By Alok Bhatt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – The U.N. recently released statements containing its sharpest lambast of the Sri Lankan refugee camps.  With the monsoon season looming over Sri Lanka, the U.N. and international human rights groups worry that the heavy rains and possible flooding will render the camps rife with water-borne disease and devastation. 

Conditions in the camps have long been criticized by the international community, as the Sri Lankan government has failed to provide adequate food, clothing, and shelter to displaced persons.  Annual summer rains foreshadowed the potential catastrophe of maintaining congested camps during the monsoon season; August rains destroyed housing structures and collapsed imperative delivery routes for supply vehicles.  Unable to cook and keep dry, the Tamil minority members endured dilemmas which would worsen during the monsoon season.       

Over 300,000 Sri Lankan nationals have been held in temporary government-run camps since the state military’s defeat of the Tamil Tigers this spring.  While the government’s victory effectively ended the civil war that plagued the island nation, human rights groups have asserted myriad issues concerning the treatment of citizens in the aftermath.  The Sri Lankan government made numerous promises of improving camp conditions and liberating displaced persons, but few of their planned initiatives ever came to fruition.
 
(Photograph courtesy of AFP)

 

Besides monitoring and pressure from the U.N., displaced refugees voiced requests to resettle from the camps.  However the government’s liberation process has been lethargic at best.  Furthermore, tensions between the Tamil minority and camp workers have lead to situations in which military-men abused and otherwise mistreated displaced persons.  Additionally, the government’s screening process to identify and remove Tamil Tigers among the camp dwellers has extensively prolonged the Tamil minority’s detainment period.  

 

The Sri Lankan government assured the U.N. that its camp facilities were prepared to endure the torrential rains and flooding of the monsoon season.  The government claimed that it will install proper drainage to mitigate the effect of the rains.  However, given the government’s history of hollow promises concerning vacating and the betterment of its interment camps, there is no reason to believe any further measures will be taken.  Also, the U.K. announced that it would cease all but life-saving assistance funds after the floods subside.  Without additional funding, the Sri Lankan camps may endure more declines in conditions and facilities, as well as longer internment.  

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For more information, please see:

Al-Jazeera – Sri Lanka defends internment camps – 12 October 2009

American Free Press – UN ratchets up criticism of Sri Lankan Camps – 29 September 2009 

BBC News – UK to cut Sri Lanka camp funding – 6 October 2009