Allow Aid Groups to Help Cyclone Victims

(New York) – The Sri Lankan government should immediately lift its September order barring humanitarian agencies from the Vanni conflict area in northern Sri Lanka so they can assist thousands of persons displaced by flooding from Cyclone Nisha.

Experienced and impartial humanitarian agencies have offered to respond to the crisis, but face government obstruction. Only government-approved food convoys have been allowed to enter the Vanni since the government in September 2008 ordered the United Nations and nearly all humanitarian agencies to withdraw from the Vanni, severely limiting humanitarian access to the affected population. Cyclone Nisha hit northern Sri Lanka on November 25, 2008, causing heavy rains and flooding that reportedly forced between 60,000 and 70,000 people to relocate. Thousands of shelter kits and tarps are available from the humanitarian community to provide emergency shelters for the affected families, but the government has reportedly insisted that only tarps without logos from humanitarian agencies will be allowed into the Vanni. Such unnecessary restrictions on assistance are unacceptable in this time of urgent need. “The Sri Lankan government should stop playing games with aid organizations and let them get on with their life-saving work,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Tens of thousands of people in flooded areas of the Vanni are without adequate shelter and need help now.”

Government officials and humanitarian agencies estimate that between 230,000 and 300,000 displaced persons have been trapped in a small area of the eastern Vanni by fierce fighting between the Sri Lankan army and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE has refused to allow displaced persons in areas under its control to leave for government-held territory. It has increased forced recruitment of civilians, including children, as well as making civilians carry out regular forced labor in dangerous conflict areas. The LTTE has almost completely stopped giving out passes allowing civilians to leave the Vanni, with the exception of some urgent medical cases. Only about 1,000 persons have managed to flee the conflict zone since March 2008.