In Sri Lanka: A Look at the Refugee Camp
In the aftermath of Sri Lanka's victory over terrorism, there are many tears.
The Tamil Tigers have been defeated, but 280,000 Sri Lankan Tamils are now Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) - in short, refugees in their own country.
The world is beating a path to the camps, first United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, followed by a U.S. Congressman from North Carolina.
Reports from the camp are that the Sri Lankan government has moved mountains to accommodate more than a quarter million people since the war ended ten days ago. But there are many more mountains to move. They need massive assistance.
I have already reported on the trip to the camp last week by U.S. Congressman Heath Shuler (Dem., N.C.) in this publication. He was much impressed with the progress the Sri Lankan government has made to meet the basic needs of its people so quickly.
With images of our own response to the people of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, the speed in which the Tamil refugees have been provided for has been impressive. There is much, much more to do.
The faces of children are heartbreaking. Even more tragic is that at least some of them had been trained as child soldiers by the Tamil Tigers. I will file a story shortly about a project just north of Colombo to rehabilitate the child soldiers who have been rescued.
One young girl rescued by the Sri Lankan forces reported she had been "dragged screaming from her family. She was told to move forward against the Sri Lankan troops, and that she would be shot from behind if she hesitated.
The Sri Lankan government has already begun to clear an additional 1,000 acres to expand the refugee camp. Overcrowding is one of the most serious challenges the refugees now face. The heavy mining done by the Tigers is another.
The Chef's Guild of Sri Lanka -- an association of restaurant and hotel chefs -- have stepped up to cook 30,000 meals a day for the Tamil refugees. They did the same for their fellow Sri Lankans following the Tsunami.
116,000 soldiers belonged to the Sri Lankan military at the beginning of 2009. As the Tigers began to face defeat, more and more young Sri Lankans enlisted, swelling the troop number to 200,000 by the time the battle was over two weeks ago,
The government has already sent 10,000 sets of school furniture and 25,000 school uniforms for children in the camp to resume their education. More than 3,000 teachers are among the refugees.
The international community is helping in the camps but needs to do much more. As of last week, there are seven U.N. agencies and 17 international NGO's involved, including the Red Cross.
The children in the refugee camps of Sri Lanka's north -- almost 1,000 of them orphaned -- will remember how the Tamil Tigers used them as human shields. They will remember the kindness and generosity of their fellow Sri Lankans who rescued them.
This massive rescue effort should ensure that the next generation in Sri Lanka lives in peace and harmony, a dream that has been unachieved for the last three generations.
Hopefully Europe and North America will join this massive humanitarian effort. The next generation of Tamil children -- in fact, all Sri Lankan children -- would remember their neglect just as sharply.
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Lanka turns away Tamil aid ship
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8090110.stm
Verdict is in; Government of Sri Lanka wants Tamil civilians dead. Sending aid away while there is not enough milk powder for babies or medical supplies for the injured.. hiding behind paper work when their UK embassy and other officials were notified of the mission..
If they followed Buddhist precepts (they claim Buddhism is their official primary faith), Sri Lanka would not be in such a mess & they would be an Asian economic tiger. The kind of tiger which benefits all!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4UcKxF7rSY
There won't be peace in Sri Lanka until they have freedom of the press, embrace the federal idea, take steps to reform their military/police Re: ethnic tolerance and allow NGO's access to all the IDP camps.
One of the problems with GoSL is silence. The INGO's have demonstrated that they are unreliable and biased, that they are intersted in reaching LTTE suporters before GoSL - so they have been calling for survivors to be sent home before their wounds are treated and before the land has been demined - so that they can move in and manipulate them. They're out to reconstitute the LTTE somehow. GoSL moves quietly to ensure that the LTTE will not be reconstituted and does not say a thing. It is left to foreign news agencies to break the news that citizens of Australia, Britain, Norway and The Netherlands, countries with LTTE sympathy, have been in the battlefield and are now in the camps. No wonder the INGO's want unimpeded access to the camps in their air conditioned vehicles - to get to these people and get them out before GoSL gets to them. GoSL is not prepared to name and shame the INGOs involved. This is responsible and dignified. There are also 1000's of former LTTE children being equipped either with job skills or being taken through their O/A Levels in camps in the South already. Their parents/families know where they are. Let the LTTE supporters either go back to their day jobs in the West or send money to their own through the INGOs (since they don't trust GoSL).
Well done! It’s a clever way to deceive the truth. These photos are well staged.
If the GoSL is doing such a good job, why are they not allowing any outside media in the IDP camps or open jail?
Why NGOs are not given full access?
Oh now I am a LTTE sympathizer…. Give me a break. Anyone who tells the truth is a LTTE sympathizer… if you say yes to anything the GoSL says then you are a good citizen.
Times, BBC, Chanel 4, Chief Justice Sarath Silva, Amnesty, human right watch, reporters without borders, Doctors who was in the war zone, Doctors without boarder, Navi pillai, all the western countries (like usa, uk, Canada,… all the countries known for their human rights )
THEY ARE ALL WRONG!!!!! ONLY GoSL is Right!!!!! Who you Kidding …
Sri Lanka’s partners… China, Iran, Russia…. Doesn’t it say something…
If you say the truth, or critique the GoSL and you are a Tamil , then you are LTTE. If you are foreigner or Singhalese and you critique the GoSL, then you are LTTE sympathizer. What sort of a Democracy is this? GoSL will do what ever they want and if you live like a puppet, then you can be live in SL.
Lasantha Wickrematunge wan’t a puppet, that’s why he got killed. They can wipe out the LTTE but they can’t catch the murders’. How can they, if they did the murder……
BBC Channel 4 Team were chased out even about a year or two ago as they had interviewed civilians in conflict areas. Noone will beleive that BBC news teams are/were funded by LTTE. Even UNHCR and ICRC are saying that they have not been allowed full access to the camps. The news is about what the government says that this "Tamil Leader" said - he is not allowed to say anything direct to the media - he is only quoted. Few days ago journalist Poddala Jayantha who had been labelled "pro LTTE" by the state media was brutally assaulted on the public highway by persons who arrived in the infamous White Van. None of these Vans have ever been stopped and checked. "Truck loads" of aid not withstanding, the IDPs are fed once a day or once in more than a day. Even last years' order by the supreme court to resettle those evicted from the "high security zones" is being ignored upto now - though there is no more need for these "zones". A new excuse is being trotted out about "mine fields" though these people lived in their own homes earlier avoiding mined areas which were clearly marked and carried on their normal livelihoods. Even now with cessation of hostilites, fishing is banned. Additional peacetime army of 100,000 is being recruited to keep tamils in northeast under suppression - else there is noreason for this, with the cash strapped economy.
The Sri Lankan conflict is a very complicated one.
The easy part is to get a snap shot of where Sri Lanka is now and decide what the International
Community has to do to make the life of a Sri Lankan better NOW.
Encouraging the soldiers to help the IDP (Internally Displaced People) is a great way to heal the psychological scars of these children. Furthermore, recruiting LOCAL, university educated folks from Sri Lanka to administer the International NGOs is a much more cost effective and efficient way to help the IDP.
Another fact that is not mentioned in these articles is that close to 50% of the people in the country's capitol COLOMBO are Tamil speaking. And they live comfortably and peacefully.
We in the international community need to understand these unique features of this country and give a helping hand. (Imagine - if your house was burnt down and you trying desperately to build it back - would you like a friend who helps you to clean the house or would you like a friend who comes in and start criticising you on the cobwebs on the walls ...)
It is heartening to see articles encouraging unity between the two groups emerging in the blogosphere.
Here is one that truly made my heart sing.
http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/681
See how happy these Children in refugee camps are to be freed from terror:
http://www.ranabima.com/Ranabima/CustomNews/News_2009_06_03_001.html
Here's another statement to dispel the false-propaganda against the Sri Lankan government by expatriate Tamil terror-supporters:
"War displaced civilians well treated – US Congressman Heath Shuler
http://www.news.lk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10009&Itemid=44
Thank you Jim, for an article that shows the real efforts by the Govt. of Sri Lanka, to help these innocent Tamil people who were victimized by the Tamil terrorists as 'human shields' and forced child soldiers. These people are well looked after and are very happy.
It is the tamil expatriate terror supporters who are still trying thier best to discredit the Sri Lankan govt's victory over terror. The innocent Tamils in Jaffna celebrated wildly after being freed from terror clutches: JAFFNA & COLOMBO EXPLODES INTO REVELRIES AS NEWS BROKE
http://www.army.lk/detailed.php?NewsId=497
Tamil expatriates' effort to discredit Sri Lanka has shown how they have infiltrated into the British media. Terror-supporters lies are being widely propagated by British tabloids such as the Times, the Guardian and the BBC. True articles such as this one by Jim Luce will help dispel these blatant untruths eventually.
Thank you again!
As an expatriate Sri Lankan now residing in Australia, I have read quite a few articles on the ending of the war but NONE so fair and balanced as this one which consequately provoked this response. I was sick to death of articles based on the usual brainwashing tripe on Tamil Net or from the Tamil Tiger apologists who do nothing to admit the many years of terrorist activity, bloodshed and tears caused by the LTTE policies of ultra violence and suicide bombers. The LTTE caused more suffering to their fellow Tamils than the SL army ever did. It is mainly the Sri Lankans in the south (Sinhalese, decent Tamils, Muslims and Burghers) who are helping the refugees even now while the West plays politics as usual, along with their incredible sheer hypocrasy and utter double standards while talking about dealing with terrorism!! ALL SRI LANKANS should be treated the same irrespective of background while SL should NEVER EVER again pander to ANY form of terrorism.
See Derek Flood's Profile
Dear Jim, Thank you for reporting on this immensely important story. I think that we need to keep international humanitarian law in mind, however, when looking at the situation in these camps. Soldiers should not be treating civilians. Civilians should be cared for by unarmed, non-partisan humanitarians. Many may have the impression, which saddens me greatly, that soldiers should be shooting one moment and saving the next. The Bush wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have led some to believe that this practice is acceptable. There is even a term for this; "Armed Nation Building." Granted, the civilians receiving some care is certainly better than non at all but you can imagine that many Tamils are deathly afraid of the SL military. I sincerely appreciate a fellow HP'er reporting on this story but I simply must doubt to SL government's intentions in this instance.
LTTE has been lying and decieving civilians and making them scared of SL army with bogus false stories (the "genocide" fraud ). They did this, so they could herd them , to use as human sheild. The SL army was after LTTE terrorists not Tamil civilians. The Tamil civilians realised that when they escaped from LTTE clutches and were very angry with LTTE. Why should Tamil civilians be scared of SL Army when they are caring for them? I think this is very important, because now the Tamil civilians who were misled by LTTE know the truth, the Army has nothing against Tamils, but was after LTTE terrorists. The LTTE supporters outside SL is trying hard to decieve the world with bogus stories with LTTE paid media like Times online UK. All Sri Lankan knows the truth. We know how we value human lives. WE believe in karma and merits , good and bad which will come after you for life after life. That's why these brutal LTTE were spared for so long letting them ruin our country on bogus claims.
Mr Derek, That is the beauty of Sri Lankan Army, they killed terrorists but take care of civilians. If they dont take care of them , who will do?, will youl? or can you? it is easy you to write comments about other people while enjoying the comfort but these solders gave their lives to protect these civilians
they can be trusted than any foreigner
""hat soldiers should be shooting one moment and saving the next"" this kind of heart you may not be able to understand since your western culture , solders are trained to kill "(eg Iraq and Afganistan)
Sri Lanka is a country that follows the noble teachings of the Buddha in which compassion and loving kindness to other beings is considered the supreme quality of a human being. So, every Sri Lankan has these qualities even during a period of war. Hence, I am least suprised by the noble acts by the forces of Sri Lanka in rescuing and treating the civilians.
Having said that, the Sri Lanka has always faught valiantly throughout its history against external forces that threatened civilian lives. Even though Sri lankans practice Buddhism, they cannot be ignorent of the fact that there are external forces that try to disturb the countrie's integrity.
Further, it should be kept in mind that even the soldiers, no matter where they are from, are humans and they are affectionate fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers. It is their duty to carryout an assigned task in a war situation to protect civilian life!
FYI:The term"Armed Nation Building" is used in totally different context unlike Mr.Flood suggests. Ref:CH 5 in “Humanitarianism Under Fire”ByKennethR.Rutherford“ http://www.csis.org/component/option,com_csis_pubs/task,view/id,4116/
In Iraq theUS went after phantomWMDsand following the“PotteryBarn”concept is now compelled to spend taxpayer’s money on "Armed Nation Building" there. It is unfortunate that some members of the “media” toss misleading terms and hope no one calls them out.
Fact:SriLanka has remained a “relatively” intact “Nation” for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka),unlike Iraq,Afghanistan,Iran,Pakistan,India,etc that are arbitrary lines drawn in the sand by theBritish at the end of WWII.What is happening in SL is NOT “nation building”(armed or otherwise)but “national defense”&“national reconciliation.” How effective it will be is yet to be seen.
Fact:The conflict inSriLanka is NOTsomething between the government and the Tamils.There are Tamil,Muslim and other minorities in the government and also in the armed-forces and police. This includes a former LTTEcommander who gave up terrorism and is now the national integration minister of http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/04/2009428165514786905.htmltml)
The government ofSriLanka is by no means “saintly,” but then again which one is?What is interesting is that HuffPo is allowing different view points regarding the situation in SriLanka and it is really bothering those who are partisan or otherwise have preconceived notions. Thanks to the internet the incessant and extremely effective LTTEterrorist propaganda is being challenged and that obviously upsets those who subscribe to that narrative.
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