Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 December 2009
37 Deputy Kathleen Lynch asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on plans for a reported general election in Sri Lanka in January 2010; if the European Union proposes to send observers for this election; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46859/09]
View answer67 Deputy Kathleen Lynch asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on ongoing concerns surrounding the welfare of internally displaced persons being held in camps in the north of Sri Lanka, mainly in the Vavuniya area. [46860/09]
View answer76 Deputy Jan O’Sullivan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on the need for an inclusive reconciliation and peace process to be initiated in Sri Lanka and the assistance the United Nations and other international bodies will be able to offer. [46861/09]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 37, 67 and 76 together.
President Rajapakse has announced that elections will be held on 26 January 2010, two years ahead of schedule. Candidatures are being accepted up until 17 December. At the moment, the front-runners are considered to be President Rajapakse himself and former General and Chief of Staff, Saratha Fonseca, who played a major role in the defeat of the LTTE. President Rajapakse has given as one of his main reasons for bringing forward the date of the elections his wish to provide the Tamils in the north of the country with an opportunity to exercise their right to vote and to elect candidates to represent them. While this is indeed a desirable objective, there are likely to be considerable logistical challenges arising from the decision to mount an election campaign at this time.
Up until recently, over 280,000 Tamils in the north of the country were being held in camps under very poor conditions. Although around 130,000 have recently been released, many are returning to villages where their homes have been destroyed or to nearby areas where facilities are very limited and arrangements for their return are chaotic. In view of the serious humanitarian crisis in the affected areas, Irish Aid has provided funding of €308,000 for emergency response through NGO partners, to include emergency medical and nutrition support, the provision of shelter, and distribution of food and non-food items. In addition, a member of Irish Aid's Rapid Response Corps was deployed to Sri Lanka to assist in the emergency response effort of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The Government will continue to monitor closely the humanitarian situation in northern Sri Lanka and the possible provision of additional emergency funding is being kept under review.
Conducting voter registration and the rest of the electoral process in such an environment is clearly problematic. In such a difficult environment, and with such a short time-frame, it will be very difficult for potential candidates in the Tamil north to mount campaigns and communicate with the voters. Despite these issues, the elections are going ahead and their outcome will have important consequences for the all the people of Sri Lanka. However difficult the circumstances may be, the elections present an opportunity to begin the process of overcoming the divisions of the past and moving on to genuine reconciliation. It is vital that this opportunity is seized by all involved in the election. The election will have to be followed by the initiation of a genuine process of dialogue and reconciliation with a view to securing sustainable peace for all the people of the island. Such a process should involve the UN and others in the international community. Without reconciliation there can be no return to long-term security or prosperity for Sri Lanka.
Given the short notice of the forthcoming elections, the European Commission has indicated that it is not in a position to deploy an EU election observation mission on this occasion. Had such a mission been organised, Ireland would have been prepared to make a contribution. As regards the current situation in relation to the internally displaced people in the Vavuniya region, the release last week of 130,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) is indeed welcome, given the conditions in which they were living and the human rights abuses which were reported. The exact number of those remaining in camps is not known but is estimated to be in the range of 100,000. Greater freedom of movement for these people has been promised and the authorities have stated their intention to release all detainees and close the camps by 31 January 2010.
Concerns remain, however, not only about those who remain in the camps, but also regarding the welfare of those who have been released. The Army has cleared most of the conflict zone area of mines, but many of the returnees' homes have been destroyed and they are homeless. As access by non-governmental organisations to the north and east of the country remains very restricted, their ability to help with the resettlement of the IDPs is limited, and reporting on what is happening with regard to the returnees is slim. I call on the Sri Lankan authorities to allow the relevant NGOs free access to all areas and all displaced persons in need of assistance. The EU is monitoring the situation as closely as it can. We would like to step up our dialogue with the Sri Lankan Government in order to convey more clearly our concerns and expectations and to discuss ways in which the EU can support reconstruction and reconciliation.
