Sri Lanka and the Commonwealth

May I start by genuinely congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh) on securing and leading the debate? She has been consistent in her advocacy on behalf of her Tamil constituents. I saw that at first hand when I addressed a meeting of a group of her constituents whom she brought to Westminster. I know that she will continue to make that case. I also congratulate the hon. Member for Mid-Norfolk (Mr. Simpson), who leads for the Opposition, on striking absolutely the right tone in a constructive and thoughtful contribution, probing the Government in a difficult set of circumstances. One of the blunt realities is that we cannot just mandate actions on behalf of a Government in a different country. Let me place emphatically on the record the Government's clear view that Members of this House have an absolute, unequivocal right to speak up on behalf of their constituents. Spurious personal attacks on the character of individual Members by any high commission or embassy in this country are not only wrong and unacceptable, but completely counter-productive in advancing the cause of those involved, and I can assure hon. Members that we will send that message loudly and clearly to the Sri Lankan high commission. The ethnic conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE has reached a critical phase, and the UK Government are extraordinarily concerned about the grave humanitarian situation and particularly about the fate of the large numbers of civilians caught up in the fighting. As many hon. Members in the Chamber who are extremely knowledgeable about the situation know, the conflict in Sri Lanka has been raging for more than 25 years and has claimed the lives of more than 70,000 Sri Lankans. The dramatic advances by the Government forces since January have claimed the lives not only of Sri Lankan soldiers and LTTE cadres, but, most shockingly, of innocent civilians, including women and children. The lack of independent reporting from the conflict area makes it impossible to obtain definitive figures. However, the UN estimates that more than 2,600 civilians have been killed and more than 7,200 have been injured since 20 January alone. Those figures are truly appalling. I very much agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Mitcham and Morden that nothing justifies what happened in Gaza, but the figures in this case are more significant. Given the conflict that is taking place, there has not been enough attention in the international media. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, recently said that""certain actions being undertaken by the Sri Lankan military and by the LTTE may constitute violations of international human rights and humanitarian law."" There are more civilian casualties every day, including those who were killed or wounded when a hospital, which had been declared a no-fire zone, was repeatedly hit by shells over a number of days in February. As I made clear in the House when Sri Lanka was last debated on 5 February, we expect and urge the Government of Sri Lanka fully to investigate any allegations of abuses by their forces. We would support a full and independent investigation into all concerns about war crimes, including the shelling of the hospital and other civilian deaths. Hon. Members have understandably voiced concerns about accusations that Government forces have used cluster bombs and resorted to indiscriminate bombing, and we have raised those allegations with the Sri Lankan Government. Although they have stated that they do not use cluster munitions, we have made very clear to them our strong opposition to the use of such munitions and to indiscriminate bombings. We condemn the killings of civilians unequivocally and in the strongest possible terms, however they happen, and we have urged all parties to the conflict to avoid action against civilians. We are now at a critical phase. The last remaining territory held by the LTTE measures less than 30 sq km, and large numbers of civilians—internally displaced persons—are trapped in that area. Since January, more than 40,000 IDPs have left the conflict area and moved into Government-controlled territory. Estimates of the numbers who remain vary from 70,000 according to the Sri Lankan Government to 200,000 according to the UN. These people have been repeatedly displaced over the past 18 months each time the front line has moved. We have rightly been critical of the actions of the Sri Lankan Government, and I have just made that clear again. However, it has become increasingly clear that the principal reason why more IDPs have not left the conflict area is that the LTTE is forcibly preventing them from doing so. A number of NGOs working in northern Sri Lanka have publicly stated that that is happening. The UN has also condemned the LTTE for forcibly recruiting civilians, including women and children. We must attack that on all fronts and we must express our concerns to the Sri Lankan Government. I urge anyone with influence and with access to the LTTE to put those concerns forward. Civilians have been under direct threat not only from the fighting, and there is enormous concern about the ability to get aid into the area. Much more needs to be done about that. It was because of our concerns about the humanitarian situation in the conflict area that the Prime Minister first called for a ceasefire on 14 January and wrote to President Rajapakse. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary followed that up by telephoning the President and urging him to declare a humanitarian ceasefire. We have been consistent in advancing that cause in all forums. We have also rightly been releasing resources. Given the urgency of the situation, we have allocated a further £2.5 million—on top of the £2.5 million that we committed in October 2008—to support the efforts of humanitarian agencies in Sri Lanka. We have also sent a Department for International Development humanitarian expert to bolster the capacity of our high commission in Colombo to deal with the unfolding humanitarian situation. The hon. Member for Wimbledon asked about the post-conflict situation. The international community will inevitably need to assist with reconstruction efforts in communities affected by the conflict, and we will certainly play our part in such efforts. We have not been working on this issue alone. One very helpful development in recent weeks was the joint statement by the Foreign Secretary and the Secretary of State in the United States Government, which called for a "temporary no-fire period". The co-chairs group—the US, the EU, Japan and Norway—has also called for the delivery of humanitarian aid and for the LTTE to discuss ways of ending the current hostilities.