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| Sri Lanka’s government has long harassed the TRO. Seven of the charity’s workers (above) were abducted and murdered by Army backed gunmen in January 2006. |
Freezing the Colombo bank accounts of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) for more than one year without any charges being filed, and denying the TRO its "day in court" to defend against the "false allegations," are violations of Declaration on the "Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly's Resolution 36/55 of 25 November 1981," said TRO officials in a media release issued Tuesday last week.
The media release said the Article 6 of the UN declaration reserved "the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief shall include the right to establish and maintain appropriate charitable or humanitarian institutions."
The TRO's bank accounts in Sri Lanka have now been frozen for one year and none of the "investigations" by the Central Bank's Financial Investigation Unit (FIU), the Attorney General's Office and the Police's Criminal Investigation Division (CID) has resulted in any charges against the TRO, the release added.
"The frozen accounts contain approximately Rs. 80,000,000 (US$ 707,000; £350,000) and were targeted for Tsunami related projects which would benefit the Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala communities of the NorthEast. Eighty percent (80%) of the funds frozen were project funds provided by international NGOs, UN Agencies (UNICEF, Save the Children, Operation USA, the Nippon Foundation) and the GoSL for projects that TRO is implementing to rehabilitate tsunami and war affected populations.
"The remaining twenty percent (20%) of the funds were donated by the Tamil Diaspora. TRO has thus far implemented over US$ 20 million in tsunami related projects which have benefited all three communities," the release said.
"TRO has met or exceeded local and international standards of accountability and transparency and has consistently met all the legal requirements of an NGO or charity operating in Sri Lanka. Since registering with the GoSL as a Charity in 2002, TRO has responded to all requests for financial and project information from the Ministry of Social Services, the Ministry of Foreign Resources, and the Parliamentary Select Committee on NGOs promptly and exhaustively," the release said, adding that the several petitions filed by TRO's legal team to "vary or vacate" the original judgement [freezing of account] have been rejected.
Text of the press release follows:
On 4 September 2006 the Central Bank of Sri Lanka filed a petition in the High Court of Colombo to “freeze” all Sri Lanka based bank accounts of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) “for 6 months for investigation”.
TRO’s bank accounts in Sri Lanka have now been frozen for one (1) year and none of the “investigations” by the Central Bank’s Financial Investigation Unit (FIU), the Attorney General’s Office and the Police’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID) have resulted in any charges being filed in any court of law. TRO has thus far been denied its “day in court” and the opportunity to defend itself against the false allegations perpetrated by the representatives of the government and state sponsored media.
The freezing of the TRO bank accounts for the past year without any charges being filled is a violation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly’s Resolution 36/55 of 25 November 1981, which states in Article 6 that “the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief shall include…” the right “…to establish and maintain appropriate charitable or humanitarian institutions.” The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is bound to observe the spirit of this Declaration and permit TRO to operate without hindrance or harassment.
TRO has met or exceeded local and international standards of accountability and transparency and has consistently met all the legal requirements of an NGO or charity operating in Sri Lanka.
Since registering with the GoSL as a Charity in 2002, TRO has responded to all requests for financial and project information from the Ministry of Social Services, the Ministry of Foreign Resources, and the Parliamentary Select Committee on NGOs promptly and exhaustively. All annual reports, progress reports, and financial reports have been submitted to the relevant authorities and TRO has had its projects and accounts audited and certified each year by an independent Colombo based auditor.
Additionally, many of TRO’s numerous donors such as the European Union (ECHO), United Nations (UN) agencies, international NGOs and foreign governments have performed exhaustive audits of the projects and programs that they have funded.
The frozen accounts contain approximately Rs. 80,000,000 (US$ 707,000; £350,000) and were targeted for Tsunami related projects which would benefit the Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala communities of the NorthEast.
Eighty percent (80%) of the funds frozen were project funds provided by international NGOs, UN Agencies (UNICEF, Save the Children, Operation USA, the Nippon Foundation) and the GoSL for projects that TRO is implementing to rehabilitate tsunami and war affected populations.
The remaining twenty percent (20%) of the funds were donated by the Tamil Diaspora. TRO has thus far implemented over US$ 20 million in tsunami related projects which have benefited all three communities
TRO continues to be a registered charity in Sri Lanka and is not banned or proscribed in any other country in the world. All of the independently registered and operated international TRO offices continue to maintain and operate their bank accounts without any restrictions.
In the months after the initial freeze TRO’s legal team filed numerous petitions in the High Court in Colombo requesting that the Judge “vary or vacate” his original judgment. These requests were rejected by the court.
Due to TRO’s inability to access its bank accounts and the resulting lack of available funds in Colombo it became impossible for TRO to continue its legal challenge of the freeze. The TRO Colombo office remains open but is unable to operate due to a lack of accessible funds and the Sri Lanka Police having removed all computers and files on 8 January 2007.
As a result of the freezing of the TRO bank accounts by the Government of Sri Lanka, humanitarian assistance and emergency relief to the 350,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) displaced in 2006 and 2007 was severely hampered.
TRO has an extensive grassroots network and in some parts of the NorthEast is the only organization delivering vital humanitarian assistance. Throughout the post-Ceasefire Agreement and post-tsunami period TRO has been recognized by the International Humanitarian Community, the beneficiaries and the Government of Sri Lanka (the previous President honoured TRO with an award for building over 9,000 tsunami temporary shelters) as being one of the most effective and efficient aid organizations in the NorthEast.
The humanitarian situation in the NorthEast has reached a critical level and the human suffering has reach crisis levels. The freezing of the TRO bank accounts and other actions by the GoSL has severely limited the amount of humanitarian relief and emergency aid reaching the war and tsunami affected communities.
As a result of the extraordinary levels of need and the continuous displacement of the civilian population due to GoSL military operations and despite the freezing of the TRO bank accounts, TRO has continued to implement projects in the LTTE controlled areas of the NorthEast via local NGOs (LNGOs) and Community Based Organizations (CBOs).
In the East, due to the lack of a secure environment in GoSL controlled areas, and the freezing of the TRO bank accounts, TRO has handed over its tsunami rehabilitation projects to CBOs, LNGOs, and international NGOs to continue to implement.
The GoSL over the past 20 months has pursued a premeditated and deliberate policy of restricting and denying humanitarian aid and relief to the Tamil people of the NorthEast. The freezing of the TRO bank accounts in Sri Lanka is a major part of the GoSL’s policy to restrict access, aid and relief to the affected populations.
Other obstacles and impediments faced by humanitarian organizations:
• The abduction, rape, and execution of 7 TRO humanitarian workers in January 2006 by paramilitary forces affiliated to the GoSL;
• Execution of 17 ACF humanitarian workers by GoSL armed forces (as alleged by the independent Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission);
• Harassment of aid workers via physical attacks, including the killing of 57 humanitarian workers, almost all of whom are Tamils, without any investigation, arrests, prosecution or convictions which has reinforced the prevailing culture of impunity that exists in Sri Lanka;
• The imposition of excessive and restrictive permit procedures & processes imposed by the GoSL on all humanitarian organizations operating in the NorthEast;
• The restrictions on the transportation of building materials for projects to benefit tsunami and war affected IDPs;
• Denial of permission by the GoSL for international agencies and the United Nations to access affected populations;
• Restrictions and impediment imposed by the GoSL on access by local and international humanitarian organizations to areas controlled by the LTTE;
• The use by the GoSL of food and medicine as a weapon of war, an example of which is the starving of the civilian population of Vaharai for four months (only the ICRC & the UN were allowed limited access);
• The deliberate and indiscriminate bombardment and shelling of Tamil villages and civilians designed to “get them moving” out of LTTE controlled areas;
• The shelling of TRO IDP camps in the Vaharai area – which resulted in the deaths of over 80 IDPs;
• Denial of visas and renewal of visa of international staff;
• Attacks on the humanitarian community in general and specific organizations in particular via the state media, government representatives and Members of Parliament.
