President opens EU reconstructed Vakarai school in Eastern Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa today ceremoniously opened the reconstructed Vakarai Maha Vidyalaya in Batticaloa District of Eastern Sri Lanka which has been reconstructed with European Union funds.

The school damaged by the 2004 tsunami and the ethnic conflict has been reconstructed under the government's Eastern Awakening Program (Nagenahira Nawodaya) at a cost of Rs. 300 million.

The reconstruction was carried out with the collaboration of the Ministry of Education through its implementing partner, the International Organization for Migration. Read more ...

UK supports rehabilitation of ex-combatants

British High Commissioner Dr. Peter Hayes and the Head of the International Organization for Migration Mohammed Abdiker yesterday signed an agreement for approximately Rs.17 million of UK’s support towards the Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Ex-combatants in the presence of the Minister of Justice, Milinda Moragoda.

Minister welcomed the support provided by the British High Commission to the Government of Sri Lanka.

The Ministry of Justice and in particular the Commissioner General for Rehabilitation has been working closely with the International Organization for Migration to develop a community oriented demobilization, rehabilitation and reintegration programme. The program focuses on strengthening capacity, support to receptor communities and an active involvement of the private sector to build sustainable solutions. Read more ...

Sri Lanka: Displaced flood into Vavuniya as government, LTTE fighting ends

With the end of the fighting in Mullaitivu district, a new influx of internally displaced people (IDPs) is flooding into Vavuniya, the district adjoining Sri Lanka's northern conflict zone.

Since Friday some 40,000 IDPs have arrived in Vavuniya and another 40,000 are expected in the course of this week, according to IOM Vavuniya Head of office Michele Cecere.

"IOM is working flat out with the government and our partners in the international community to provide these people with the basic essentials that they need to survive - shelter, water, sanitation and basic health care," he says. Read more ...

Sri Lanka: IOM pilot project aims to reintegrate former LTTE combatants

IOM has launched a USAID-funded pilot project in the eastern district of Batticaloa to help reintegrate demobilized former LTTE Tamil Tiger rebels into civilian life.

The Information, Counselling and Referral Services (ICRS) project aims to reintegrate up to 1,000 former members of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikel (TMVP), an armed Tamil group led by Col. Karuna Amman, which split from the LTTE in 2007.

"Reintegrating former combatants into society, retraining them and helping them to find jobs and generate income is not easy, but is an essential first step towards stabilization, peace and economic recovery," says IOM Sri Lanka Chief of Mission Mohammed Abdiker. Read more ...

Sri Lanka: US government-funded IOM clinics to provide primary health care for displaced

IOM engineers have completed the first of ten primary health care centres at the rapidly expanding Menik Farm displacement camp in Vavuniya, the government-controlled district southwest of Mullaitivu, where fighting between the government and LTTE Tamil Tigers continues.

With some 125,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) already in the camp and a further 25,000 currently sheltering in schools and public buildings in Vavuniya town expected to be transferred there, government health services in the 1,000-acre camp are stretched to the limit.

The clinics, which will each be initially staffed by two government doctors and two nurses, will provide diagnosis, emergency care, health education and referrals for the IDPs, many of whom are sick, injured and malnourished after multiple displacements and years of poor living conditions during the war. Read more ...

Japan provides US$ 4 million emergency grant aid for IDP's in Sri Lanka

The Government of Japan has decided to provide grant aid totalling US$ 4 million (approximately 480 million Rupees) to meet immediate needs of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka through United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Read more ...

Sri Lanka: IOM races to provide shelter, sanitation, as displaced flood into Vavuniya

With a flood of over 110,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in the past ten days into Vavuniya, the government-controlled district adjoining the LTTE conflict zone, IOM is racing to provide shelter and sanitation for nearly 40,000 new arrivals.

The IOM Vavuniya team, which now numbers over 130, including 30 staff and 100 locally recruited labourers, has already built 2,500 emergency shelters but is now turning to tents as the fastest way to shelter the IDPs from the extreme heat. IOM Sri Lanka has 400 tents in stock and is flying in a further 4,000 to Colombo from Dubai and China on 29 April.

"Many of the new arrivals have been displaced repeatedly by the conflict. Some are injured, they have had very little medical care, almost no food and water and have had to walk for days. They need help now and we have to move fast," says IOM Sri Lanka Chief of Mission Mohammed Abdiker. Read more ...