13,000 have ‘disappeared’ from Sri Lanka camps – UN reports

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 June 2009, 14:58 GMT]
According to reports of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, last week over 13,000 internally displaced people have disappeared from Sri Lanka’s internment camps for Tamil civilians, Inner City Press reports. Moreover, UN sources in Colombo are telling Inner City Press that senior UN officials above them, Sri Lankan nationals who are Sinhalese, are deliberately downplaying the 13,000 "missing" IDPs, which would otherwise be of much concern given the reports of disappearances from the camps, the seizing of teenage males for detention and females for sexual abuse.

OCHA's May 30 report states that "276,785 persons crossed to the Government controlled areas from the conflict zone. This represents a decrease of 13,130 IDPs since the last report (Sitrep No.18) on 27 May 2009. The decrease is associated with double counting. Additional verification is required."

But earlier, OCHA had praised the "improved, systematic registration being undertaken in the camps," Inner City Press reports.