Urge the US Government to support human rights monitors in Sri Lanka

January 16, 2008

HELP Advocates Sri Lanka is profoundly concerned by the recent upsurge in violence in Sri Lanka in the wake of the government’s decision to withdraw from a 2002 ceasefire agreement with the Tamil Tigers. We unequivocally denounce all acts of violence towards civilians and thus condemn the brutal attack on a civilian bus in Buttala on January 17, which killed 26 people. We also condemn the subsequent aerial bombing of Tamil civilian enclaves in Mullaitivu. It is imperative that the the international community hold all parties in the conflict accountable for violations of international law to protect civilians.

With the Sri Lankan government’s abandonment of the ceasefire agreement and subsequent eviction of Nordic ceasefire monitors, civilian casualties are sure to increase as violence continues to escalate. More than 70,000 have lost their lives since the conflict between the government and the Tamil Tigers erupted in 1983. HELP Advocates Sri Lanka echoes the international community’s calls for the immediate establishment of a UN human rights monitoring presence on the ground to enforce protection for civilians.

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