IDP resettlement must be unconditional - Amnesty International

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 December 2009, 17:12 GMT]
Amnesty International’s expert on Sri Lanka, Yolanda Foster, in a press statement issued from Washington said Tuesday that the Amnesty had received information about possible restrictions on families choosing to leave the camps in Vavuniyaa. Ms. Yolanda Foster referred to reports, which indicated that the IDPs could be asked to return to the camps after only 15 days. “A permanent release from camps must be accompanied by assurances that people are not subjected to further questioning or re-arrest in new locations,” said Foster. “It is also critical that the government maintain its responsibility to care for displaced people wherever they choose to go.”
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'Resettled' by forced labour, without food or freedom to move

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 November 2009, 02:30 GMT]
The few thousands who have been resettled in selected divisions of Mullaiththeevu and Ki'linochchi districts, are reportedly affected by the lack of food supply, news reports reaching Vavuniyaa said. The 'resettled' are actually kept in schools in those areas and are extracted of forced labour to clear the locations of resettlement. Their freedom of movement is restricted. The whole operation doesn't look like resettlement of 'citizens' but of slaves, said a Tamil official on conditions of anonymity.
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SLA abductions of Tamil youth continue unabated in camps

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 November 2009, 02:19 GMT]
Several Tamil boys and girls including teenagers interned in the camps are called by name through announcing system by the Sri Lanka Army intelligence officers and are taken to unknown destinations, reports reaching from Vavuniyaa camps said. At least 10 young men and boys were thus 'abducted' on 21 November and around 30 youth, including girls, were taken on 27 November from Zone-0 IDP internment camp in Cheddiku'lam alone last week. They were taken in SLA vehicles and their family members lost all contacts with them since then, sources in Vavuniyaa told TamilNet Sunday.
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IDPs brought to Jaffna face adversity

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 November 2009, 19:35 GMT]
Around 20,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) brought to Jaffna from Vavuniyaa camps and handed over to their relatives are experiencing hardships as they are unable to make a living on their own due to lack of funds and government restrictions, civil society sources in Jaffna said. The local and international Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Jaffna are unable to help the IDP families for want of funds, the sources added.
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Travel restriction on Jaffna IDPs lifted

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 November 2009, 09:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence Thursday lifted the travel restriction on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) brought from Vavuniyaa camps to Jaffna who were not allowed to leave Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, it is reported that Ministry of Defence will be allowing private sector buses in Jaffna to operate Jaffna-Vavuniyaa travel service through A9 route. The government, in view of the forthcoming presidential election, has begun to announce concessions to the people of Jaffna peninsula, the sources added.
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Nearly 3000 IDPs from Jaffna released

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 20:54 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh said that 3,117 persons of 983 families from Jaffna district who had been held in the camps in Vavuniyaa and Kodikaamam Raamaavil camps have been released Tuesday. He further said that 445 persons of 425 families brought to Jaffna and held in Kodikaamam Raamaavil camp were sent to their own places in Jaffna district Tuesday.
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More than 600 IDPs brought to Jaffna detained in Thenmaraadchi camp

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 20:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna have detained nearly 600 persons among the Internally Displaced persons (IDPs) brought to Jaffna from Vavuniyaa camps Tuesday night and held in Duraippah Stadiu, in Kodikaamam Raamaavil camp, as there were no relatives to take responsibility of them, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, the Ambassadors of foreign countries in Sri Lanka who visited Jaffna Wednesday met the IDPs held in Kodikaamam Raamaavil camp, the sources added.
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Police arrest youth in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 15:17 GMT]
Chu’n’naakam police took into custody a youth from Uduvil East in Jaffna for alleged involvement in the killing of Charles Wijewardne, Superintendent of Police (SP) on 05 August in I’nuvil, sources in Jaffna said. The arrested youth had been produced in the court for the killing of the SP but had been released for want of evidence. Later, the youth who had been detained in Vavuniyaa camp had recently come to Jaffna to stay with his family in Uduvil, the sources said.
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Another batch of IDPs brought to Jaffna, held in Duraiappa Stadium

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 12:04 GMT]
Despite Jaffna Government Agent’s (GA) recent announcement that all Jaffna IDPs held in Vavuniyaa camps had been brought to Jaffna, a group of them were brought to Jaffna Tuesday night and held in Duraiappah Stadium, Jaffna Secretariat sources said. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) had refused permission for many Jaffna IDPs to enter Jaffna claiming that they were involved in ‘terrorist’ activities. No instructions have been issued by the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry about where the IDPs being held in the Stadium are to be sent to, the sources added.
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3 resettled IDPs arrested in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 11:53 GMT]
Three Tamil civilians were taken into custody by the Intelligence Unit of the Mannaar police Tuesday evening. Police sources confirmed that the suspects were a part of a group of Tamil civilians recently resettled in Adampan and Parappaagka'ndal villages in Mannaar district after being released from internment camps in Vavuniyaa.
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Credentials of IC challenged while widespread rape by SLA alleged in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 November 2009, 17:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intelligence officers operating in the internment camps of Vanni have been allegedly involved in several rape cases during the past months. At least three cases of young victims, aged 14, 15 and 16, appeared in front of Vavuniyaa District Judge in October. SLA soldiers have also raped a 14-year-old mentally retarded Tamil girl inside the Vavuniyaa hospital.
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Train services disrupted in Vavuniyaa, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 November 2009, 10:43 GMT]
Train services between Colombo and Vavuniyaa towards the north and between Colombo and Batticaloa towards the east had been disrupted Tuesday morning for several hours. The Inter-City train that runs between Colombo Fort to Vavuniya was derailed Tuesday morning around 7:45 a.m. near the Girambe sub-railway station that is located along Polgahawela and Potuhara, railway department media spokesman said.
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A group of IDPs in Vavuniyaa camp to be taken to Ki’linochchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 November 2009, 19:10 GMT]
A batch of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Ki’linochchi district is to be taken from Vavvuniyaa camp to Ki’linochchi Maha Viththiyaalayam on 30th November in the first stage of resettling Vanni IDPs in their own places, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The IDPs who are to be resettled in nine Village Officers divisions located east of A9 road in Ki’linochchi will be first lodged in the Maha Viththiyalam, the sources added. Meanwhile, Northern Province Governor Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri has directed the Government Agent (GA) to take action to enable shops to function in all the areas of Ki’linochchi district.
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SLA in Jaffna refuses entry to 1500 Vanni IDPs

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 November 2009, 07:29 GMT]
1500 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Vavuniyaa camps brought to Jaffna Friday claiming that they are from Jaffna peninsula are now being held in the abandoned Raamaavil camp in Kodikaamam as Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna refuse them permission to be settled in Jaffna. Most of these IDPs are not from Jaffna but residents of Mullaiththeevu and Ki’linochchi districts in Vanni and it appears that they will be held permanently in Raamaavil camp, Thenmaraadchi Divisional Secretariat sources said.
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Colombo announces new phase of 'IDP management'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 November 2009, 00:55 GMT]
Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother and advisor Basil Rajapaksa MP on Saturday announced that the Tamils held in the internment camps of Vavuniyaa would be free, starting from December 01, to go and live wherever they want to or to choose whether they want to continue to remain inside the camps. Tamil sources in Vavuniyaa view the announcement with scepticism describing it as an 'election gimmick' while expressing fear of increased disappearances and militarisation of the Tamil homeland.
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Dengue fever claims 2 lives in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 November 2009, 05:50 GMT]
Dengue is spreading fast in Vavuniyaa and its suburbs. Two persons have died and thirteen others warded in Vavuniyaa general hospital due to dengue fever until Thursday. Over thousand people seek treatment for dengue in Vavuniyaa general hospital daily and majority of them are internally displaced people now detained in camps in Vavuniyaa, hospital sources said.
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Vanni Government employees in Jaffna not allowed to report for duty in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 November 2009, 05:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) civil administrative officials in Jaffna refused Friday to permit government employees earlier serving in Vanni to report for duty in Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts in Vanni though Northern Province Governor, Major G. A. Chandrasiri had ordered them to report for duty in both districts. Many government employees including teachers who are originally from Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts and now staying in Jaffna were not allowed to return to their places for duty Friday by the SLA civil authorities in Jaffna Sinhala Maha Viththiyalaya.
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2 Tamil youths injured in landmine explosion in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 November 2009, 17:51 GMT]
Two Tamil youths deployed by Sri Lanka Army for de-mining in Maanthai west in Mannaar district were injured Thursday around 2:15 pm as they attempted to remove a landmine planted under a tree, sources in Mannaar said.
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More Batticaloa IDP families released for resettlement in their villages

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 November 2009, 17:49 GMT]
Fifty-one Internally Displaced Persons of eighteen families held in camps in Jaffna district were sent to Batticaloa Thursday by three state sector buses thorough A9 road. They are now given shelter in Batticaloa Sinhala Maha Vidiyalayam. They would be resettled in their villages in the district after screening by armed forces and police intelligence unit, sources in Batticaloa said.
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IDP camps in Jaffna to be closed, retaining Thenmarraadchi camps

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 November 2009, 16:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka government has decided to close the Jaffna camps in which Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are detained while retaining Kodikaamam and Mirusuvil camps in Thenmaraadchi, Jaffna Secretariat sources said. According to this plan 68 persons from Mullaiththeevu and Ki’linochchi districts who had no relatives to take responsibility of them were transferred to Thenmaraadchi camps Wednesday from Koappaay Teachers’ College, the sources added.
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