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Britain has done more than almost any other country to resolve the conflict, but despite our efforts we were ultimately powerless to prevent thousands of Tamils dying. If we are disappointed and sad about that, we
can only imagine how Britain’s Tamils feel. They are angry, and that anger is likely to be shared around the world. I therefore wish to take this opportunity to urge our Government to do all they can to work closely with Tamil representatives and ensure that their voice is heard. However, of immediate short-term concern is the fact that as many as 300,000 people are currently in refugee camps—that is the reason I called for this debate.
A kind of doublespeak exists when it comes to Sri Lanka. The camps are described by the Sri Lankan Government as welfare villages, but even the Library says that they are better described as internment camps. Last month, despite the desperate conditions in Sri Lanka, the last neutral organisation in the conflict zone, the International Red Cross, pulled out because the Sri Lankan Government had barred it from the camps. Some 300,000 civilians live in the camps, with huge numbers sick, malnourished or injured. But the Sri Lankan Government are still refusing to allow any independent monitors or agencies into the area. There must be unhindered access for independent international agencies like the Red Cross and the UNHCR to all the internment camps.
Mr. Andrew Dismore (Hendon) (Lab): As usual, my hon. Friend makes a powerful speech on the plight of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. Does she agree that the camps should be opened to the media? One of the real problems in all this has been the complete absence of objective press reporting—indeed, any press reporting—because of the Sri Lankan Government’s refusal to allow media access.
Siobhain McDonagh: I agree with my hon. Friend, and I will come to that point later in my speech.
The conditions in the camps have not improved, and with the monsoon season on its way there is an even higher risk of disease. I hope that Britain can lead the way in calling for urgent humanitarian action now. Although the fighting is officially over, humanitarian assistance is needed now more than at any other time in the past six months.
The Government there have claimed that conditions are improving, but if that is true they have no reason to fear the presence of independent monitors or reporters, and if conditions are worsening, they have a greater reason to need the help of independent aid agencies. Many people fear that Sri Lanka’s claim about improving conditions in the camps is just a way to prevent external agencies from showing the world what is really going on. It is illogical for there still to be heavy restrictions on the media, aid agencies and human rights groups entering the camps now that the war is over. I hope my hon. Friend will comment on the need for independent monitoring of the camps in his reply. I hope he will also comment on the need to ensure the safety of civilians and even former LTTE cadres.
In order to achieve a long-term peace, there must be reconciliation, and that means treating people with respect. It is not right to intern mass populations, and civilians must be allowed to resettle as soon as possible. Interning mass populations breaches the rule of law and Governments should not be permitted to repress minority populations through the use of long-term internment. Again, I hope that my hon. Friend will agree that this can be achieved only with independent monitoring.
As a gesture, the Sri Lankan Government should allow the mercy mission ship to unload its humanitarian cargo. This would show the world the kind of magnanimity that we are looking for. I understand that the ship is said to have the wrong paperwork and cannot be allowed to dock, but in reality Sri Lankan officials have been on board and know that the cargo is purely humanitarian. Given the exceptional need for humanitarian assistance, the Sri Lankan Government would earn a lot of respect around the world if they allowed an exception to the usual rules and permitted the ship to unload its cargo. Such a gesture would be much appreciated, whereas not allowing it to unload simply looks mean and unnecessarily nasty. I have written to the Sri Lankan high commission asking Sri Lanka to permit the ship to unload and I hope it will show that it has a heart.
I also want to take this opportunity to call on Sri Lanka to show heart over the case of doctors who looked after the sick and dying in the conflict zone. A group of doctors who worked in the conflict zone are being held on suspicion of collaboration and could be in detention for a year or more before being tried. Many people are concerned that the doctors should not be treated like this, and feel that they are in fact heroes rather than criminals. They have not been heard from since they were detained, but their work during the conflict has been widely praised. They treated patients in makeshift health facilities in the war zone. They undoubtedly helped to save many lives, and the UN has described them as “heroic”. However, they were also a source of embarrassment to the Government.
As journalists and independent monitors were banned from the conflict zone, the doctors became one of the few available sources of news about the fighting. They told the world that shelling had in fact come from the Government side and had indeed killed civilians. Sri Lanka, however, has accused the doctors of spreading falsehoods and has implied that doctors were not really looking after civilians at all, accusing them of supporting the Tamil Tigers instead.
Sri Lanka wants the world to believe that not a single civilian died in its final offensive, but few people believe that. Imprisoning the doctors would help to hide an inconvenient truth. I hope that our Government will therefore do all within their power to ensure that the doctors are treated well and receive independently verifiable justice. I hope that my hon. Friend can assure me that the Government are doing all they can to help the doctors.
I have spoken to Ministers about Sri Lanka many times. The Foreign Secretary has shown extraordinary resolve in his efforts to help Tamils caught up in the conflict. Britain has, in my view, gone as far as any Government in working for peace and a solution to this humanitarian crisis. Our Government have repeatedly called for a political solution that establishes a meaningful role for Tamil and other minorities in national political life. Unfortunately, the UN has not covered itself in glory. The Security Council made strong statements, but we all know that words are not enough and there has been no action because Russia, China, Japan and Vietnam prevented it.
The cause of the Tamils has been my first foray into international relations and has been particularly depressing. Thousands are dead; many hundreds of thousands are homeless. They need our help now and I hope that the
Government will do all they can to reassure Britain’s Tamils, and everyone else around the world who believes in decency and values in foreign affairs, that we are on their side.
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The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Ivan Lewis): May I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh) not only on securing today’s debate but on her long track record in fighting to bring the plight of the Tamils in Sri Lanka to the House’s attention? The issue is not only important around the world, but for the foreign policy values for which the UK should stand. It is absolutely right that my hon. Friend should choose now—at the end of a 25-year conflict—to raise these incredibly important issues.
Of course, we are relieved that the thousands of civilians who were trapped in the conflict zone are no longer at immediate risk from the fighting, but we must also be clear that this is no time for celebration. Too many Sri Lankans died during three decades of conflict. We may never know the final figure, but it is reasonable to assume that it was far more than the 70,000 that is frequently cited.
The significant challenges that now face the country are threefold: to provide immediate relief for the thousands of displaced civilians; to ensure their rehabilitation and resettlement; and to initiate a process of political reconciliation that is genuinely and authentically inclusive.
As my hon. Friend said, as soon as the fighting was over my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary spoke to the President and Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka and urged the Sri Lankan Government to launch a genuine political process and to address the needs of the internally displaced persons—the IDPs. I think that we would all be united in saying that the most pressing priority has to be tackling the humanitarian situation. Shockingly, there are now more than 280,000 civilians in the IDP camps. Any country would struggle to cope with that number, and that is why the presence of the UN and international humanitarian agencies is so important, but they can provide the much needed assistance only with the full co-operation of the Sri Lankan Government.
Since the visit to Sri Lanka at the end of April by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and French Foreign Minister Kouchner, the Sri Lankan Government have shown a greater willingness to issue visas to agency staff and to improve agency access to the IDPs, but problems remain. The camps are overcrowded and without adequate clean water or adequate medical facilities. Families who were separated when they fled the fighting have still not been reunited. The Sri Lankan Government must demilitarise the camps as soon as possible and grant unhindered access to the aid agencies and freedom of movement to the IDPs.
When they met last week, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary urged the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka to make continued progress on those fronts. He also made it clear that early resettlement must be an essential part of any reconciliation process.
We welcome the Sri Lankan Government’s undertaking to return the bulk of the IDPs to their homes within 180 days. Of course, we look forward to seeing how they plan to achieve that, and how we could offer assistance. The recent visit to Sri Lanka by the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, who was able to visit four of the IDP camps, and his subsequent briefing to members of the Security Council, were important, but continued engagement by the UN is essential to keep the spotlight of international concern focused on Sri Lanka.
The United Kingdom will continue to offer practical help in addressing the needs of the IDPs. Since September 2008, my former Department, the Department for International Development, has allocated £12.5 million to support the work of the international humanitarian agencies. DFID’s contributions will continue to focus on the immediate needs of the IDPs, but they will also help to support displaced people in making a dignified and safe return to their homes. That could include activities such as mine mapping to assist in the demining process, and providing shelter and basic services for survival and the recovery of people’s livelihoods.
We have always made it clear that there could be no satisfactory military solution to the conflict; my hon. Friend made that plain in her contribution, too. Lasting peace can come about only as a result of an inclusive political process, in which all communities in Sri Lanka believe genuinely that they are accepted and valued members of society. After years of conflict, the process of political reconciliation will not be easy. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary made the point strongly to the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister last week that winning the peace could end up being harder than winning the war. We therefore very much welcome the comments made by the President of Sri Lanka in his victory day speech on 3 June:
“The war fought against the LTTE was not a war against the Tamil people”,
“It is now time to win the hearts of the Tamil people”.
We also welcome his acknowledgement, at the end of the UN Secretary-General’s visit, that
“addressing the aspirations and grievances of all communities and working towards a lasting political solution”
“fundamental to ensuring long-term socio-economic development”
In Sri Lanka. Of course, when it comes to those fine aspirations, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. We will expect to see the details of how the Sri Lankan Government intend to take a process of reconciliation forward.
Any reconciliation will require legitimate grievances from the past to be addressed before we can move on to the future. The President recognised that during the Secretary-General’s visit. We welcome the President’s commitment, in his joint statement with the Secretary-General, to taking measures to address possible violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary re-emphasised the need for such a process of accountability to the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister last week, and urged the Sri Lankan Government to make it clear how they intend to follow up on the President’s commitment.
We have always been clear that the United Kingdom would fully support an independent, credible and transparent investigation into allegations of breaches in international humanitarian law committed by all parties to the conflict. We cannot be certain exactly what happened during the fighting, particularly towards the end of the conflict, but enough reports have surfaced for us to have grave concerns about the number of civilians who might have died as a direct result of the fighting in the conflict zone. We are well aware of credible reports suggesting that thousands of civilians died between January and May this year.
I should like specifically to address my hon. Friend’s point about the doctors. We are very concerned that the three Sri Lankan doctors, who had been on the front line in the war zone, treating wounded civilians, as she said, were arrested on 18 May by the Sri Lankan Government on charges, we believe, of giving false information to the media. When our Foreign Secretary discussed matters with the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister on 5 June, he raised that specific issue, and we will continue to follow the cases closely. I shall be happy to keep my hon. Friend informed of developments.
In conclusion, many challenges still face the Government and the people of Sri Lanka, but there is also an
historic opportunity now to heal the wounds caused by years of violence and to create a Sri Lanka in which all communities—
Siobhain McDonagh: What is the Government’s view on the access of journalists and international reporters to the zone?
Mr. Lewis: Any Government who are content with the way in which people in such circumstances are being treated should—taking account of security considerations—ensure that journalists have access. We hope the Sri Lankan Government will be willing to consider that.
For Sri Lanka to move forward, all communities—Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims—must feel that they have an equal stake in that society. We will continue to use our influence and continue to work with the Sri Lankan Government and other partners to help bring this about, so that we can move from conflict and war to an authentic process of peace and reconciliation.
2.55 pm
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