On 1st June 2009, British Medical Association released a statement under the title “Sri Lanka – Violations of fundamental health rights”, that the BMA has written to both the Sri Lankan Government, and the World Medical Association, expressing in strong terms its concerns about flagrant violations of medical neutrality in North East Sri Lanka. In particular it has asked the Government to ensure that appropriate protection is afforded to health workers and health facilities in the conflict area.  It has also written in support of detained doctors.

On the same day The World Medical Association in a Media Release said that it has urged the President of Sri Lanka to intervene on behalf of three government employed doctors, two of whom have been detained and the third taken to an unknown destination, after working in the conflict zone in Sri Lanka. The media release further stated that in a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Dr. Yoram Blachar, President of the WMA, calls for the three doctors to be given immediate access to lawyers and either charged or released.

On Line Action Centre of the Amnesty International USA have started an e-mail/letter writing campaign to President Rajapaksa under the title “Release or Charge Three Doctors in Sri Lanka”.  In this campaign AI has appealed to the public to take action and call on the Sri Lankan government to release Drs. T Sathiaymmorthy, Varatharaja and Shanmugarajah immediately unless they are promptly charged with a crime.

Human Rights Watch on May 25th 2009, through a Media Release expressed special concern for the fate of displaced medical personnel who provided care to the wounded in the only operating field hospital in the war zone until they too were forced to flee. “Apparently because they spoke out about government shelling of the conflict zone, the government has placed these doctors in custody in Colombo and accused them of disseminating false information” HRW said. HRW stated that the UN Human Rights Council should call for their immediate release.

In spite of all these requests the SLG continues to keep them under custody without laying any charges.

On 12 June 2009, Dr Sue Wareham OAM, President, Medical Association for Prevention of War (Australia) wrote to Hon. Stephen Smith urging him to intervene to ascertain the whereabouts of Drs Varatharajah, Sathyamoorthi and Shanmugarajah, and to help ensure their safety. 

AFTA appeals to the Australian Foreign Minister Hon Stephen Smith and the New Zealand counterpart Hon Murray McCully to use their good offices to urge the Sri Lankan President to release these doctors immediately unless they are promptly charged with a crime.

AFTA also would like to bring to the attention of both the Australian and New Zealand governments and the media that the United Nations has said on 20th of June 2009 that two of its employees working among tens of thousands of war-displaced civilians had been arrested by Sri Lankan authorities.  The two men, both ethnic Sri Lankan Tamils, were reported missing eight days ago and were subsequently discovered to have been taken into custody by Sri Lankan officials, the UN office in Colombo said in a statement.  "We are not aware which, if any, charges have been laid, and nor are we aware of the details of any accusations," the statement said.  The two men were working for the UN refugee agency and the UN office for Project Services in the northern region of Vavuniya according to AFP.

Mathew Lee of the Innercity Press in New York has released an e-mail he received on the 19th of June 2009 from concerned UN staff in Sri Lanka.  These UN staff have stated that,

“We write this email in desperation seeking your help to put more pressure on Sri Lankan Authorities and release 2 United Nations Staff ( I from UNOPS and 1 from UNHCR ) abducted by Sri Lankan Army Military Intelligence Officials in Vavuniya four days ago and currently detained. We have tried all the possible escalations within UN, including an urgent message to our Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon but nothing has helped so far.

We reliably learn that they are now being detained and tortured at a Sri Lankan Military Intelligence interrogation camp in Kurumankadu, Vavuniya and since it is weekend no one is taking it serious & taking some bold action for their release or access to them & ensure they are safe.

In our May30th Sit Report, our ground officers have highlighted the wide spread abductions and accounted for more than 13,310 missing people in Vavuniya IDP Camps, compared to the previous count. But our higher management in Colombo and Geneva has decided to downplay it and reported it as, “decrease is associated with double counting. Additional verification is required”. They never initiated a project for additional verification. Now we feel the pain of abduction when two of our colleagues are abducted.”

AFTA feels that if the UN staff could be subject to this level of abuse, the fate of the 300,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) held behind barbed wires in camps described as “internment camps” in Vavuniya is truly precarious. 

AFTA appeals again to both the Australian and New Zealand governments to do the utmost to free these UN workers as soon as possible, persuade the SLG to provide immediate free access to these camps to UN agencies, other aid agencies and international media and give the IDPs freedom of movement in and out of these camps.

AFTA appeals to the Australian and New Zealand media to highlight the plight of these doctors and UN workers taken into custody and the plight of the 300,000 IDPs languishing in these camps and to help to bring this to the attention of the international community.

Media Enquiries:

Sydney: Dr. Victor Rajakulendran +61 402 484 209
Melbourne: Mr. Siva Sivakumar +61 404 894 591
Canberra: Dr. Raga Ragavan +61 402 387 920
Auckland: Dr. Siva Vasanthan 021 023 51 007
Wellington: Mr. Mani Maniparathy 027 448 0340

Member Associations:
Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Wellington