This week a circular issued by the British government to the British members of the European Parliament was made public. The circular which summarises the current situation in Sri Lanka is highly critical of the Sri Lanka’s human rights record.
It also states that Prime Minister Tony Blair has written to President Mahinda Rajapakse a military solution is untenable and a credible political solution is vital for lasting peace.
We reproduce below the briefing note to the British MEPs.
1. The UK is a close friend of Sri Lanka, we value our wide-ranging ties, and we would like to see Sri Lankans themselves achieve a negotiated settlement that satisfies legitimate aspirations of all communities. We hope that the All-Party Conference will present a way forward. We stand ready to help.
2. The UK's high level engagement on Sri Lanka continues. The Prime Minister has written to President Rajapakse with the key messages of
o The war is unwinnable;
o The need to win hearts and minds and ensure protection of human rights; and that it is
o Vital to have a credible constitutional framework.
3. The Rt. Hon. Paul Murphy hopes to visit in July to share the UK's experience of the Northern Ireland peace process and devolution. The Rt. Hon. Kim Howells hopes to visit in June. We stress to partners that they are not peace envoys. We are in close contact with the Norwegian facilitators of the peace process, and they support our efforts. We remain, committed, and ready to talk to the LTTE.
4. The UK continues to express deep concern to the government about their military action to defeat the LTTE, which brings an immense human cost, damages Sri Lanka's international standing; and ultimately will not work. The Defence Secretary (Rajapakse's brother) continues to talk publicly of needing two to three years to finish off the LTTE. Both sides need to do more to ensure that the civilian population is protected better, through the supply of essential supplies, access for humanitarian agencies and by avoiding causing civilian casualties. The forced return-of internally displaced persons, and extra judicial killings by security forces is not acceptable. Sri Lanka's standing in the international community is being seriously damaged.
5. The UK has also expressed concern at reports that Government of Sri Lanka forces have been complicit in child recruitment by paramilitaries (operating in the east). This has been an issue where HMG and Government of Sri Lanka have for many years joined forces in publicly condemning the LTTE. It is imperative that the government takes immediate steps to stop child recruitment by paramilitaries in areas it controls access to.
6. The capacity of Sri Lanka's domestic human rights mechanisms has to be strengthened. The Constitutional Council needs to be appointed legally so it can fulfill its role of ensuring independence in key institutions such as the police, judiciary and human rights.
7. The UK supports the work of the All-Party Committee (APC) on a devolution offer. International partners, including India, are concerned that Sri Lanka Freedom Party's (SLFP) initial proposals fell short of expectations. The UK hopes the final devolution offer will be bold and credible, and provide a good basis for dialogue between all communities.
8. Shortly after his election in late 2005, President Rajapakse tasked an All Party Committee (APC) with producing framework for an overall political settlement, effectively an offer on devolution of the southern polity that the government could endorse and put to the LTTE.
9. On 1 May 2007, the President's SLFP party offered proposals to the APC that were seen across the political ethnic spectrum as inadequate, and in no way a basis for a credible offer to the Tamils. The Indians have made clear their displeasure. The government has stressed however that the SLFP proposal is not final and that proposals from all the parties would be open for discussion at the All Party Representative Committee (APRC). We expect the APC to take another couple of months at least to- arrive at its consensus offer.
10. In September 2006, following international alarm over the deaths of 17 local employees of the French NGO Action Contre la Faim in Muttur, the government announced it would hold a Presidential Commission to investigate the 12 most high profile human rights cases. An International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) was established to oversee the process. In December 2006, the UK nominated Sir Nigel Rodley to the IIGEP.
11. The UK is concerned about growing impunity, despite the establishment of the President's Commission of Inquiry. We believe IIGEP can play a useful role, but it has a narrow remit to tackle only past human rights violations. The IIGEP is not a human rights panacea. Early signs from the Commission of Inquiry and IIGEP are not encouraging, the process is too slow, the Attorney General's Department role undermines the commission's independence and there is inadequate witness protection. The Commission of Inquiry cannot be used as a reason to avoid addressing current human rights abuses. With on-going human rights violations, and an ineffectual Commission of Inquiry and Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission, there is a growing case for introducing international human rights monitors to Sri Lanka.
12. An EU text for a UN Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka has been on the table at HRC since the third session last autumn. As Sri Lanka currently has the Chair of the Asia Group, influencing voting in that group, they have so far managed to prevent the resolution from being tabled. The fifth session of the HRC in June will have little time for country specific issues. In the likely event that the situation in Sri Lanka continues to deteriorate, support for the resolution may increase. Various NGO groups are lobbying for an EU-US, and possibly India co-sponsored resolution.
13. Despite NGO pressure, the Government of Sri Lanka strongly contests any notion of an international human rights monitoring mission. There appears little prospect of a change of position. An international attempt to push for a UN-led mission seems likely. It would probably see Sri Lanka retreat to the hard line group of the like-minded. It is not clear who might lead such an effort.
14. The UK's payment of the œ41m post tsunami assistance to Sri Lanka is subject to condition that government would not:
o Instigate hostilities;
o Have an unjustifiable increase its military spending;
o Be in significant violation of international obligations; and
o Have a breakdown in the GoSL's accountability systems.
15. Earlier this year the Rt. Hon. Hilary wrote to GoSL asking what measures were to be taken to ensure that these conditions would be met, but did not receive a satisfactory response. Following discussions between officials and ministers in DFID and FCO as well as No 10, we have decided to release half of the funds. A decision on payment of the rest is subject to consultation with GoSL over our concerns about continuing hostilities, rise in military expenditure, and the human rights situation.
16. At the Sri Lanka May 2, Adjournment debate, Mr. Keith Vaz, MP, announced an initiative to establish an all-party parliamentary group for Tamils. He also announced that he would hold a peace conference in London with the President, the LTTE and the Norwegians. Subsequently, all three parties expressed surprise at -this announcement. We have been responding to -enquiries on this by referring to the Ministers' speeches and pointing out that this is a personal initiative of Mr. Vaz, and that his comments do not represent UK policy.
NGO concerns and statistics
There are 100,000+ displaced persons in Batticaloa in the east. They face threats of violence and abductions by the LTTE and pro-government armed groups. Some displaced persons have been returned to Vaharai against their will.
The Karuna Group abducts and uses children as soldiers, with complicity of the Sri Lankan forces. Armed Karuna cadres roam the streets in Batticaloa District in sight of/alongside security forces.
There are 700+ recorded cases of missing persons in the Jaffna peninsular since December 2005. There have been 50+ abductions in and around Colombo over the previous year.
Emergency regulations give security forces wide powers of search, seizure of property, arrests without warrants and unacknowledged detention of individuals for up to 12 months.
There has been an increase in anonymous death threats against NGO workers (in 2006 according to OCHA).
Recently nine NGO workers died, and no one was charged. There has been Karuna Group death threats to some distributors of Tamil-language newspapers.
There are over 600,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Sri Lanka created by the current fighting, the tsunami and legacy IDPs from the 1980s and 1990s. Over 300,000 have been created in the last year, causing pressure on delivery systems. Numbers spike and decline as fighting moves. Threats to people's safety, human rights violations, widespread displacement and the destruction of livelihoods contribute to the humanitarian situation. A major concern is the diminishing humanitarian space as fighting intensifies and attitudes harden towards humanitarian agencies. There are frequent reports of forced displacement, abductions and targeted killings. The humanitarian co-ordination system, led by the UN, is characterised by systems and forums developed during the co-operative period of immediate response to the Asian tsunami.