Palitha Thevaraperuma M.P and his Van attacked- an infant critical; police were guarding the BBS attackers

IDPs attacked

The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) terrorists have attacked a UNP M.P. (Kalutara district) Palitha Thevaraperuma , yesterday (16) night and his vehicle smashed into smithereens because Palitha behaved like a human unlike the BBS demons. The BBS had caused this attack because the UNP M.P. went to save a group of women who were nearly dying at the hands of the terrorists while the curfew was in force.
 One of the children who came under the BBS attack is in a critical condition .

Conclusions and recommendations of the Sri Lanka report by Chaloka Beyani, the UN SP on the human rights of IDPs

IDPs in Sri Lanka ( file photo/UN)

Summary
The Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Chaloka Beyani, conducted an official mission to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (hereafter Sri Lanka) from 2 to 6 December 2013, at the invitation of the Government and pursuant to his mandate contained in resolution 23/8 of the Human Rights Council. The objective of the mission was to engage in a dialogue with the Government with a view to promoting durable solutions for the significant number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have been in need of such solutions since the end of the conflict in Sri Lanka in 2009.

Sri Lanka takes on UN SP Beyani’s report

IDPs in Sri Lanka (UNHRC file photo(

The Government has raised objections to some comments made by Dr. Chaloka Beyani, the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) during his visit to Sri Lanka last year. A Government report noted that no person who met Dr. Beyani, during his visit to Sri Lanka were threatened or intimidated at any point, and there have been no reports or complaints to that effect. In a report to the ongoing session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Sri Lankan Government said that the Special Rapporteur had even acknowledged that IDPs had shared their experiences with him during his visit even in the presence of security and other officials.

Switzerland decides to resume deportations of failed Sri Lankan asylum seekers

 Tamils demonstrate against the
deportations in Bern (keystone)

Sri Lankan asylum seekers wrongly expelled

The Federal Migration Office has come under fire for wrongly rejecting asylum applications from two Sri Lankans who were arrested on their return to their home country and are still in prison. Following reevaluation, deportations are to resume. A report released on Monday referred to a series of blunders resulting from “systemic conditions”, which led to the wrong decision being made in 2011.  An external investigation into the matter was ordered after the Federal Administrative Court found the asylum applications to be valid, but only after the two men had been deported.

A report to UNHRC 26: A significant number of people still living in protracted displacement in Sri Lanka

IDPs, Sri Lanka

''The Special Rapporteur reiterates the importance of establishing accountability mechanisms and strengthening reconciliation processes to ensure that those alleged to have perpetrated human rights violations against internally displaced persons are brought to justice, and that the communities affected by conflict and internal displacement can move towards peace.'' 

- Chaloka Beyani  SP on HR of  IDPs

90,000 Lankans still internally displaced

Sri Lanka IDPs

Five years after the war, Sri Lanka's level of internal displacement is estimated to be around 90,000 persons, according to the Annual Global Review of the Norway based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). Based on data gathered from January to December 2013, the IDMC's latest assessment has recorded up to 90,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka by end 2013.

Sri Lanka: Comments on Tamils seeking refuge in Tamil Nadu

Col R. Hariharan

Ten Sri Lankan Tamils, including two women and five children, from Sri Lanka who landed Aricha Munai off the Dhanushkodi coast (Tamil Nadu) on May 5 2014, have been arrested by police for entering the country without passports. After preliminary questioning, they are now lodged in Puzhal jail near Chennai. The media has questioned the decision to arrest them as they had fled from Mullaitivu fearing for their personal safety and sought refuge in India. Previously such refugees used to be screened at Mandapam refugee camp.

Mannar Divisional Secretary debunks Bodu Bala Sena allegations on Muslim IDPs

Muslim IDPs in Manner

Wilpattu dispute: Presidential Task Force allocated lands for Muslims - Mannar DS

* Sinhalese (2.6 percent) given 378 acres after clearing scrub jungle

Mannar Divisional Secretary S. Keetheswaran, refuting allegations by the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) that Muslim families driven out of the Musali Pradeshiya Sabha Division by the LTTE in 1990, had recently encroached on the Wilpattu National Park, said that it was a Presidential Task Force (PTF) Committee established in terms of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) that had identified the location for their resettlement.

More than one lakh Sri Lankan Tamil refugees live on low rations in dingy camps in TamilNadu

Paramita Ghosh, Hindustan Times

Karuna starts each time a car stops outside the door. He shows his wounds at the hands of the Sri Lankan army; the ones that have been inflicted by an Indian policeman hurt no less. “I should return to the camp,” he says after an hour. “I’m out of work, I might be asked by the cops why I had to stay out so late.” 

No one takes a pause in Chennai. The sentences spoken are long, the exchanges, hurried, and there is drama everywhere. By the time we reached another house in a lane, where we had hurriedly gathered after a failed attempt to interview refugees at a camp, we had had enough.

Sri Lanka: Displaced in north long for home

Konapalam camp in Sri Lanka houses 240
displaced families in cramped conditions

Charles Haviland BBC News, Jaffna district

"Would you like to go home?" The men chorus "Yes!" as my question is translated into Tamil. "We're waiting for that date. There's enough land. We'll farm it. We'll fish."

They cannot do that here in the Konapalam camp, the cramped home to 240 displaced families where children play in the dust. There are 31,524 people still in camps around Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka because their land is held by the military. 

Saharayani Thangarajah, a 42-year-old mother of two, wants to return to her birthplace at Kankesanthurai on the northernmost coast. "Some officials have told us we'll be resettled by mid-April," she says. "Is that true, do you know?"

Report launch: Australia’s cooperation with Sri Lanka to intercept asylum seekers is in urgent need of rethink

Australian FM Julie Bishop
meets Minister Basil Rajapaksa
(photo:med.gov.lk. )

A new report has found that Australia’s cooperation with Sri Lanka to prevent would-be-refugees from seeking protection is riddled with human rights risks and should be stopped immediately.

The report, Can’t flee, can’t stay: Australia’s interception and return of Sri Lankan asylum seekers, which is based on interviews with government officials, information obtained through freedom of information requests and statements from the public record, reveals a deeply flawed suite of policy measures and practices.

 The Human Rights Law Centre’s Director of Advocacy and Research and the report’s author, Emily Howie, said Australia’s efforts at ‘stopping boats’ are jeopardising the ability of Sri Lankans at risk of persecution to gain access to safety and asylum.

Sri Lanka: Almost five years of peace but tens of thousands of war-displaced still without solution

Returnee woman with two grandchildren

As of February 2014, four-and-a-half years after the end of Sri Lanka’s internal armed conflict, there were thought to be as many as 90,000 people still living in internal displacement as a result of it, most of them with host communities. Of more than 480,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) registered as having returned to their places of origin in Northern and Eastern provinces, the situation of tens of thousands also remains a cause for concern.

Vavuniya, Sri Lanka: No home to call their own!

By Madhava Kulasooriya  
The people of Vavuniya have lived through a brutal civil war, and had harboured hopes that they would be able to enhance their standard of living after the conclusion of the war. However, nearly five years post-war, the people live in extreme poverty with little hope for better standards in the immediate future.
The inhabitants of an area in Vavuniya claim that even though they were resettled and have been living in a village for over three years, government authorities have not taken any measures to provide the village with any of the basic facilities necessary to live in relative comfort.

The continuing divide between what is required to be done and what is done

Mullikulam in huts

Jehan Perera
In preparation for the forthcoming meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva the government has sent its top civil servant, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga to Geneva to put the government’s achievements into perspective. Since 2012 when the government lost the vote at the UNHRC and had to face a resolution calling on it to implement post-war recovery and accountability measures, the government has been seeking to get the best communicators working for it.

Sri Lanka: 5 years after the War no Water nor Electricity in Northern and Eastern villages

Gotamini Hathurusinghe
 It can be safely said that 5 years after the war many villages, well over 60% have no basic utilities supplied to them by the government. There are huge implications for the well being and safety of these people as a result. The following are excerpts of a list of GNDs only in Vavuniya and Kilinochchi Districts, which have been provided to the writer by the villagers. The writer has an indepth knowledge about the North and East. Details of the other Districts will follow.

A development based strategy for durable solutions for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka is essential - Beyani

"Constructing a development based strategy for durable solutions for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of conflict is now essential," UN rights expert says.

COLOMBO/GENEVA, 11 December 2013: "After having made impressive strides in rebuilding infrastructure destroyed during the conflict, post conflict reconstruction in Sri Lanka should also focus on addressing durable solutions for all IDPs and those who have returned to their areas of origin on a comprehensive basis," the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of IDPs, Chaloka Beyani, said at the end of his visit to Sri Lanka from 2 to 6 December 2013. 

Sri Lanka: Chief Minister of the NPC called for international action on sinhalese colanisation in North

 The Chief Minister of the NPC called  for international action against the Sri Lankan government’s program of settling Sinhalese families on Tamil-owned land forcibly appropriated by the military.
He said he had done everything possible to appease the Sinhalese and win back Tamil rights and he had reached the end of his journey. Now he calls for international action to stop colonisation of the North-East.

Wigneswaran complains to UN Special Rapporteur Dr. Beyani re militarisation

Dr. Beyani

Ananth Palakidnar
Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran, had urged the United Nations to assist in removing the obstacles created due to the heavy military presence in the Northern Province, when he met the on IDPs, Dr. Chaloka Beyani. He is on a five-day tour in Sri Lanka.
Dr. Beyani who arrived from Geneva, visited Jaffna and met the Chief Minister at his office yesterday. Provincial Councillor, Ananthi Sasitharan, was also present during the meeting. Dr. Beyani had verified in detail about the post-war humanitarian and the political development in the Northern Province.

UN human rights expert starts mission to assess situation of internally displaced persons

UN (OHCHR)  United Nations Special Rapporteur Chaloka Beyani started today a five-day official visit to Sri Lanka to examine the overall situation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country.
“I will gather first-hand information from all parties, including displaced persons and affected communities themselves,” said Mr. Beyani, who will go to Colombo, Jaffna and Mullaitivu districts.

CHOGM 2013: Cameron’s visit boosts morale of displaced Tamils

Meera Srinivasan

 British Prime Minister David Cameron visited the Sabapathipillai Welfare Centre at Chunnakam, about 10 km from Jaffna town, on Friday. He walked into the narrow lanes with tiny homes adjacent to each other and talked to some residents. Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M.A. Sumanthiran helped with translation.

The welfare centre is essentially a camp for internally displaced persons – with very basic facilities – where nearly 300 families that were forced to leave their homes during the war live.