Summary: Sri Lanka: Commission provides €7 million in humanitarian aid for people displaced by the ongoing conflict (Brussels: 4 July 2006)
The European Commission has allocated €7 million to help around 300,000 people displaced by the ongoing conflict in the north and east of Sri Lanka. The funding has three aims: to provide shelter and food security for people returning home or relocating to new land, to improve the conditions for displaced people who continue to live in "welfare centres" and to meet the emergency needs of those newly displaced by the escalating conflict.
Commissioner Louis Michel said: "Since the tsunami hit the coast of Sri Lanka, international attention has been focused on the victims of that catastrophe and the response of the Commission and European citizens has been massive. However, we should not forget that the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka have been a theatre for conflict for over 20 years, and that nearly 350,000 people cannot return to their homes. With this decision, the European Commission brings immediate support to those who continue to suffer from the conflict".
People moving home are returning to villages and houses badly damaged by the war. The aid will provide them with urgently needed basic shelter, food security kits so they can grow their own food, water and sanitation facilities and protection. The 68 000 people who remain living in 'welfare centres' often face a lack of safe drinking water, violence against women and no income. The funding will help maintain their shelters and construct drinking water wells and latrines. For people newly displaced by the conflict, the aid aims to meet their food, emergency shelter, water and sanitation, and medical needs.
Since 1983, the ongoing conflict between Tamil separatists and the Government of Sri Lanka in the north and east of the country has claimed over 65,000 lives. Up to 800,000 people have been internally displaced during 20 years of civil war. Many believed that the unprecedented tsunami tragedy of December 2004 would lead to a revival of the peace process but this has not been the case. Instead the security situation in Sri Lanka has been deteriorating rapidly since the end of 2005 with renewed hostilities leading to a further 800 deaths and 40,000 people displaced.
Since 2004, the Commission has given a total of €59 million in humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka. This includes €42 million from the Commission's response to the tsunami in December 2004 and a further €17 million (including today's €7 million) specifically for those people directly affected by the conflict. All funds are channelled through the Commission's Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid, ECHO, under the responsibility of Commissioner Louis Michel.
For further information:
http://ec.europa.eu/echo/field/sri_lanka/index_fr.htm
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