Sri Lanka charter flight goes ahead
December 19, 2011 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
A charter flight returning over fifty people to Sri Lanka has gone ahead despite protests and claims by lawyers that those on board face a threat of torture.
Source: Independent
Returnees struggle in post-war zone
July 6, 2011 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
(IRIN) – More than two years after Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war officially ended, returnees to remote villages face tough times and uncertain futures, despite governmental and international efforts at reconstruction.
This report online: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=93148
Refugees want to return, says UNHCR
January 7, 2011 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
(IRIN) – The number of Sri Lankan refugees wanting to return home since the end of the conflict in 2009 is increasing significantly, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says.
Very low voter turn-out among IDPs in Sri Lanka
April 13, 2010 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
Difficult homecoming for Muslim IDPs
March 22, 2010 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
Thousands of Sri Lankan IDPs miss resettlement deadline
February 15, 2010 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
IRIN – Sri Lankan government officials aim to resettle more than 100,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) by April after missing a self-imposed deadline to move everyone out of camps in the country’s north by end-January.
Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services, said the delay was due in part to incomplete demining activities in northern areas. “It has impeded the resettlement process. The area needs to be completely safe for the people to resettle,” Bathiudeeen told IRIN.
“Administrative structures [in the areas] are now completely restored. They are also functional. Most schools, co-operatives and hospitals are now functioning,” he added.
SRI LANKA: IDPs Divided over Election Outcome
February 1, 2010 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
IRIN – As the results of Sri Lanka’s first post-war presidential election poured in, the mood at Menik Farm, in the main government-run camp for the ethnic Tamil internally displaced (IDPs), in the northern town of Vavuniya, was sober.
Only 6,000 residents of the camp, home to some 118,000 IDPs, sought to register for the 27 January polls.
“We want an opportunity to rebuild our shattered lives,” said a resident, Sellamma Vallimuttu. She recalled a time when the north was flourishing, with lush paddy fields, hectares of onion fields and unrestricted fishing.
SRI LANKA: Concern Grows over IDP Voting Rights
January 11, 2010 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
IRIN – Tens of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) and new returnees in Sri Lanka may miss out on voting in this month’s presidential election on 26 January.
More than 170,000 of the 280,000 who fled the last bout of fighting between government forces and the now defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have returned to their homes in the former conflict zone known as the Vanni.
And while the government maintains those still in the IDP camps and the returnees will be able to vote, questions remain.
Read more – http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87693
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Stop Deportation of 19 Sri Lankan Asylum Seekers
January 9, 2010 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
Sri Lanka Guardian – SUARAM has been informed that the actual number of Sri Lankan asylum seekers at risk of deportation by the Malaysian Government is 19 individuals. They are scheduled to be deported on 7 and 8 January 2010 and are currently located at KLIA Immigration Detention Centre.
In addition, we were also informed that the 19 have been registered by UNHCR during detention at Machap Umboo Immigration Detention Centre, Malacca. It is most likely that their asylum claims are still being processed by UNHCR
Despite registration by UNHCR, the move to deport the asylum seekers is symptomatic of the utter lack of respect of basic refugee rights by the Malaysian Government.
Read more – http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2010/01/stop-deportation-of-19-sri-lankan.html
UN in Tamil ‘bitterness’ warning
September 29, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
By Anbarasan Ethirajan
The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has warned that Sri Lanka risks creating “bitterness” if it fails to rapidly resettle Tamil refugees.
He conveyed this during talks with Sri Lankan Prime minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake at the UN in New York.
Mr Ban said further suffering under harsh conditions in the camps could lead to growing discontent in the government-run camps in the north.
More than 250,000 Tamil civilians have been confined in these camps.
The civilians fled the northern region in the final stages of fighting between Sri Lankan security forces and Tamil Tiger rebels.
The Sri Lankan military declared victory over Tamil Tiger rebels in May after the army wiped out their entire leadership.
Stone-throwing crowd
A UN news release, quoting Mr Ban, said he also underscored the need to resettle people rapidly because of the fast approaching monsoon season.
The government says it intends to resettle most of them by the end of this year. It also says it needs time to weed out Tamil Tiger rebels from refugee camps in the north.
The warning by Mr Ban came days after a violent incident in the refugee camps in which two civilians received injuries when soldiers fired on a group the military said was trying to escape from a camp near the northern town of Vavuniya.
A military spokesman said the soldiers fired in self-defence to disperse a stone-throwing crowd. He alleged one of the protesters had a hand grenade.
Nineteen people were taken into custody following the clash.
But a Tamil political leader has disputed the army’s version of events saying the refugees were only trying to move from one camp to another to fetch firewood for cooking.
Another senior UN official, who visited the refugee camps last week, said the incident highlighted growing tensions and human rights abuses.
The incident “underscores how interning people in large and overcrowded camps not built for prolonged stays is itself a factor detrimental to security” Walter Kaelin, the secretary-general’s representative for refugee rights, said in a statement after a recent visit to Sri Lanka.
Mr Kaelin said “the use of firearms to control a group of internally displaced persons” raised serious human rights issues.
He criticised the “slow screening of people” in the camps for suspected Tamil Tigers.
The Sri Lankan government has come under intense pressure from human rights groups and other countries to free civilians confined in these camps more than four months after the end of the conflict.
Story from BBC NEWS:
