In voting last month to approve a $2.6 billion (U.S.) IMF loan to Sri Lanka, the government of Canada squandered an opportunity to press the government of Sri Lanka on its treatment of war-affected civilians following its military victory over the rebel Tamil Tigers in May.
The United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Argentina - holding more than 30 per cent of the IMF's shares - made the highly unusual move of abstaining from the vote, largely because of human rights concerns. It's too bad that Canada, with 3 per cent of IMF shares, didn't join them.
During the final months of fighting between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), both sides were responsible for grave violations of the laws of war that resulted in thousands of civilian deaths. As their territory shrank, the Tamil Tigers used the civilians under their control as human shields, shooting and killing people who tried to flee the war zone. The government urged civilians to congregate in so-called "no-fire" zones, but then fired artillery indiscriminately into these densely populated areas. Both sides refused to take adequate steps to allow a humanitarian evacuation, despite public UN concerns regarding the unfolding bloodbath.
IMF officials and their directors typically insist that human rights are outside the IMF's mandate, but in this case members' revulsion with Sri Lanka's conduct during and after the war delayed the vote on Sri Lanka's requested loan by three months. In May, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it was "not an appropriate time" to consider the IMF loan, while U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband called the situation a "civilian catastrophe" and expressed concern about whether the government would use IMF funds in a "responsible and appropriate way." Once the vote was finally scheduled, they and others used abstentions to register their strong disapproval. Germany has never before abstained from an IMF vote on human rights grounds. The U.K.'s last abstention was in 2004.
Unfortunately, Canada's vote to support the loan may be interpreted as an endorsement of Sri Lanka's practices. Sri Lanka's pro-government Daily News claimed that the vote "vindicated" the government and boasted that by refusing to make human rights concessions, President Mahinda Rajapaksa had "refused to compromise the country's sovereignty and independence." The government's minister of export development and trade, G.L. Peiris, called the loan "a clear vote of confidence."
On July 22, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon wrote to Human Rights Watch, stating that the government would "evaluate any request for IMF financial assistance in terms of how effective it would be in helping to support the country's public finances and lead to meaningful improvements in the welfare of all Sri Lankans, particularly those affected by the humanitarian situation."
However, the government's conduct since the end of the war shows little regard for the humanitarian crisis. Instead, it is undermining hopes for stability and creating more bitterness and resentment among the country's Tamil minority.
The government has virtually imprisoned up to 300,000 people displaced by the war in overcrowded government-run camps, refusing to allow them to leave to stay with family or friends and even refusing family members access to the camps. To keep information emerging about the conduct of the war, it is severely restricting the operations of relief organizations, and refusing access to journalists and human rights monitors. It has placed thousands of suspected LTTE members in incommunicado detention, and it continues to accuse journalists who criticize government actions of being LTTE sympathizers.
In these circumstances, IMF members must question whether loaning money to Sri Lanka is a good investment or can achieve its objectives.
In reality, the vote on the loan has only given Sri Lanka immediate access to $313 million. Canada and other members of the IMF board will have to approve subsequent tranches of funds each quarter over the next 20 months. Canada still has a chance to use these quarterly reviews to make sure human rights progress is made. It should make clear that if it sees no progress, it will abstain from future votes. That's the best way to ensure that the loan benefits all Sri Lankans.
Jo Becker is an advocate for Human Rights Watch and the author of Living in Fear: Child recruitment by the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka and Funding the Final War: LTTE Intimidation and Extortion in the Tamil Diaspora.
