Sri Lanka: UN experts denounce murders of aid workers as numbers of displaced surge

Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans have been forced to flee their homes because of the escalating violence in the northeast of the country, the United Nations refugee agency said today as it warned that many more have probably been displaced but cannot be reached by humanitarian groups because of the continued fighting.

The news comes as three UN human rights experts condemned a recent wave of killings across Sri Lanka that has included the execution-style murders of 17 aid workers.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis told reporters at a briefing in Geneva that more than 50,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have had to take shelter in Trincomalee district, scene to some of the worst clashes in recent weeks.

She said the number of IDPs has swelled in the past few days, partly because local authorities have re-established contact with areas previously in the front line of fierce fighting between Government forces and members of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). On Tuesday, before that contact was made, authorities had estimated the number of IDPs at about 21,000.

UNHCR is dispatching cooking sets, plastic sheeting, hygiene kits and other items to the affected areas, often in cooperation with local branches of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Ms. Pagonis said the relief effort is also focusing on delivering water, sanitation and medical services to IDPs, especially in Kantale, where overcrowding has been reported.

But UN agencies remain unable to secure access to some parts of Trincomalee district, including the towns of Muttur and Seruwila and the division of Eachchilampattai, where civilians have reportedly become trapped by the fighting.

Ms. Pagonis added that UNHCR is alarmed by reports that as many as 4,000 people have fled further south to Vaharai on the northern border of neighbouring Batticaloa district.

“We have been unable access the area for the last two weeks, but reports indicate the situation for IDPs in the division is deteriorating and urgent assistance is required,” she said.

The recent surge of violence has included the killings of 17 workers from the NGO Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger) on Sunday and the death of two civilians in a car bombing in the capital, Colombo, on Tuesday.

In a statement issued today, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on human rights defenders Hina Jilani, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary executions, Philip Alston, and the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, expressed alarm at the growing violence, especially the killing of the aid workers.

“The deliberate targeting of humanitarian workers is a serious violation of the basic principles of international human rights and humanitarian law and the Declaration of Human Rights,” they said.

Calling for an immediate and independent inquiry into the aid workers’ murder, the three experts welcomed the Sri Lankan Government’s promise to conduct such a probe and its request for Australia to send a forensic expert to assist the investigation.

The experts said the Muslim population in Muttur has suffered disproportionately in the recent fighting, which has “created a climate of fear making life intolerable” for locals and imperilled the local water supply.

They urged Colombo and the LTTE “to immediately halt the violence, the deliberate targeting of civilians and promptly return to negotiations to solve this current impasse.”

Special rapporteurs are unpaid experts serving in an independent personal capacity who received their mandate from the defunct UN Commission on Human Rights and who will now report to the recently established and enhanced Human Rights Council.