UN envoy endorses plans
Rasika SOMARATHNA
|
UN Secretary General’s Special Representative on Human
Rights of Internally Displaced Persons Prof.Walter Kaelin
meets Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services
MinisterRisath Bathiyutheen and Ministry officials. |
UN special envoy on Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons,
Prof.Walter Kaelin expressed his satisfaction over proposed Government
plans to initiate relief and resettlement measures for IDPs in the
north, authorities said.
Prof.Kaelin was briefed on the ongoing efforts and about ones in the
pipeline, by Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services Minister Risath
Bathiyutheen and the Ministry officials.
Ministry sources said the two parties had engaged in lengthy
deliberations on the measures taken to ensure safety and welfare of the
displaced civilians.Minister Bathiyutheen while acknowledging the
support extended by the UN in expediting relief work, had assured
Prof.Kaelin that the Government was doing its utmost to help the nearly
63,000 strong displaced community, currently housed in welfare centres.
He further said the civilians living in the safe zone were reaching
the cleared areas in large numbers on a daily basis at present, and the
Government was ready to handle a mass exodus expected to happen s hortly.
Prof.Walter Kaelin is scheduled to tour Vavuniya today, in order to
obtain first hand information on the facilities provided to IDPs housed
in welfare centres.
|
