Sri Lanka V

Nobody can possibly read all the links posted above.

To get a picture of the current situation in brief, [url=http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/809/41599]this article[/url] will suffice.

Here's an excerpt:

Quote:

A humanitarian catastrophe has been escalating over the last three months in the internment camps in which 285,000 Tamil civilians have been imprisoned in the north of Sri Lanka.

Even some liberal Western media outlets have begun referring to these camps - heavily guarded by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) and ringed by razor wire - by their accurate name: concentration camps. The already disastrous conditions for the camps' prisoners, which include around 55,000 children, are being exacerbated by heavy rains causing major flooding.

The Sri Lankan government launched a brutal offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at the start of 2008. The LTTE had been fighting for an independent state for the oppressed Tamil people in the north-east of the island.

Between January and May this year, more than 30,000 Tamils were killed. In May, the government declared victory in its 26-year long war against the LTTE.

Tamil refugees displaced by the war have been rounded up and held against their will in about 30 government-run camps in the north.

The government said the internees would be held until they were "screened" for links to the LTTE. It pledged to release 80% of those detained by the end of the year.

But since May, only 10,000 refugees have been released. Sri Lanka's foreign secretary publicly stated that he believed all Tamils are "with" the LTTE - "at least mentally".

Rights agencies have reported food, water and medicine shortages, and resulting malnourishment, among internees. Tamil sources have reported deaths from starvation in the camps.

There have been widespread allegations of the systematic rape and sexual abuse of Tamil women and children. There are also reports of beatings, disappearances and executions of Tamils suspected of supporting the LTTE.

More than 10,000 Tamils, who the government claims are LTTE members, have been removed from the camps and imprisoned incommunicado in secret locations without access to the outside world - or to the rights recognised under international law of prisoners of war.

in short, the tamil situation is actually one of the only real occurences of genocide in this world not based on religion

most genocides in this world (as called by the media) are either religious based or not real genocides but civil wars. For example Tamil population decreased every year for last 30 years. Where as many so called genocides population doubled in 30 years which is insane