A further fifty thousand people are expected to flee the conflict zone in North East Sri Lanka posing an inevitable humanitarian crisis, Save the Children warned today.
As the Sri Lankan government claims victory in its 26-year conflict with minority rebel group the LTTE (Tamil Tigers), Save the Children calls for permanent humanitarian access to the estimated 40 government-controlled camps which are already sheltering more than 200,000 displaced people.
Branko Golubovic, acting country director of Save the Children in Sri Lanka, said: 'it is vital that all civilians coming out of the conflict zone have access to the government-controlled area as soon as possible and are given assistance.
'Aside from food and water, these people need medical attention. Many are injured and have not had access to treatment for some time. It's also important to get children into a safe place where they can start recovering from their trauma'
There are already 55,000 children below the age of 18 living in the camps, at least 32 per cent of which are malnourished.
Children arriving from the conflict zone are severely traumatised, many having witnessed the deaths of parents, relatives and friends. Others who have been forced to fight with the LTTE are severely psychologically damaged and too frightened to speak about their experiences.
Thousands of children as young as five are arriving in the camps unaccompanied and confused having lost their parents in the fighting or having been separated from them in the exodus from the conflict zone
Save the Children warns that camps of more than 20,000 people pose significant humanitarian problems in terms of both aid distribution and the potential for outbreaks of disease.
As one camp in Vavuniya is already accommodating more than 50,000 people, the overstretched sanitation facilities and fresh water supplies will be unable to cope with the tens of thousands of people expected to arrive in the week. The humanitarian effort must scale up urgently to meet the needs of the wounded and displaced.
Save the Children, which has be working in Sri Lanka for more than 30 year's, is currently helping 30,000 children and their families, distributing food, water, clothes, shelter and infant kits. Save the Children is also providing temporary education facilities and 'child friendly spaces', encouraging children, including former child soldiers, to play together in safety within the camps.
For more information about Save the Children or to make a donation call 0207 012 6400 or go to www.savethechildren.org.uk
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
A doctor checks an internally displaced girl fleeing a military offensive in the Swat valley, at a UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) camp in the outskirts of Peshawar May ...
