The US House of Representatives passed a motion calling on the Sri Lankan government to respect its commitments to care for and ensure the speedy return of civilians displaced by the fighting.
H. Res. 711 resolution, passed in the US House of Representatives Thursday, November 5, by a vote of 421 to 1, also drew attention to the approach of the 180 day deadline within which the Sri Lankan government had promised to release all the detained Tamil civilians.
That period is due to end on November 23, 2009.
Fewer than 20% of those detained have been released as of Oct. 23, 2009.
The resolution also emphasized that "the
The resolution called on the Government of Sri Lanka to allow freedom of movement for "IDPs to leave their camps voluntarily and return in safety and dignity to their homes or, where that is not possible, to live with host families or move to open transit sites."
Congress resolved that the IDP camps needed to be 'truly civilian,' not military.
They also said it was imperative that NGOs and observers, including the ICRC have 'full access' to the camps by.
The Congress also urged the Sri Lankan government to “engage in dialogue with Tamils inside and outside
Many Congressmen including Rep. Howard Berman, the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Danny Davis, who visited all areas of
The resolution was described as 'non-controversial and non-partisan,' and attracted 32 co-sponsors from both parties.
Isolationist Rep. Ron Paul of
The resolution marked increasing signs of impatience by the international community with the slow pace of release of the Tamils detainees held against their will in military run internment camps, commented TamilNet.
