EROS – Hands off Sri Lanka!

By Nesan Shankar Raji

(September 14, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) International Governments, and humanitarian aid agencies including Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch must think twice before continually criticising the Government of Sri Lanka and blaming them for the dilemma being faced by the Sri Lankan Tamil/Muslim civilians in the Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs) camps which are facilitated by the Government of Sri Lanka with the generous assistance of aid agencies, NGO’s and INGO’s.

The UK Government alone has invested £12.5 million pounds towards the rehabilitation programme in order to make improvements to the crisis situation that the Government of Sri Lanka is facing after the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The generosity of the UK Governments Department for International Development (DFID) have provided shelter, water, sanitation, war surgery, primary healthcare and emergency nutritional support.

The DFID also funded a measles and polio mass vaccination programme which will be initiated this month in IDP camps. With the support of the UK Government and other countries and the resilience of the Sri Lankan Government personnel on ground, coupled with the assistance of NGO’s and other international aid agencies.

The Government is making every possible effort to release the IDP’s from the camps as soon as possible and efforts are being made to trace IDP’s missing family members. Yes, the camps are over-crowded and in cases poorly sited with insufficient water and sanitation facilities, however the Government is addressing these issues and their have been significant improvements. There are a number of IDP’s who have already returned to their homes which has even been acknowledged by many Governments internationally including the UK and this must been acknowledged as a positive step forward by International Governments particularly the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora.

The UK Government will be investing £3 million pounds towards the support of civilians returning to their homes and rebuild their lives and livelihoods again. Only last week the UK Government approved a £500,000 (£1/2 million) grant for the UK based NGO “Mines Action Group” (MAG) – (note this is not affiliated to the pro-LTTE charity “White Pigeon”). Mine Action Group (MAG’s) strategy will be to make the land in the Northern Province safe for the return of the IDP’s which, is their key strategy. Once the lands are cleared by MAG and the Sri Lankan Governments already trained 600 de-mining personnel, the Government of Sri Lanka will be pressed to live up to its commitments to allow the safe return of the majority of the IDP’s before the end of this year. Hence this work will help remove the key justification by the Government of Sri Lanka for keeping IDP’s in camps.

EROS urges western Governments to give a helping hand to the Government of Sri Lanka and assist them in their time of need and refrain from criticising the Government for defeating terrorism and bring an end to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who are solely responsible for the situation being faced by the IDP’s in the camps.

-Sri Lanka Guardian