Media and humanitarian access to Sri Lanka crucial says CID

INTERNATIONAL access to conflict zones and government-controlled refugee camps in Sri Lanka is urgent and essential says Council for International Development (CID) executive director David Culverhouse.

“It is worrying that fighting has forced the Red Cross and other international agencies to withdraw from the conflict area. It is also of concern that BBC journalists who reported human rights abuses in camps set up by the government to house refugees fleeing the conflict have been deported. The Sri Lankan government must allow both the media and humanitarian agencies access to refugees and other civilians in the region.”

“We are deeply dismayed that the fears of an imminent civilian bloodbath we expressed in January this year appear to have come to pass. A quagmire of human misery has been created.”

“CID supports calls by UN secretary Ban Ki-moon for a ceasefire and for civilians to be allowed to leave the conflict zone. We call upon the New Zealand government to give all possible support to moves in the United Nations and other international bodies to resolve a horrifying humanitarian crisis as quickly as possible.”

“We also call for a complete halt to international arms sales to both sides in the conflict. The Sri Lankan civil war is a distressing example of what can happen when intolerance towards a minority group escalates to a military conflict. Both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE have played a role in militarising this conflict at the cost of tens of thousands of lives,” says Mr Culverhouse.

ENDS

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