Learn, pray, and act for the people of Sri Lanka

Although it appears that the civil war that has wracked Sri Lanka for 25 years is drawing to a close, the humanitarian crisis in this island country is ongoing and causal elements of the conflict remain unresolved.

Combat has intensified in the northern part of the country between government forces — who are mainly of Sinhalese ethnicity — and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE), which is a rebel group fighting for the past 25 years to establish a separate state in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka with self-government for the ethnic Tamil population of that area.

The LTTE claims that Tamils have been marginalized and persecuted for more than several decades by the majority-controlled Sinhalese Buddhist government.

An urgent priority is the fate of noncombatants caught in the crossfire in the waning days of the conflict. According to the United Nations, at least one quarter of the trapped civilians are children. An estimated 50,000 people are stuck in the midst of heavy fighting in the north of Sri Lanka and government forces have allegedly surrounded another 250,000 refugees who have fled the heavy shelling and moved (south) to the town of Vavuniya.

The humanitarian crisis has reached catastrophic proportions, and according to reports from people who have fled the region, services are inadequate to deal with the needs for urgent medical care, sanitation, clean water and food. Most international aid agencies have been banned from entering the area, including the Red Cross and UNHCR, as well as journalists.

While all parties want to see an end to the fighting in Sri Lanka, it is not yet clear whether cessation of violence will resolve the underlying issues which led to today’s conflict. Social inequities and systemic injustice rooted in racism will need to be addressed. Security will need to be established and justice done for all of Sri Lanka’s people.

Learn

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance responds in Sri Lanka

Presbyterians at work in Sri Lanka

Joining Hands in Sri Lanka — Praja Abhilasha (“People's Aspirations” Network)

Sri Lanka from the New York Times

Sri Lanka from Human Rights Watch

Sri Lanka from UN News Centre

Q & A on Sri Lanka from the BBC

Pray

Please pray for “Raj” Anthonipillai Uthayaraj, a driver for Caritas Internationalis, who was killed while working to provide humanitarian assistance in Sri Lanka. Pray for all involved in the relief efforts in Sri Lanka.

A prayer offered by the chair of the board, Praja Abhilasha network in Sri Lanka

Heavenly Father,
We pray to you for your grace on us.
We are suffering from hunger. Our children are malnourished.
We are starving and dying at the moment.
Our voice is not heard. Our cry is not seen.
It is our wish to stop these killings, killings by aerial bombings,
Shillings, firing with heavy weapons mercilessly.
We are crying today for our lives.
We are prisoners of our own land. We have no opportunity to find food by using our hands.
We, the farmers, cannot grow any food plants.
We cannot do any fishing for our livelihoods.
So, we are beggars and do not have any dignity.
Father, we know you are the only one who can save us.
You are the father of the people.
We, the poor, and wearied and victimized with war have a hope.
That is only you Father. We believe, you can do miracles.
You gave Manna to Moses and your people while they were starving.
We want you to look upon us.
We pray for you to open the eyes of the people who are victoriously cheering for war.
We pray for you to open up the eyes of the ruthless politicians to release us from all the agonies.
We believe, father, only you can do this. Only you can save us.
We are crying for freedom.
We are crying for justice and equality,
We are crying for our lives and livelihoods.
We are crying for respect of life with dignity.
Heavenly father, it is only you who can save us.
Amen.

— Herman Kumara of the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement, Negombo, Sri Lanka, is chair of the board of Praja Abhilasha, a network of about 30 diverse grassroots organizations from all parts of the country and includes Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Christians. They represent traditional fishermen displaced by the Tsunami, tea and rice plantation workers, agricultural workers, small farmers, workers unions and unemployed women.

A Prayer of Peace for those who are suffering in Sri Lanka

Loving God, who created the earth and all that is in it, we pray for the people who live in Sri Lanka, the tiny island in the Indian Ocean, who are your children and belong to you. Although people of same color, they are yet divided by language and religion, and have resorted to violence to solve their differences. We commit them to you O Lord, so that whether they are Sinhalese or Tamils, or Buddhists, Hindus, Christians or Muslims they would be embraced by your Love.  Help them to realize that they can learn to co-exist, trust each other and live peaceably, tending to each other’s needs in love. Let there be new leadership among both Sinhalese and Tamils, who will be prepared to seek peace and justice through new negotiations for peace, condemning violence.  Let your Holy Spirit protect and guide those who are willing to stand up boldly for peace in Sri Lanka and throughout this world in which we all live. Heal those who are sick and injured, lift those who are in poverty, broken in spirit and in despair, by the consequences of all forms of violence and war.  Loving Creator, let your presence and power create an oasis of Peace, Love and Healing within suffering Sri Lanka and wherever there is suffering in this world. In the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

— Chris Nicholas, OGA, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

A Prayer for Sri Lanka

God of mercy and compassion, we pray for all whose lives are touched by civil war and violence in Sri Lanka. Comfort those who grieve the death of loved ones. Console those who provide care to the wounded. Strengthen those who have been driven from their homes. Protect noncombatants. Guide all who pursue peace and seek justice. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

— Mark Koenig, Presbyterian Peacemaking Program

Psalm 56 (A Psalm of David, when the Philistines had seized him in Gath)

1 Be gracious to me, O God, for people trample on me; all day long foes oppress me;
2 my enemies trample on me all day long, for many fight against me. O Most High,
3 when I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I am not afraid; what can flesh do to me?
5 All day long they seek to injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They stir up strife, they lurk, they watch my steps. As they hoped to have my life,
7 so repay them for their crime; in wrath cast down the peoples, O God!
8 You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your record?
9 Then my enemies will retreat in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me.
10 In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise,
11 in God I trust; I am not afraid. What can a mere mortal do to me?
12 My vows to you I must perform, O God; I will render thank offerings to you.
13 For you have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from falling, so that I may walk before God in the light of life.

Act

Ask President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton:

• to work with the United Nations and the parties to the conflict in Sri Lanka to ensure the protection of civilians and to address the crisis by facilitating urgent medical and humanitarian assistance, particularly for the victims in the North and North East parts of the country;
• to hold all parties of the conflict accountable to international humanitarian law, particularly the Geneva Conventions;
• to work with the U.N. Security Council members to address Sri Lanka as a formal part of the Council’s agenda;
• to speak to the need for immediate ICRC access to displaced persons in the camps;
• to press for freedom of movement for civilians in the zones of active conflict, with particular attention to family reunification;
• and to continue to support long term peace in Sri Lanka by promoting trust building measures between the different ethnic and religious communities in the country.