Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka: Displaced now trapped between the military and the impending monsoon - 8 October 2009
A quarter of a million Sri Lankans now being held in de facto detention camps are facing a humanitarian disaster as monsoon rains threaten to flood camps, said Amnesty International today.
Months after the government of Sri Lanka set up camps in Vavuniya District in the north-east of the country following the end of the conflict there, the authorities are still failing to deliver basic services.
Camps remain overcrowded and lack basic sanitation facilities and heavy rains in September saw rivers of water cascading through tents with camp residents wading through overflowing sewage.
“People living in these camps are desperate to leave. The government must ensure that the displaced are treated with dignity. They have a right to protection and must be consulted on whether they wish to return to their homes or resettle," said Yolanda Foster, Amnesty International’s Sri Lanka expert, who is in contact with relatives of people inside the camp.
Sri Lankan army clashes with detainees - 24 September 2009
A detainee was seriously injured and had to be hospitalized as a clash broke out between the Sri Lankan Army and detainees being held at a school in Vavuniya in north-eastern Sri Lanka on Tuesday.Counting the human cost of Sri Lanka's conflict - 11 September 2009
The Government of Sri Lanka announced a plan on 23 May to resettle most civilians displaced by conflict by the end of the year.Sri Lanka's displaced face uncertain future as government begins to unlock the camps - 11 September 2009
Only a fraction of nearly 300,000 people who were displaced by recent fighting in the north east of Sri Lanka have been allowed to leave government camps since the war ended in May.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians were displaced as a result of fighting in the north and east.