October and November 2007 has seen the further widening of the conflict to many parts of Sri Lanka outside of the North and East, the entrenchment of political views on all sides, and a continuing emphasis on engaging first and foremost in a military ‘solution’ to the deep grievances all parties have experienced. While the military toll continues to grow, the impact on civilians is also growing, with one study suggesting that as many as 5 civilians per day are killed or disappeared (exact numbers being impossible to document). Major incidents have included the surprise attack by 21 LTTE suicide cadres on the Government’s military airport in Anuradhapura resulting in significant losses to the Air Force’s advanced fleet of war and spy planes; the retaliatory bombing that killed LTTE political head Thamilchelvam, the chief negotiator in previous peace talks; two suicide bomber attacks in Colombo, one on the Ministry of Social Services and a more devastating target at a crowded shopping venue at rush hour. As a result many minority Tamils in Colombo and elsewhere in the country are targeted, rounded up and detained, for shorter or longer periods of time.

On the part of the LTTE there is a full scale human mobilization for a war that has, and is continuing to take a huge toll on the people living within the areas of their control. People in those areas are living in a condition of fear and depression especially regarding the fate of their children. Fighting in the north has been reported from Mannar and Poonaryn areas and has resulted in hundreds of deaths of LTTE cadres and soldiers as well as civilians caught in the crossfire. There has been some intense fighting in the Mantai area of Mannar District and as a result 10,000 people have fled the area. In his annual Heroes Day speech in November, LTTE leader Prabakharan included the international community in his condemnations for failure to help resolve Asia’s longest-running civil conflict, along with predictable condemnations of the Government for continued abuses of and violence against the Tamil people.

The media has come under particular attack during this time period, including individual 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. In a direct threat to the people’s democratic right to dissent and criticize, the Defence Ministry said that anyone who criticized the security forces was a traitor to the nation. 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 defence 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.

Two high level UN officials visited Sri Lanka during this time period. The UN special rapporteur on torture, Manfred Novak, concluded his visit with a statement that torture was widespread in Sri Lanka and that the armed forces and in particular the state’s Terrorism Investigation Division used torture frequently. The second was the much-anticipated visit of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour. The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) was her host and constant escort, arranging much of her schedule and eliciting criticism by others who felt they could not gain access or engage freely with her. She visited Tamil inmates at Magazine (Welikada) prison who were on a “fast unto death” for her to visit them. She also visited Jaffna but was not allowed to visit the LTTE controlled Vanni area to meet directly with the LTTE. NPSL was involved in assisting some of our partners to prepare and meet her directly on her visit. It was reported the military had been videoing all persons going into meet with Ms. Arbour in Jaffna. In a press conference after her visit Ms. Arbour stated that the national Human Rights Commission was heavily politicized and biased and that it risked losing its accreditation with the UN. She further called for the setting up of an Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and for a UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission to be established. The GoSL to date has flatly refused both recommendations.

Just as Ms. Arbour concluded her fact-finding mission to Sri Lanka, four of the ten civil society members who were part of an advisory committee set up by Human Rights Minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe, to address human rights concerns resigned from the panel citing differences with the government. Award winning Human Rights advocate, Sunila Abeysekera, Nimalka Fernando, Rohan Edirisinha and Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, resigned saying their advice was not taken seriously and felt the government was not serious in protecting human rights or eliminating the culture of impunity. Lack of any progress in investigating 16 high profile human rights cases through the President’s Commission of Inquiry, and its on-going dispute with the Group of Eminent Persons charged with overseeing the Commission’s work, has left many civil society actors and human rights defenders discouraged.

The GoSL banned the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization’s (TRO), a humanitarian organization charged with close ties to the LTTE; and the US government after a long investigation froze TRO funds in the US. This move is widely seen as having a damaging impact on the families and communities served by TRO in the north and east. International NGOs have also seen increased pressure from some elements in the Government, including still limited humanitarian access to some government-controlled areas, more scrutiny of all operations, and more delays in processing of visas and work permits. Some aid agencies threatened to pullout of the East citing extortion and threats from TMVP (the political arm of the Karuna faction, which broke away from the LTTE in 2004) reportedly by requiring building materials be purchased through TMVP at higher than market rates. UNICEF has been put under particular scrutiny and had widely publicized and unsubstantiated allegations leveled against it for supporting the LTTE and allowing some of its employees to participate in a public protest. Local civil society actors have expressed alarm at the shrinking of space to do humanitarian and human rights work, especially in an environment where large and well-respected agencies like the UN come under such direct attack.

While the focus of the fighting between the Security Forces and the LTTE continues to shift to the North, the stability in the East was further undermined when the TMVP officially sacked their leader Karuna Amman for the alleged swindling of 80 million in TMVP funds. With the clashes of the recent past between Karuna and Pillayan of TMVP in the East, and the recent departure of Karuna to the UK (where he was arrested while traveling on a false diplomatic passport), Pillayan has taken over the TMVP and is setting up office in Batticaloa town. There are, however, reports of the LTTE’s presence in Trincomalee and Batticaloa district again. Further southeast, there was an attack on an army convoy in the Yala national reserve which is located in Amparai and which was blamed on the LTTE. These incidents likely indicate that the LTTE is back in the Eastern Province, despite the Government’s publicly celebrated “liberation” of the East in July.

Splits among the TMVP has had a tremendous impact on children and families NPSL works with in the East. Many cadres escaped due to the splits within TMVP, as a result family members such as fathers and brothers have been abducted until the escapees return. The culture of warlordism that has been created by the internal splits of the TMVP has begun to have an impact on the Muslim community as well. In some areas, abduction of Muslim businessmen and various Muslim militant groups reportedly supporting the fragmented armed groups has created splits within the Muslim community. The breakdown in dialogue between the warring political factions has exacerbated the situation, with several actors complaining that there is a prevailing culture of impunity there, as well as in the North.

As a result of some armed clashes and further fractures within the armed parties, children and other family members have been targeted and abducted, often by “unknown” perpetrators. In addition, the round-ups have impacted children and their families given that most of those being detained and abducted have been young Tamil males. To add to this, the international presence is thinning out; with several NGOs reportedly scaling down their activities. In general, human rights defenders and the rest of civil society feels that the culture of impunity is continuing to prevail and some suggest that the situation in the East, for example, is worse currently than prior to the government’s re-taking of rebel-held areas. To cap it all, there is a sense of demoralization and fear, relating more to abductions and killings than to armed conflict itself.

The work of NP
While security in the North and East parts of Sri Lanka remains volatile and precarious, with daily reports of abductions, disappearances, intimidation, harassment, killings and arbitrary arrests throughout the areas where we work, our NPSL teams in Jaffna, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Colombo Districts continue their work. Working together with, and in response to requests from individuals, families, communities and many partners, NPSL has continued to provide protective presence and to help limit/reduce conflict and violence.

Our work is currently organized under three major objectives:

1. To increase the level of safety and options for recourse for vulnerable groups affected by violence in the communities.
2. To develop the involvement of community actors in peace and human rights initiatives that address threats and violence in the district.
3. To stimulate the level of involvement and (coordinated) action on the human security situation in Sri Lanka at the community, district, national and international level.

Main activities in these two months have been:

• Improved the safety and security of threatened individuals through numerous accompaniments: to safer places/training centers for youth; to agencies and Human Rights Commission; to courts; to offices of armed actors; to police; to Embassies, including accompaniment for underage children released by armed groups. Such accompaniments also help civilians access government structures and mechanisms that they might not otherwise feel comfortable or safe to pursue. Colombo Response Team (CRT) is able to assist many families referred from the North and East field teams.
• Discussed and strategized with agencies, churches, individuals and other organisations on the situation of children affected by abductions and killings, and those whose families whose livelihoods have been lost because of violence. Trinco team met with the Probation Officer and a social volunteer to discuss strategies for support to children affected by conflict. CRT attends numerous meetings and is part of growing network in the South that helps link the conflict zone to supportive actors in the rest of the country.
• Met with numerous delegates and visiting agency heads to apprise them of the situation in Sri Lanka generally and in the areas where NPSL operates. Human rights activists and other international actors who are interested in understanding the peculiar security situations in the different areas consult with NP because of the in-depth knowledge, networks and contacts that the various team members have developed over the years.
• Held periodic meetings with all stakeholders to discuss on-going concerns and impacts on families and children, including political parties, security forces and police authorities; such relationships enhance our own transparency and thus our security as well.
• Interviewed many families in NPSL offices, reporting human rights violations, including threats, extortion, abductions and disappearances; many follow-up visits made to families in their home villages. Documentation of violations is important and NPSL is working toward creation of a national database to help in the documentation.
• Expanded linkages and networks being created between field sites in North and East and Colombo civil society and peace and human rights activists, religious leaders, and networks among many community-based organizations (CBOs) for awareness raising and development of early warning systems. Interaction with human rights defenders and international figures helps form joint actions to support confidence-building measures at the community level.

At the end of October NPSL project director Marcel Smits completed his two year contract. Roland Roescheisen has been identified as the new Project Director and will take up his new position in January. Fiona Musana joined NPSL as the new Grants and Fundraising Manager. NPSL has also hired a new Field Support Coordinator, Kirubarajamudali Dharmakeerthi (Keerthi) to better coordinate and expedite services to the field teams and take on administrative tasks which have been joined to the HR department.

During the interim period pending Roland’s arrival the day to day management of NPSL will be carried out by a team of two co-directors, Angela Pinchero and Bernard O’Sullivan, with Iqbal Hossain’s assistance. With Angela going on home leave in December, Rita Webb will fill in as Program Manager. NPSL has sent a letter to our key donors and partners in Sri Lanka outlining the current management situation and assuring them that it is business as usual.

Written by Sri Lanka Management Team

• Versión para impresión