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Tamil refugees
forced into sex racket
CONDITIONS for about 300,000 refugees forcibly
detained in camps across Sri Lanka remain dire,
with reports of a prostitution racket run by
officials in a remote camp. Aid workers told
news agencies yesterday officials at the
internally displaced people's camp in Pulmoddai,
a remote northeast region, are running the
prostitution ring using women kept in the camp.
These allegations are the subject of a joint
investigation between the Sri Lankan government
and an aid organization. "It's been brought to
the attention of senior government officials but
no one seems to be doing anything about it,"
said an aid worker, who requested anonymity for
fear of reprisal. "It's hard to know whether
it's coercive or not, but there is an average of
three families living to a tent and it can be
extremely difficult trying to get privacy. You
can imagine the military coming in and asking
for something in return for more space or more
favors." Sri Lankan Foreign Minister
Palitha Kohona described the claims as "absolute
rubbish", but confirmed the government was
investigating the reports. "These (the
military) are the guys who were winning the war
- they could have raped every single woman on
the way if they wanted to.
Not one single woman was raped," he told The
Australian last night. "I am sure in a mass of
people there may be individuals who want to make
a quick buck one way or another, but you have to
remember the tents are so close together you
can't do anything without the entire
neighborhood knowing. If you had a racket going,
thousands of people would know about it."
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A
UN official said yesterday many families
remained separated in the camps and that men and
women believed to be Tamil Tiger fighters were
being removed with "no due process or proper
documentation, like arrest receipts, given to
parents or guardians". "These issues are of huge
concern for us," the official said. "The lack of
freedom of movement is a violation of human
rights under Sri Lanka's own constitution."
The restrictions have heightened tensions in the
camps, including a mass protest in the
Ramanathan camp in the northern town of Vavuniya
on Sunday in which IDPs tried to break down
barbed-wire fences separating one camp zone -
and many relatives - from another. Tamilnet.com
claimed two people were killed and at least two
were injured when troops opened fire on the
refugees. But reports from aid workers in the
camp suggested troops fired only into the air,
causing no casualties, and that camp officials
reached a compromise that allowed the IDPs
movement between the two camps. UN Sri Lanka co-ordinator
Neil Buhne said camp conditions were slowly
improving, thanks to better water and sanitation
facilities. "But the main thing is people are
still inside these camps and they can't go
anywhere. The government has made public
commitments to get 80 per cent of people back to
their homes by the end of the year (after
separating civilians from the fighters) but
that's going to be a difficult target to meet."
The Sri Lankan military crushed the Tamil Tiger
rebel forces in May after a 26-year civil war.
President Mahinda Rajapakse has committed to
reaching a political settlement with the Tamil
leaders that goes some way to addressing their
grievances. This week he gave the All Parties
Committee, established some years ago to find a
compromise solution, until next month to submit
its report.
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