Archives

Survey on internally displaced completed in three districts

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

The first ever national survey on internally displaced persons (IDPs) commenced by the Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees Ministry to plan out durable solutions for IDPs has already completed its first leg in Mannar, Vavuniya and Kilinochchi districts.

The survey will be completed in the Mullaitivu and Jaffna districts by the end of this month. It is also going on smoothly in the South to be completed by the middle of next month, a Ministry spokesman told the Daily News on Friday.

The Ministry in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Department of Census and Statistics have embarked on this survey and registration process. It is intended to register around 250,000 families in Sri Lanka and another 100,000 refugees in India.

The information obtained from the registration of IDPs will enable them to know the exact number of IDPs in Sri Lanka. It will also assist the Government and donor agencies to identify priority areas for return of IDPs and to assist to those wishing to return to do so voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, he said.

"There are about 664,251 displaced persons in Sri Lanka. Since the information has been separately gathered in some districts, an accurate record of the IDPs and refugees is not available at present. There are four groups of IDPs and refugees. This includes IDPs in Welfare Centres (42,000 families), IDPs with friends and relations (142,000 families) who are given dry rations, IDPs with friends and relations who do not receive dry rations and refugees in Tamil Nadu camps (66,000 persons) and thousands outside camps."

Meanwhile a Policy, Planning and Coordination Unit (PPCU) has been set up by the Ministry as the primary assistance provider to IDPs and Sri Lankan refugees. The PPCU is conducting the registration of IDPs with the aid of approximately 500 enumerators and supervisors who are trained by the DCS. The UNHCR has provided support primarily in terms of expertise and publicity, he said.

" According to the statistics 346 welfare centres are in Sri Lanka including Jaffna 56, Kilinochchi 40, Mullaitivu 73, Vavuniya 14, Trincomalee 13, Puttalam 81 and Anuradhapura 39. Nearly 41,309 displaced families are living in these 346 refugee camps. In addition to this, 141,995 families are staying outside with their friends and relatives."

This national survey will look into the social, educational and health conditions of these displaced families. All resettlements will be made voluntarily with honour and dignity.

He said at present some refugees live in uncleared areas like Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi. Therefore this survey will collect data on all such persons. This will be a more difficult survey than any other survey conducted in Sri Lanka earlier.

He said no obstruction has been caused by the LTTE for this survey and they have actually supported it. This is equivalent to the national surveys conducted in other countries. The IDPs who return to their settlements will be granted dry rations as usual for a period of six months.

The second stage of this survey will gather information on Sri Lankan refugees in other countries including 66,000 refugees who are presently in South India, he added.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager