COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

7 MARCH 2012 SRI LANKA
The Government Agent (GA) for Kilinochchi told us that resettlement was almost complete,
although there were still 4 DS divisions where demining was taking place. Some IDPs from
Menik Farm were therefore still living with families within the district. The government was
providing 6-9 months livelihood support where it could, but there were gaps in this process.
Food packages are still being handed to families with elderly and disabled, especially where the
head of household is disabled, and to widows and orphans. We were told that 40,000 new
houses were required in the district and 20,000 were to be reconstructed.
Livelihoods were the biggest issue on the GA‘s agenda and they were targeting dairy production
and paddy production for women heads of household. They recognise that the agricultural
infrastructure needs to be developed and the government has been providing Rs 35,000 (£200)
livelihood packages to individuals to get them started in agriculture. Unfortunately these could
not be given to families reliant on fishing, as the cost of boats and equipment was much too
high.
The GA touched on the subject of the reintegration of ‗surrenderees‘. We were told that there
was a gap between their release and the start of their reintegration programme, resulting in
them not being assisted on time. There were 50 surrenderees in one DS Division and only 5 or
6 of them had received any assistance, and only a few out of the total number of 292 in the
district had been helped. They said that there was concern at local government level, but there
were currently no ongoing issues with surrenderees, and added that they were being accepted
back into the community.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) provided the following statistics
regarding Kilinochchi District:
Resettlement – As at 31 July 2011 37,932 families had been resettled in Kilinochchi since the
end of the conflict, totalling 120,332 individuals. There were 38 families i.e. 75 individuals, who
were still in transit camps awaiting resettlement.
Housing – In May 2011 the requirement needs for the number of new or repaired permanent
houses stood at 56,093. Of this 2,621 had been completed and 14,416 were in progress.
Education – There are 101 schools in Kilinochchi District, of which 81 were open and
functioning. The biggest challenges apart from needing furniture, renovation of buildings, plus
water and sanitation facilities, were a shortage of teachers and transport to get teachers to and
from the school. Many schools were still only open for a couple of hours a day because
teachers were travelling from outside of the district.
Health – The health sector in Kilinochchi is facing staff shortages, in particular doctors. There is
currently a lack of health infrastructure facilities and very few hospitals are functioning. The
requirement for the district is 31 clinics, 13 healthcare centres and 13 hospitals. Currently there
is 1 clinic, 11 healthcare centres and 1 hospital completed and functioning. A further 7 clinics, 1
healthcare centre and 6 hospitals are currently being built/renovated.
Agriculture – UNDP had supported agricultural recovery in several selected Grama Niladhari
divisions. The Department of Agriculture with the support of the Food & Agricultural organisation
had distributed 16,320 farming packages and 6,150 home garden kits in Kilinochchi.
Fishing – In Kilinochchi District 3,168 families are reliant on fishing for their livelihoods. There
are currently 8 functioning fishing co-operatives operating 320 glass fibre boats and 150
traditional craft. Compared to other livelihoods, NGOs distributed only a few boats and little
equipment during the humanitarian crisis at the end of the war, the reason being that the cost of
fishing assistance is 10 times greater than agricultural support. There is still a lack of
infrastructure like storage rooms, cold storage, ice plants and refrigerated trucks.
Livelihood Assistance – As at April 2011, 29,080 families in Kilinochchi had not received any
livelihood assistance from the government.
The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.
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