An international rights group on Saturday urged Sri Lanka to immediately free hundreds of thousands of war refugees detained in military-run camps before monsoon rains create serious health problems in camps.
Sri Lanka is coming under increasing pressure from human rights groups and foreign governments to free the nearly 300,000 minority Tamils who were forced into the camps after fleeing the final months of the government's war with the Tamil Tiger rebels earlier this year. Rights groups say the detention is an illegal form of collective punishment.
On Saturday, a delegation of 10 lawmakers from neighboring India arrived in Sri Lanka to evaluate the condition of the war displaced. The group is scheduled to visit camps on Sunday and will meet top government officials and political leaders during their stay, said A.P. Shakthivel, a government spokesman.
India, which is home to some 56 million Tamils, takes a special interest in the conflict.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said Saturday conditions in the camps are deteriorating, and the monsoon rains expected in the coming weeks could flood the overcrowded and low-lying areas.
"If they aren't out of there before the monsoons hit, their lives and health will be in serious danger," the group's Asia director Brad Adams was quoted as saying in a statement posted on it's Web site.
The group called on international donors such as Japan, the United States and European Union to press Sri Lanka to free the war displaced.
Human Rights Watch's plea comes two days after Amnesty International urged Sri Lanka to clear the camps. And on Tuesday, Britain's International Development Minister Mike Foster expressed disappointment at the progress being made in releasing the displaced.
The Sri Lankan government says it is trying to release some of the civilians, but the process is slow because they need to screen them for rebel ties, and their villages in the former battle zone have to be de-mined. Rights groups say the screening is an excuse for keeping Tamils detained.
Sri Lanka says more than 22,000 people have been resettled from the camps, and it hopes to send everyone home by the end of January.
Sri Lanka declared victory over Tamil Tiger rebels in May, ending their 25-year fight for an independent state. The U.N. estimates that 80,000 to 100,000 people were killed in the civil war.
