VZCZCXYZ0011
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLM #0699/01 1351040
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 151040Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6033
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 5161

UNCLAS COLOMBO 000699 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS TO USAID 
AID/W PLEASE PASS USAID/OFDA, USAID/ANE, USAID/CMM 
KATHMANDU FOR OFDA REGIONAL ADVISOR WILLIAM BERGER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREF CE
SUBJECT:  HUMANITARIAN AND HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN THE 
TRINCOMALEE DISTRICT 
 
REF: COLOMBO 0310 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  USAID Program Officer traveled to 
Trincomalee District April 22-26, 2007 to assess the 
humanitarian and human rights situation.  The following 
organizations and locations were visited: the Human 
Rights Commission?s field office, ICRC, UNHCR, UNICEF, 
UNOCHA, World Food Program (WFP), and the Kiliveddy IDP 
Transition Site.  The Human Rights Commission field 
office identified needs and requested USG support while 
food distribution problems are noted at the Kiliveddy IDP 
Transition Site.  End Summary. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
Human Rights Office Needs and Monitoring 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) Mrs. Mathiaparanam, the Head of the Trincomalee 
Human Rights Commission (HRC) field office, provided an 
overview of the office and its roles and 
responsibilities.  In short, they are responsible for 
monitoring detainees, including displaced persons as well 
as regular citizens, being held at police headquarters; 
monitoring and follow-up on cases or complaints filed 
against any government agency including the police and 
public officials; conducting inquiries with public 
officials; obtaining written depositions; and forwarding 
the cases, as warranted, to the HRC main office in 
Colombo.  The HRC field office staff is very small with 
Mrs. Mathiaparanam, one professional assistant, one 
typist, and one secretary to monitor human rights in the 
Trincomalee District.  In addition, there is another 
office of five people specifically set up to monitor 
conditions in the IDP camps; that function is separate 
from the regular duties of the HRC field office.  Their 
Spartan office resources include one computer, which was 
not functioning properly; seven vehicles, several of 
which required repair; and a few desks and notebooks.  In 
addition to more capable field staff, the HRC field 
office is in desperate need of functioning computers, 
general office supplies, and vehicle repair and/or 
replacement. 
 
--------------------- 
HRC Field Office Work 
--------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) When we asked about the work load and types of 
cases the HRC field office manages, the following 
examples were provided.  In the case of the NGO Non- 
Violent Peace Force, whose staff were were stopped at a 
Trincomalee checkpoint with a grenade rolling around in 
the back seat of their vehicle, two Sri Lankan employees 
were immediately taken into custody for the requisite 
period of 14 days.  The nature of this offense is severe 
by Sri Lankan law and the police have the right to hold 
individuals for up to 14 days to investigate further. 
When the HRC field office staff visited the detainees, 
the two men asked that the HRC field office not take 
their statements and not proceed with an inquiry because 
they feared for their personal safety while in custody 
and thought that their detainment might be extended by 
the police.  The HRC field office agreed and the two held 
were released on the fourteenth day.  The next step is 
for the men to go to the HRC field office to give formal 
statements in order for the inquiry to begin.  (Note: 
Mrs. Mathiaparaam stated that based on the facts as she 
knew thm, the grenade was planted in the NGO vehicle bythe checkpoint military/police.) 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Mrs.Mathiaparanam added that the during the 
prior wek, a group of 22 policemen went to the HRC fieldoffice to issue a complaint against the Trincomale 
police because they were transferred to Trincomalee and 
had not been assigned proper sleeping facilities (no 
matresses to sleep on) and some of them had not been 
paid.  In another case, the field office reported that 
there had been a series of ?round-ups? in the Trincomalee 
area where police and military would raid neighborhoods, 
arresting people as they go.  During the previous week, 
one of these raids took place and 22 people were 
arrested.  The HRC field office was visiting them in 
jail.  Their families were coming into the HRC field 
office to make complaints.  Some of the families also 
report to the UNHCR, which leads to double counting.  The 
HRC field office added that the most undisciplined 
people, and the cause of most of the tensions in 
 
Trincomalee town, were with the untrained police and home 
guards who were routinely rude to and harassed citizens. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The HRC field office also reported that there 
had been a lot of threats and kidnappings from the Karuna 
group.  The threats were made over the telephone to 
extort money.  Many businessmen were leaving Trincomalee 
due to these threats.  There were gun-carrying youth, 
generally thought to be Karuna, in civilian clothing who 
ride their motorbikes through checkpoints without having 
to stop, while everyone else, including those traveling 
in NGO, ICRC, UN, and diplomatic vehicles, is stopped and 
searched.  This was also witnessed by USAID personnel. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Coordination Combats GSL Lethargy 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) A visit to the Kiliveddy IDP Transitional Site 
was conducted along with Greg Norton, the UNHCR Associate 
Field Officer for Protection.  The UNHCR reported that 
the refugees are getting only about 40% of the needed 
daily food intake.  WFP foods were available in a 
warehouse near Muttur but were not getting to the site. 
This was confirmed by the local Government of Sri Lanka 
(GSL) authority present at the site.  One of the problems 
cited by both the UNHCR and the local GSL authority in 
getting the necessary quantity of food to the newly 
arrived IDPs was the lengthy time, sometimes up to two 
weeks, for the new families to receive registration 
cards.  According to the local GSL authority, when a 
family arrives they are provided with one week?s worth of 
rations.  No additional foods are provided until their 
registration cards are provided.  The GSL has the 
responsibility and sole authority to issue the 
registration cards.  Another problem cited by IDPs is 
that they do not know when the next allotment of food 
comes to the site, as there is no regular schedule.  In a 
meeting with the WFP subsequent to this site visit, 
representatives confirmed that registration was a problem 
for new arrivals.  The conditions at the site were very 
crowded, with multiple families living in temporary tents 
intended for far fewer people and for only a short amount 
of time.  On this day, plastic tarps were distributed to 
those who were registered at the site.  The tarps were 
needed to reinforce the top and sides of the temporary 
tents due to weather deterioration. 
 
-------------------------- 
NO SAFE PLACE FOR CHILDREN 
-------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) UNHCR and USAID confirmed that there was no 
safe place for the children to play ? the child-friendly 
area has taken over additional IDPs.  The UNHCR said the 
local government authority in the town of Muttur, located 
two hours north of the site, controls this site.  Apart 
from the local GSL authority who works at the site, there 
seems to be a little interest on the part of the GSL to 
address the issues at the site.  Although it is a 
transitional IDP site that was not intended to be 
permanent, some IDPs have been there several months and 
were displaced several times previously -- first during 
the tsunami, and later by the conflict, moving from 
Muttur to Batticaloa and finally to Kiliveddy.  UN 
agencies have made numerous requests of the local 
authorities to upgrade the site to a permanent camp but 
GSL authorities have refused, citing the negative 
impression this would give.  Meanwhile, an additional 115 
families arrived at the site just one week prior to our 
visit and had already run out of food. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Comment:  Additional resources are required in 
order to address the human rights and humanitarian 
situation in Trincomalee.  While USAID/OFDA and the WFP 
have provided needed and timely support to date, we look 
forward to a visit by the Regional OFDA Coordinator May 
14-17 to identify potential additional areas for USG 
humanitarian assistance. 
BLAKE