{"id":172225,"date":"2017-01-03T10:37:49","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T05:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=172225"},"modified":"2017-01-03T11:51:06","modified_gmt":"2017-01-03T06:21:06","slug":"post-war-sri-lankas-use-of-landmines-creates-serious-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/post-war-sri-lankas-use-of-landmines-creates-serious-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Post-War\u00a0Sri\u00a0Lanka\u2019s Use Of Landmines Creates Serious Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Secretary to the Ministry of Defence\u00a0Karunasena\u00a0Hettiarachchi<\/span><\/a> has recently made statements\u00a0to the media regarding the use of landmines<\/span><\/a> in the protection of military camps in post-war\u00a0Sri Lanka. In a related statement, he also said that there is no link between reconciliation and Sri Lanka’s\u00a0acceding\u00a0to humanitarian disarmament conventions such as the Mine Ban Treaty.<\/p>\n

\"Karunasena<\/a>

Karunasena Hettiarachchi<\/p><\/div>\n

The Government of Sri Lanka\u00a0has declared “National Integration\u00a0and\u00a0Reconciliation Week” from 8th to 14th January 2017 on the eve of\u00a0completion of the President’s second year in office.\u00a0The above\u00a0statements were made\u00a0by the Secretary of Defence when\u00a0the media inquired\u00a0about the\u00a0importance of Sri Lanka’s accession to the Convention on the Cluster Munitions (CCM) and Mine Ban Treaty\u00a0(MBT) during the declared\u00a0week.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Secretary\u2019s\u00a0statement\u00a0creates\u00a0serious questions on the sincerity and genuineness of the Sri Lanka’s\u00a0ongoing\u00a0reconciliation programme; particularly at the end of the second year of Presidency of Maitripala Sirisena\u00a0government\u2019s theme of \u201cgood governance.\u201d Concerned parties have criticized and denounced these moves by the government. In the month of August 2016, the Sri Lanka Campaign to Ban Landmines sent a petition to President Sirisena asking for accession to both the CCM and MBT in post-war Sri Lanka without a delay; this petition was signed by former diplomats and senior government officials, academia, civil society, ex-military officials, mine-action operators and the business community.<\/p>\n

According to the Secretary’s statement, Sri Lanka will be\u00a0the\u00a0first and only\u00a0country in the world to\u00a0say that the\u00a0military camps need to use landmines for their protection in the\u00a0civilian-populated areas\u00a0during the post-war setting\u00a0and ongoing reconciliation. Sri Lanka’s military camps are located in highly civilian-populated\u00a0areas throughout the country. A few countries that do use landmines \u00a0in the world today\u00a0mention that they are used only\u00a0\u00a0in\u00a0land-borders where there is zero\u00a0civilian population. Such\u00a0countries \u00a0always deny that they\u00a0use mines to protect their military camps and Sri Lanka will be an exceptional\u00a0case in this regard.<\/p>\n

A new fear will now arise\u00a0among civilians who live near military camps in post-war Sri Lanka. Children that live near the camps will need to be extra vigilant due to the threat of maiming or death. During rainy times, mines that\u00a0are buried in military camps will\u00a0surface with flood\u00a0water and \u00a0float into civilian-populated areas. No doubt this will\u00a0create a serious\u00a0threat to civilians and particularly to children. This situation\u00a0has been already experienced in the past\u00a0by civilians who live near minefields. In addition to human life, there is the threat to wildlife \u2013 particularly with respect to elephants where camps are located near or in jungle areas.<\/p>\n

Human rights defenders say\u00a0that\u00a0the use of cluster munitions and landmines\u00a0violate the\u00a0International Human Rights Law (IHR), International Humanitarian Law (IHL), Child Rights Convention (CRC) and UN\u00a0Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD)\u00a0which Sri Lanka ratified recently. They also pointed out that accession to such conventions is a key factor to bring meaningful and true reconciliation and many other benefits\u00a0to post-war\u00a0Sri Lanka. This includes Sri Lanka\u2019s current position on the Global Peace Index (GPI) which will increase and also help investor confidence and political stability in the country. Victim-activated weapons such as landmines and cluster munitions are considered inhuman weapons due to their inherently indiscriminate nature and are outlawed by the global community. Further, Sri Lanka will be able to meaningfully contribute to the Sustainable Development Goal (No. 16 of SDGs) which emphasize that \u201cpeace building\u201d is an important theme to make the world a happier place to live in.<\/p>\n

The new use of landmines by security forces of Sri Lanka\u00a0to protect military camps also\u00a0creates concerns for the ongoing humanitarian mine-action programme in Sri Lanka which is supported by the international donor community. Post-war\u00a0Sri Lanka is\u00a0yet to clear over\u00a040sqkm of mine-affected land\u00a0area in the North and East regions. Around 50,000 people are yet\u00a0to be resettled and are unable to do so\u00a0until lands are cleared of mines. Sri Lanka’s three-decade long armed\u00a0conflict ended in 2009\u00a0between the Government security forces and LTTE. (By Kalana Nawaratna)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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