Lee Scott

Sri Lanka Debate

15 September 2008

Ilford North Member of Parliament Lee Scott participated in the recent debate (Tuesday 14th October) in Westminster Hall on the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka.

The escalation of fighting between Government forces and the Tamil Tigers has forced the withdrawal of UN agencies and international non-governmental organisations, including all their staff, supplies and vehicles, from the northern region. The conflict in Sri Lanka has lasted for more than 25 years and as many as 200,000 lives have been lost.

Lee drew attention to the fact that included in the 250,000 displaced Tamil civilians are 40,000 children who are suffering terrible hardships. He called for far greater efforts to ensure that the UN and non-governmental agencies can return in safety to deal with these humanitarian problems.

Commenting after the debate Lee said ‘In Sri Lanka there is the potential for a huge loses of life through starvation and disease and we must do more to restore the aid programmes that can prevent this.’ He continued ‘It is vital that the ceasefire of 2002 is restored and the international community must do its utmost to ensure that this is achieved so that the aid lifeline can be restored.’