EU humanitarian aid for victims of landmines in Sri Lanka

The European Commission has adopted a humanitarian aid decision worth €2 million to help victims of landmines in the war-affected areas of Sri Lanka. The aid is being channelled through ECHO, the Humanitarian Aid Office of the European Commission, which comes under the responsibility of Commissioner Poul Nielson.

Commenting on the decision, Commissioner Nielson said: "After almost twenty years of war, hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans now wish to return to their homes. The presence of huge numbers of landmines hinders the resettlement process. The European Commission is committed to help tackle this scourge which threatens the lives of so many returnees as well as resident populations."

Since 1983, fighting between government forces and Tamil separatists based in the north and east of the country has claimed the lives of 62,000 people with up to 800,000 displaced from their homes at any given time.

The cease-fire between the new government and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), announced in February 2002, has boosted long-term peace prospects. The more positive political environment, albeit highly volatile, has given new opportunities to internally displaced people (IDPs) to resettle. Nearly 200,000 IDPs are estimated to have returned to their places of origin this year.

However, the internal conflict has left an estimated 600,000 mines in the conflict area, and many IDPs are returning to find their houses and gardens mined. It is estimated that between ten and fifteen Sri Lankan civilians are injured or killed in landmine accidents each month.

The funding from this decision will be channelled through ECHO's NGO partners on the ground, who will conduct minefield surveys, humanitarian mine clearance and mine risk education.

| Arriba |