UK supports displaced Sri Lanka civilians

03 April 2009

Press Release

Helping civilians forced to leave their homes by the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka remains a priority for the UK government. New support will help people living in temporary camps be granted freedom of movement and give them the chance to access social welfare and ultimately return home.

UK support will help the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) to register all civilians who have been displaced by the conflict and are now living in camps. Once registered, the civilians will be issued with identity cards which will help them to return to their homes.

Minister for International Development Mike Foster explained:

"Many of the 52,000 people in the camps have been forced to uproot from their homes more than ten times. Each time they leave they lose more of their personal possessions, so that they often end up in the camps with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

"Helping individuals to formally re-gain their identity brings practical benefits such as allowing them to move freely, but perhaps more importantly it also restores their dignity."

Support has also been provided to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), who are working in the camps to provide shelter and to distribute basic supplies such as blankets, and essential household items such as cooking sets and water containers.

But, whilst the population in the camps remain a concern, it is the more than 100,000 civilians trapped in the conflict zone that face the greatest threat to their lives and dignity.

Mike Foster continued:

"It is vital that the civilians trapped by the fighting between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are able to escape to safety by land.

"Without an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to allow this traumatised and vulnerable population to leave, every day brings us closer to a humanitarian tragedy.

"There are credible reports that up to a hundred civilians are dying and being injured every day, including in the 'no fire' zone. Aid supplies getting in to the conflict zone are already woefully inadequate and as the fighting continues in a smaller and smaller area, more civilians will inevitably lose their lives."

Since September 2008 the Department for International Development (DFID) has committed £5 million of humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka.