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Access
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Government aid, mainly food rations, did not reach the camps until at least a week after the onset of attacks. The amounts received have been inadequate to fulfill the camps' daily food requirements. Aid workers continue to report an acute shortage of food, cooking oil, sugar, medical supplies, clothes, and blankets in Ahmedabad. A report in the Hindustan Times added that camps housing thousands of people had only six toilets each and people were receiving only sixty grams of wheat a day.259 In the week following the initial attacks police and members of the city administration obstructed the work of NGOs and other organizations attempting to deliver relief supplies to relief camps and to the walled area of Ahmedabad. A number of local and international NGOs were either refused access or denied the protection they needed to be able to provide assistance,260 in violation of Principle 26 of the Guiding Principles that calls on states to protect persons engaged in humanitarian assistance, as well as their transport and supplies, from attacks or other acts of violence. A Jesuit priest in Ahmedabad told reporters that government officials refused to lend a single truck to deliver food to the camps. He added: "They won't give us police protection. The other day, armed Hindu men stopped us as we were coming out of a Muslim neighborhood and held spears to our throats."261 An organizer of the Chartoda Kabristan camp told Human Rights Watch that while the government had provided some food supplies, the amounts given were not enough to fulfill the camp's daily requirements. Moreover, in what was described as a "government boycott," the government refused to transport the rations to them and told them to get their own trucks and pick them up themselves.262 Without security or transportation, this was often a difficult demand to fulfill. On the road leading to the Chartoda Kabristan camp, Human Rights Watch saw numerous trucks owned by Muslims that had been completely destroyed by fire during the attacks. Muslim organizations have also been providing the camp with much needed supplies. The organizer for the Chartoda Kabristan camp stated: On April 4 Prime Minister Vajpayee announced a federal relief package for the "riot victims" that included two months free rations for those families living below the poverty line in areas affected by violence. The package also included a free set of textbooks and a school uniform for children living in relief camps. When announcing the package, the Prime Minister warned that relief provisions should be distributed without discrimination based on communal lines (see below).264The government has given wheat, rice, milk and other things, but more has come from organizations and what the government gives is not nearly enough to complete the daily food requirements. Running the camp itself, or at least supplying food, costs Rs. 115,000 a day. The government also hasn't given any wood for the fires or for cooking or given any dishes. Rs. 5 (about U.S.$ 0.10) per day per person was also allocated. This declaration was made on March 6 but the money has not been received. All the Islamic movements are helping.263 259 "Muslim refugees face new horrors in camps," South China Morning Post. 260 Amnesty International, "India: population of Ahmedabad, Gujarat," Urgent Action, March 5, 2002. 261 "Muslim refugees face new horrors in camps," South China Morning Post. 262 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld), Ahmedabad, March 23, 2002. See also, Malekar, "Silence of the Lambs," The Week. 263 Human Rights Watch interview (name withheld), Ahmedabad, March 23, 2002. 264
"PM Announces Relief Measures
for Riot Victims," rediff.com, April 4, 2002, available at
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