[Human Rights Watch]

“It is time for concerned governments like Japan, India, and the US to ensure that President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government and the Tamil Tigers allow the victims of this conflict to live with justice and dignity. Both sides should agree to a humanitarian corridor and otherwise respect the laws of war.” Our latest research shows that up to two thousand civilians have been killed by the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil Tigers since early January in the most recent round of fighting. We got reports of many civilian deaths, which have occurred in areas that the Sri Lankan government has declared to be “safe zones”, where the Sri Lankan army has repeatedly and indiscriminately shelled. Hospitals have been frequently hit.

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[AFP]

The 37-year conflict raging in Sri Lanka was borne out of “repressive” governments in Colombo, Canadian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs said Thursday. “I am sure all Canadians share the government’s revulsion at the continuing humanitarian catastrophe in Sri Lanka, a civil conflict born of a succession of repressive Sri Lankan governments, which in turn spawned the terrorist organization known as the Tamil Tigers,” Kent told the House of Commons.

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[Human Rights Watch]

A humanitarian evacuation of civilians is desperately needed right now. Sri Lanka should urgently work with concerned governments to help civilians flee the fighting. Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.(New York) - The Sri Lankan government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) should immediately agree to a plan of action to allow civilians trapped in the Vanni to leave the conflict area, Human Rights Watch said today. Some 150,000 civilians are at grave risk from fighting and aid shortages in the shrinking war zone in northeast Sri Lanka.

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[AFP]

EU foreign ministers are set to make a joint call next week for an immediate ceasefire between Sri Lankan security forces and Tamil Tiger rebels to allow aid in and civilians out of the conflict zone.

“The EU is deeply concerned about the evolving humanitarian crisis and vast number of internally displaced people,” according to a draft agreement prepared for European foreign ministers to endorse when they meet in Brussels Monday.

“The EU calls for an immediate ceasefire thereby providing for the establishment of full and unrestricted access” to allow humanitarian aid in and traumatised civilians out of the narrow strip of coastal jungle area in northern Sri Lanka.

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[Voice of America]

Tens of thousands of people fleeing the Sri Lanka’s civil war are taking refuge in government-run relief camps in the north. Many more are expected in the weeks ahead as the country’s 25-year war appears to be grinding to an end. That is creating a difficult humanitarian situation. Sri Lanka’s government has sealed off the relief camps in the country’s north to most visitors, including foreign journalists. But eyewitnesses said they are becoming overcrowded and that they lack supplies of drinkable water.

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[Toronto Star]

Sri Lanka - After a civil war that has lasted more than a quarter-century, the Sri Lankan government can sense victory against its long-time nemesis, the Tamil Tigers. But Sri Lanka doesn’t want the world to know how it routed its enemy in the northern part of this island. The government has practically shut down access to aid workers, diplomats and reporters. The government refused a request yesterday by the Swiss and Dutch ambassadors to go on a humanitarian fact-finding mission to the country’s war-affected region, a senior foreign diplomat told the Star.

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[Amnesty International]

Amnesty International has called on the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to immediately declare a temporary humanitarian truce and create humanitarian corridors. This would allow more than a quarter of a million civilians trapped in the Wanni region to escape the ongoing war and also let food, water, and medical assistance reach these civilians who cannot leave. Amnesty International also demanded that the Sri Lankan government ensure that displaced people who have fled the conflict zone to transit centres do not face improper restriction on their movement and are kept safe.

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[IPS]

While the Sri Lankan army has announced the capture of Mullaitivu, the last bastion of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the plight of more than 250,000 civilians caught in the fighting continues to be as grim as that of civilians in Gaza, say those involved in humanitarian work. Peter Balleis, international director of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS),… “Around 300,000 people, that is two-thirds of the civilian population, have been forced out of their homes and are living in camps in areas controlled by the LTTE. They are trapped in (an area) not more than 50 sq km, the size of Gaza,” Balleis said.

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[IRIN]

People receiving emergency relief rarely know exactly what is available for them, or how to access it. For many people escaping violence in Sri Lanka’s war zones and stuck in camps, information on basic services or job and education opportunities could be vital. Lifeline, a project administered by Internews Network, an international media development NGO, is trying to fill that gap by offering news and information to displaced people in Sri Lanka, including how to get the most from humanitarian and government agencies.

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[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.

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