Geneva endorses Sri Lankan success:

Laying to rest the ghost of IDP horror

The recent closure of Menik Farm, the main IDP village, signaled a major success in Sri Lanka’s handling of the most pressing post-conflict issue. It has given the lie to all those sceptics and peddlers of misinformation about the actual treatment of the IDPs from the time the armed conflict came to an end in May 2009. With the beginning of the influx of IDPs fleeing the LTTE that was holding them as human shields in Nandikadal in Mullaitivu, Sri Lanka became the target of continued attacks on their alleged ill-treatment, with little if any consideration for the enormous task the country was faced with.

Although several foreign countries came in to assist, and international organizations including UN agencies, and several local organizations of civil society and charities also joined in the relief measures, the howls of strident and ill-informed criticism, amounting to a blare of abuse, continued, with little regard to what was actually taking place.

Menik Farm and other IDP centres were described by many Western media, human rights organizations and the thinly veiled agents of the LTTE abroad, as detention camps, some claiming they were as bad as the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, and the later horrors of Srebrenica.

People photographed behind barbed wire fences, which were a necessity to keep them safe from attack from outside, and for purposes of enumeration, were described as inmates of the most cruel places of detention yearning to come out; despite the clear evidence of the efforts being made to provide them with every facility - from shelter to health and education, and later travel outside, too - despite the severe constraints on the state.

Welfare centres

One easily recalls the many alarms sent out by foreign 'do-gooders' who had a different agenda than that of helping the IDPs. There were frequent and baseless warnings of outbreaks of epidemics inside the welfare centres and dire warnings of imminent flooding in the shelters. Neither took place, confirming the official position and the view of those actually involved in relief work that there were no such dangers. The use of tents provided by the UN to shelter of the IDPS, with the discomfort within, much against the wishes of Sri Lankan authorities who knew better of local conditions and material for shelter, was shown as disregard for the comfort of the displaced people.

There was little said about the arrangements being made from the outset to reintegrate into society these nearly 300,000 people, who had suffered most under the LTTE, in its final days of battle for the success of terror, after their lives were shattered when they were forced to follow the LTTE in its march to battle the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, and finally turned into the human shields to protect the same brutal leadership of terror. At one stage Amnesty International launched an international 'Unlock the Gates' campaign, to 'free' these Tamil people held in what it described as brutal conditions of incarceration.

All of this misrepresentation, mainly to serve the interests of the LTTE, and its well funded political agents in the West, did not produce the results expected. Sri Lanka carried out its responsibilities with the welfare of the IDPs given the highest priority, and now we have come to the end of the IDP phase within the country.

UNHCR

This was emphasized by Ambassador Ravinatha Ariyasinha, in his address to the 63rd Session of the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday, when he said that, "in contrast to the considerable difficulty and gloom in the humanitarian crises that continue to engulf many parts of the world today, Sri Lanka’s recent achievements provide confidence and hope."

Sri Lanka's Permanent representative to the UN in Geneva added: “Those who downplay the significance of Sri Lanka's post-conflict achievements and constantly keep shifting goal posts, show disrespect not only to Sri Lanka and its international partners whose steadfast commitment to this task has made these achievements possible, but also to those who have at last emerged from the suffering caused by 30 years of terrorist conflict.”

Detailing the considerable progress made in a little over three years - in IDP resettlement, demining, re-integration of ex-LTTE combatants, the shrinking of the high security zones, increase of economic growth in the Northern province and operationalization of LLRC recommendations, ambassador Ariyasinha said, "it lends credence to the position that even the most severe and insurmountable of challenges could be overcome with the political commitment and dedication of the concerned country, and the requisite support provided by the international community.”

He recalled, as many others would, how in May 2009, as the terrorist conflict in Sri Lanka came to an end and the caring of nearly 300,000 IDPs became necessary, much fear was expressed in some quarters that malnutrition, disease and death would be rampant in the IDP villages; that the government would not be interested in demining; that IDPs would be 'incarcerated' indefinitely. The government’s intent regards the ex-LTTE combatants was questioned with the claim that “they would not be released and that their lives would be in danger”.

It was also said that the high security zones would not be disbanded; that the government would not be able to undertake the massive investment that was needed to restore livelihoods and ensure infrastructure development in the previously conflict-affected areas, and that no effort will be made towards post-conflict reconciliation.”

All these fears, which made headlines as an essential part of the anti-Sri Lanka media chorus for more than a year, and were repeated by rights groups that had little actual interest in the welfare of the displaced Tamils, but were having their own game plan of attack on Sri Lanka, have now been proved untrue, and convincingly so.

The hard facts

The facts as presented to the UNHCR were the most effectively detailed and verifiable, exposing the canards that were presented to the world for so long about the IDP situation in this country.

• The socio-economic, nutritional and mortality indicators in Sri Lanka's IDP villages which at its peak 295,873 IDPs were deemed commendable by international standards, to that of a normal population of this magnitude. Access to education, health and recreational facilities were provided to children living in the welfare villages.

• With the resettlement of IDPs displaced at the end of the conflict over three years ago, the final IDP village ‘Menik Farm’ was closed down last week, and Sri Lanka remains committed to addressing the remaining challenges of the returnees, including some who still live with host families. The UN Resident Coordinator Subinay Nandy, has noted that 'The closure of the camp is a significant sign of the transition from conflict to sustainable peace and the commitment of the government to resettling tens of thousands of people back to their homes’.

• The resettlement process has gone hand in hand with the demining and demilitarization of the former conflict-affected areas. Of the estimated 2,061.53 sq.km. contaminated with landmines and UXOs, less than 116 sq.km. remain to be cleared. It is noteworthy that 75 percent of the demining work has been carried out by the Sri Lanka Army.

• The former high security zones have ceased to exist, and the Security Forces presence in the Jaffna peninsula has been reduced from 50,000 at the height of the conflict, to 15,000 at present, and the military is no longer involved in civil administration in the Northern and Eastern provinces.

• Of the approximately 12,000 ex-LTTE combatants who surrendered or were arrested at the end of the conflict, 10,981 (which included 594 child combatants), have been rehabilitated and re-integrated with their families and society.

• With extensive government investment in infrastructure and livelihood development, the former conflict-affected Northern Province which recorded a growth rate of 22 percent in 2010 continued the trend recording a 27.1 percent growth rate in 2011, which was by far the highest growth rate among all provinces. The Northern province has continued to increase its share of the national economy driven by an expansion in agriculture, fishing, construction, transportation and financial serves.

• Following the submission of the report of Sri Lanka’s domestic reconciliation mechanism - the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) in November 2011, the government of Sri Lanka in July 2012 released its strategy for the implementation of the recommendations, under the direction of an eight-member Task Force headed by the Secretary to the President. ‘Land return and resettlement’ comprises, inter alia, an important sub-theme in this Action Plan, with resettlement already at an advanced stage of implementation.

High Commissioner

The best proof of Sri Lanka’s success in dealing with one of the biggest IDP situations in recent times came from the UN High Commissioner for refugees Antonio Guterres who observed that "the operational role of the UNHCR in Sri Lanka will be phased down for many of the reasons that were elaborated upon in the ambassador's statement". He added that "UNHCR will continue to be committed to supporting voluntary repatriation of some of the refugees of Sri Lanka from India, as well as with the resettlement of the remainder of the internally displaced in their places of origin."

This observation by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees should hopefully help open the eyes of those in Tamil Nadu, especially Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and her rival Karunanidhi, as well as the virulently pro-LTTE hangers on such as Vaiko, who not only support Eelam, but keep shedding crocodile tears for the Sri Lankan Tamils, with massively pretended concern for the Tamil IDPs in the North. The UNHCR’s assessment of how we have handled the IDP issue, should also help Manmohan Singh to be more firm with the pro-Eelamists who are trying to use the Sri Lankan Tamil issue to rock the boat in New Delhi in the play for great power to the Tamil Nadu region.

Ambassador Ariyasinha struck the correct concluding note when he told the UNHRC that, “Sri Lanka remains ready to share its experience and best practices in post-conflict resettlement and rehabilitation with the international community. We also look forward to strengthening the ongoing cooperation between the UNHCR and member states.”