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This blog post is taken from Michael Kleinman's change.org blog on humanitarian relief
This is a special, WTF version of the Wednesday awards - namely, reports in The Times that 1,400 civilians are dying each week at the Manik Farm displaced person camp in Sri Lanka.
Come again? 1,400 deaths per week?
Long, uncomfortable moment of shocked silence.
Let's put those numbers in context:
- Heavy fighting in Mogadishu has killed over 380 people since May, not counting at least 43 this past weekend.
- There were 527 deaths due to violence in Darfur from January through May of this year.
- Massive inter-tribal fighting in Jonglei State, South Sudan, killed roughly 1,000 civilians in March and April.
- The Lord's Resistance Army in Congo - the poster boys for mass atrocities - have killed around 1,200 civilians in eastern Congo since January.
Granted, to a certain extent this comparing apples and oranges - the people in Manik Farm are not dying of violence; instead, as UPI reports: "the majority of the deaths resulted from water-borne diseases, particularly diarrhea."
Still, in terms of overall civilian casualties, more people are apparently dying each week in Sri Lanka than anywhere else in the world. By far.
Manik Farm is one of the world's largest displaced person camps, holding 230,000 Tamil civilians who fled the fighting between the Sri Lankan army and the rebel Tamil Tigers earlier this year.
As the UN Resident Coordinator explained back in June:
"The fundamental issue is that there are too many people in too small a place. We think it is the largest IDP camp in the world."
Sanitation is a particular concern - World Vision has described the situation as "woefully inadequate". Not to mention that a quarter of displaced children under the age of five suffer from acute malnutrition.
The Times gives a sense of what it's like in the camp: "Witness testimonies...described long queues for food and inadequate water supplies inside Manik Farm. Women, children and the elderly were shoved aside in the scramble for supplies."
The Sri Lankan Government has not been particularly, ummmmm, helpful. Aid agencies have only limited access to the camps; meanwhile, Sri Lankan authorities are calling for aid agencies - including the Red Cross - to limit their operations.
According to an excellent article on Reuters AlertNet: "Many aid workers view the government's call for a scaling down of aid operations as a deliberate move to prevent outsiders from witnessing conditions inside the camps."
Of course, there are two sides to every story. According to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Manik Farms is really just a displaced person's wonderland:
"I would say the condition in our camps is the best any country has. We supply water. There is a problem with lavatories. That is not because of our fault. The money that comes from the EU and others, it goes to the NGOs and the U.N. They are very slow; disbursing money is very slow.
We supply the water tanks. We have spent over 2 billion rupees. Giving electricity, giving water, now we are giving televisions to them."
No pithy comments from this end. Just what a fucking mess.
For a detailed breakdown of IDP locations in northern Sri Lanka, please see here.
Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external websites.
Michael Kleinman is an aid worker, lawyer, and consultant. From 2004 to 2007 he worked for CARE, first as the organization's Advocacy Advisor in Afghanistan, then covering Sudan, and finally as CARE's Regional Advocacy Advisor for East and Central Africa. He left CARE in early 2007 to take a position with International Relief & Development in Iraq. Prior to going overseas, Michael worked for the Harvard Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research, providing assistance to the United Nations. He is a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School. He runs change.org's blog on a 
16 Jul 2009 22:23:31 GMT
Well Michael, Thanks for giving some light into a the worse humanitarian disaster that is happening right now, one thing I want to point out is, those IDPs are held in those camps forcefully. it is not like they want to stay there. They are forcefully kept there with no access to outside world. I have my relatives staying in those camps with small children. It is reported that more than 40% of those poeple are children. The sad reality is the whole world is watching this genocide with no action taken against Sri-Lanka. Sri-Lanka is getting away with war crime while the international community including UN is just providing a lip service. I wonder when someone will say enough is enough and take some concrete action against Sri-Lanka.
17 Jul 2009 03:23:23 GMT
It is indeed pathetic to note that you circulate lies when you say and believe that 1400 persons die in this IDP camp. This figure is fictitious and a creation of Tamil Tiger supporters who tried their best to save the lives of Tamil Tiger leaders by publishing sensational stories about civilians to get the attention of the West. They have forgotten the atrocities committed by the Tamil Tigers and their killing fields. The action taken by SL Govt has the approval of the majority of the Nations.
17 Jul 2009 14:18:03 GMT
The so-called aid workers or pseudo-journalists should save the four-letter-words for themselves. If you have a score to settle don't do it in Sri Lanka. Join the forces in Afghanistan. Some people know only spin. Ever heard of the word 'Objectivity'? I wouldn't waste even a pity comment on guys who try to play with human lives.
17 Jul 2009 14:18:23 GMT
Most of the figures given are unsubstantiated mainly because journalists can't go into these areas and verify the claims themselves so we're at the mercy of the bias of aid organisations, their need to retain a livelihood and for the collection of donations.
17 Jul 2009 14:18:47 GMT
Likely LTT is exaggerating for just that purpose, to gain attention for their cause, but distortions by either side cannot hide plain facts: conditions at this camp are atrocious and sub-human, fomenting disease, death, and deep mistrust for any peace process. How would we feel if our grandmothers and daughters were forced to live in Manik Farm?
17 Jul 2009 14:19:05 GMT
The figure of 1400 per week is pure LTTE propaganda. The true figure is less than perhaps 10 a week. The whole problem is caused by Western countries giving residency to nearly one million bogus refugees, who funded the war and killing.The key tool of these con artists is lies and deception.
17 Jul 2009 14:19:28 GMT
"Lies, damn lies and statistics" seems to take everyone in these days. Just pluck a figure from the air, add a few zeroes and it becomes fact. When was Michael Keleinman in Sri Lanka that he is quoting as the gospel truth? Did he try to verify these figures and calumnies that are spread by HRW and the Taml Tiger lobby enjoying the comforts of the west?
19 Jul 2009 03:22:25 GMT
At no stage did this article make reference to the Tamil diaspora or the Tamil Tigers, yet the Sri Lankan Government's planted opratives, including individuals from Melbourne,remain so blinded by Sri Lankan Government propaganda, that regardless of the article's actual content, always bring the blame back to the Tamils. You should visit the SPUR website to gain a better understanding of the ideology that pins many of the excuses expressed in this forum for Sri Lanka's behaviour.
19 Jul 2009 03:23:25 GMT
This article on Aid and Access in Sri Lanka appeared in the non-partisan Overseas Development Institute's magazine this week. Gives a good overview of the situation in Sri Lanka:
http://www.odihpn.org/report.19 Jul 2009 03:24:13 GMT
War of words regarding the displaced in the northern Srilanka security camps and number of people dying due to the unhealthy condition has reached an international attention. Many who are disputing these figures and defending sri lanka's action are not at all aware of the corrupted ruler's crack dawn on media outlets and killing of some leading journalist. In an attempt to hide the human sufferings of the IDPs,minority communities and the corrupted rule many comments are directed against international societies.
What the Sri Lanka rulers are doing is to punish and make things worse for the Tamil IDPs so that many of them will Perish in the unhealthy security camps. Same time to scale dawn and send out all the international aid agencies so that out side world does not know what is happening inside Srilanka.22 Jul 2009 02:35:39 GMT
I find it interesting and also very troubling that aid agencies are the ones being pointed to as the culpable parties, both in comments on this post and elsewhere in the news/information blogosphere. Maybe it is, in fact, true that aid agencies are only interested in their own livelihoods. But this, firstly, does not mean that they are wrong in their analysis of the humanitarian situation, not just in Manik Farm, but throughout northern and northeastern Sri Lanka. Second, if this is the case - aid agencies are only painting a lurid picture in order to access funding - then, it is effort essentially wasted. The crisis in Sri Lanka barely has international donor attention.
30 Jul 2009 13:29:16 GMT
may i join
30 Jul 2009 13:29:44 GMT
God is watching, let's see how the powers of the world will cope with when non man made disaters to come in Sorry Lanka... shortly!
30 Jul 2009 13:30:39 GMT
Dear Michael, It's an open truth the situations in the concentration camps are the worst in the world history. It is not Africa where the people are poor and ignorant but in Wanni, North of Sri Lanka, they are the richest and 100% educated people. They are the people feeding the 75% of the whole population of the Island. Because they born as Tamils, they are being treated as slaves. The Nazi Germany did the same atrocities to the Jews. You are the "Genuine" people thinking of giving Sri Lanka the award for the "Worst" but the IMF awarded 2.5billion which is 0.6billion more than the requested amount for mass murders, highest rape in the world, torture, killing the people by internationally banned weapons of cluster bombs and chemical bombs and for refusing the NGOs, UNO, the Independent monitors and the medias to visit the camps. How could a tiny peanut Island tight the hands of the IC? Why do the world body is weaker than Sri Lanka? Why couldn't we free the people? It is shame for all of us!!!
30 Jul 2009 13:31:13 GMT
It is appalling to note that the unfortunate Tamil civilians in the camps are the descendents of the original citizens of ceylon (srilanka) .Please be reminded the sinhalese are the descendents of Vijayan and his friends from Bengal ( Mahavamsa).Now these people are acting like Nazis and torturing Tamils in their own land and the world is watching in silence .The so called Buddhist country is turning into a brutal country and is earning a name as the worst country in the world.Dam shame .Behave like human beings and not like barbarians in this 21 century.