V. Recommendations

To the Government of Sri Lanka

·Immediately lift the September 2008 order barring humanitarian agencies from the Vanni conflict area in northern Sri Lanka and allow humanitarian agencies to return to assist at-risk individuals and reach all civilians in need. Restrictions on relief should only be made on a case-by-case basis and only when there is a specific and justifiable security reason for the restriction. Refusals for valid security reasons should only be for as long as necessary and should not block legitimate humanitarian assistance.

·Immediately end the arbitrary and indefinite detention of civilians displaced by recent fighting at the Kalimoddai, Sirunkandal, and Menik Farm camps in northern Sri Lanka, or at other proposed camps in Sri Lanka.

·Make public the names of all persons detained by the military and police under Emergency Regulations and other laws, and provide those detained prompt access to their families and legal counsel.

·Instruct security forces to respect and protect humanitarian aid personnel and their facilities, supplies, and transportation. Personnel who commit abuses against humanitarian organizations and their staff should be disciplined or criminally prosecuted as appropriate.

·Ensure that nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are able to perform their work without arbitrary government interference: regulation of NGO activities should comply with international standards, be transparent, and follow clearly defined procedures. Registration should ultimately facilitate the work of NGOs and should neither disrupt legitimate NGO activities nor put NGO workers at risk.

·Allow independent observers, including journalists, access to conflict zones so that accurate and timely information about the situation of civilians in such areas is publicly available.

·Work with donor governments to establish an international human rights monitoring mission under United Nations auspices to monitor violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict.

To the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) (see our report Trapped and Mistreated for additional recommendations)

·Stop preventing civilians from leaving areas under LTTE control. Respect the right to freedom of movement of civilians, including the right of civilians to move to government-controlled territory for safety.

·Provide humanitarian agencies and UN agencies safe and unhindered access to areas under LTTE-control, and guarantee the security of all humanitarian and UN workers, including Vanni residents working as humanitarian or UN staff.

To the co-chairs of the Tokyo Donors' Conference (Japan, the European Union, Norway, and the United States) and the World Bank, India, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations

·Speak out publicly, as well as privately, on the situation in the Vanni and other human rights concerns in Sri Lanka. Insist that the government adhere to its international legal obligations on human rights and humanitarian matters.

·Urge the government to withdraw its September 2008 order and allow humanitarian agencies access to the Vanni so that they can provide urgent humanitarian assistance and help provide civilian protection.

·Urge the government to ensure the protection of displaced persons, regardless of ethnicity, and end arbitrary detention. The government should be pressed to follow the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, which provide that consistent with the right to liberty, internally displaced persons "shall not be interned in or confined to a camp."

·Urge the government to allow the UN and its agencies to conduct a strategic, long-term needs assessment of displaced civilians in the north and permit a follow-up program to implement these needs.

·Press the government to allow independent observers, including journalists, access to conflict zones so that accurate and timely information about the situation of civilians in such areas is publicly available.

·Work with the Sri Lankan government to establish an international human rights monitoring mission under United Nations auspices to monitor violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict.