In May 2009 I arrived in Sri Lanka as part of the Emergency Response in the aftermath of the fighting between the SLA and LTTE. I was seconded from the Irish Aid Rapid Response Corp to UNHCR as Field Officer for the Mannar District, working from the UNHCR field office in Mannar town.
With the displacement of quarter of a million people into camps, adding to the already large internally displaced population, the initial focus of emergency assistance was on the families that had been placed in camps. Mannar was the first district to also see resettlements – displaced families returning to their places of origin. The focus of assistance, in addition to the camps (welfare centres) in Mannar changed to that of resettlement assistance.
At this time the activities of the emergency assistance was on building the logistical & supply capacity of the Mannar office – the infrastructure, procedures and the actual assistance being provided to IDPs in camps, homes (elderly homes, orphanages, etc.), IDPs living with host families and, as the first returnees after the conflict, to families returning to Musali.
This assistance included: Shelter & House Repair; NFRIs; QIPs; Humanitarian assistance to EVIs/PWSN and assistance to refugees returning from India. In addition there were general management responsibilities (from staff to stock).
I remained in Mannar until the end of August 2009 before I had to return to Ireland for work commitments.
During September an October the number of resettled families to Mannar increased greatly, with 4 of the 5 divisions opened for returning families. A “180-day” plan was proposed by the government that anticipated all IDPs in camps would be returned to the places of origin, creating a new emergency for UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations – not of displacement but of resettlement.
In early November I returned to Mannar.
The assistance being provided to beneficiaries has also changed – away from Shelter & House Repair to that of Shelter Grants. This is a combination of cash (5,000 Rps) and bank certificates (20,000 Rps) and the emergency assistance I was tasked with leading the coordination, implementation, monitoring & reporting of this grant in addition to the other assistances being provided by UNHCR (NFRI, QIPs, Humanitarian assistance, assistance to refugees returning from India). Our beneficiary group can be segmented a dozen different ways - but we have returnees, IDPs with hosts, homes (elderly & orphanage), refugee returnees and EVIs (humanitarian assistance to vulnerable people or groups).
As physical shelter assistance is no longer being provided by UNHCR I am also acting as shelter coordinator for the District, coordinating the activities of all organizations providing shelter assistance to all beneficiary groups. This includes advocacy to government on behalf of these organizations to be granted access/ permission to provide assistance in Return areas.
With the conclusion of the presidential election in January 2010, the incumbent winning, it must be assumed that the focus on resettlement will continue and the challenge of getting access/permission by NGOs to return areas will remain.
Based on information provided by the Project Director’s office, as at 22nd January 2010 5,235 IDP families resettled in Mannar District - in Musali, Rice Bowl (Mannar & Mantai West Divisions), north of Mantai West and, most recently to former conflict areas in Nanaddan and Madhu.
There will be a challenge facing both the government, UNHCR and humanitarian organisations as more families return to the 5 Mannar divisions. To plan for all returnees will require the government authorities and humanitarian organisations to plan for the potential resettlement of 13,931 returning families to areas that may require various types of infrastructure & humanitarian assistance.
In the immediate aftermath of the presidential election an announcement was made by the Ministry of Resettlement that all remaining IDPs would be returned to their places of origin by April 2010; a potential resettlement of almost 9,000 families - 43,000 individuals in 3 months for Mannar alone.
Complicating this will be the legacy of the conflict in Sri Lanka, with families being displaced since the 1990s up to the final fighting in May 2009. Many families are in camps (Menik Farm primarily) but there are also large caseloads of IDPs who will be retuning from other areas where they have been living with host families, or where they have established themselves due to the length of time they have been displaced (in some cases 20 years).
The organization of returning & resettling these families across the various caseloads will be a logistical challenge, complicated for UNHCR as we are also the focal point for statistical reporting of resettled families on behalf of the World Bank and Japanese government among other donor bodies.
And the assistance to these families will require increased inter-agency coordination and field/operational management as the assistance being provided will vary depending on:
• the needs of families in return areas – based on the conditions that families encounter on returning to their villages & homes;
• the ability of families to meet these needs using their own and the communities resources & capacities (this will depend on the length of time families have been displaced & the resources they have been able to accumulate and bring with them to the return areas);
• the policies of organisations such as UNHCR on eligibility for the various beneficiary segments to assistance.
