REFUGEE

Sri Lanka has accelerated the pace of resettlement of Tamil civilians displaced in its recent civil war amid threats from the European Union to withdraw trading privileges for the island over its human rights record, according to western diplomats and officials.

After months of criticism over the lack of access to and conditions in the camps, the government says it has resettled about 79,000, or nearly a quarter, of the estimated 280,000 Tamils being held.

The suddenness and pace of the returns has surprised independent observers. "We weren't really expecting such a sudden acceleration in returns," said a western diplomat in Colombo, who confirmed the government's figures. Rishad Bathiudeen, Sri Lanka's resettlement minister, told the Financial Times that 3,000 were being sent home every day.

Sri Lanka has bridled at criticism of the camps, created to handle refugees fleeing fighting in the north, saying they were necessary for security reasons.

The increased pace of resettlement follows a threat from the EU to suspend Sri Lanka's access to its Generalised System of Preferences Plus trade scheme because of alleged civil, political and human rights violations.

The EU is due to consider the matter this month. Any suspension would be a first for the GSP Plus programme, which began in 2005 and benefits 14 poor countries with lower tariffs on imports.

Suspension would wipe more than $100m (€68m, £61m) off the profits of Sri Lanka's textile export industry, a big employer of low-income people, sparking debate about the merits of linking trade with human rights.

A key concern for international rights activists has been the plight of the Tamil refugees held in the camps. Most of them are from regions that were controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam until the ethnic Tamil rebel group was militarily defeated in May, ending its decades-old war for a separate state. The camp inhabitants have no freedom of movement and access by the outside world is severely restricted.

The government has claimed it wanted to complete demining before it took people home and that tight security was needed because of the lingering presence of LTTE operatives. Human rights groups and western governments dismissed many of these arguments and said the camps violated international law by detaining non-combatants. Living conditions have also been criticised.

Mr Bathiudeen said thousands were now being returned home, including those displaced in the conflict's final phase.He denied the government was responding to international pressure. But Sri Lanka's textile industry said it hoped the move would help persuade the EU to think again on GSP Plus. The EU has cautioned that its concerns extend beyond the refugees to other alleged rights violations.