[See also Asylum Now for All Refugees! Stop Persecution of Tamils!,
Workers Hammer No. 212 (Autumn 2010)]
Workers Hammer No. 212 (Autumn 2010)]
Tamils Now Languish in Sri Lanka Camps (The New York Times)
"Hundreds of thousands of Tamils remain locked in camps almost entirely off limits to journalists, human rights investigators and political leaders.
[...]
"The Sri Lankan government has portrayed its final battle against the 26-year insurgency by the Tamil Tigers, which ended in late May with the killing of the group’s leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, as a rescue mission to liberate civilians held hostage by one of the world’s richest and most ruthless armed groups, branded terrorists by governments across the globe.
"[Sri Lankan president Mahinda] Rajapaksa said that the residents of the camps, which the government refers to as 'welfare villages,' must be confined, because anyone could be a hidden rebel."
See also:
Tamil death toll ‘is 1,400 a week’ at Manik Farm camp in Sri Lanka (Times Online (UK), July 10, 2009)
"The death toll will add to concerns that the Sri Lankan Government has failed to halt a humanitarian catastrophe after announcing victory over the Tamil Tiger terrorist organisation in May. It may also lend credence to allegations that the Government, which has termed the internment sites 'welfare villages', has actually constructed concentration camps to house 300,000 people.
[...]
"Most of the deaths are the result of water-borne diseases, particularly diarrhoea, a senior relief worker said on condition of anonymity.
"Witness testimonies obtained by The Times in May described long queues for food and inadequate water supplies inside Manik Farm. Women, children and the elderly were shoved aside in the scramble for supplies. Aid agencies are being given only intermittent access to the camp."
And see:
Tamil refugees may end up in permanent camps, say aid workers (Times Online, July 3, 2009)
And see also anti-caste: "NO-FIRE ZONE" A MASS GRAVEYARD FOR SRI LANKAN TAMILS (May 29, 2009) and DEADLY OFFENSIVE MAY SEAL NATIONAL OPPRESSION OF TAMILS IN SRI LANKA (February 15, 2009)
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