December 2007 has seen the continuation of hostilities in the North and East and the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) reiterating its push for a military solution prior to negotiating a settlement. The All Party Representative Committee (APRC) which is tasked with formulating a political solution has been in limbo much of the month even though their previous statements said that they would reach an agreement by the end of the year. Other reports now signal the GoSL’s intention to push for full scale war on the LTTE in 2008. The media has increasingly come under threat for reporting on the war and its negative repercussion.
Following on the suspected LTTE explosion in a clothing shop in Colombo on 28th November, which killed 18 people, GoSL carried out an intensive cordon and search operation in the city. As a result of this operation thousands of Tamil citizens were detained. Most were released within days amidst an outcry from local civil society and the international community.
Tamil media sources strongly suggested that the attack on the clothing shop was carried out as a direct retaliation for Tamil civilians being killed in Sri Lankan air and ground attacks on the Vanni in late November.
During December the Pillayan element of the TMVP continued its consolidation on the East Coast with reports of attempts at political agreements with other Tamil political parties, in preparation for the forthcoming local government elections in the East. At the time of writing it appears from media reports that the TMVP will run in the elections without any coalition arrangements. It was reported in the media that some armed Muslim youths were rallying around Pillayan.
The space and context for international agencies is becoming ever more restricted and confrontational with the head of the Berghof Foundation being asked to leave the country by the GoSL. This comes hot on the heels of a controversy surrounding the denial of a work permit to Sri Lankan airlines CEO Peter Hill, allegedly for not disembarking passengers to accommodate the Presidential entourage coming back from the President’s son’s graduation from a naval academy in the UK.
The GoSL once again rejected fresh calls by the United Nations and leading human rights organizations to set up a UN field operation with a strong mandate to monitor the human rights situation. SL foreign Minister Rohita Bogollagama announced in parliament on 6th December that organisations which violate national security would not be allowed to operate in SL. This followed on his condemnation of the UNESCO head for his public statement condemning the SLAF air strike on the Voice of Tiger radio station. The close scrutiny of UNICEF continued during the month with allegations being made that UNICEF emergency ration packs were to be used by the LTTE. The Foreign Minister informed Parliament that the CID (Criminal Investigation Division) was investigating the matter as the explanation given by UNICEF to the Foreign Ministry was apparently unsatisfactory. The Foreign Minster also assured the Parliament that the government would not allow any International Organization to act in a manner harmful to Sri Lanka’s security, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Sadly another member of the Sri Lankan Red Cross was assassinated by unknown persons. This killing took place in Jaffna on 18th December. The European Union has condemned the abduction and killing of the Sri Lankan Red Cross volunteer and urged the Government to do everything possible to protect humanitarian workers in the country. Worryingly there was an incident in the World Vision compound in Batti District on the evening of 21st December whereby a grenade was thrown and three vehicles destroyed. As of now no hard facts have been ascertained as to who carried out the attack and why. In light of this attack all NPSL Teams have been alerted to take extra care and caution regarding their security planning context and situation analysis.
The GoSL managed to pass the Defence-weighted budget, with an eleventh hour deal with the Marxist party, the JVP; the JVP abstained from voting at the third reading of the budget and it passed. The main demands of the JVP were the abrogation of the CFA, reduction of the cabinet to 30 ministers and the banning of the LTTE. It is now perceived that some or all of these demands will be met 2008. It was widely reported during the period leading up to the second and third readings of the budget that family members of Tamil National Alliance MPs were abducted by unknown parties in Batticaloa, allegedly in order to coerce the MPs not to vote against the budget. In relation to promises made to the JVP we now see, at the time of writing, that the CFA will be abrogated (with effect January 16th).
Government agencies at all levels again increased their detailed examination of all INGOs seeking visa and work permit extensions. INGOs for 2008 will now have to complete very detailed Action Plans to the Ministry of Social Services in advance of visa and work permits being approved. Field teams as well are being asked for more reports - more frequently - to local government bodies as to the details of their activities.
There has been intense fighting going on in three notable areas between LTTE and GoSL: the Mannar region, the Southern forward defense line (FDL) near Omanthai, and the Northern FDL near Muhamalai, with casualties reported mounting on both sides. The Trinco-Colombo night mail train was attacked 19th December with no casualties.
The media has come under particular attack during this time period, including killings, disappearances, abductions and arrests, as well as the burning of the Sunday Leader newspaper presses, the banning of a consortium of radio stations, and an aerial bombing of the Voice of the Tigers radio facility. While urging the media to refrain from publishing any reports that would undermine the efforts of the armed forces, the Media Centre for National Security’s Director General Lakshman Hulugalle told the media: “We consider anyone who criticizes the defense forces to be a traitor to the nation as such people undermine the lives of armed forces personnel.” The Government published a Gazette on censorship of war reporting, but was forced to rescind it the following day due to widespread publicity of the censorship measures.
The Emergency Procedures enacted more than a year ago continue to be renewed by Parliament on a month-to-month basis. Over the Christmas period a Sri Lanka Cabinet Minister led a group of bodyguards into the offices of the Sri Lankan Rupavahini News Director and one of them allegedly assaulted him as he had not approved transmission of one of the Minister’s parliamentary speeches. The Free Media Movement, the Colombo based media watchdog, publicly condemned this act of violence and claimed that when "such hooliganism is allowed to persist in general, it clearly demonstrates the significant breakdown of law and order in Sri Lanka."
The Work of the NPSL Teams
NPSL’s mission continues to provide protective presence and to help limit or reduce the effects of violence on individuals and vulnerable communities.
Our work is currently organized under three major objectives:
Teams in the East continued to provide protective accompaniment, and continued to actively support families and children under risk of recruitment/abduction. This also involves support to local partners to set up safe places for these children. Our teams continue to receive visits by people who have personally suffered due to the conflict, and they express confidence that they can tell NPSL their stories. NP shares this information, as appropriate, with local partners who are working on legal recourse. Our Trinco team helped a local CBO to ease tensions between two villages, and also worked to help set up a peace committee between Muslim and Hindu groups in a particular area.
The Trinco team also commenced work with UNHCR on creating a joint understanding on creation of Peace Committees, with both doing separate needs assessments for discussion on roles and responsibilities. The team facilitated a joint group of Tamil and Sinhalese women with their request to UN FAO on a fair and community balanced allocation of boat engines that was causing tension in the area, and the team also attended regular coordinating meetings of the Child Protection and Inter- Agency Protection agencies
In the Batticaloa district, out teams in Valaichchenai and Batticlaoa town, continued their work with vulnerable communities, and their support to strategic partners. The Valaichchenai team supported both the Tamil and Muslim communities as they grapple with inter- and intra -community violence, especially as the impact of the conflict violence has escalated on the Muslim community in the past two months. Space was also provided to the Consortium for Humanitarian Agencies for their community legal services. The rural location of the Valaichchenai office makes it a gathering spot for organizations and agencies serving the northern part of the District.
Information sharing between NPSL and other protection agencies, including ICRC and SLMM in the District was coordinated, resulting in increased accurate human security reporting and rumour control. This work was facilitated through the Human Security Working Group of which NPSL is a member along with other international agencies.
At the request of the local Civil Affairs Major of the Sri Lanka Army, both district teams facilitated the contacts needed for another organization to provide training for senior military staff in Peace and Human Rights
The Batticaloa town team provided numerous accompaniments to at-risk individuals, and coordinated with UNHCR to provide protective presence at two IDP camps on a weekly basis. The team met with religious leaders from both Tamil and Muslim communities to address tensions following the recent abductions of young Muslim men. Consultation also took place with Rural Development Societies to plan cross-community village nonviolent protection strategies.
In Jaffna, the team focus was on providing international presence for various vulnerable groups. No violent incident was reported at the university indicating that NPs routine presence might have had some positive effect on reducing violence. The Team hosted a Colombo-based human rights worker during his visit to Jaffna for the Religious Summit on Peace. He expressed great gratitude for the provision of a safe place and continues to praise the work of NP.
Despite the low level of civil society activity possible for civilians in Jaffna, NP was able to provide protective accompaniment on several occasions during the month.The announcement in late December that NPSL would very likely have to close its Jaffna office in March due to lack of funds is causing considerable concern in NGO and community-based organisation circles in Jaffna and Colombo, especially as the focus of the conflict is now concentrating on the North. Fundraising efforts are underway to address this shortfall.
The Colombo Response Team (CRT) had only one Field Team Member and a national Field Officer through much of December, limiting its scope of work. The CRT continued supporting the other field teams on advocacy and organizational linkages at Colombo level. Throughout the month the Team also provided international presence and accompaniment in response to requests.
The Colombo team participated in a civil society consultation with Professor Walter Kalin, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for IDPs during his working visit to Sri Lanka. Presentations were made at the consultation and specific issues of space for human rights defenders were raised.
NPSL began discussions with its key partner PAFFREL regarding pre-election monitoring during early 2008. At the time of writing preliminary arrangements are being planned with PAFFREL whereby up to ten NPSL international staff will assist with pre-election monitoring for six weeks, in nine local authority areas, in the Batticaloa District. The elections are planned for March.
As a number of current field workers are ending their one or two-year contracts at this time, 7 new FTMs arrived in December. They received In-Country Training with two other recently arrived FTMs and were deployed by Christmas-time to the various NPSL Field teams. We wish them every success in their endeavours with NPSL.
An interim management team managed NPSL during the month while preparing for arrival of the new Project Director, Roland Roescheisen, in early January 2008. Due to severe financial constraints currently in NP, the interim management team began necessary cost-cutting efforts. At the time of writing maximum effort is being made, under the leadership of Roland, to secure additional funding for NPSL for 2008.