Govt. mere bystander in protecting citizens-AHRC

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has slammed the Sri Lankan government for acting as a mere ‘bystander’ rather than as the organisation responsible for the protection of its citizens.

The comments came after the AHRC released the names of 57 humanitarian workers who were either killed or subjected to forced disappearance since last year. According to the AHRC, 43 humanitarian workers have been killed while another 14 have disappeared.

“Even though extrajudicial killings and the disappearances of civilians, including humanitarian workers have been ongoing, the government has so far not done anything,” the commission pointed out.

The latest report disclosed that for the first eight months of this year a total of 17 aid workers, most of them Tamils were either killed or disappeared. Three Tamil aid workers attached to HALO Trust disappeared in January and February this year. To date there have been no reports of their whereabouts.

In March, a TRO worker was killed in Mannar, while six Sinhalese aid workers attached to Village of Hope were killed in Batticaloa.

Two Tamil humanitarian workers attached to the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society were abducted in Colombo and killed in Ratnapura in June while another disappeared in Jaffna. A 34 year old Tamil aid worker attached to the Danish Demining Group disappeared on July 18th in Jaffna while another workers attached to the same organisation was killed in Jaffna in August.

A 26 year old Tamil worker attached to the Danish Refugee Council was killed on July 23rd, in Jaffna while a Muslim aid worker attached to the Methodist Community Organisation for Refugees disappeared on August 6th.

Apart from the 17 aid workers, attached to Action Contre la Faim, killed in Muttur last year, another 22 aid workers either disappeared or were killed during 2006.

In January 2006, two workers attached to the Danish Demining Group disappeared in Jaffna while seven workers attached to the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation continue to be missing since January. Another aid worker from the same organisation disappeared in July last year.
A 23 year old employee at Halo Trust disappeared in Jaffna since February 2006, while one worker from the Mines Advisory Group disappeared in Batticaloa last February while the other from the same organisation disappeared in Jaffna in November.

Two aid workers from HUDEC – Caritas were killed in Jaffna last year in April, while two employees from the Norwegian Refugee Council were killed in May in Batticaloa and Vavuniya respectively. A 42 year old employed at the tsunami Housing Scheme funded by FORUT was killed in Jaffna while a 23 year old aid worker from the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society was killed in August last year in Vavuniya.

Two UNOPS employees were gunned down in Ampara and Jaffna in separate incidents during August and September last year.
Another Tamil aid worker from World Concern was killed in Trincomalee in September. A 31 year old male attached to Terre des Hommes was murdered in November 2006 in Ampara.