of the Sri Lanka Common Humanitarian Action Plan - will go towards protection of the displaced, returnees and other populations affected by the fighting between Government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). It will also be used to provide shelter, non-food relief items and camp management.

[Full Story]

[IFJ]

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) unequivocally condemns actions by senior Sri Lankan police to intimidate, abuse and humiliate journalists who report in the public interest. The Free Media Movement (FMM), an IFJ affiliate, reports that a senior police officer, Inspector Mahesh Perera, abused and assaulted Sugath Dharmapriya, a news producer of Derana TV, who was reporting from the scene of a bomb blast in Colombo on February 23.

[Full Story]

[IRIN]

The UN and NGOs working in the conflict-ridden north and east are warning of a mounting humanitarian toll in 2008 due to the escalation in hostilities between Sri Lankan government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Agencies should be prepared to assist “up to 500,000 conflict-affected individuals comprising IDPs, returnees and economically affected persons”, according to the Common Humanitarian Action Plan (CHAP) 2008, prepared by the Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC) country team for Sri Lanka and released on 22 February.

[Full Story]

[ICG]

Sri Lanka is in civil war again, and there are no prospects of a peace process resuming soon. On 2 January 2008, the government announced its withdrawal from a ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). This formalised a return to conflict that has been underway since 2006 but also presaged worse to come. The humanitarian crisis is deepening, abuses of human rights by both sides are increasing, and those calling for peace are being silenced. There is no present chance of a new ceasefire or negotiations since the government, despite pro forma statements in favour of a political solution, is dependent on hardliners and appears intent on a military decision.

[Full Story]

[IFJ]

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) calls on Sri Lanka’s Inspector General of Police, Victor Perera, to investigate cases of harassment of journalists by members of the police and the Civil Defence Committees (CDC) and to prohibit authorities’ interference in the professional duties of journalists. In a letter to Mr Perera today, the IFJ expressed grave concern about reports from its affiliate, the Free Media Movement (FMM), that several incidents involving attacks on journalists or abuse of the rights of journalists have been instigated by police and CDC members.

[Full Story]

[BBC]

Police in Sri Lanka are abducting Tamils in Colombo “like dogs”, a leading human rights campaigner says. Convener of the civil monitoring committee (CMC) and leader of the Western People’s Front (WPF) said: “since 12th February seven people were kidnapped by white van in Colombo”. According to Mano Ganeshan, MP, the number of abductions is increasing around Colombo and its suburbs.

[Full Story]

[Amnesty International]

Amnesty International’s role is to monitor and report on human rights abuses by all parties to the conflict. The organization has repeatedly requested that the government should facilitate this role by allowing us access to the country,” said Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International. Amnesty International also rejected claims by the Defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella that it had failed “to utter a single word” against recent bomb attacks. The rule of law continues to be undermined and the culture of impunity persists. The government must make protection of human rights the top priority.

[Full Story]

[ICRC]

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is deeply concerned about the growing number of civilian casualties, including children, resulting from the deteriorating security situation across Sri Lanka. Since the beginning of this year, the ICRC has observed an increase in the number of civilians killed or injured in targeted and/or indiscriminate attacks. In the first six weeks of 2008, more than 180 civilians were reported killed and almost 270 injured in a series of attacks on civilian buses, railway stations and individuals in Colombo, Dambula, Kebhitigollewa, Madhu, Okkampitiya and Welli Oya.

[Full Story]

[ICRC]

Since the beginning of the year, the ICRC has observed an increase in civilian casualties as the number of indiscriminate attacks grows in the north, east and south of the country. Intensified fighting between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya and Mannar districts has also led to a rise in the number of displaced persons. “We are concerned about the impact the heightened violence is having on civilians,” says Toon Vandenhove, the head of the ICRC’s delegation in Colombo.

[Full Story]

[Amnesty International]

A number of journalists in Sri Lanka have received death threats in the wake of knife attacks on two journalists in the past eleven days. Lal Hemantha Mawalage, a leading news producer with the state-run Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC), was stabbed in the southern city of Athurugiriya on the night of Friday 25 January. Four days later, the Colombo-based Free Media Movement reported that five persons entered the Colombo home of Suhaib M Kasim, the associate editor of the Sri Lankan state-owned Tamil daily Thinakaran. They forcibly took him to his veranda and stabbed him in his abdomen.

[Full Story]