“These are not welfare camps, they are prisoner-of-war
cum concentration camps.” Robert Evans, a Labour MEP who
visited Sri Lanka as chairman of the European Parliament
Delegation on Relations with South Asia
Sri Lanka plans to hold displaced Tamils in 'concentration
camps'
Dean Nelson, South Asia Editor,
Daily Telegraph, 13 February 2009
The Sri Lankan
government has been denounced over plans to forcibly detain
thousands of Tamil civilians fleeing the country's civil war in
"concentration camps".
Officials have confirmed they will establish several "welfare
villages" to house the estimated 200,000 Tamils displaced from
their homes by the Sri Lankan army's "final offensive" against
the LTTE's stronghold on the north of the Island. Senior
officials have however confirmed that those housed in the
villages will have no choice on whether to stay in the camps.
The villages, which will be based in Vavuniya and Mannar
districts and will include banks and parks, will be compulsory
holding centres for all civilians fleeing the fighting. They
will be screened for terrorist connections and then held under
armed guard, with only those with relatives inside the camp
allowed to come and go. Single youngsters will be confined to
the camps.
It remains unclear how long displaced Tamils will
be forced to remain in the camps. Officials had originally
planned to detain civilians there for three years but, following
an outcry from humanitarian groups, said they hoped to resettle
80 per cent within a year.
Aid groups, senior opposition
leaders and Britain's Department for International Development
have all denounced the plan, which was on Friday compared to
Hitler's demonisation of the Jews in the 1930s.
Former Foreign
minister Mangala Samaraweera, a former close aide to President
Mahinda Rajapaksa, said it was part of a police to paint all
Tamils, even moderate opponents of the Tamil Tigers, as
potential terrorists and to silence all Tamil voices.
"It is
amazing and terrible. A few months ago the government started
registering all Tamils in Colombo on the grounds that they could
be a security threat, but this could be exploited for other
purposes like the Nazis in the 1930s. They're basically going to
label the whole civilian Tamil population as potential
terrorists, and as a result we are becoming a recruitment
machine for the LTTE. Instead of winning hearts and minds of the
Tamil people, we're pushing even the moderates into the arms of
the LTTE by taking these horrendous steps," he told The Daily
Telegraph.
A spokesman for Britain's Department for
International Development said:"We are aware of the Government
of Sri Lanka's plans for civilians displaced by the conflict in
the Vanni. We do not believe current plans represent a
sufficient solution by international humanitarian standards.
Prolonging the displacement of this very vulnerable group of
people is not in anyone's interests.
"There is no UK Government money going into the camps. The UK
is supporting international agencies on the ground like the Red
Cross, who are in constant touch with the Government of Sri
Lanka to find an acceptable solution for those affected. It is
important to note that the Government of Sri Lanka has
consistently followed a speedy resettlement policy and the
experience in the East has been positive in this regard
Barbed wire villages raise fears of refugee concentration
camps
Jeremy Page, South Asia Correspondent,
Stringer/Reuters, Times on Line, 13 February 2009
Tamil refugees wait in the town of Vishvamadu to be sent to
government camps
Sri Lanka was accused yesterday of planning
concentration camps to hold 200,000 ethnic Tamil refugees from
its northeastern conflict zone for up to three years — and
seeking funding for the project from Britain.
The Sri Lankan Government says that it will open five
“welfare villages” to house Tamils fleeing the 67 sq mile patch
of jungle where the army has pinned down the Tamil Tiger rebels.
The ministry in charge says that the camps, in Vavuniya and
Mannar districts, will have schools, banks, parks and vocational
centres to help to rehabilitate up to 200,000 displaced Tamils
after a 25-year civil war.
It also says that it will be compulsory for people fleeing
the area to live in the camps until the army — which will guard
them — has screened them, hunted down the Tigers and demined the
area. The camps will be ringed with barbed wire fencing and,
while those with relatives inside will be allowed to come and go
after initial screening, young and/or single people will not be
allowed to leave, it says.
It originally proposed holding them for up to three years,
but after protests from the UN refugee agency now says that it
hopes to resettle 80 per cent by the end of the year. “Of
course, it will not be voluntary — we need to check everyone,”
Rajiva Wijesinha, the Secretary of the Ministry of Disaster
Management and Human Rights, told The Times. “This is a
situation where we’re dealing with terrorists who infiltrate
civilian populations. Security has to be paramount.” He said
that it was the only way to prevent Tiger suicide attacks like
the one that killed 20 soldiers and eight civilians on Tuesday.
Indian and Sri Lankan Tamil MPs expressed outrage and urged
the international community not to fund the camps without direct
oversight and independent media access. “These are nothing but
concentration camps,” said Raman Senthil, an Indian Tamil MP.
“Why should they be in camps? If they are citizens they should
be rehabilitated straight away.”
Mano Ganeshan, a Sri Lankan Tamil MP, said: “I don’t want to
say concentration camp yet, but they’re already detention camps
and military grilling stations. They should be run and monitored
by the international community.” Suren Surendiran, of the
British Tamils Forum, said that the camps were “like the
detention centres where the Jews were held in World War Two”.
Robert Evans, a Labour MEP who has visited Sri Lanka as
chairman of the European Parliament Delegation on Relations with
South Asia, said: “These are not welfare camps, they are
prisoner-of-war cum concentration camps.” Human Rights Watch
called the camps “detention centres” and said that they violated
UN guidelines on internally displaced people, which say they can
only be detained or interned under exceptional circumstances.
“The Sri Lankan Government has not demonstrated that such
circumstances exist,” said Charu Hogg, a Human Rights Watch
spokeswoman.
Amnesty International said that the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights obliged Sri Lanka to refrain from
arbitrarily depriving any person’s right to liberty. “The
Government wants international assistance but not international
standards,” said Yolanda Foster, Amnesty’s Sri Lanka expert.
President Rajapaksa said last week that the army was within
days of defeating the Tigers, and rejected international calls
for a ceasefire. The Government says that 32,000 civilians have
fled the conflict zone in the past week and are being processed
at 13 temporary camps. Amnesty describes those as “de facto
detention centres” and accuses the army of taking hostages by
allowing people to leave only if a relative stays behind. The
Government says that Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and
international aid agencies are prejudiced towards the Tigers.
For that reason, Professor Wijesinha said, the Government
would limit aid groups’ access to camps and allow journalists to
visit only on government tours. He said that President
Rajapaksa’s office drafted the original proposal two weeks ago
and circulated it to foreign embassies and aid agencies to raise
funding. “There’s talk that the British will provide a couple of
million pounds,” he said.
Britain’s Department for International Development denied
that, saying: “Prolonging the displacement of this vulnerable
group of people is not in anyone’s interests. There is no UK
government money going into the camps.”
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said that the
Government revised its proposal after concerns were raised over
the three-year detention period. A new version was committed to
resettling people as soon as possible, said Sulakshani Perera, a
UNHCR spokeswoman. She said Basil Rajapaksa, the President’s
brother, had said it would not be compulsory for anyone to enter
the camps.
Murder Tamils...
and
Incarcerate those Tamils who
escape in Concentration Camps
