Victims Of Tamil Tiger War Hit By Sri Lanka Tax On Aid Workers

Refugee Camp. Photo from Neera J. Bushan

From Times Online:

The Sri Lankan Government is trying to siphon off millions of pounds of humanitarian aid by imposing a 0.9 per cent tax on all funding for aid groups, including the British charities Oxfam and Save the Children Fund, The Times has learnt.

Aid workers said that Burma was the only other country that they could remember imposing such a tax — one of several new measures hampering their efforts to help victims of Sri Lanka’s recent civil war.

The new tax regime was unveiled in 2006 but not enforced immediately. Most agencies did not comply, as they hoped to persuade the Government to change it, according to aid workers. In the past year, however, the Government has grown increasingly hostile towards foreign aid groups and Western donors, accusing many of sympathising with the Tamil Tiger rebels, who were defeated in May.

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My Comment: These actions are done solely out of spite .... and will only bring more bitterness and suffering on a vanquished people. But out of this bitterness will come a new generation of Tamil fighters and separatists who will only continue the cycle of violence again.

The war is over, the Sri Lankan Government should govern accordingly.