Caged Spirits of Sri Lanka


Written by Naima Ahmed • Features • October 2009

Hidden from the world, the Tamil refugees in Sri Lanka remain confined within razor fences and hopelessness. The Sri Lankan government had promised it will look after them; after all, the government needed their support during the brutal fights against Tamil Tigers. Today, months after the government’s victory against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the fate of Tamil civilians rots in the confines of razor wired colonies, infested with unhygienic conditions, death and despair.

Approximately 300,000 people are confined to over crowded and poor sanitary conditions in the government managed camps in North Sri Lanka. Hailed as ‘Welfare’ camps by authorities, these army controlled camps are nothing but ‘open air prisons’ for the Tamils residing in them. These camps house the refugees of war and contain men, women and children with as many as 15 persons residing in a tent designed for 5.

Governments and aid organizations remain silent and the people living in the squalid camps of Sri Lanka are paying the price for that silence. International criticism is an all time high with EU poising to cancel a trade concession worth $1 billion to the government and UN firmly warning the government of Sri Lanka that it will discontinue funding the camps if their state remains the same. While the world body urges the authorities to allow the hundred of thousands of Tamil citizens their freedom, the Sri Lankan government remains staunch with claims that the people in the camps are a security risk because the Tamil fighters are hiding among them.

These open air prisons are the last places the war drained refugees need, the current conditions in Menik farm which is one of the largest government controlled settlement for Tamil refugees, are not only a violation of IDP’s fundamental rights to freedom of movement, education and livelihoods, they are also failing to adequately fulfill rights on basic access to food, shelter and water. In addition, the conditions have lead to outbreaks of diseases like Hepatitis A, chicken pox, skin ailments and malnutrition is a ground reality. Allegations of sexual physical abuses inside the camp are not only denied by the government but the lack of investigation questions the role of army as a party to such. The growing frustrations among the refugees are leading to dissent, protests and in extreme cases, inappropriate behavior and harassment.

With no proper registration process and no transparency and interview process, international aid workers are in a quandary on how best to help the refugees. What makes it worse is that these camps remain virtually inaccessible to the aid workers and hidden from the world and the refugees remain silent due to fear and insecurity. Of those who have spoken out, say that they are being held against their will.

The Sri Lankan government denies these claims stating that these are propaganda against the regime. Right after the war, the Sri Lankan President, Mr Rajapaksa had said that most civilians would be allowed to go home by the end of 2009, but only a small number of elderly people, children and priests have left. The freedom of refugees remain in question as the government has already started building banks, post offices, stores etc inside the camp and it seems like the people might be kept there permanently without sending back to their homeland.

The broken promises are becoming hard to ignore for even the government allies. As one prominent Tamil politician, Veerasingham Anandasangaree, states of the government “But instead they have locked them up like animals with no date certain of when they will be released. This is simply asking for another conflict later on down the road.”

The attitude and strategy being employed by the government has not only enhanced the trauma experienced by these displaced people but diplomats, analysts, aid workers and many Sri Lankans worry that the historic chance to finally bring to a close one of the world’s most enduring and vicious ethnic conflicts is slipping away as the government curtails the rights of Tamil civilians in its efforts to stamp out the last remnants of the Tigers.

While the world hopes for a change in heart in Sri Lanka’s government, the refugees remain caged in prison camps with broken spirits.