May 22, 2009
Earlier this week, on May 18, the government of Sri Lanka declared total victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, with the government claiming the entire island territory now back under its rule for the first time since war erupted in 1983.
Earlier this week, on May 18, the government of Sri Lanka declared total victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, with the government claiming the entire island territory now back under its rule for the first time since war erupted in 1983.
But huge humanitarian problems persist. Some 265,000 people including an estimated 80,000 children are now either in transit or are living in 38 camps for the recently displaced. Between April 20 and May 13, the number of persons displaced and registered in government camps or sites soared from 65,000 to 198,089 in the Vavuniya, Jaffna and Mannar districts of northern Sri Lanka. Aid agencies report being overwhelmed by the surge of those displaced; rapid humanitarian assistance is critical.
CWS RESPONSE: CWS is responding by supporting the work of two partners and members of the Action by Churches Together alliance. Lutheran World Relief (LWR), through its local partners, is providing food, non-food relief items, educational support for school-age children, and partner capacity building on the application of Sphere and Humanitarian Accountability Project standards and guidelines. Church World Service Pakistan/Afghanistan has agreed to assign two people for a three-month time period for this purpose.
The other CWS partner, the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka, is providing food and non-food relief assistance as well as psychosocial and educational support to the displaced in Vavuniya, Jaffna and Mannar, working with its constituent church members.
SPECIFICS:
I. LWR Partners and their activities are:
The Federation of Social Development Organizations (FOSDOO) is providing temporary relief support to a total of 6,400 individuals at Menic Farm Zones 2 and 3 for a period of six months. FOSDOO will also provide supplementary food items to 900 patients at the Poovarasankulam Hospital, in the area of Poovarasankulam. The total reach of this project is 7,300 individuals who have been assigned by the coordinating government bodies to FOSDOO for these services.
Social Economical and Environmental Developers will provide complementary food items to 10,000 internally displaced at Menic Farm Zone 2 during a period of three months. SEED will also distribute non-food relief items, including clothes and toiletries, to meet the needs of 4,000 children living in Menic Farm Zone 2. The total reach of SEED's intervention will be 14,000 internally displaced people.
Jesuit Refugee Service-Sri Lanka will create educational opportunities for 25,000 children ages 6-18, and 3,000 children ages 2-5 at Menic Farm Zones 1, 2 and 3, through distributions of school materials and organization of classes. Five hundred displaced teachers will be involved in this outreach effort. Schools will be constructed by the Department of Education; three schools are currently completed and seven more are in planning. The total reach of this program is 28,500 people.
LWR itself will provide capacity building and monitoring support to LWR partners, ACT implementing partners, and other humanitarian assistance organizations, on Sphere/Humanitarian Assistance Partnership (HAP) guidelines through the placement of two Sphere/HAP Capacity Support Officers in the LWR Sri Lanka office. As noted, Church World Service Pakistan/Afghanistan has agreed to second two people for a three- month time period for this purpose.
II. The National Christian Council of Sri Lanka will implement its food, non-food and educational and psycho-social assistance through three of its constituent members: the Methodist Church of Sri Lanka, Young Men's Christian Association, and the Church of Ceylon Diocese of Colombo. Among the assistance: food for 60 days, as well as milk powder and dry rations.
Those who will benefit from the NCCSL's Methodist Church program are men, women and children from the Vanni region, currently sheltered in displacement camps or centers in Mannar and Vavuniya districts, or at a transit/screening point in Jaffna, as per the locations for each partner described below. Locations and numbers of internally displaced accommodated at different camps or centers is fluid and changing regularly due to the influx of displaced from the war zone, transfers between camps, setting up or closing down of temporary centers, and changes in assistance being delivered by different organizations.
The YMCA proposes to deliver milk powder and bedding materials for 1,000 children and psycho-social support for 4,000 children and young persons in four IDP camps in Vavuniya. The Church of Ceylon-Diocese of Colombo program focuses on assistance to 956 families.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama (L) welcomes U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the international airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka May 23, 2009. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, due to land in ...
