United Nations Radio

In Sri Lanka, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, is working with other relief agencies and the Government to provide urgently needed assistance to hundreds of thousands of people who have fled the former conflict zone in the last several months.

Displaced civilians in Sri Lanka

Some 300,000 internally displaced persons are accommodated in 40 emergency shelter sites spread across the districts of Vavuniya, Jaffna and Trincomalee.

UNHCR and its partners are carrying out emergency shelter work, regular non-food distributions and protection monitoring.

UN spokesperson Michele Montas says so far, United Nations agencies have erected over 8,000 emergency shelters and more than 14,000 tents, and will continue to set up more as land clearance continues.

Additional aid from the capital, Colombo, is being transported to replenish stocks in the areas concerned.

"The main priorities here are to decongest and improve conditions in the sites, stabilize the population and prepare for return. The United Nations is also in close dialogue with the government to ensure that persons in the camps have freedom of movement, with the ultimate objective to support government efforts to restore normalcy in the lives of IDPs by ensuring that they can return home as soon as conditions are in place."

Michele Montas says the dialogue includes addressing security issues such as de-mining and removal of unexploded ordnance.

It also deals with assessing the profile of villages, rebuilding damaged homes and infrastructure, developing livelihoods for people, and reviving civil administration in the affected districts and provinces.

Diane Bailey, United Nations.

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