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Obama's First Humanitarian Crisis
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP May 07, 2009 06:52pm |
| Category | Commentary |
| News Date | May 06, 2009 06:00pm |
| Description | Over the past four months an estimated 6,500 ethnic-Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka have died at the hands of their own government. Tens of thousands more have been injured. Unlike humanitarian crises in places like Darfur, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this outbreak of violence occurred almost entirely during President Obama's first 100 days. It is the first man-made humanitarian crisis of the Obama era. So far, the Obama administration's response to the crisis in Sri Lanka is encouraging to those who believe that human rights--in name and deed--should enjoy a prominent place in American foreign policy.
These were two of the strongest statements made by any officials around the world. But beyond tightly coordinated messaging, the Obama administration has signaled that it will use the most significant point of leverage at its disposal to compel the Sri Lankan government to change its behavior. In recent months, the government of Sri Lanka has been scouring the globe for creditors to help stabilize its economy--particularly a $1.9 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, which had been under negotiation for months.
On April 29, American officials announced that they were seeking the delay the loan. With this move, the Obama administration has, literally, put its money where its mouth is. Reuters quotes one unnamed American official as saying, "The problem, from our vantage point, is that the Sri Lankans have refused to engage on the humanitarian crisis as a priority." Delaying an IMF loan "is an attempt to get their priorities back where they should be."
The Washington advocacy director of Human Rights Watch, Tom Malinowski, is heartened by what he sees. "The administration has done virtually everything we would have wanted them to do," Malinowski says. "The response has been clear, crisp, and strong." |
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