Besieged, displaced, and detained

"Besieged, displaced and detained documents the desperate plight of an estimated 230,000 to 300,000 ethnic Tamil civilian trapped in the Vanni region of northern Sri Lanka, where fierce fighting is raging between the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan security forces. Based on research conducted in northern Sri Lanka, this report documents how individuals and families fleeing fighting in the Vanni are being indefinitely detained in poor conditions in military-guarded detention camps. The government's detention policies violate the basic human rights of displaced persons. The report also criticizes the Sri Lankan government for ordering the United Nations and humanitarian organizations to close down their operations in the Vanni in September 2008. Currently hundreds of thousands of civilians face severe shortages of food, shelter, and other essentials. The Sri Lankan government contends that government humanitarian aid is filling the gap caused by the forced humanitarian withdrawal, but the evidence makes it clear that this is not accurate -- as aid agencies and government civil servants confirm as they have repeatedly warned of a humanitarian crisis. Human Rights Watch calls for an immediate lifting of the near total ban on non-government humanitarian operations in the Vanni and an immediate end to the illegal policy of detaining civilians feeling from the Vanni"--Back cover.