Background Situation
It is estimated that there are around 105,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Eastern Province (Table 2.1), most being women and children. There are presently around 35,000 IDPs in 5 welfare centres while the remainder of the IDP lives with friends and relatives.
Due to the conflict and the Tsunami, the number of orphan children, elders and disabled persons in the Eastern Province has increased. Most of the buildings were damaged. Children's homes, Disabled Homes and Elders Homes were affected. Many people were in temporary dwellings and living with inadequate accommodation. Furthermore, during the conflict period most children have undergone physical intimidation or sexual assault and become offenders. Certain children and women have been exposed to physical and sexual abuse and /or continue to face such situations. Due to vulnerable situation and poverty in the conflict areas, a significant number of men and women have migrated to other countries, often leaving their families behind. The state of economic and physical dependency of the elderly, in particular when traditional family support has broken down as a result of conflict, requires attention.
It has been estimated that nearly 120,000 houses were damaged partly or fully in the Eastern Province. Nearly 65% of the damaged houses are totally uninhabitable, and about 95% of these are in the Districts Batticaloa and Trincomalee.
The majority of IDPs are keen to return to their places of origin as soon as conditions can allow. Such conditions include: personal safety, adequate shelter, ability to resume livelihood activities, and availability of social facilities and services (such as schooling for children).
Table 2.1 - Distribution of IDPs in the Eastern Province by District
(as at September 30th 2007)
The government provides emergency relief, food, shelter and other assistance to the IDPs until they are permanently resettled. The present relief programme assisted by the World Food Programme constitutes provision of essential food items such as rice, flour, sugar and dhal.
Key Issues
The key issues pertaining to the settlement of returning IDP include:
- Personal safety including the existence of land mines and other unexploded ordinance in potential resettlement areas as well as intimidation by remnants of the rebel forces.
- Inadequate conditions in welfare centres including heavy overcrowding, poor quality of habitat, high rates of delinquency, unwed pregnancies, gender-related and other types of violence, and a pervasive sense of social and economic alienation.
- Planning uncertainties much of it brought on by unavailability of reliable data on numbers and characteristics of IDPs who live with friends and relatives.
- Prevailing security restrictions (such as high security zones) constraining farmers, fishermen and other residents from engaging in their regular livelihood activities.
- Inadequate IDP documentation due to loss of legal documents such as National Identity Cards, Birth certificates, deeds etc.
- In-set of dependency syndrome -- The displaced people who depend on relief programmes are suffering from a dependency syndrome. Restoration of livelihoods should be beginning of the long process of the recovery
Strategy
IDP resettlement strategy comprises:
- Creation and maintenance of a safe and secure environment this encompasses the assurance of physical, legal, material and social safety to enable the people to resettle and recommence their livelihoods.
- Holistic approach it is necessary to adopt a holistic approach to social protection and integrate all approaches with a view to change the role of the vulnerable groups from passive recipients to active contributors to development. While providing public assistance for conflict affected people to supplement their incomes, special education and skills training programmes will be introduced to make them active partners in economic development.
- Provision of immediate humanitarian needs for returnees including food, water and sanitation, shelter, non-food relief items, access to basic health and education facilities.
- Promotion of self-reliance and capacity building among returnees and host communities in order to facilitate a smooth transition between humanitarian relief and sustainable development.
- Restoration of capacities of productive, infrastructure and service sectors -- in the medium term the government is expected to rebuild the productive and the economic and social infrastructure sectors in a sustainable manner which can help in long-term livelihood restoration.
a) Clearing of land mines and other un-exploded ordinance
Mine action is not just about the physical clearance of mines and UXO, but also about the reduction of their social, economic and environmental impact. The objective of mine action is to reduce the risk from landmines to a level where people can live safely, in which economic, social and health development can occur without danger, and in which the mine accident survivors needs can be addressed. The Mine Action programme comprises the following complementary groups of activities:
- Mine Risk Education (MRE) a process which promotes the adoption of safer behavior by at-risk groups through community liaison and public education.
- Human Mine Clearance comprising activities by NGOs, community groups, commercial companies, national mine action teams, military units and others, which lead to the removal of mine and UXO hazards. It includes technical surveys, mapping, clearance, marking community mine action liaison and hand over of cleared areas.
- Victim Assistance includes rehabilitation and reintegration of, and refers to all aid, relief, comfort and support provided to surviving victims with the purpose of reducing immediate and long-term medical and psychological implications of their trauma.
b) Relief Support for Immediate Restoration of Livelihoods
The Government will continue to implement livelihood support assistance for the immediate restoration of livelihoods under the Unified Assistance Scheme (UAS). UAS comprises a grant to all eligible returnee families of Rs. 25,000 for immediate support in the short-term. In the medium term the government is expected to rebuild the productive sectors in a sustainable manner in ways that are described in other sections of this Plan, which can help in long term livelihood restoration.
c) Immediate Housing Needs of Poor Returnees
The Government has adopted two general approaches housing reconstruction in the conflict and other disaster affected areas. Under the Owner-Driven Housing Reconstruction approach, the owners of the damaged houses are provided with cash grant and technical assistance to reconstruct their houses themselves. Under the alternative Donor-Driven Housing Reconstruction approach the construction of new houses is undertaken by government institutions or other donor agencies and NGOs.
Under the Owner-Driven Approach, the Government has set up a programme through which it meets the immediate housing needs of the poorest category of returnees. The World Bank-assisted North East Housing Reconstruction Programme (NEHRP) is the main implementation programme for this assistance in the in the East. Under NEHRP, households with monthly income of less than Rs. 2,500 are entitled to cash housing reconstruction grant of Rs 250,000 for a fully damaged house and a maximum of Rs 100,000 for a partly damaged house. Progress of the so far is presented in Table
Table 2.2 Contribution so far of NEHRP to Housing Reconstruction by District
Investment Programme
Table 2.3 presents the Investment Plan for Resettlement of IDPs housing reconstruction and livelihood assistance for conflict affected people.
Table 2.3 Investment Programme for Resettlement of Returnees
next page Productive Sectors
- Resettlement of IDPs
- Productive Sectors
- Economic Infrastructure
- Social Infrastructure
- Human Settlements
- Public Institutions
- Investment Plan
