UNHCR urges fresh bid to help S.Lanka’s displaced
COLOMBO, April 29 (Reuters) – The U.N. refugee agency urged the Sri Lankan government and rebels on Thursday to renew efforts to help hundreds of thousands of people displaced by decades of civil war.
“There needs to be a renewed focus on resolving this long-standing humanitarian problem,” United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Inspector-General Dennis McNamara told a news conference after a two-week visit to Sri Lanka.
“A lot has been done but a lot remains to be done. You can’t build peace without stability in the population…and we believe there is an opportunity here which can only benefit all sides,” McNamara said.
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| IDP movements Jan-May 2002 |
Talks to end a 20-year civil war between government forces and separatist minority rebels that has killed 64,000 people broke down in 2003, but a truce has held for more than two years.
The UNHCR estimates more than 360,000 people have gone home since the ceasefire began, but Sri Lanka continues to have one of the largest populations of internally displaced people in Asia.
About 370,000 people are without a home and another 140,000 are refugees outside the country, including more than 60,000 in camps in southern India.
The number of people returning each month is also on the decline. In February, 2,543 displaced people returned home, the lowest figure since the shooting stopped.
Those who have not returned home say the biggest obstacle is a lack of land.
Property must be returned to its rightful owners and new homes built to replace those destroyed or abandoned in the conflict, McNamara said.
He also said the clearing of landmines and unexploded ordnance should be accelerated.
“Collectively, we need to do more,” he said. “And the humanitarian imperative to do more cannot be hostage to the political process.”
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP248206.htm
Originally published April 29, 2004