AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ACCUSES TAMIL TIGERS OF USING CIVILIANS AS A BUFFER, VIOLATING INTERNATIONAL LAW
The London based Amnesty International accused the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who are in control of Sri Lanka’s Northern Wanni area, of designing measures to use civilians as a buffer against government forces - a serious violation of international humanitarian law.
Amnesty International, in a statement said, “In the LTTE-controlled Wanni area, the Tigers have hindered thousands of families from moving to safer places by imposing a strict pass system and, in some instances, forcing some family members to stay behind to ensure the return of the rest of the family. These measures seem designed in part to use civilians as a buffer against government forces - a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”
Amnesty International also accused the Tamil Tigers of recruiting people to fight unwillingly in its statement: “The LTTE has also engaged in forced recruitment.”
The organization also criticized the Sri Lanka government of keeping the refugees in camps and not allowing them to go freely, except for children to go to school. “Amnesty International has also received reports that the government is housing those who have been able to leave LTTE areas in temporary shelters that often operate as de facto detention centers. Witnesses from Kalimoddai camp in Mannar district told Amnesty International that more than 200 families who are held there cannot exit the camp for any reason (except to go to school) without obtaining a pass from the government's security forces.”
While seeing to the shelter, food and sanitary needs of the people, the government forces also have to see to the security of the refugees and the surrounding areas, since it was the practice of the LTTE to send saboteurs with refugees in the Eastern Province, military sources said.
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http://www.tothecenter.com/news.php?readmore=6758
Amnesty International, in a statement said, “In the LTTE-controlled Wanni area, the Tigers have hindered thousands of families from moving to safer places by imposing a strict pass system and, in some instances, forcing some family members to stay behind to ensure the return of the rest of the family. These measures seem designed in part to use civilians as a buffer against government forces - a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”
Amnesty International also accused the Tamil Tigers of recruiting people to fight unwillingly in its statement: “The LTTE has also engaged in forced recruitment.”
The organization also criticized the Sri Lanka government of keeping the refugees in camps and not allowing them to go freely, except for children to go to school. “Amnesty International has also received reports that the government is housing those who have been able to leave LTTE areas in temporary shelters that often operate as de facto detention centers. Witnesses from Kalimoddai camp in Mannar district told Amnesty International that more than 200 families who are held there cannot exit the camp for any reason (except to go to school) without obtaining a pass from the government's security forces.”
While seeing to the shelter, food and sanitary needs of the people, the government forces also have to see to the security of the refugees and the surrounding areas, since it was the practice of the LTTE to send saboteurs with refugees in the Eastern Province, military sources said.
Read more,
http://www.tothecenter.com/news.php?readmore=6758
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