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Collective Rights and the ISGA.

In looking at peace and development we need to recognize that peace is not the absence of war. In a wider perspective of peace we have to look at several dimensions of violence. The Ceasefire Agreement ensures an absence of direct violence between the two parties but it is does not address other fundamental issues governing peace as a whole. The Ceasefire Agreement only prevents direct violence between the two parties. A more comprehensive approach to peace should include the following. The key elements of such dimensions are the following.

1. Structural violence - systematic violence through exploitation on man by man. Structural violence in this sense persists in the entire country

2. Direct violence - use of force by one group against the other. Whilst the use of force has largely subsided low intensity violence has already begun with the incidents in the East. Certainly political killings by the LTTE, the Karuna factor and the military continues to still be a major factor .

3. Cultural violence - denial of identity and legitimacy by one group against the other. Cultural violence in this sense is all pervasive in the country. The denial of collective rights of the Tamils in the North East, The denial of the Muslim identity in the North East, and the demonisation and stigmatization of all communities is all pervasive. The Tamil Speaking peoples in the Hill country continue to experience all forms of structural, direct and cultural violence.

In the discourse on human rights Southern intellectuals and Human Rights activists focus their attention on one aspect of violence i.e. political killings perpetrated by the LTTE. I am against all forms of killings and this includes killings by the LTTE. But it becomes highly one sided when these intellectuals ignore other aspects of human rights such as the collective rights of peoples not only living in the North East but also the peoples living in the Hill country. Further the denial of the linguistics rights of the Tamil speaking peoples in the South is a case in point. Although the Tamil language is a national language the state has failed to provide for the reasonable use of Tamil in the Administration. The denial of peoples to use their own language in the pursuit of their business and education is a gross violation of person's fundamental rights. Any effort therefore to criticize human rights performance should make a holistic approach where individual rights and collective rights of people are given equal attention.

ISGA and Structural Violence

Today the ISGA is intended to address issues of structural imbalance in the North and the East. It has become the main point of contention in the South. It also reflects the maturity of the political debate in the country in that the two sides are talking about real issues. It means power sharing between the South and the North has become center stage. In the South people do not understand the basis and the reason for the ISGA proposal.

It is my view that an interim administration is the only vehicle that effectively transfers power as well as substantial resources for the relief, rehabilitation and development of the northeast.

The North East suffers from two main problems:

1. Continuous underdevelopment of the periphery by the Center. All resources are concentrated in the center.

2. The destruction and the devastation that the war has created.

What I now want to explore are the structure and economic disadvantages that the North East has experienced.

Education:

In the North East of Sri Lanka, the basic right to education of the people has been denied. Currently. 156 schools are closed due to the refusal of SL Armed forces to vacate these places. Another 144 schools are functioning in shifting locations under trees and in poorly built huts. Further, the SL armed forces occupy one third of the Jaffna peninsula and identified it as high Security zone. These forces prevent people from returning to their homes and resuming their education. The UNICEF estimates that in the Vanni region, one third of school aged children have dropped out from or have never attended schools. According to one study carried out with the assistance of Word Bank and Asian Development bank; The drop out rate in the north East is 15, that is four time higher than the national average. The vacancy rate in the North East for primary teachers is more than 40%. Nearly 15,000 classrooms and 500 schools were severely damaged or totally damaged during the conflict. Water and sanitary facilities in most schools of North East are damaged. Universities are damaged and lacks facilities to upgrade their services. Literacy levels, once the highest level in the whole of Sri Lanka, have been reduced drastically in the North and East in the last 15 years. Children have missed years of schooling as they and their families have been displaced several times within the last 20 years due to war. According to the Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union, there are thousands of vacancies for teachers in the North East schools. The war has left many severely disabled and mentally traumatized children in the North East. The special needs of these children are not recognized and hence they are left as destitute.

Health:

The health infrastructure in North East has been ruined. Only two teaching hospitals and a general hospital are in service for the whole of the North East region. These hospitals do not have sufficient facilities to handle even basic needs of the people. The other small base hospitals and dispensaries are practically functional only as emergency centers. Even in Jaffna hospital many patients are still sleeping on the floor.

Tamil people in Vanni area have no basic health care. Over 400,000 people are serviced by only one district hospital. This hospital lacks infrastructure, specialist doctors and support staff. Many peripheral health institutions are non-functional due to the economic embargo during the war and need urgent repair.

In a need assessment study funded by the World Bank stated , that the referral system has broken down in the North East and the heath infrastructure has suffered heavy damage or destruction. The need assessment study further stated that 25% of health institutions are totally damaged or closed. 50% of mothers are malnourished; 52% of the population has no access to sanitations; nearly 50% of children under age 5 are underweight. Multiple displacements of persons led to a high level malnutrition in the North and East. Health indicators such as the infant mortality rate, neo-natal mortality rate, malnutrition rate among children under age 5, and iron deficiency rate among pregnant and lactating mothers are the worst in the North and East. Child trauma is common in this region. The needs of severely disabled children due to war and special need children are completely ignored. Lack of water and sanitation facilities, transport infrastructure and unhygienic temporary shelters for IDPs in war torn North East are the main causes for an increase in preventable disease. Women and Children have the extra burden of walking long distance to fetch water.

Economy and Infrastructure:

The economic life in North East mainly consists of agriculture and fishing. This region does not have industrial or IT developments. The denial of economic development since 1948 was one of the major causes behind the armed conflict. Relentless military offensive combined with complete isolation of the North East by the Government, worsened by the Economic Embargo, severely affected these basic sectors.

Fishermen in the North and East undergo immense difficulties in running their day-today lives due to several restrictions imposed by the Sri Lanka Navy. Some fishermen were killed or injured by the navy during fishing even after CFA. Fishermen were also harassed and their nets and fishing boats were damaged on regular basis. One estimation points that nearly 65% - 75% IDPs are from costal areas of the region, engaged in fishing for their livelihood. According to the need assessment study, 90% of fishing boats and engines were lost or unusable and 12000 fishermen lost their houses.

There are an estimated 55% of men and women in farming activities in the region. As a result of the displacement and economic embargo, the agriculture sector started to dwindle. A continuous embargo on fertilizer caused severe damage to the productivity. Even after CFA, many farming families are denied of their livelihood. Many farm lands of the Tamil people in the North and east are occupied by the Sri Lankan Armed forces under the name of High Security Zones or declared as areas with Anti-personal mines. The continuous military offensive against this part of the region has severely damaged the infrastructure. The Government did not invest in this sector for nearly two decades. Almost all the roads have been damaged. The power supply has been cut off to most of the region. Telecommunication and other sectors were nonfunctional.

The Government of Sri Lanka asked 621 million dollars from donors to invest on this sector. But donors are reluctant to allocate fund to these projects as there are no effective mechanisms in the region to carryout this major work. Tamil people used to be proud to own a home for their livings. Prior to the military offensives, nearly 90% of the Tamil population in the region of North East owned a house. But military offensives and aerial bombardments shattered their life and houses. Nearly 400000 houses in Jaffna were damaged and owners of those houses are living somewhere in refugee camps, homes of other relatives or living as refugees in some other places. According to one IDP survey, 90% of the houses of these IDPs were damaged, representing 43% of damaged houses.

The need assessment study funded by the World Bank estimates nearly a 1.3 million work force in the north east affected by the war. Other report estimates 40% unemployment level persists in northeast. Due to lack of education and vocational training facilities the major part of the Tamil work force is unskilled. The GOSL does not have any of its own programs to provide employment to them.

The Tamil people of Sri Lanka are denied these basic rights. During the six rounds of peace talks between the LTTE and the GOSL, an agreement was reached on the 18th November 2002 to form a task force; the Sub-committee on Immediate Humanitarian and Rehabilitation Needs in North and East (SHIRN), to over see the humanitarian and development projects. Unfortunately, to date no effective interim mechanism has been established due to the power struggle within the majority political community. The peoples of the North and the East do not experience the so called peace dividend. There needs to be a clear distinction made between the peace enjoyed by the people of the South where they are able to undertake and enjoy a normal life to those living in the North and East who are struggling with the realization of their basic human and economic freedoms.

The LTTE submitted a proposal to establish an interim self-government Authority (ISGA) to the GOSL and asked to restart the direct talks on this basis. For the last twenty years the government has offered solutions to the Tamil speaking peoples always too little too late. The Tamil people of North East voted in the last parliamentary election to support the proposal for this Interim Self Governing Authority. It is my view that an interim administration is the only vehicle that effectively transfers power as well as to effectively transfer substantial resources for the relief, rehabilitation and development of the northeast.

I am in no way suggesting that the Sri Lankan Government accept the ISGA. What I am arguing is that the Sri Lankan Government should accept the ISGA as the basis of the talks. Alternative proposals should be placed after the negotiations begin. I have argued that there is about 70% agreement with between the various governmental proposals and the ISGA. There are about 10% which are grey areas and require clarification. There are about 20% which requires negotiations. For over 50 years the Sri Lankan Government and state has failed to develop the North and the East. In the last 50 years the state evolved to be only a state for the Sinhalese state i.e. a Sinhalese hegemonic state. The Sri

Lankan state developed and created a highly centralized state where resources were mostly concentrated at the center and in Colombo. In the process of continuous under development both sides have lost, where the civil war became its end result. The challenge for the Sinhalese ruling classes is to grasp this historic lesson and engage in transforming the state and ensuring that the peoples in the North and the East can control and develop their own regions in freedom and security. If this happens within a united Sri Lanka both sides will enjoy extraordinary economic developments within an agreed Federal system.

01 August 2004

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