Aid agencies are trying to secure an agreement to evacuate some 200,000 civilians trapped in Sri Lanka's war zone, but there are growing fears about how ethnic Tamils will be treated by the authorities if they are able to leave.
The government plans to open five "welfare villages" in Vavuniya and Mannar districts to house Tamils who do manage to flee, the London Times reports. The government says the camps will have schools, parks, banks and vocational centres but has also decreed that displaced Tamils will have to live there until the army has screened them and finished hunting down rebels, according to the newspaper.
The government says it's working closely with U.N. agencies to assess more accurately the needs of civilians trapped by the fighting in the northeast, as well as measures to protect them.
Conditions inside the shrinking patch of jungle controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels are reported to be dire and very little aid is getting in. Civilians wounded in the fighting have almost no access to medical facilities, and despite a "safe zone" established by the government, "any areas of relative safety have all but disappeared", according to CARE International.
Amnesty International accuses the separatist LTTE guerrillas of preventing people from leaving and of recruiting civilians, including children, to serve as troops and build bunkers.
A statement from the foreign affairs ministry made quite clear the government is irritated by what some aid groups have said publicly about the conflict, warning them to be "mindful of the responsibility cast on them in disseminating information to the world at large".
In recent days, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been subject to growing pressure from politicians and pro-government activists to quit the country, and stones were thrown at its offices in Colombo during a 200-strong protest. The Red Cross has issued regular statements about the shelling of civilians and a hospital in the war zone and the difficulties it has experienced in evacuating the injured.
"The most important issue right now is to focus on immediate unimpeded humanitarian assistance for those families trapped between the conflicting parties," said Yolanda Foster, Sri Lanka researcher for Amnesty. "The government wants international assistance but not international standards."
LIMITED FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT
Amnesty has called on Colombo to ensure that people who've fled the war zone are kept safe and don't face "improper restrictions" on their movement, which would violate U.N. guidelines. The human rights organisation says 6,000 people who have left the Vanni region for government-controlled areas since December are being held in "de facto detention centres and are vulnerable to abuses by government forces".
According to Amnesty, the army has not allowed freedom of movement for civilians displaced from Tiger-held areas earlier last year, who are being held in welfare villages. It says some have been permitted to leave the camps for education, medical treatment or to earn money, but have been forced to keep one family member inside as a safeguard against them escaping.
Except for the ICRC and U.N. refugee agency, aid groups have not been given access to the centres, Amnesty says. And it warns civilians in transit centres have credible fears that they are at risk of enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, harassment or even extrajudicial executions.
The Times reports that following initial screening, those with relatives inside will be able to leave the new camps - which will be ringed with barbed wire - except for young and/or single people.
The paper says the government's original plan was to hold displaced Tamils in the centres for up to three years, but after protests from the U.N. refugee agency, it is now hoping to resettle 80 percent by the end of the year.
It adds that Sri Lankan and Indian Tamil parliamentarians have urged international donors not to give money for the camps unless they can be properly monitored and international journalists get access.
APPEAL FOR $156 MILLION
Meanwhile, aid agencies are gearing up for an outpouring of civilians from the conflict zone if and when they are able to leave.
A joint action plan released this week warns that movement of people out of the Vanni region is expected to increase dramatically. It says the government and its humanitarian partners are preparing to assist up to 200,000 people.
The group of 42 agencies has requested funding of $155.5 million for 103 projects to meet the humanitarian needs of the displaced and host communities. Altogether, aid agencies think they may have to help 433,000 people whose lives have been ripped apart by the conflict.
The largest chunk of the money is intended for food aid ($60 million), followed by shelter and camp management ($23 million) and work to protect civilians, their human rights and the rule of law ($17 million).
Some aid agencies, including ActionAid, are also providing educational support to children whose schooling has been interrupted by fighting and training volunteers to help people deal with psychological stress.
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