As Sri Lanka Votes, Displaced Tamils Still Uncertain About Future

Sri Lanka’s civil war ended in May of 2009, leaving the Liberation Tigers from Tamil Eelam crushed by the country’s armed forces. Hundreds of thousands of Tamils were driven out of their homes in the last few months of combat alone. Around 300,000 found refuge in camps set up by the military in the north of Sri Lanka. Journalists had not been allowed into these camps for quite some time. But right before the country’s presidential elections, this has changed.

Up to the beginning of December, around 220,000 people were staying at one of the many refugee camps in Sri Lanka called Menik Farm. After being caught in crossfire for months, many people fled from their homes in the last stages of fighting between the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil Tigers and went to Menik Farm, among other camps. But although over half of the camp’s population has now gone home, there is still a lot to do there, according to Zola Dowell, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Sri Lanka:

"It is still a large camp and there’s still significant humanitarian needs in the camp. The UN NGO partners have worked very closely with the government to build up the infrastructure and to provide for shelter, food, water and sanitation."

Improved conditions

Menik Farm is a model camp. Currently there are 35,000 people living in shanties in Zone 1. Each family is allotted eight square meters. There are toilets and cooking zones as well as first-aid offices, food distribution sites and banks.

Terre des Hommes is an organisation that has been active in the camp since last October. It has a child care project in which volunteers oversee children in play and also help them to overcome trauma after years of war and displacement. Laurence Souloumiac, head of the program, talks about changes in the children:

"They were more aggressive towards each other, they disobeyed their parents, they had nightmares during the nights"

Camp residents were allowed to vote

But apparently that has changed. The children at Menik Farm seem happy, though teenagers and adults are reserved. Only few dare to speak up, and those who do tell stories of being separated from their families and perhaps reunited, if at all, later on in the camps.

In the beginning the Sri Lankan government was not prepared for the vast number of displaced persons. Menik Farm was overcrowded and its infrastructure inadequate. International organisations only had sporadic access.

People have been leaving the camp since the beginning of December. But those who are still there are now allowed to make trips outside the camp, if they have a special pass. This has enabled the residents to cast their votes in the presidential election.

What will they go back to?

One question is on people’s minds: how will it be when they go back to their homes? Dowell says there are multiple organisations working to clear mines, which is one of the biggest problems: "as the mine clearing progresses, more and more people can go back. Another challenge is that a lot of the infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed; a lot of the housing has been either damaged or destroyed."

The returnees are due to receive financial and material support from the Sri Lankan government and from international organisations. But many are supposed to stay at so-called transit centers on their way home. And how long they will stay there is still uncertain.

Author: Sabina Matthay / Sarah Berning
Editor: Grahame Lucas