News article I wrote while Information Officer for Action by Churches Together (ACT) International
ACT members in Sri Lanka call for free access of aid agencies to provide humanitarian assistance
Geneva, August 18, 2006—Several members of Action by Churches Together (ACT) International working in Sri Lanka in response to the December 26, 2004, tsunami today called on the parties involved in recent violence to guarantee the access of all humanitarian agencies to people wounded and displaced by the current hostilities and to allow post-tsunami reconstruction work to continue. ACT is a global alliance of churches and their related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide.
Eight ACT members (Christian Aid, Church of Sweden, DanChurchAid, Diakonie Emergency Aid, Hungarian Interchurch Aid, Lutheran World Relief, Norwegian Church Aid, and the United Methodist Committee on Relief ) that are providing for the needs of tsunami survivors in the island nation said in a statement that “the current situation is having a devastating impact on the tsunami work in the northern and eastern parts of the country, bringing much of the work to a halt and severely setting back the reconstruction work.”
In the last several months, violent clashes between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), commonly known as the Tamil Tigers, and government troops have forced thousands of people from their homes. Since April, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has recorded 128,850 people newly displaced within Sri Lanka, including more than 50,000 who have fled violence in the past two weeks alone. The heavy fighting has prevented humanitarian aid workers from reaching the affected areas and providing for the additional urgent needs that have been created.
On August 6, the bodies of 17 humanitarian workers of the international aid group Action Contre La Faim were found in the northeastern town of Mutur. They had been shot to death. The killings have prompted many international humanitarian aid groups to call for parties involved in conflict to respect international humanitarian law and allow access to people in need.
“The murder of 17 local staff members of Action Contre La Faim and attacks on international non-governmental organizations attempting to bring aid to those suffering as a result of the violence is of deep concern to all of us,” the ACT members said in their statement, which also expressed their alarm and distress at the continuing levels of violence in the country.
In a separate statement issued today, which urged a number of actions, church leaders in the country called on both the LTTE and the government of Sri Lanka “to bring an immediate halt to their hostilities, declare a new cease fire with improved modalities for monitoring and to sit together and start talking to each other with the expressed objective of restoring normalcy and the free availability of basic human needs to all.”
Among the leaders signing the statement were Rev. Dr. Jayasiri T. Peiris, general secretary of ACT member National Christian Council of Sri Lanka, which is also working in response to the tsunami. The leaders also issued a pastoral letter with the statement which will be read in churches in Sri Lanka this Sunday.
On August 15, the entire ACT alliance issued a statement calling on the international community to ensure that all parties engaged in conflict in various places around the world meet their obligations under international humanitarian law with regard to the protection of civilians and access of humanitarian workers to people in need. The statement addressed the high-profile conflict in Lebanon, where humanitarian aid groups have been unable to access thousands of civilians in need in southern Lebanon, but referred to other emergencies that ACT is involved in where fundamental principles of international humanitarian law are being disregarded.
“In too many places in the world where we are engaged in humanitarian assistance—such as in Lebanon and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, in Sri Lanka where recently 17 aid workers were brutally murdered, and in Sudan’s Darfur province—we see how the lives of civilians and aid workers are constantly put at risk, because of the lack of respect for the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law,” said John Nduna, director of the Geneva-based coordinating office of ACT.
The statement by ACT members in Sri Lanka said, “As signatories to the International Red Cross Code of Conduct, we are committed to offering humanitarian assistance regardless of religious or political persuasion.” All ACT members are required to adhere to the code - The Code of Conduct of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief - as a basis of their membership in the alliance.
The entire statement from the ACT members in Sri Lanka and list of signatories is provided below.
STATEMENT OF ACT MEMBERS IN SRI LANKA
Eight members of the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International working in Sri Lanka are alarmed and distressed at the continuing levels of violence in the country. The murder of 17 local staff members of Action Contre La Faim and attacks on international non-governmental organizations attempting to bring aid to those suffering as a result of the violence is of deep concern to all of us.
As signatories to the International Red Cross Code of Conduct, we are committed to offering humanitarian assistance regardless of religious or political persuasion. In too many places there is a disregard for international humanitarian law, which is clear on the protection of civilians and unconditional humanitarian access to people in need.
The fundamental principles of international humanitarian law are to prevent humanitarian suffering among civilian populations, to ensure that populations have access to basic humanitarian assistance, and to spare civilian life, states John Nduna, the director of the Geneva-based coordinating office of ACT International.
The current situation is having a devastating impact on the tsunami work in the northern and eastern parts of the country, bringing much of the work to a halt and severely setting back the reconstruction work.
We therefore urge both the parties to guarantee safe passage for all humanitarian agencies so that the reconstruction work may continue unhampered and the needs of the people wounded and displaced by the current hostilities can be met.
Signed by:
Christian Aid
Church of Sweden
DanChurchAid
Diakonie Emergency Aid (Diakonisches Werk)
Hungarian Interchurch Aid
Lutheran World Relief (LWR)
Norwegian Church Aid (NCA)
United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)
