Tamil IDPs inside the barbed-wire internment camps in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled Vavuniyaa are not only medically underserved, but are subjected to degrading interrogations and there are reports of regular rapes and killings, reveals a well known German writer and Human Rights activist, Thomas Seibert, who recently returned from Sri Lanka after a humanitarian trip, conducting personal interviews that described the plight of civilians kept as near-prisoners under the SLA occupation.
Thomas Seibert
Tens of thousands of people who flee from the battle field have been identified and housed by the Sri Lanka Army and its paramilitaries in several camps located around Vavuniyaa. "Many are tortured or simply shot. There are also reports of regular rapes," Medico International quoted Thomas Seibert in a press statement.Mr. Seibert said that the Sri Lankan military was attempting to expand the scope of the current internment camps to house the civilians there for years. Meanwhlie, more than 100,000 civilians remaining within a 15 square kilometre coastal strip in Vanni, according to the estimated figures by the UN and Sri Lankan Humanitarian organisations, are under siege and subjected to shelling, Seibert further said.He warned of a tendency for massacre unless an immediate ceasefire is declared. "Should the lives of the civilians be saved at least, an immediate cease fire must be declared. Every thing else is an acceptance of a foreseeable massacre."Frankfurt-based relief and human rights organisation Medico International is a Non-Governmental Organization, which provides emergency relief and supports human rights and development projects to secure access to health care.Press statement in German issued by Medico International follows:Pressemitteilung, 16.04.2009
Thomas Seibert
Tens of thousands of people who flee from the battle field have been identified and housed by the Sri Lanka Army and its paramilitaries in several camps located around Vavuniyaa. "Many are tortured or simply shot. There are also reports of regular rapes," Medico International quoted Thomas Seibert in a press statement.Mr. Seibert said that the Sri Lankan military was attempting to expand the scope of the current internment camps to house the civilians there for years. Meanwhlie, more than 100,000 civilians remaining within a 15 square kilometre coastal strip in Vanni, according to the estimated figures by the UN and Sri Lankan Humanitarian organisations, are under siege and subjected to shelling, Seibert further said.He warned of a tendency for massacre unless an immediate ceasefire is declared. "Should the lives of the civilians be saved at least, an immediate cease fire must be declared. Every thing else is an acceptance of a foreseeable massacre."Frankfurt-based relief and human rights organisation Medico International is a Non-Governmental Organization, which provides emergency relief and supports human rights and development projects to secure access to health care.Press statement in German issued by Medico International follows:Pressemitteilung, 16.04.2009
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