Sarah Creech
11/27/09
2:45
I did a current event on the Sri Lanka refugee camps at the beginning of the semester, I took the stand that the people in the camps should no longer be held against their will and they should be free to go home to their families. Now almost 3 months later, I have found an article that informs me that my hope will now be a reality. This article states that the Tamil war refugees will be freed by December 1st. There are about 136,000 currently in camps and they will all be allowed to go home. Camps are supposed to be completely closed by January 31st of 2010. The refugee camps are a by-product of the 25 year war that raged in Sri Lanka. The war ended in May, but the hardships for the Tamil Tigers did not. They were forced into the refuge camps against their will. Now almost 7 months since the end of the war, they will finally be released.
I am very happy to read this news. I did not think it was fair to hold these people against their will. I understand that the government was just trying to take the necessary precautions but the majority of the people they were holding were not a threat. The article states that many rights groups believe that holding these people is a “collective form of punishment for the ethnic group.” I agree with this. I think the government was trying to make a show of the rebels by giving a “this is what happens if you mess with us” kind of message. I do not think that this is a fair way to treat people and I am so glad that they will finally be set free.
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