Sri Lanka: Bishops say all must be allowed home

Young Tamil boys stand with other civilians behind a barbed-wire fence in the Menikfam Vanni refugee camp located near the town of Chettekulam in northern Sri Lanka April 29, 2009 [REUTERS/Stringer, courtesy alertnet.org]

Bishop John Rawsthorne of Sheffield and Bishop John Arnold of Westminster call for Tamils displaced by civil war to be allowed to return home after visiting camps in Sri Lanka

Two English Catholic bishops have recently returned from Sri Lanka where they gained a rare insight into life in the post-conflict camps.

Alongside CAFOD, they are calling for the end of forced confinement of nearly 300,000 Tamil survivors of the country’s long and bloody conflict and allow them to go home.

Bishop John Rawsthorne of Sheffield and Bishop John Arnold of Westminster have just returned from an eight day tour of the country, where they were looking at the post-conflict and post-tsunami work of CAFOD and our partner Caritas Sri Lanka.

They gained access to the camps in the north of the country, met people who have been released and also priests and nuns who have been allowed to work in the camps providing food, health and education.

Bishop John Rawsthorne said: “I was very distressed at the plight of the people in the camps. There is serious overcrowding and inadequate food and health services. The monsoon season will soon be upon them and could be disastrous for the hundreds of thousands of people stuck there. Even with the recent rains, some people lost the meagre possessions they had.

“CAFOD’s partners are deeply involved in the humanitarian relief work in the camps and I was also greatly encouraged by the way in which the Church is responding both in a humanitarian way and in calling for people to be allowed to go home.

"This is a country which had had to deal with the dreadful consequences of the tsunami and is now in the aftermath of a conflict which has left about 300,000 people confined in camps. It is unacceptable and these people must be allowed to return to their villages as quickly as possible.

"The generosity of Catholics in England and Wales, through CAFOD, is producing heartfelt results and will continue to do so as people begin to return home and rebuild their lives.”

Bishop John Arnold said: “People do not want to be in the camps. They want to be allowed home and to be reunited with their families. The Sri Lankan Government originally set a target for 80 per cent of people to be released within 180 days. 90 days have already passed and we must hold the Government to account on its promises.

"According to the commander of one of the camps we visited, what is stopping the people’s release is the vast number of mines and unexploded ordnance in areas they want to go home to but also the Government’s screening programme to check for Tamil Tigers combatants.

“There are some moves to release the most vulnerable, such as the elderly, orphans and pregnant women. The Church is working with the Sri Lankan Government to offer alternative solutions and allow early release.

"It is gloomy but there are chinks of light. Seeing the successful tsunami work that has taken place and where communities are rebuilding and looking to the future was inspiring. There are many hopeful signs for the building of peace.

"But is clear the journey to lasting peace will be a long one.”

CAFOD’s International Director Geoff O’Donoghue, who travelled with the Bishops, said: “The Sri Lankan Government has just announced that relatives or friends of those in the camps can now apply to accommodate them, but we’re concerned about how this might work. If it meant an extension of the screening process to host families, that would be counter-productive.

“Through the work done by Caritas Sri Lanka, there have been some improvements to the camps, but the best way forward is for the Sri Lankan Government to stick to its original 180-day commitment to release 80 percent of the displaced people in the camps.

"Already this has slipped, and now President Rajapakse is saying only 60% may be possible within the stated time frame.

“CAFOD is honoured the Bishops were able to travel with us and see for themselves the plight of the people and what CAFOD, its partners and the Catholic Church are doing to bring lasting peace to this war-exhausted country,” he said.

Media: For further information or interviews contact: Jane Faure-Brac on Tel: 020 7095-5558 or mobile: 07825 734390 or email: jfaure-brac@cafod.org.uk

Listen to Geoff O'Donoghue, CAFOD international director on BBC Radio 4 Today show

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