Internally displaced persons in Sri Lanka
The final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War created 300,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who were transferred to camps in Vavuniya District and detained there against their will.
[4] After the end of the civil war Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa gave assurances to foreign diplomats that the bulk of the IDPs would be resettled in accordance with the 180-day plan.
After successive defeats, including the loss of their de facto capital Kilinochchi, the Tamil Tigers were forced to retreat east.
By January 2009 the Tamil Tigers and the civilians were trapped in a small piece of land on the north-east coast in Mullaitivu District.
As the Sri Lankan military advanced further into Tamil Tiger controlled areas, international concern grew for the fate of the 350,000 civilians trapped.
[15] The purpose of the Safe Zone was ostensibly to allow the trapped civilians to cross into territory controlled by the Sri Lankan military.
The Sri Lankan military, UN and human rights organisations accused the Tamil Tigers of preventing the civilians from leaving.
The fighting between the military and the Tamil Tigers continued, causing the civilians to flee from the Safe Zone to a narrow strip of land between Nanthi Kadal lagoon and the Indian Ocean.
On 12 February 2009 the military declared a new 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi) Safe Zone in this area, north-west of Mullaitivu town.
[17][18] Satellite images of the Safe Zone publishes by the UN, foreign governments and scientific organisations showed heavy damage that could have only been caused by bombardment.
[23][24] There are no official casualty figures after this period but estimates of the death toll for the final four months of the civil war (mid-January to mid-May) range from 15,000 to 20,000.
[17] As the civil war edged towards a bitter end in late April/early May the number of civilians leaving the Safe Zone turned from a trickle to a torrent.
[1][4] Human rights groups believe that this effectively meant that the IDPs were being detained indefinitely without charge or trial, in contravention of international law.
On most occasions when any IDPs are released or returned to their places of origin they are photographed with government ministers, particularly the paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda.
In September 2008 the Sri Lankan government ordered all NGOs out of the Vanni which meant that they weren't on location to provide assistance when the IDPs were transferred from the Safe Zone to the camps.
[1] The Menik Farm site is very prone to flooding because it lies on low ground near a number of rivers and streams including the Aruvi Aru (Malvathu Oya).
[54] The IDPs were initially held at numerous small camps, mostly schools (Maha Vidyalayam), located throughout southern Vavuniya District.
[64] However, on 16 July 2009 in a letter of intent to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the Sri Lankan government stated that it aimed to resettle 70-80% of the IDPs by the end of 2009.
Some of these IDPs were held in military run "closed" transit sites in their home districts, from which they can't leave and access by aid agencies is heavily restricted.
On 6 October 2009 a Sri Lanka's Deputy Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama issued a statement saying the government hoped to resettle 100,000 (35%) of the IDPs by the end of 2009.
[67] In late October the government accelerated the resettlement programme by returning IDPs to areas formerly controlled by the Tamil Tigers in Kilinochchi, Mannar and Mullaitivu districts.
[73] The apparent fast pace of resettlement in October 2009 and early November 2009 was due to IDP's being returned to areas that have been under government control for many years (Jaffna, Mannar and Vavuniya).
