British Minister for International Development Michael Foster yesterday visited refugee camps in northern Sri Lanka and criticised the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa for the way it is handling the emergency.
“Conditions in the camps have improved since my last visit but heavy rainfall could cause devastation—polluting water and sanitation supplies and spreading disease,” he said. Overall, progress has been “disappointing” and the government must speed up the process before the monsoon season makes things worse for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
The Sri Lankan government has pledged to resettle at least 70 per cent of IDPs by January year 2010.
The UK is holding £ 4.8 million ready to provide humanitarian aid and fund the de-mining of areas once under Tamil Tiger control.
For Foster, Sri Lankan authorities should consider moving refugees to larger camps that are better equipped than existing ‘closed’ camps where refugees have no right to move, which have been described by humanitarian organizations as virtual prison centres.
Many IDPs have friends and relatives to whom they should be allowed to go to, as a short-term measure, to avoid humanitarian problems caused by rain, the minister said.
Monsoon rains are expected from mid-October to December and could lead to viral outbreaks, water pollution and a deterioration in aid distribution, which IDPs cannot do without since they are still deprived of the right to move freely as is currently the case.
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