COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
areas/mangroves, building sea walls and beacons, building storage facilities, replacing
pumps to assist irrigation and clearing jungle, which would require further demining.‖
24.12 Human Rights and Security Issues concerning Tamils in Sri Lanka, Report from Danish
Immigration Service‘s fact-finding mission to Colombo, Sri Lanka 19 June to 3 July
2010 480 , dated October 2010 – accessible from the hyperlink in the footnote – provided
comprehensive information on the situation and general living conditions in the camps
as well as on freedom of movement in and out of the camps.
24.13 On 19 May 2011 the official website of the Government of Sri Lanka 481 reported that:
―The overall population returned to their places of origin includes both recent IDPs
(post-2008) and the long-term displaced (pre-2008). The resettlement of Menik Farm
IDPs of Kilinochchi origin is complete, and the vast majority of the remaining 16,401
persons (4,981 families) hail from Mullative District, the latest OCHA [UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs] update said.
―Apart from areas with ongoing mine clearance operations in this district, there are
several Grama Niladhari Divisions (GNDs) still to be released for mine action
interventions to pave the way for IDP returns.‖
24.14 On 5 July 2011 Irin 482 observed:
―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.‖
―Seven months after the government declared victory over the LTTE in May 2009, the
Ministry of Economic Development launched the Northern Recovery Project in
December 2009 to accelerate development in the conflict-affected Vanni. Of some
120,000 resettled families in the Vanni, the ministry estimates about 29,000 have
directly benefited from projects, while 56,000 families have benefited indirectly.
―According to the UN's latest Joint Humanitarian and Early Recovery Update, released
on 24 June, 63 percent of returnees live below the poverty line. In the Mullaitivu District,
12 percent survive on less than $0.50 a day, while in the adjoining Kilinochchi District
that figure rises to 26 percent.
24.15 The UN OCHA Joint Humanitarian and Early Recovery Update for November-
December 2011 483 , released on 24 January 2012 reported:
480 Human Rights and Security Issues concerning Tamils in Sri Lanka, Report from Danish Immigration
Service’s fact-finding mission to Colombo, Sri Lanka 19 June to 3 July 2010, October 2010
http://www.nyidanmark.dk/NR/rdonlyres/899724D8-BEEB-4D9E-B3B2-
F2B28A505CCD/0/fact_finding_report_sri_lanka_2010.pdf date accessed 27 May 2011, p19-23
481 Official website of the Government of Sri Lanka, Over 373,000 IDPs resettled in North, 19 May 2011
http://www.priu.gov.lk/news_update/Current_Affairs/ca201105/20110519over_373,000_idps_resettled_i
n_north.htm date accessed 2 June 2011
482 Irin News, Sri Lanka: Returnees struggle in post-war zone, 5 July 2011,
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=93148 date accessed 26 January 2012
483 UN OCHA Joint Humanitarian and Early Recovery Update for November-December 2011, released
on 24 January 2012 – Report #38
186 The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.