Caritas calls for an end to attacks against civilians and humanitarian aid workers around the world
Vatican City (AsiaNews) Caritas Internationalis has expressed strong condemnation at the targeting of humanitarian aid workers "by armed groups" in Sri Lanka, southern Lebanon, and Darfur in Sudan.
In a statement released today, the Catholic organisation said it was "saddened and angered by attacks" that have occurred in the former Ceylon where two other Tamil aid workers were found dead. On Monday, the NGO they worked, Action contre la faim or ACF (Action Against Hunger), had already announced that 15 of its employees had been murdered in their office.
Violent clashes are currently under way in the area between the army and Tamil Tiger separatists.
"Together with the member organisations of the Caritas Confederation, we express our sincere condolences to the grieving families and friends of the victims, and to the Director and staff of ACF," said Denis Viénot, president of Caritas Internationalis.
"In the hope for peace, we hold you all in our prayers as we do all those caught up in the violence of conflict in Sri Lanka, the Middle East, Darfur, and too many other places across our world today," Mr Viénot added.
In April two Caritas humanitarian workers were killed in Sri Lanka's Jaffna peninsula when an anti-personnel mine hit their vehicle. The two were involved in post-tsunami recovery programmes for traumatised women and children in the north of the country.
Shocked by the growing death toll of civilians involved in humanitarian work, Caritas is demanding that the international community "do more to ensure that all parties involved in armed conflicts meet their obligations under International Humanitarian Law for the protection of civilians and access of humanitarian workers."
"Enough is enough," said Duncan MacLaren, Caritas Internationalis secretary general. "In so many situations around our world right now, the lives of innocent people and aid workers are being endangered because of the lack of respect for the most fundamental principles of International Humanitarian Law which are to prevent unnecessary suffering among the civilian population".
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