Commentary / SRI LANKA

Not our fault

On 12 August 2006, in the face of intense shelling in Jaffna by the Sri Lankan Army, villagers rushed to the Allaipiddy Catholic Church, where Father Thiruchchelvan Nihal Jim Brown offered sanctuary. Breaking international humanitarian norms, shells also hit the church during the early hours of 13 August, killing and injuring a large number of those inside. The following morning, Fr Brown attempted to lead the people under his care to safety, pleading with the Sri Lankan security forces to allow them to leave. Fr Brown was last seen at a navy checkpoint on 20 August at Allaipiddy, along with Wenceslaus Vimalathas, a father of five children, in an area tightly controlled by the military. One year on, neither has been heard from, nor has anyone been held accountable for their disappearance.

The case of Fr Brown has received international publicity. In addition, despite the presence of the military, the Catholic Church in Jaffna has engaged in a series of initiatives to pressure authorities to disclose what happened. The last such missive was sent directly to President Mahinda Rajapakse in mid-August. Pope Benedict was also called upon to broach the matter when he received President Rajapakse at the Vatican this past April. Nonetheless, till today, there is still no word.

Fr Brown’s circumstance is among the 16 high-profile cases currently registered with the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Serious Human Rights Violations, a body appointed in late 2006. But nine months after its appointment, no visible progress has been made on the case. Mahanama Tillakaratne, the chairman of another such body, the Presidential Commission to Probe Abductions, Disappearances and Killings, recently stated that 1713 disappearances were reported in the country from 1 January 2006 through 25 February 2007, with 1002 of those people subsequently reappearing. Human Rights Watch reports that more than 1100 cases of disappearances have taken place since January 2006. Almost all of the disappeared are Tamil men between 18 and 50. In the majority of the cases, witnesses allege the complicity of security forces.

Blame them
The international image of Sri Lanka and its government has plunged over the past year, largely due to human-rights abuses, including political killings, abductions, disappearances and ransom-taking. In nearly every forum available, members of the international community are pushing for an independent international human-rights mechanism for the country. But Colombo’s consistent position has been that it is innocent of any wrongdoing, is being unfairly accused, and that the blame should be placed on the LTTE and various ‘criminal gangs’.

Undoubtedly a large number of abductions and killings taking place in Sri Lanka can indeed be attributed to the LTTE, particularly given its track record. Stories have also recently emerged that several members of international aid agencies have been abducted by the LTTE. In a particularly dangerous turn, a humanitarian worker with the Danish Demining Group was shot dead on 20 August by unknown gunmen in Jaffna.

But the excesses of the LTTE notwithstanding, from President Rajapakse on down, the refrain from the government is the same: it is not our fault. Meanwhile, accusations to the contrary from the international community appear to have gotten under Colombo’s skin. In mid-August, the latest target of a governmental offensive was the United Nations Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, who had just completed a short visit to the island. During that time, he had referred to Sri Lanka as one of the most dangerous places in the world for humanitarian workers. In colloquial Sinhala, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake subsequently referred to Holmes as a “devil”.

Political posturing apart, the International Day of the Disappeared, on 30 August, has come and gone. For the time being at least, nothing seems to be changing in Sri Lanka, where citizens continue to disappear into thin air, without a trace. What a reversal for a country that seemed on the road to peace just a couple of years ago.