New Zealand Tamils protest over 'closed' camps. Photo: PMC/Christopher Adams

Pacific.Scoop
By Christopher Adams

Up to 300,000 Sri Lankan Tamil civilians are still being held in government-run “displaced persons camps” more than four months after the country’s 26-year civil war ended in May.

Conditions in the camps are reportedly “horrendous”, and international NGOs and independent media are denied access.

Diseases such as cholera, typhoid and chickenpox are spreading rapidly with the onset of the monsoon season.
The Times recently reported that around 1400 people a week are dying in the biggest camp – Manik Farm – that holds around 200,000 Tamils.

The Sinhalese-led Sri Lankan government has claimed the camps are crucial for the screening of former LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) fighters.

The government also claims that the areas the Tamil civilians came from are unsuitable for their return for various reasons, such as landmines.

But the Auckland Tamil community believes the Sri Lankan government’s motivation for holding their countrymen is far more sinister, with many claiming a form of genocide is taking place.

The Tamil community held an “unlock the camps” protest in Auckland’s Queen St at the weekend to address these concerns.

The protesters erected a mock camp fence along the footpath, and around 70 Tamils crowded behind the wire shouting “free the Tamils”.

Non-Tamil supporters dressed in white t-shirts, some adorned with a mock Red Cross emblem and others with “media”, walked outside the fence line in a symbolic display of the lack of access NGOs and journalists are granted to the camps.

Black Caps ‘deaf’

Activist Joe Carolan mimicks the Black Caps' 'deafness over Sri Lanka. Photo: PMC/Christopher Adams

Socialist Aotearoa’s Joe Carolan wore a Black Caps’ shirt and strolled outside the fence with his fingers in his ears to symbolise the lack of action the Kiwi cricket squad currently touring Sri Lanka has taken to address the humanitarian crisis.

Tamil Youth Organisation spokesperson Viji Ratnavel said the Sri Lankan government was conveying a false message that “everything is fine” in the camps.

“We need freedom of movement for the people in the camps, and good medical facilities,” she said.

“If the government allows in more NGOs I’m sure the situation will get better.”

She said she hoped the weekend protest would give the public “a message” about the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka.
“But it all depends on how people take it and how the media supports us.”

Green MP Keith Locke, veteran activist John Minto and Dominican friar Peter Murnane addressed the crowd.

Minto was particularly scathing in his criticism of the Black Caps.

“Those gutless bastards, when they got to Sri Lanka, decided to do nothing [to address the humanitarian situation].

“They should never have gone to Sri Lanka. They have shamed New Zealand and they have shamed themselves. I feel embarrassed to say they are part of this country.”

He added that human rights groups needed to give New Zealanders a better understanding of the humanitarian disaster that is unfolding in Sri Lanka.

‘Horrific’ disaster
Keith Locke said he thought the situation in Sri Lanka was “horrific”.

“You’ve got 300,000 people being held behind barbed wire and not being treated very well, partly because the Sri Lankan government won’t allow international welfare organisations to bring all their resources to bear,” he said.

“The people there are being denied their human rights. In one sense it is like a concentration camp, not that there is any massive extermination going on, but people are trapped there like the Jews were in the Warsaw ghetto.”

The protest followed a conference on Saturday afternoon that highlighted the plight of the Tamils held behind the barbed wire in Sri Lanka.

First to speak at the conference was a New Zealand journalist who travelled to Sri Lanka in June and managed to obtain access to the camps.

The journalist cannot be named, as she did not enter Sri Lanka on a press visa, though she anonymously published stories about the camps through the Reuters news agency.

She said she witnessed people “dying out in the open”.

“People are dying slow deaths because of a lack of food, shelter and warmth,” she said.

In one of the camps she visited there was only one toilet for every 190 inhabitants.

“What I saw was bad,” she said. “And those were the good camps.”

Decades of abuse
Next up on the podium was Amnesty International research and advocacy coordinator Chris Kerr.

“The Sri Lankan people have been dealing with impunity and abuse for decades,” he said.

“The international community must use its influence to investigate past human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.”

Kerr said Amnesty International believed both the LTTE and Sri Lankan military were responsible for war crimes carried out during the final months of the war.

While the LTTE used Tamil civilians as human shields, the Sri Lankan military indiscriminately bombed non-military installations such as hospitals, he said.

Kerr then moved on to discuss the current humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka.

He said the internally displaced people had a right to freedom of movement and any restrictions placed upon them should be properly justified.

He said journalists and NGOs must be granted full access to the camps.

Kerr added it was crucial that any Tamil asylum seekers coming to New Zealand were not denied refugee status and sent back to Sri Lanka – this would amount to a death sentence.

Dr Joanne Oo, an Australian emergency specialist, spoke on behalf of the international medical aid organisation Medecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Dr Oo was based at an MSF hospital in Point Pedro, the northernmost town in Sri Lanka, from February to June this year.

Snakebites, asthma
During her time in Sri Lanka she treated many civilians injured in the final stages of the war, along with “normal business” such as snakebites and asthma.

She said she noticed a high rate of suicides in Point Pedro, which she attributed to the history of civil war and Sri Lankan military occupation in the area.

“In the Jaffna peninsular there is about one soldier to every 10 civilians,” she said.

Mental health was a “huge issue” in the camps, she added.

According to Dr Oo, MSF and the Red Cross were the only humanitarian organisations being granted access to the camp inhabitants.

But their access was extremely limited, with MSF only being allowed to operate field hospitals on the edges of the camps.

The admission of sick Tamils to MSF facilities relied on the compliance of Sri Lankan security forces controlling the camps, she said.

Dr Oo concluded that MSF’s current situation in Sri Lanka was far from ideal.

“The bureaucracy of the Sri Lankan government is second to none, which makes any negotiations difficult and time consuming.”

Christopher Adams is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student at AUT University and is reporting for the Pacific Media Centre.