ICRC assists thousands of persons in government-run sites for the displaced

In Manik Farm alone, over 20,000 people have access to five litres of clean drinking water every day, thanks to a water-treatment plant and a 70,000-litre water tank installed by ICRC staff, says a media release today by the international body.

The media release in full:

The International Committee of the Red Cross has been bringing aid to thousands of civilians who fled the areas formerly held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and is visiting a growing number of persons held in relation to the conflict in government welfare centres, says a media release by the ICRC today.

* Assisting displaced persons

The ICRC is assisting the government in meeting its obligations to care for internally displaced persons (IDPs) by providing those in government-run sites with food, water, shelter and sanitation, as well as hygiene and essential household items.

“The needs of these people are still immense. Many of them have lost their families, friends and all their possessions,” said Paul Castella, head of the ICRC delegation in Sri Lanka. “Those who have been separated from their families desperately want to hear from them. The ICRC will continue supporting the government’s efforts to help them and remains ready to share its expertise in restoring family links.”

The ICRC has provided shelter and water, as well as built latrines for over 66,000 people at several government-run IDP sites in Batticaloa, Jaffna, Mannar, Vavuniya and Trincomalee districts. In Manik Farm alone, over 20,000 people have access to five litres of clean drinking water every day, thanks to a water-treatment plant and a 70,000-litre water tank installed by ICRC staff.

More than 70,000 IDPs in Manik Farm have received hygiene and baby care parcels. Some 40,000 displaced families in Vavuniya, Jaffna and Trincomalee districts received supplies of dried food, clothes, hygiene items and kitchen utensils. The distribution of similar items to a further 50,000 displaced families is under way.

When increasing numbers of civilians arrived at the Omanthai entry point, the ICRC and volunteers from the Sri Lankan Red Cross Society provided first aid to 600 sick and wounded displaced people.

By the end of May, the ICRC had evacuated over 13,500 sick and wounded people and their caretakers from Putumattalan and Mullaivaikkal on the ICRC-chartered ferry, “Green Ocean.”

Thousands among them required medical treatment. To help care for the sick and wounded, the ICRC has supported hospitals run by the ministry of health in Mannar and Trincomalee by providing water, sanitation facilities and a medical team.

* Acting as a neutral intermediary between the government and LTTE personnel

The ICRC continues to work as a neutral intermediary between remaining LTTE personnel and the Sri Lankan government, relaying information about individuals wishing to surrender. If contacted by such a person, the ICRC will pass on the information to the police or the security forces, after noting personal data to ensure an individual follow-up of the person surrendering.

* Protecting civilians and people held in connection with the conflict

The ICRC continues supporting the authorities in their obligation to ensure respect for international humanitarian law in Sri Lanka. When necessary, it makes representations to the relevant authorities concerning missing persons, arbitrary arrests, the recruitment of minors, unlawful killings and the ill-treatment of civilians or detainees by weapon bearers. The ICRC discusses such allegations of violations in private with the authorities concerned.

Thousands of people who have had links with the LTTE, including former LTTE fighters, have been surrendering to the authorities. With the agreement of the authorities, the ICRC has visited over 5,000 people with links to the LTTE who have handed themselves in recently and are held in places of detention and rehabilitation centres.

Since 1989, the ICRC has been visiting people arrested for security reasons to monitor their treatment and conditions of detention, based on an agreement signed with the Sri Lankan government. Between March and May 2009, ICRC delegates held private interviews with more than 6,700 security detainees in nearly 135 government-run places of detention throughout the country and provided them with clothes, toiletries and recreational items. The ICRC supported the families of some 1,400 detainees to visit their detained relatives.

Six members of government security forces whom the ICRC had visited during their detention by the LTTE returned home after the last days of fighting in Mullaitivu district. The ICRC facilitated the exchange of Red Cross messages between the detainees and their families throughout their detention and provided recreational items.

* Restoring family links through Red Cross messages

Red Cross messages help detainees keep in touch with their relatives and bring together families separated by the conflict. In March and April, the ICRC and the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society collected and delivered over 3,700 messages. May saw a sharp increase in the number of messages the ICRC handled, with the organization collecting over 2,000 and delivering 340.

* ICRC staff too among casualties

Many people have either been injured or lost lives during the armed conflict, and ICRC staff has not been spared. We lost four of our colleague. In addition, 11 ICRC employees were injured in the conflict area between January and March 2009.

Between March and May the ICRC also: - improved access to healthcare

Jaffnadistrict

• More than 370 patients benefited from the services of the ICRC-supported Jaffna Jaipur

Centre for Disability Rehabilitation, including nearly 20 patients who received wheelchairs. The Centre supplies and fits artificial limbs and orthotic devices and offers physiotherapy.

• Over 260 patients and 175 accompanying caregivers took ICRC-chartered flights between Jaffna and Colombo. More than 70 Ministry of Health doctors also took these flights, either to accompany patients or in connection with other official duties.

- assisted displaced people and returnees

Batticaloa district


• Distributed nearly 650 sets of kitchen utensils and emergency kits, 950 personal hygiene parcels and at least 200 baby care parcels and tarpaulins to over 1,770 displaced persons.

• Distributed more than 700 emergency kits and kitchen utensils including kerosene lanterns and almost 650 personal hygiene and baby care parcels to over 1,900 returnees.

• Provided almost 270 returnee families with training and start-up money so that they could earn a living from bee keeping.

Jaffnadistrict


• Supplied over 125 emergency kits, over 900 personal hygiene parcels and 175 baby care parcels and tarpaulins to more than 3,500 displaced persons from the former LTTE-controlled area who are currently in Jaffna.

• Distributed emergency kits and kitchen utensils to over 1,380 residents.

Trincomalee district


• Supplied more than 3,100 personal hygiene, baby care parcels and buckets to almost 8,600 people who had moved to Pulmoddai from the former conflict area.

• Distributed baby care parcels to 25 displaced persons in Trincomalee Hospital.

• Provided more than 1,200 personal hygiene and baby care parcels, tarpaulins and buckets for more than 3,760 returnees.

• Distributed cash grants and a variety of seedlings to more than 1,480 returnees so they could start farming and earn an income again.

Vavuniya district


• Provided over 70,000 displaced persons with 22,000 personal hygiene parcels, nearly 6,800 baby care parcels and over 13,000 emergency kits, mosquito nets and buckets.

- improved living conditions and access to water

Ampara district


• Organized the testing of water for iron by the water board and completed repairs of the hand pumps in the sixth and eighth colonies to improve the quality of drinking water.

• Installed a hand pump in Akkaraipatthu and built a well in Kannakikiramam village for residents.

Batticaloa district


• Fitted screens to nine toilets at the Mavadivembu site for displaced persons and carried out improvements to the drinking water system at the same location.

• Cemented the floors of seven shelters at the Alankulam site for displaced persons.

• Cleaned wells in Vadamunai to ensure clean water for returnees.

• Distributed a combination of over 400 tarpaulins and shelter kits (wooden pole, cadjan, rope and nails) to more than 1,000 returnees in Kudumbimalai and Meeranakadavai.

• Built a community centre in Thikkodai village to support livelihood programmes.

• Built six emergency toilets and installed four plastic water tanks with a total capacity of 8,000 litres for the use of patients at the Manampitiya Hospital in Polonaruwa.

• Supplied Hingurakgoda Hospital in Polonaruwa with six emergency toilets and ward space for 100 more beds.

Trincomalee district


• Built 12 toilets to improve the living conditions of displaced persons staying in Pulmoddai schools.

• Built four wells in Morawewa and Thangapuram and cleaned three wells in Mutur and two wells in Gomarankadawela, to ensure access to water for returnees.

• Conducted a hygiene promotion campaign among some 245 students at Poonagar school.

Jaffnadistrict

• Disinfected 11 wells in various locations in the district to provide the general population with clean drinking water. Three of these were located at the Palaly displacement site.

• Erected temporary shelters, including 86 family tents, for around 500 internally displaced persons, to improve living conditions in Mirusivil.

• Built 11 temporary toilets and two septic tanks to provide displaced persons with sanitary facilities and installed a 5,000-litre water tank.

• Installed an 8,000-litre water tank for some 2,500 displaced persons at the Kodikamam site to provide water for bathing, plus 50 bins for garbage disposal.

• Built 60 toilets at the same location. Repairs to five septic tanks at the site are continuing.

• Installed an 18,000-litre water tank to provide drinking water.

• Partially repaired a mobile health clinic run by the ministry of health.

Mannar district

• At the request of hospital authorities, installed two water tanks at the Mannar hospital with the total capacity of 2,000-litres to provide drinking water for patients and constructed 18 toilets; and

• increased the capacity of Mannar Hospitalwith 300 beds.

Vavuniya district

• At the request of the Sri Lankan government, constructed 24 emergency toilets and installed four 1,000-litre water tanks at the Omanthai entry exit point for civilians leaving what was then LTTE-held territory and entering government-held territory.

• Prepared an isolation site in Poovarasankulam for 100 people who had contracted chicken pox;

• Completed construction of 18 emergency toilets and three septic tanks at the Nellukulam Technical Collegesite for displaced persons.

• Erected 40 temporary shelters for 120 patients at the Padaviya site for displaced persons.

• Erected over 1,200 family tents at the Manik Farm site, for 6,035 displaced persons.

• Supplied over 900 tarpaulins to displaced persons at the Tavasikulam, Karachchi
Saivaparagasa, Thandikulam and Poonthodam sites.

• Provided water and sanitary facilities for displaced persons at the Puthukkulam and

Thandikulam sites.


• Installed over 80 toilets, 14 septic tanks and 14 water tanks with a capacity of 14,000 litres at the same sites.

• Built over 30 toilets and water tanks with a capacity to hold 14,000 litres of water for displaced persons living in Omanthai School. Also provided the school with garbage burning pits and bathing areas.

• Built an extension to the mortuary at Vavuniya Hospital.

- enhanced respect for international humanitarian law

As part of its efforts to increase respect for international humanitarian law, the ICRC conducted information sessions for nearly 1,450 people, including civilians, government security forces, the Tamil People’s Liberation Tigers (TMVP), the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), the People’s Liberation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF).

- worked together with the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society for the benefit of the displaced

The ICRC worked with volunteers from the SLRCS to help displaced persons in Vavuniya, Mannar, Jaffnaand Trincomalee.