By IANS
Colombo : While stressing that there is a “pervasive sense of fear” among the thousands displaced by the war between the army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka, a top UN official has urged parties concerned to find peaceful solutions and prevent fresh displacement of people.
“The predominant concern among internally displaced persons (IDPs) is physical security,” Walter Kalin, the UN secretary general’s representative on human rights of IDPs, said Thursday in his report following a visit to war-affected parts of northeast Sri Lanka last week.
Kalin said the refugees, whose numbers had swelled to 300,000 since 1980, feared continued incursions by the Tamil Tiger rebels.
There have also been abductions, lootings and attacks on individuals by the Tamil Makkal Vidhuthalai Puligal, a group that had broken away from the LTTE in 2004 and has been operating in the eastern districts of Batticaloa and Amparai.
Incomplete mine clearance, round ups by Sri Lankan security forces and detention of people without notification to their families about the reason and the place of imprisonment are some of the major concerns of the refugees.
However, Kalin acknowledged that the government has made “considerable efforts” to assist the displaced after the tsunami of December 2004 and the military operations which took place between April 2006 and March 2007.
He reported that over 200,000 displaced people had returned to their homes or had been provided with temporary shelters and were beginning to regain their livelihoods. He said he was encouraged by the government’s recognition of the need to attend to the problems of Muslim refugees from the northern Tamil-speaking district of Jaffna.
These Muslims, numbering several thousands, were driven out by the Tamil Tigers and have been living in refugee camps in Puttalam, north of Colombo, for the past 17 years.
Looking at the future, Kalin urged the Sri Lankan government to take measures in line with international human rights standards and the UN guiding principles on internal displacement in the areas of security, livelihoods and access to humanitarian help. This was essential if the return of the refugees to their homes was to be sustainable both in the near and the long term, he said.
He emphasized the need for providing safe exit routes for refugees during military operations.