At a meeting held at the Highgate Murugan Temple in Archway Road, North London, On Sunday 31st May 2009, for all those considering themselves to be ‘Friends of the Tamils,’ agreed a resolution calling upon the Sri Lankan Government to take immediate measures to preserve life in the region.
All present agreed that in order to prevent a deepening humanitarian crisis in the North of the country, the government of Sri Lanka must without delay: -
1. Provide adequate shelters, food, medicine, clean drinking water and sanitation, with private bathing facilities for women. These essentials should be maintained in all camps until every Internally Displaced Person (IDP) is settled into their own homes.
2. Allow unhindered and unconditional access for UN Monitors and media personnel to all areas in the North East of the island.
3. Uphold human values for any prisoners of war in accordance with the Geneva Convention.
4. Allow all IDP camps to be managed by local NGO’S and INGO’S, supervised if necessary by UN Independent Monitors.
5. Fast track care for all particularly vulnerable IDPs - mainly the elderly, women and children - within the next 30 to 60 days.
Signed by the national organisations present:
Hindu Council UK
British Tamil Forum
Saiva Federation of Temples UK
VHP (UK)
