International Crisis Group
text only version

1. The current situation
2. What should be done
3. Crisis Group resources

Picture: Sri Lankan Tamil civilians arrive to a government-controlled area after fleeing territory controlled by the LTTE separatist rebels in Puthukkudiyirippu, 26 March 2009. REUTERS

Updated 6 October 2009

1. The current situation

The aftermath of the war

With the Sri Lankan government announcing the defeat of the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) in mid-May, the military phase of the country’s decades-long civil war seems finally to be at an end. On 17 May, the LTTE in an official statement acknowledged that the war had come to its “bitter end” and announced that they would lay down their arms. On 19 May the government announced that the LTTE’s leader Prabhakaran had been killed.  The humanitarian situation, however, remains desperate for the nearly 300,000 civilians who managed to escape the war zone and the thousands who have been injured in the fighting.

The military’s success was marred by credible reports of serious violations of international humanitarian law, and the international community needs to thoroughly examine the conduct of both government and LTTE forces during the war. In early May 2009, the UN estimated that some 7,000 civilians, including at least 1,000 children, had died and more than 10,000 had been injured since fighting intensified in mid-January. The final two weeks of ferocious battles likely saw thousands more civilians killed; with even the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) denied access to the war zone for weeks, it is impossible to know how many died or were injured.

The final months of fighting left in their wake a humanitarian crisis. Almost 300,000 civilians managed to escape the fighting, and some 260,000 are still held indefinitely in overcrowded government-run internment camps (see “The situation in the camps”).

Many suspected of involvement with the LTTE have been separated from their families and detained for further questioning, some in undisclosed locations. There are credible reasons to fear for their safety. At least 2,000 people – possibly many more – have been forcibly “disappeared” in Sri Lanka since early 2006. With the government refusing to release lists of those in the camps or those who have been detained on suspicion of involvement with the LTTE, it is impossible to know when or if people are going missing. Many of the displaced remain uncertain about the whereabouts or fate of their family members from whom they have been separated.

The war also left a legacy of atrocities that must be investigated. Within the combat zone in the final weeks, the LTTE used the civilian population as a human shield. There is clear evidence that they forcibly conscripted civilians, including children, into battle and killed many of those trying to escape. For its part, the government shelled and bombed areas known to have high concentrations of civilians for months, killing and wounding thousands of non-combatants. Despite the government’s announcement on 27 April that it had ordered the military to stop using heavy artillery or airstrikes, such attacks continued unabated.

The situation in the camps

Almost five months after the war’s end, some 260,000 Tamils remain essentially prisoners in government-run internment camps in the northern province. The health situation in the overcrowded camps fails to meet international standards, with inadequate supplies of nutritious food, clean drinking water and medical supplies and services. The government continues to restrict access for aid organisations and to limit the kinds of work they can do in the camps. With rare exceptions, journalists are not allowed in the camps at all, and it remains extremely difficult to get accurate information on conditions. The ICRC has not been allowed to work in the main camps in Vavuniya since late July 2009 (though it does still have access to the much smaller camps in Jaffna). The impending monsoon season has compounded fears over the health situation for those still detained. Many camps were flooded during heavy rains in August, destroying shelters, overflowing sewage systems, and contaminating the water supply. At least five people died.

During a late September visit to Sri Lanka, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe expressed “strong concern” over how few of the displaced had been able to return home and the fact that the rest of the displaced are detained against their will, despite their internationally recognised right to leave the camps. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has reiterated his plan to resettle “70-80 per cent” by the end of the year, but there are doubts as to whether the government intends to – or will be able to – keep its promise. Of the 10,000 people the government claimed to have released in mid-September, some 3,300 were merely transferred to different detention facilities, according to the UNHCR.

The government claims the IDPs need to be kept in camps until their villages and agricultural lands are fully de-mined, yet tens of thousands could be released immediately to live with relatives, host families, or on their own in other areas. The government also claims to be conducting a screening process of the refugees to weed out Tamil Tigers, but it refuses to say how many have already been through the process or explain why those who have passed the test have not been released. Since July, the ICRC has not been able to monitor any part of the screening process or visit those separated from the camps and detained as LTTE suspects.

There are signs of growing tensions within the camps. On 27 September, soldiers opened fire on refugees the military claimed were trying to escape from the huge Menik Farm complex. At least three people were wounded. President Rajapaksa has since the end of the war repeatedly spoken about the need for “national reconciliation” between the Tamil and Sinhala communities. But as long as so many remained locked in the camps, bitterness among Tamils is likely to grow stronger, possibly sowing the seeds of a future return to violence.

2. What should be done

With the end of the government’s military campaign, Crisis Group urges that:

  • The Sri Lankan government should make public a list all those being held in camps for the displaced and in places of detentions, to reassure worried families about the fate of their loved ones, to facilitate the reunification of divided families, and to protect against the threat of abduction and forced disappearance.
  • The ICRC and UNHCR must be given full and immediate access to every stage of the government’s “screening” for those suspected of involvement with the LTTE. The ICRC should be granted full access to all places of detention to ensure that surrendered and captured combatants and other terrorist suspects are treated in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and Sri Lankan law. The Sri Lankan government should make public its plans for the demobilisation and rehabilitation of former LTTE fighters.
  • The Sri Lankan government should remove all restrictions on the access and effective work of the ICRC, UN agencies and humanitarian NGOs in government camps for the displaced in Vavuniya, Mannar and Jaffna and in government hospitals and medical centres. Punitive restrictions on visas and on travel within Sri Lanka for international staff of humanitarian agencies must also be removed. Lack of access and the consequent reduction in services only compounds the already severe physical suffering and psychological hardships the displaced are enduring.
  • The Sri Lankan government should immediately grant all those in the camps – other than those against whom there is credible evidence of involvement in criminal activities – the right to leave the camps and live on their own, with relatives, or with host families, and announce a clear and prompt timetable for the return of all the displaced to their homes in the north.
  • The Sri Lankan government should establish an open and inclusive process of consultation with independent Tamil and Muslim leaders to devise a fair and sustainable plan for the resettlement of all those displaced from the Northern Province, including the nearly 100,000 Muslims forcibly evicted by the LTTE from Jaffna and Mannar in 1990.
  • The Sri Lankan government should make tangible and meaningful steps to assure Tamils, Muslims and other minorities that their rights will be respected and their equal citizenship and physical safety will be assured. The government should initiate a new and inclusive process of dialogue between legitimate and independent representatives of all ethnic communities in pursuit of a lasting political settlement that addresses the grievances and insecurities of all communities through constitutional guarantees of power-sharing and individual rights.
  • The Sri Lankan government should ensure that all political parties are allowed to campaign freely and vigorously in provincial elections due later in 2009. For free and fair elections to be possible, the military must lift all restrictions on political campaigning, and pro-government armed groups must be disarmed and prevented from intimidating opposition candidates and supporters. Independent election monitors must also be allowed to function freely and without intimidation.
  • The international community should urge the government to be open about its own conduct during the war, to facilitate the process of reconciliation between communities. The Security Council should support the establishment of a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate the evidence of systematic violations of international humanitarian law by government and LTTE forces.

3. Crisis Group resources

For Crisis Group resources on the current crisis in the northeast, see:

Select previous Crisis Group Sri Lanka reports:

For all Crisis Group Sri Lanka reports, click here.

For a month-by-month report on developments in Sri Lanka since September 2003, see Crisis Group's CrisisWatch database.

For more background on the situation in the country, see our Sri Lanka conflict history.