South Asia Forum for Human Rights

For the past 15 years, Sri Lanka has been ravaged by a terrible war of attrition between the Tamil militants and the government forces, which began after the 1983 anti-Tamil riots in Colombo in which several Sri Lankan Tamils were killed by radical Sinhala nationalists. This war in the North of the country has already claimed nearly 50,000 lives and displaced about two million civilians, mostly Tamil and Muslims.

The government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga is engaged in an all-out military offensive against the forces of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ellam (LTTE), which she calls a "war for peace." Both the LTTE and Sri Lankan forces are guilty of deliberate actions against the unarmed civilian forces.

While the Sri Lankan army has destroyed residential homes, hospitals, churches, temples and school buildings, the LTTE has been targeting civilians in northern Sri Lanka and elsewhere. It has bombed civilian sites in Colombo and other places, killing and injuring many civilians.

The recent attack on the famous Buddhist shrine, the Temple of Tooth, in Kandy and another similar action further south has shocked the world.

As a part of its military offensive against the LTTE, the Sri Lankan government had imposed an economic blockade on the northern and eastern districts of the island in 1990. In 1995, the government took up the responsibility of distribution of all relief materials on the grounds that relief supplies being distributed by the humanitarian aid agencies were falling in the hands of the LTTE. Even the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) working in the refugee/displaced persons camps was told to seek prior clearance of the military in order to take urgently required relief materials. However, such permission often takes days. As a result of this blockade and the selective manner in which food rations and other supplies are distributed by the government agencies, the people in the northern and eastern regions of Sri Lanka are facing a tremendous scarcity of food, medicine, clothing and other essential goods. Severe restrictions have also been imposed on the movement of the residents of the northern and eastern provinces in the interest of security.

As news from the North of Sri Lanka is heavily censored, Sri Lankans living in the South and the people outside the country know very little about the actual conditions of the civilians in the North. What is allowed to be published in the newspapers is the news of war as approved by the military authorities. The Sri Lankan army and other security forces are known to have threatened and harassed local newspaper editors, publishers and journalists, including foreign correspondents who have dared to publish news stories that focused on the suffering of the local people due to this prolonged economic blockade. The publication of such news stories is discouraged as it might undermine the war efforts. Obviously, the Sri Lankan government does not want the world to know that it is deliberately starving the innocent civilian population in the North and the East of the island-republic. The Geneva international conventions strictly forbid the use of such measures against civilian populations by the military. Yet States routinely indulge in such actions. The actions of the Sri Lankan government within its territory are covered under the so-called "doctrine of national sovereignty." By keeping the situation under a shroud of secrecy, the government of Sri Lanka has been able to avoid international criticism and pressure.

The report from the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka about the situation in Vanni district in the North of Sri Lanka is alarming (see report in the March and April 1998 issue of Human Rights SOLIDARITY). Thousands of people there afflicted by malaria, cerebral malaria and other diseases are being denied basic medical treatment due to an acute shortage of medicine and medical services created by this economic blockade.

We and the National Peace Council request you to write to the president of Sri Lanka, asking her to intervene in this situation immediately to save the people of Vanni.

Please send appeals to:

Her Excellency President Chandrika Kumaratunga
Presidential Residence
Temple Tree
Colombo 3
Sri Lanka
Fax: +(94-1) 333707