CERF allocates $2 million to aid IDPs in Sri Lanka
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| IDPs receiving medical aid [UN Photo] |
18 October 2010: CERF allocates $2 million to benefit some 30,000 internally displaced peoples (IDPs) in Sri Lanka.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has been allocated $1.2 million to provide emergency food aid for conflict-affected IDPs. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will receive $200,000 for maternal, neonatal, and child health interventions in IDP camps in north Sri Lanka. The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) will use $175,000 for emergency shelter and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) projects for displaced families. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been allocated $150,000 for emergency shelter and protection assistance for IDPs. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) will use $150,000 for primary health assistance and monsoon mitigation activities. Finally, the World Health Organization (WHO) will receive $50, 000 for health interventions in conflict-affected areas.
Although progress has been made in returning the majority of Sri Lankan IDPs to their areas of origin, the onset of the Northeast monsoon and mine contamination will delay resettlement of the remaining IDP population. Conditions in areas of return continue to be difficult, as assistance and service provision is insufficient. Both returnees and approximately 30,000 IDPs still in camps are heavily dependent on life-saving assistance, including food, non-food items distribution, water, sanitation and health services provision. Growing funding shortfalls since the beginning of 2010 have seriously circumscribed agency capacity to deliver life-saving services and maintain essential services to returnees and IDPs, who will remain in camps until conditions in the return areas allow safe, sustainable resettlement
Humanitarian needs will further increase during the coming weeks and months, as the monsoon rains hit the northern region. The Department of Meteorology forecasts higher than average rainfall during the 2010-11 monsoon period due to the current La Nina weather cycle. Incidents of rain and cyclonic conditions in the north were reported at end September.
[Last updated: 10 November 2010]
CERF allocates $13.7 million for returnees and IDPs in Sri Lanka
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| An IDP camp in Sri Lanka [IRIN] |
26 March 2010: CERF has allocated $13.4 million to aid returnees and IDPs in Sri Lanka. The past few months have seen a steep increase in humanitarian needs in the Northern Province due to the accelerated return of some of the communities displaced in the latter stages of the conflict there.
More than $4.1 million will go to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for emergency shelter and protection assistance to 17,000 IDP and returnee families in the northern districts. The World Food Programme (WFP) will use $2.4 million to provide food aid for 50,000 IDPs. Some $2.6 million has been allocated to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for WASH programmes for 50,000 displaced people, maternal, neonatal, and child health interventions; basic education for 25,000 children in the northern province; and emergency nutrition for 8,000 children under the age of 5 in IDP camps and resettlements areas. Nearly $1.5 million has been allocated to the International Organization of Migration (IOM) for shelter assistance for 60,000 returnees and transport assistance for up to 55,000 IDPs. The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) will receive close to $1.3 million for immediate shelter support for 1,600 vulnerable families and immediate water and sanitation facilities for 6,000 vulnerable families. Some $920,000 has been allocated to the World Health Organization (WHO) for 50,000 IDPs and transitional and primary health care for returned IDPs. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will use $680,000 for emergency assistance to improve the food security and agricultural livelihood of 10,000 returnees. Finally, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will receive $200,000 for reproductive health and wellbeing of displaced and returned women and girls.
The Sri Lankan Government is strongly focused on returning people displaced in 2008 and 2009 in the northern province as their areas of origin are progressively released for resettlement following mine action operations. Nearly 300,000 people had fled the fighting to areas surrounding the conflict zone by May 2009, when the government declared the end of the conflict. They were accommodated in several camps, the largest concentration of IDPs being at Menik Farm in Vavuniya District. In September 2009 the Government launched an accelerated resettlement programme, under which around 192,000 individuals (62,000 families) have been released from the camps or returned to their districts of origin as of mid-March 2010. As a result, there has been an exponential increase of humanitarian needs in the return areas, where basic services and reconstruction are still in the early stages. A further 84,000 IDPs (about 26,000 families) remain in the camps, with 50,000 people targeted for resettlement between April and June 2010. In this context, urgent funding is sought to enhance the ongoing response to life-threatening needs in the resettlement areas, while maintaining critical services for IDPs in camps still awaiting return as their areas of origin are yet to be cleared of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO).
[Last Update: 8 April 2010]