 www.tamileelamnews.com TNS Corner By John Peter – TNS
GENEVA - Walter Kälin, the Secretary-General’s Representative for the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), an independent United Nations human rights expert has called on Sri Lanka to immediately improve access for more humanitarian relief and personnel to reach hundreds of thousands of people displaced in the northern Vanni region by the ongoing conflict between the Government and Tamil separatists.
In a letter to the Government, Walter Kälin, stressed that “current supplies of food, medicine, emergency shelter and sanitation materials are inadequate to the IDPs estimated 200,000-300,000 in the region.”
"The Representative also raised the situation of civilians who have crossed from the Vanni into cleared areas and are now being held in camps at Kalimoddai and Sirukandal. The Representative observed a legitimate need for screening of armed elements from the civilian population, but recalled that such screening must be concluded promptly and in accord with clearly established and transparent criteria and procedures. IDPs, who are civilians and who retain their right to freedom of movement, must not be detained in camps," according to a news release issued in Geneva.
Therefore, he called on the Government of Sri Lanka to “significantly” improve access for more humanitarian relief and humanitarian personnel to reach all civilians in need.
The Representative also urged the parties to the conflict to agree on a mechanism that will allow safe and adequate access for humanitarian
Intensified clashes in recent months between Government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) separatist group had forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee their homes and sparked warnings from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other UN officials about the humanitarian impact on the Tamil people of Sri Lanka.
Earlier the New York-based Human Rights Watch, an international rights group said, “Sri Lankan civilians living in rebel-held areas are facing severe shortages of food, shelter and clean water due to government restrictions on aid workers in the region.”
With violence escalating in recent months, the government forced nearly all foreign aid workers to evacuate from rebel-held areas in September. Since then, it has allowed convoys of international aid into the area.
But there have been major shortfalls in food deliveries in recent months, with as little as 40 percent of the required aid reaching those in need, Human Rights Watch said in the report. In addition, tens of thousands of families require temporary shelters but the government will not allow aid groups to send in the needed supplies, even after a November cyclone destroyed the shelters of at least 60,000 people, the report further said.
The civilians are also facing shortages of water and sanitation supplies, the group said, calling on the government to urgently let the aid groups return to the north. © Copyright 2000 - 2008 by TamilEelamNews.com |
