No data on North-East children - Census Dept

Chamikara Weerasinghe

COLOMBO: There is neither census nor data available with the Department of Census and Statistics on children in the North-East as the LTTE has obstructed population surveys for the last 20 years, Director General of the Census and Statistics Department A.G.W. Nanayakkara said yesterday.

Nanayakkara pointed out the importance of carrying out a thorough population census in these areas.

He said the Department has been more or less dependent on birth and death reports which come to the Registrar of Births and Deaths to determine the number of people living in these areas.

"The Department carried out its last population census in 2001 and it could not carry out the operation especially in Jaffna, Mullaitivu and Killinochchi with the LTTE not allowing the activity," he said.

"However, the Department had been able to collect household details in some of the areas by conducting several labour force surveys which will determine the employment and unemployment rates on subsequent occasions," he said. Asked if these surveys could determine the situation of children with regard to their existence, dispositions and number, the Director General said:

"The survey can only depict information on children in general but figuratively speaking there is no way that this number could be termed as official."

"A massive census on population had to be carried out in the North and East to discover the real situation. A population census is done with our officers going to each and every house in the respective areas to meet them face to face to record necessary data," he said.

Otherwise it is not regarded as a genuine census by our department, he added.

As pointed out by an official of the Survey Department, the Department had been able to carry out several sample surveys in North-East households the last year following the Ceasefire Agreement.

The Department has also carried out an income-expenditure survey and census on agriculture in the North and East in 2005, he said.