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Should aid groups be doing things differently in Sri Lanka?
Written by: Amjad Mohamed-Saleem
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A displaced Tamil woman collects her belongings after fire broke out in a Tamil displaced persons camp in Vavuniya, northeast Sri Lanka, February 28, 2009. REUTERS/Stringer
Over the last couple of months I have become increasingly frustrated with the state of affairs in Sri Lanka. As a humanitarian worker, it goes against your instincts not to be able to respond properly to the emerging humanitarian crisis in the north. The deteriorating security conditions and the government's reluctance to allow access for aid groups in conflict areas mean the relief operation has been patchy, conducted mainly through government channels or local partners. There is concern, not only about the plight of civilians trapped within the slowly shrinking area held by the Tamil Tiger rebels, but also for those who have made it into government areas. Plans for their future are not clear to anyone, and speculations and rumours are mounting. Even more frustrating has been the attitude of several of my colleagues and associates who seem to be taking the moral high ground by dictating terms and conditions to the government for responding to the crisis, and thereby not really responding at all. There are, of course, two sides to the argument. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) want unrestricted access without interference. With most national media questioning the impact of the work some agencies have been doing in areas controlled by the Tigers since the 2004 tsunami - alongside similar rhetoric in Sudan - it's no surprise the government is being less than cooperative. Yet this does not justify the stalemate that seems to have arisen vis-a-vis humanitarian response. More than once, I've had frustrated government officials and others ask me: "What is the agenda of NGOs apart from working against the interests of the country? Why are they refusing to respond and creating problems?" QUESTIONING THE ROLE OF NGOS At times, I also find myself beginning to question the mandate and interests of people in my industry. Just what does it mean to be "non-governmental"? Is there an automatic assumption that we have to be anti-government? Is the NGO presence in a country symbolic of a bad and corrupt government that is not interested in helping its people? Or are we there to complement the efforts of the government - getting into areas more quickly, pulling up the government when things go wrong, but also working together to ensure things go right? In Sri Lanka, the rules and regulations, together with the poor security situation and anti-NGO sentiment, are a difficult cocktail to swallow. Yet it's not an insurmountable challenge (just ask those working in Myanmar about the difficulties of access and cooperation). I have been amazed by the resolve of some government officials and army officers who have set themselves the task of sorting out the humanitarian situation. Talk to them, and you'll find a commitment to helping people who have been displaced by the conflict. A statement I've heard quite often goes along the lines of: "We need to look after them and ensure they return. After all these are our people." Yet I know the cynics will claim it's all rhetoric, and one only has to look at the extremist elements shouting here and there to realise that understanding and acceptance is still a long way off. This is the other frustrating thing about the situation. No objective voices are being heard. Tune into the media and you'll hear the pro-government media waxing lyrical about achievements against "the enemy". On the other side, there's the anti-government propaganda, often led by armchair exiles sitting comfortably in the West, proclaiming "genocide". Little effort is being made to actually find out what's going on, and there are no opportunities for debate and discussion. It seems this public relations exercise is oblivious to the civilians caught up in the war, who are being held to ransom and suffering for something not of their own doing. PUBLIC APATHY I have also been frustrated by the public response - or seeming lack of it. There has been some muted support from individuals and organisations donating money and relief items, but nothing along the lines of what we've seen before in times of crisis. It seems that, in the midst of the hustle and bustle of daily life, this is just another incident. The humanitarian condition has not struck the hearts of people in Colombo, regardless of their affliation. There seems to be no appetite to respond, and this is the saddest part of the whole situation. Instead, there's resignation that once the major conflict ends, guerrilla warfare and suicide attacks at public gatherings will continue. Following the recent bomb attack on a government function at a mosque in the southern town of Akuressa, in which at least 14 people were killed and the telecoms minister was among some 35 injured, I heard one person comment, "Goes to show we should not have public events with ministers." Not the type of response I'd been looking for. Such reactions and attitudes will not bring about change. Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims alike seem reluctant to respond - even indifferent. Blame can easily be shifted onto the government, but it's not the answer. Transformation will only happen if people will it. The Viva Palestine convoy that entered Gaza recently showed the power of conviction. The violence will continue unless we, as citizens of this country and collectively as a society, realise that a suicide bomb outside a mosque is not just an act against Muslims but against Sri Lankans. We need to recognise that suspicion and mistrust of Tamils is suspicion and mistrust of Sri Lankans; that an attack on Sinhalese farmers is an attack on Sri Lankan farmers; that harassment and infringement of the rights of one person is infringement of the rights of many; and that this country truly belongs to all its people. The war in the northeast may end, but what happens beyond this conflict? What will we, as individuals, do within our own circles of influence to ensure nothing like this ever happens again? The responsibility lies with us all - citizens, members of parliament and lawmakers, aid and human rights workers - to take care of the minority and ensure everyone's voice is heard.
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20 responses to “Should aid groups be doing things differently in Sri Lanka?”
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Amjad Mohamed-Saleem classifies himself as a 'global citizen' - born in Nigeria, educated in Ethiopia and Britain, and now based in Sri Lanka. Following careers in engineering and management consultancy, he joined British relief and development agency Muslim Aid in April 2005. He was posted to Sri Lanka to work on reconstruction after the Indian Ocean tsunami and is now country director. He also oversees Muslim Aid's Bangladesh operation and coordinates its international disaster response unit. On the rare occasions when he's not globetrotting or on the road in Sri Lanka, Amjad enjoys books, music, socialising and going to the gym.
17 Mar 2009 14:45:07 GMT
Thanks Amjad, Srilankan state is a failed one. Government try to eliminate Tamil community from its own land. Unfortunately this is happening with blessing of international community during the daylight. pathetic situation
17 Mar 2009 16:36:24 GMT
its is true. Governtment should allow media to get the civilan report, why they don`t want to come governtment controlled areas. Its got histry in the past they have killed innocent peoples. International community should go and ask what do the people to say. Then the real story will come out. Thank you
17 Mar 2009 16:36:55 GMT
yES sRI LANKA IS DIFFERANT SO THE ngos ALSO MUST ACT DIFFERANTLY.Which govt has darerd to chase innocent civilions out of their homes out of their villages in the name of war against terror.Which govt has so far killed its citizen without food medicine but shells and cluster bombs...
17 Mar 2009 16:38:58 GMT
Public apathy is due to the fear of the state. None can talk against it. None can discuss its war strategies. As a true Buddhist, if one shows compassion towards less fortunate people in the war-torn region, one would be labelled as a traitor.
17 Mar 2009 17:01:46 GMT
Amjad is speaking from the past. Sinhalese had driven the Tamils to their extreme without any consideration for their human rights. As one commentator mentioned which govt in the world drove Tamils out of their homes and bombed them in the name of 'war aginst Terror'. It is purely a facade, a guise to exterminate and incapcitate the Tamils. The only consideration for the Tamils is Eelam and they will consider their duty as eelam citizen. The world should help to create Eelam. That will be Justice. All other talk is just academical. Please think what all sinhala leaders have done to Tamils since independence.
17 Mar 2009 18:40:00 GMT
Aid groups are doing in differnt way without helping to actually affected people. They are fully supporting to the elected Government for their to hide their activicties.
17 Mar 2009 19:09:38 GMT
NGOs should be able to help those Tamils without any restrictions from the government. The world should easily understand that there is a genocide against Tamils going on in Sri Lanka and it has to act very urgently. Don't let it be too late to say sorry and feel for your well planned mistake "UN and ICC". No need to apologise later if you free Tamil Eelam.
18 Mar 2009 02:57:27 GMT
What a surprise; a plethora of comments from people with extremist views who appear to have neither read nor digested the essence of the article about which they are commenting - merely the same kind of propaganda to which the author refers.
18 Mar 2009 03:00:15 GMT
Complex and vexacious problem of SriLanka calls for a fresh approach.Non Governmental means taking an apolitical approach under normal circumstances.;unfortunately in SriLanka,the scars on both sides run so deep that none of them know how to go about reief operations.Govt. is in two minds as they are afraid of LTTE infiltration and hoarding of materials meant for the populace.LTTE awaits a chance to move in ,by any means.Poor civilians do not know who shall provide them succour.Therefore, under the present fluid situation,there seems to be no option but to agree with the Govt's terms that the LTTE must lay down arms and come to the negotiating table.Unless this happens, there is no chance of aid reaching the civilians trapped. NGOs, though not exactly right by doing this, must seek and involve international opinion to pressurise LTTE to the terms of the government and also involve expatriate SriLankan Tamils to assist the NGOs reach aid to civilians by prevailing upon the LTTE.Many of the SriLankan Tamils have considerable influence with LTTE.They should realise that innocent lives might be lost if they keep on harping Tamil Eelam.
18 Mar 2009 03:05:42 GMT
Complex and vexacious problem of SriLanka calls for a fresh approach.Non Governmental means taking an apolitical approach under normal circumstances.;unfortunately in SriLanka,the scars on both sides run so deep that none of them know how to go about reief operations.Govt. is in two minds as they are afraid of LTTE infiltration and hoarding of materials meant for the populace.LTTE awaits a chance to move in ,by any means.Poor civilians do not know who shall provide them succour.Therefore, under the present fluid situation,there seems to be no option but to agree with the Govt's terms that the LTTE must lay down arms and come to the negotiating table.Unless this happens, there is no chance of aid reaching the civilians trapped. NGOs, though not exactly right by doing this, must seek and involve international opinion to pressurise LTTE to the terms of the government and also involve expatriate SriLankan Tamils to assist the NGOs reach aid to civilians by prevailing upon the LTTE.Many of the SriLankan Tamils have considerable influence with LTTE.They should realise that innocent lives might be lost if they keep on harping Tamil Eelam.
18 Mar 2009 03:25:35 GMT
The Sri Lankan government is heavily involved in systematic gencoide and it is all very well to say that the LTTE are holding people against their will and the NGOs should work with the government. But, the LTTE have actually invited the foreign governments, NGOs, journalists etc., to enter the Tamil areas and talk to the civilians via independent translators. On the other hand, the Sri Lankan government has banned all these organisations from visiting the Tamil areas. It is those who committ heinious crimes that have something to hide and in this case, it is the Sri Lankan government. Moreover, the author talks about armchair diaspora - we are not sitting in our armchairs, but are covered with everlasting bruises that the government has given us and now, we are seeing our families being tortured, rapes, forcibly sterilised, forced abortions, murdered (and the list is endless). As a Tamil Nation, we are mourning for the World'! s mistake of banning the LTTE as a Terrorist organisation, we are mourning for the continued genocide programme that has been unleashed against us.
19 Mar 2009 14:48:47 GMT
Thank you NP and SV Ramanan for bringing some sanity and objectiveness to the forum.
Dr Thiagarajah and others all seem to have selective amnesia. Whilst they accuse the government of genocide etc, why don't they also talk about how the LTTE has practised ethnic cleansing of the Muslims in the north and massacred Sinhalese and Muslims in the east. There are still 100,000 muslims in camps today because of this. How about the people of Muttur and Sampur who were forced out in 2006, the list can go and on. By claiming to fight against oppression, they themselves have become guilty of it. How about their absolute intolerance of dissension and how they have killed Tamils who opposed them such as Neelan Thiruchelvam and so on? What about all that money raised from abroad and pumped in for 'development' through the TRO? What has happened? Where is the development? It appears that the leadership used it to have swimming pools and air conditioned plush villas whilst 'their people' languished in camps? What about the forcible conscription and child soldiers? Your talk of the 'Tamil Nation' is laughable. Why are the majority of the Tamils living outside of the so called nations enjoying plush lives in Colombo (and in the west), with good jobs and good appartments? The Tamil Nation as you call it is guilty of the same oppression, that it was set up for. The State may be guilty but so is the LTTE leadership. Call a spade a spade. Both the State and the LTTE reflect people's intolerance and extremism and as most of the comments on this forum show, there is ignorance intolerance and extremism to the highest degree. if the views reflected in the responses are anything to go by, there is a long long way out of this black hole19 Mar 2009 14:49:48 GMT
'As a Tamil Nation, we are mourning for the World'!'- precisely the reason why India finds it difficult to help, as people harp on Tamil Nation(?), which we have a sneaking suspicion ,includes Tamil Nadu as well.This kind of jingoism harms the SriLankan Tamils in SriLanka rather than helping them.
19 Mar 2009 14:50:36 GMT
NGOs should speak the truth where as in Srilanka they are dancing to the tune of the state.If they go against the state they would be chased out of the country.To safe guard their bread and butter they will have to lie like the state.That is the reason actual ground realities never come out to International world.If they tell the truth all will know that genocide is taking place in Srilanka.
19 Mar 2009 14:51:32 GMT
Let us not romanticise the war here - it is about bloodshed and suffering of the Tamils. Armchair diaspora - Mr Mohamed-Saleem, have you seen yours friends and brother tortured and murdered in front of you? - I have. Have you been forced to dig mass graves? - I have. Have you seen your mother and both your sisters cower under the bed or in cupboards in fear of being raped by the army? - well, I have. And this is just the beginning of my story and those of my sisters and brothers in Sri Lanka. What is the crime we have committed to deserve this - we are all Tamils. I am a victim (and now live in UK, along with all the shell pieces still lodged in my legs) and please let me tell you as a victim who my aggressor is - it is the Government of Sri Lanka. Do you really want to join the state aggressors and join in their heinous act of committing genocide against the Tamil Nation.
19 Mar 2009 14:52:02 GMT
Shanthy... did u know that LTTE is TERRORIST organisation? what a joke.
19 Mar 2009 14:52:52 GMT
Eventhough I was not supporting any violent action anywhere, now i have to support LTTE for its bold stand to protect TAMILS from ARROGANT sinhala army lead by a CHAUVANISTIC commander.The civilised world should now reconsider there way of thinking about LTTE. They are truely defenders of reasonable TAMIL COURSE.They were compelled to resort to violance by unyielding GSLs.They have shown their interrest in peace very many times ,but Singalese wanted LTTE to do violance and deal millitarily to fulfill their long term ambition of singalisation of the whole island.
19 Mar 2009 14:53:44 GMT
Amjad does not realize that the impasse between NGO's and the GoSL is an engineered one to propagate a 60 year old agenda by the Sinahlese to subjugate the Thamils. It is currently at a genocidal stage of such magnitude that the world is finally taking notice, and has also crystalized the Thamil aspirations into just one possibility and that too very soon: Thamil Eelam! will be born and the President of sri lanka and many of his cronies/brothers will face charges of war crimes in International courts.
19 Mar 2009 15:09:19 GMT
I agree with Amjad that the people are as much, if not more so to blame here, than anyone else. Most of us love to sit around and belly-ache about the Govt or the LTTE or the NGO or the forces but, none of us our willing to get out there and voice these opinions of ours, where and when it really counts! Yes, of course we're scared and intimidated and we of course would like to live to see a better day but, I find it hard to call this living. To me, what each and every one of us are doing right now and have been doing for a long time now is merely "existing." This is not what one would ideally refer to as "living." Not by a long shot! We, as a nation have never known of people power. We've always either had resolves appear on a platter, or someone else to fight our battles for us. This unfortunately, has made us a docile society at large, resigned to whatever fate may befall us. To me, there lies the greatest tragedy of all!
20 Mar 2009 09:06:37 GMT
Mylon,
you are right, let us not romanticise the war. However this war is not just about the Tamil people, because everyone has got involved. You talk about torture and murder and mass graves. How about the atrocities that have been committed by the LTTE against the Muslim community in Kathankudy and the north? Why don't you acknowledge those atrocities that were committed against people in Mutur and Sampur and so on? This is what sickens me. People all cry against the crimes that were committed by the GOSL against the Tamils. Can you justify the crimes committed by the LTTE (even against their own people)? How come then there is silence? No one denies that what happened in 1983 is a terrible thing and is a blot on the conscience of every Sri Lankan. I happen to know Amjad personally and this is what he continuously says. he knows how much people suffered. he has friends and family who also suffered. however what he says is that this is no excuse to then be complicit on it happening to others. You ask about mass graves? How about the graves built in Kathankudy in the 1990s, when the mosque was attacked by the LTTE? or the farmers in Akkaraipattu who were gunned down in the nineties by the LTTE? or the people killed behind the mountain in Muttur by the LTTE as far back as 2006? everyone decries what is happening to the Tamils? why don't you speak about what the LTTE are doing? This is the greatest crime against all humanity