The reporter on Dateline opened with a heart breaking statement which reflect yet another failure of humanity "it's a terrible thing to contemplate but for more than 25 long and bloody years, Sri Lankans have been killing themselves in a vicious civil war." It is estimated that over 150,000 civilians have been killed during this war mainly by indiscriminate shelling and human shielding with majority of such deaths being women and children.
According to the CIA - World Factbook, as the first Sinhalese arrived in Sri Lanka (an island in the Indian Ocean of southern Asia), from northern India in the late 6th century B.C. Buddhism was introduced into the culture. Tamil Kingdom in northern Sri Lanka was established in the 14th century. Most of Sri Lanka's coast was controlled by the Portuguese and Dutch around the 16th and 17th centuries until the island was ceded to the British in 1796. In 1802, Sri Lanka became a crown colony and gained its independence in 1948, changing its name from Ceylon to Sri Lanka in 1972.
Some have argued that the root of Sri Lanka's conflict is linked to British colonial rule. That is, after the British granted political independence to Ceylon by way of pressure from Sinhalese nationalist, subsequent disagreements between the Sinhalese and Tamil ethnic communities rose up during construction of the country's first constitution after British rule. Formation of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) resulted in unfriendly behavior. Anton Balasingham who was employed by the British High Commission in Colombo, later immigrated to Britain and started the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelem (a separatist group) around the early 1960's. By 1972 several Tamil youths, including Velupillai Prabhakaran, joined forces to establish the Tamil New Tigers, later transformed into the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) argued to have been formed around a racist ideology.
The war in Sri Lanka as noted above dates back to the early 1980's as tensions between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil separatists mounted into a brutal civil war that has lasted this long. Though several efforts have been made to cease-fire (2002), fighting between the LTTE and government forces intensified in 2006. By May 2009, the government announced the death of LTTE leader Velupillai PRABHAKARAN and assures the world of an end to Sri Lanka's war.
With the "ending of the islands decades-old civil war" came "illegal hostages" of Tamil civilians by the government. On September 11, 2009, amidst international concern for over 300,000 Tamil civilians, the Government of Sri Lanka sent home 9,920 villagers that were being held for "screening." The Associated Press writer, Bharatha Mallawarachi reports that "these displaced ethnic Tamils were confined to overcrowded, military-run camps with poor sanitation and restricted movements."
With the "ending of the islands decades-old civil war" came "illegal hostages" of Tamil civilians by the government. On September 11, 2009, amidst international concern for over 300,000 Tamil civilians, the Government of Sri Lanka sent home 9,920 villagers that were being held for "screening." The Associated Press writer, Bharatha Mallawarachi reports that "these displaced ethnic Tamils were confined to overcrowded, military-run camps with poor sanitation and restricted movements."
Apart from creating hundreds of thousands of refugees, and internally displaced persons, Sri Lanka's war has attracted criticism from human rights groups because of their abductions and recruitment of children under 18 years of age as child soldiers - a blatant violations of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - Optional Protocol. Human Rights Watch reports that "despite promises to investigate abductions of children by the pro-government Karuna group, Sri Lankan authorities have taken no effective action and abductions continue...the armed opposition Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) also continue to recruit children in Sri Lanka and use them as soldiers." From 2003 to 2008 UNICEF recorded over 6,000 cases of child recruitment by rebel groups in Sri Lanka, the Economist Reports on July 16, 2009.
In spite of the above terror, danger to human life, and grave humanitarian concerns Medicine Sans Frontieres (MSF) reported that Sri Lanka is among the top 10 countries around the world that receive very little international media attention. As the health situation for many Sri Lankan women and children worsen, MSF writes "the war in Sri Lanka has ended but the suffering continues."For example, MSF distributes high energy porridge to 23,000 children under five, pregnant and lactating women and people over 60 in 11 of the camps everyday, some doctors see close to 300 patients a day and people in the camps are challenged on a day-to-day basis with dealing with the trauma experienced in the conflict.
As caring citizens of the world, the least we can do is at least inform ourselves about the plethora of injustices and inequalities existing in such a disparate world. To sit supinely and do nothing is a moral offense!
Written by: Veronica Fynn
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lankan_Civil_War
http://satp.org/satporgtp/countries/shrilanka/database/annual_casualties.htm
http://www.tamilnet.com/
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20060808_05
http://www.apwld.org/ejk.htm
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2007/03/27/sri-lanka-karuna-group-and-ltte-continue-abducting-and-recruiting-children
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_21990.html
http://www.msf.org/msfinternational/invoke.cfm?objectid=0666283D-5056-AA77-6C9161A428E1F7AA&component=toolkit.pressrelease&method=full_html
UPDATES
November 10, 2009: Landmines, Unexploed Ordnance a Barrier to Return
Video Links
Official Website of the Sri Lankan Government
Life as a Sri Lankan War Refugee
Sri Lanka War
"Sri Lanka War on Tamil" - Hunting the Tigers
Sri Lanka Photo Gallery by National Geography
