COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
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7 MARCH <strong>2012</strong> SRI LANKA<br />
―For the IDP camps the government accepted assistance from and provided access to<br />
NGOs and international actors. Management of the camps and control of assistance<br />
was under the military rather than civilian authorities, but civilian government agencies<br />
provided services to IDPs in the camps while working in concert with the military.<br />
―The government released IDPs throughout the year [2010] for return to their areas of<br />
origin, but in some cases the government did not effectively coordinate with local or<br />
international aid agencies that were asked to provide assistance on short notice. The<br />
government sometimes failed to coordinate consistently with military personnel in the<br />
IDPs' home locations.<br />
―The government generally cooperated with the UNHCR and some other humanitarian<br />
organizations in assisting IDPs; however, it restricted access to the north by NGOs and<br />
some international organizations, requiring them to obtain authorization for projects and<br />
access from the Presidential Task Force. While the UN and its organizations were given<br />
fairly effective access, other international NGOs had difficulty in operating projects they<br />
saw as needed, and permission for some humanitarian organizations to operate was<br />
denied or rescinded.‖<br />
24.04 The Minority Rights Group International (MRGI) report No war, no peace: the denial of<br />
minority rights and justice in Sri Lanka 473 , released on 19 January 2011 observed that<br />
―Families that have been returned and resettled have very limited income and livelihood<br />
support. There are few employment opportunities. Most of the people in these areas<br />
were either farmers or fishermen, but they are unable to return to cultivation or to<br />
access the sea front in most areas for security reasons and because of landmines.‖<br />
24.05 A letter from the British High Commission (BHC), Colombo, dated 13 August 2010 474 ,<br />
reported that:<br />
―When asked, the Senior Government Official for Jaffna told us that the local population<br />
were happy to receive IDPs back into the community. In many cases they were<br />
welcoming back relatives. He added that Muslims were also returning in small numbers.<br />
He said that in his view there were many Tamils from Jaffna residing in the south who<br />
were waiting to see how things turned out, to see if it was ‗better than Colombo‘. He<br />
confirmed that there had been the inevitable land disputes between people who had<br />
abandoned their homes decades ago returning to find them occupied by others.<br />
―A Human Rights spokesman based in Jaffna said that locals were suspicious of the<br />
IDPs returning. There were often questions asked as to whether they were working for<br />
military intelligence and if people associated with them would the military become<br />
suspicious. Land rights were now a big issue. At the beginning of the conflict people left<br />
their homes and went to Colombo, allowing other people to move in and look after their<br />
properties. Many of the owners were returning which was causing more displacement<br />
for the occupiers who now found themselves homeless.‖<br />
24.06 As far as the situation in the Kilinochchi district was concerned 475 , the same BHC letter<br />
noted that:<br />
473 Minority Rights Group International (MRGI), No war, no peace: the denial of minority rights and<br />
justice in Sri Lanka, released on 19 January 2011 http://www.minorityrights.org/10458/reports/no-warno-peace-the-denial-of-minority-rights-and-justice-in-sri-lanka.html<br />
date accessed 20 May 2011, p9<br />
474 British High Commission, Colombo, letter dated 13 August 2010<br />
The main text of this <strong>COI</strong> <strong>Report</strong> contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section<br />
to 2 <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
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