§ Mrs. MahonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what other action apart from freezing aid of £13 million Her Majesty's Government is taking over the continued violations of human rights in Sri Lanka.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydAs stated by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Overseas Development in her written reply on 9 July to my hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich (Mr. Bowden), a £3 million offer of programme aid has been withdrawn because of Sri Lanka's poor human rights record. There is no freeze of £13 million aid.
We believe that the Sri Lankan Government's decision to expel our high Commissioner in Colombo was motivated by a desire to stifle our criticism of Sri Lanka's human rights record. In response to this action we have cancelled high level visits, further restricted arms sales and delayed consideration of major new aid commitments. We will review these policies once a new high Commissioner is in place.
§ Mrs. MahonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimates he has of the number of Tamils killed in the north and east of the country through bombing by the Sri Lankans; and what sources of information he has on the rate of deaths caused by military action in Sri Lanka.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThere are no reliable estimates of deaths caused by bombing. The latest official Sri Lankan figures for numbers killed in action between June 1990 and May 1991 are as follows:
Number Civilians 877 Armed forces, police 1,295 LTTE 3,933 The figure for civilian casualties does not distinguish between those caused by the armed forces and those by the terrorists. There are no reliable figures from alternative sources.