Govt. protects rights, serves needs of IDPs - SCOPP

COLOMBO: The Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) has stated that the Government continues to discharge its responsibility to protect the rights and serve the needs of the internally displaced.

The statement of the SCOPP also adds that Sri Lanka has strong claims to being the only country in the modern era that accepts a moral responsibility to feed its displaced citizens wherever located despite evidence that some of the food supplies are being siphoned off by the LTTE.

The full text of the SCOPP statement on the measures taken by the government with regard to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are as follows:

"The Government continues to discharge its responsibility to protect the rights and serve the needs of the internally displaced.

The Government provides extensive assistance and protection to all internally displaced persons.

It also facilitates to the best possible extent the work of international and domestic humanitarian organisations engaged in assisting the IDPs. Sri Lankan IDPs were the result of the ongoing conflict and 2004 boxing day tsunami.

Sri Lanka is a party to a series of multilateral treaties relating to refugees; and accepts its international obligations to promote and protect the human rights of the country's population, including those displaced by either conflict or natural disaster. It enforces these global standards with care.

In addition the Government has adopted a national framework for Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation (RRR) based in part on the UN guiding principals on internal displacement. Its objectives are to help strengthen Government's capacity -

1) to ensure that the basic needs of people affected by the conflict are met

2) to build productive livelihoods, and

3) to facilitate reconciliation across ethnic lines.

Considerable success has been achieved in pursuing these policies.

For instance:

a) In January 2002 at the time of entering into the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) the UNHCR estimated the total number of IDPs in Sri Lanka to be 731,838 persons due to conflict. Today this number has been reduced to 358,386 (UNHCR statistical summary - 31 May, 2006).

b) There are 241 welfare camps housing and IDP population of 66,939. The number outside welfare camps is 245,773. The number of new IDPs due to recent violence is 45,674 (UNHCR).

c) The returns of IDP's are as follows:

* 2002-2004 - 379,954 persons

* 2005 - 27,185 persons

* 2006 (up to May 31) - 11,539 persons

Total No. - 418,678 persons

(UNHCR statistical summary - 31 May, 2006)

Origin of IDPs

According to a census conducted by the Ministry of Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation in 2002, 80.86% of IDPs were Tamil, 13.7% were Muslims, 4.56% Sinhalese and 0.88% others. The majority are from the North and the East. The Tamil population has experienced by far the greatest displacement. The Government is engaged in a programme of de-mining in conflict ridden areas with the help of the Sri Lanka Army and NGOs.

Recent legal and policy framework to address the problem

* November 2005: The establishment of the Reconstruction and Development Agency (RADA). It aims to combine the work of the separate task forces involved in post-tsunami and post-conflict areas in one agency.

* Two new Ministries i.e. The Ministry of Re-settlement and the Ministry of Nation Building and Development, were created with the change of Government in November 2005 to take over the functions of three former Ministries.

* These three bodies i.e. RADA, Ministry of Re-settlement and the Ministry of Nation Building and Development are empowered to deal with policies, programmes, and projects arising from the conflict and the tsunami. The aim is to ensure a coherent strategy in place for the equal treatment of both conflict and tsunami - affected displaced.

* International agencies (such as the UNHCR) and NGOs have the Government's blessings in addressing the concerns of the IDPs.

Food relief

The Ministry of Nation Building and Development provides Relief and Humanitarian assistance to IDP families in both the cleared and uncleared areas in the North and the East. Food items upto a maximum of Rs. 1,260 per month per individual are provided. In cleared areas food relief is provided through MPCSS in the area, through funds allocated by the Ministry of Nation Building and Development. In uncleared areas dry rations are procured by the Ministry and distributed via Government agents.

According to latest figures (as at May 31, 2006, the approximate monthly value of dry rations supplied by the Ministry of Nation Building and Development to IDPs in the various Districts in the North and East are as follows:

District Total number Approx imate of Idps monthly value of dry rations

Jaffna 147,101 Rs. 40,568,000
Kilinochchi 66,931 Rs. 17,054,000
Mullativu 73,832 Rs. 19,306,000
Mannar 41,185 Rs. 9,836,000
Vavuniya 50,891 Rs. 12,460,000
Trincomalee 17,786 Rs. 5,272,000
Batticaloa 3,957 Rs. 1,001,000
Ampara 382 Rs. 96,000

(Figures are available for other Districts)

Unified Assistance Scheme

Families that have returned for resettlement are paid an allowance of Rs. 25,000 under the Unified Assistance Scheme. They are provided food relief upto 12 months after resettlement.

Forcible eviction of Muslims from the North by LTTE Over 60,000 Muslims who were forcibly evicted from their homes in the North by the LTTE in 1990 are currently IDPs living mainly either in or outside Welfare Centres in Puttalam. They have not been allowed to return to their original homes by the LTTE and consequently they remain under the care of the Government.

Trincomalee Task Force

Following the recent violence the Government has created a Task Force in April 2006 under the chair of the Governor to co-ordinate humanitarian relief efforts with regard to IDPs in the Trincomalee District. The Governor's mandate has been extended to cover Mannar as well.

The Government has indicated its willingness to facilitate the establishment of Open Relief Centres under the protection of the UNHCR, to reduce the flow of refugees to India and to ensure the rapid return of displaced persons.

The Government in ensuring the continued supply of food and other forms of humanitarian assistance to the Internally Displaced Persons living in areas controlled by the LTTE, a belligerent party engaged in hostilities against the State of Sri Lanka, has created a unique precedent in the annals of the conflict.

Sri Lanka has strong claims to being the only country in the modern era that accepts a moral responsibility to feed its displaced citizens wherever located despite evidence that some of the food supplies are being siphoned off by the LTTE."