On 6 December 2006 the Sri Lankan government promulgated a set of tough new laws to counter terrorism. The laws define a 'terrorist' in very broad terms, giving wide powers to the police to arrest and detain on suspicion of terrorism. In the last 12 months the Sri Lankan government has not hesitated to use these laws, and the country's human rights situation has severely deteriorated. Under a general climate of impunity, 2007 has largely been marked by intense warfare, mass displacement, killings, abductions and torture in Sri Lanka. In all of this it is the country's minorities - Muslims, and to a much greater extent, ethnic Tamils - who have been the worst affected.
Armed groups continue to kill, attack, abduct, torture, harass and extort from innocent people, mostly minorities.1 Meanwhile, counter-terrorism laws are used to arrest and detain hundreds of Tamils, to cordon, search and harass minorities, and to create High Security Zones (HSZs) claiming vast areas of minority lands, thereby affecting livelihoods. Counter-terrorism laws are also used to gag the media and suppress aid agencies and human rights organizations.
The Sri Lankan government has justified its actions as part of a global commitment to fighting terrorism - this is its 'war on terror'. Twelve months after the government introduced these tough new counter-terrorism laws, this briefing paper will look specifically at violations committed by the government in this 'war on terror', at crimes committed by the Tigers and other militant groups during this period and the impact of both sides' actions on Sri Lanka's minorities.
The specific emphasis in this paper on militant action and the government's response to it. This is not to deny the existence of several other types of violations and humanitarian issues that exist in Sri Lanka. But the government's continuing violations of human rights in the guise of a 'war on terror' deserves serious attention, particularly on the manner in which the government's position has turned into a war against minorities. The counter terrorism climate and the violent response of the rebels has defined much of 2007. Terrorism is a pressing aspect of the country's current predicament, while counter terrorism has international justification. Both are heavily and negatively affecting minority populations - often the most vulnerable people in society.
This paper's focus on minorities does not nullify the effects of renewed conflict, and human rights violations, on the majority Sinhalese. However it is undeniable that the impact of recent events on the two minority communities has been highly disproportionate to their population ratio. In almost every identifiable mass human rights violation, Tamils and Muslims constitute the largest number of victims; in some cases the majority community is unaffected.
The events of this year sit in the context of more than two decades of violence, where Sri Lanka's largely Sinhala Buddhist military has been battling one of the world's deadliest militant groups, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or Tamil Tigers. The Tigers are known as the pioneers of modern day suicide bombing and are infamous for child conscription. They have been fighting for a separate state for ethnic Tamils2 in the north and east of Sri Lanka, but a mass of human rights abuses including Tamil children in IDP camp , eastern Sri Lanka. the killing of moderate Tamils and political opponents, and child abductions and extortions, have isolated them from the political mainstream both at home and abroad and even from sections of the Tamil population they claim to be fighting for. In 2002, a cease-fire agreement was signed, but a few years later began to erode.
The downward spiral that has marked 2006-7 intensified in August 2006 when Tamil Tiger rebels closed the sluice gates in a small town called Maawil Aru in north-eastern Sri Lanka, blocking off water supplies to rice farmers in nearby villages. The Government (dominated by the majority Sinhalese) responded by sending the army in to flush out the rebels and recommence water supplies. In the ensuing fighting - dubbed a 'humanitarian battle' by the government - at least 50 people were killed and some 40,000 displaced. Sri Lanka's stuttering four-year cease-fire agreement, internationally hailed for putting an end to two decades of bloodshed and conflict that claimed more than 65,000 lives, was over.
The battle for a waterway expanded into a war for territory in which the government emerged as victor. In July 2007, government forces celebrated the capture of the Eastern Province (a significant land mass and an ethnic minority power centre) from the Tigers. But the price was high: there were heavy death tolls, mass displacement and soaring human rights violations, including arrests and detentions.
Next year, Sri Lanka marks 60 years of independence from colonial rule. But today, the country faces a severe human rights crisis.