Impact of War Into Civilian Life
Since the latest upsurge in violence in April, nearly 40,000 people have been displaced in Sri Lanka. This comes amidst the governments air strikes on civilian populated areas of the East. Amnesty International quoted UN figures to say that a total of 39,883 people had been displaced in the north and east since April 7 adding that a total of 314,378 people were displaced by the conflict while around 325,000 people were estimated to have been displaced by the tsunami.
Amnesty International has also stated that increasing violence was forcing many Sri Lankans to flee the country and that more than 2,800 people had sought shelter in India this year. The state's failure to provide adequate security and to ensure that attacks against civilians are prosecuted has resulted in widespread fear and panic.
Amnesty international also accused the LTTE of breaking the international law by using civilians as buffers against the army. A researcher for the organisation stated that there were cases where militants had forced people to stay in rebel-held areas to hamper army operations. The United Nations reported more than 20,000 civilians were killed in this recent war. CNN report
After the International Council of Red Cross, doctors and government officials left the war zone, only the Catholic priests remained with people until the end. One of the priests, Rev. Fr. Mariampillai Sarathjeevan who was leading the refugees to safety, also died in the war zone. The people and the priest did not have food for five days, and exhausted by months of hardship. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the priest was assaulted by soldiers when he approached them for help.
Stephen Rapp, the U.S. ambassador at large for war crimes issues, called for war crimes investigation on October 2009. His department submitted a detailed report to Congress about the incidents happened during the recent conflict in Sri Lanka. On October 25, 2009 The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of the United Nations called for an independent, international investigation of possible war crimes committed during the last few months of the war in Sri Lanka. Internal Displacement Monitoring Center of the Norwegian Refugee Council reported that the government of Sri Lanka was holding nearly 300,000 displaced people in military-run internment camps under questionable humanitarian conditions.
Read more about this topic: Eelam War IV
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