35,000 IDP students still held in Vavuniyaa internment camps

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 November 2009, 09:15 GMT]
Thirty-five thousand students displaced from Vanni in the last leg of war are still being detained in internment camps in Vavuniyaa. The number of IDP students in these internment camps earlier was about 65,000. The number had dropped to 35,000 following current resettlement, education authority sources claim.
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NP Governor orders all Vanni government servants to immediately report for duties

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 November 2009, 04:43 GMT]
The Governor of Northern Province and former Jaffna district Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander, Major Gen. G. A. Chandrsiri, issued an order Wednesday calling all the government servants who had been serving in the districts of Mullaiththeevu and Ki’linochchi in war torn Vanni to immediately report for duties at the IDP camps in Vavuniyaa, in a meeting held in Trincomalee with the heads of the government departments, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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IDPs brought to Jaffna suffer without shelters

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 November 2009, 04:28 GMT]
The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) brought to Jaffna district from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa are suffering in pouring rain without sufficient shelter for them, sources in Jaffna said. Divisional Secretaries (DSs) of Jaffna district find hard to meet the immediate needs of the IDPs for want of funds, Jaffna Secretariat sources said. The ten government ministers recently appointed by the President of Sri Lanka for Divisional Secretary areas in Jaffna to function as resettlement coordinators have failed to return to Jaffna after their first visit. Jaffna district DSs are at a quandary to take decisions without the approval of the respective ministers and due to lack of funds to spend on the immediate needs of the IDPs, the sources added.
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Husband seeks HRCSL help to trace wife taken by SLA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 November 2009, 15:01 GMT]
Suntharalingam Thayaparan, a resident of Ki'linochchi , currently residing in Ne’lukkul’am in Vavuniyaa after being released from Menik Farm internment camp on October 26 has lodged a complaint with the regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) to trace his wife Veni alias Arunthathi who was taken to Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital by the Sri Lanka Army in a helicopter for treatment to her head injuries caused due to the artillery fire in the last leg of military operation in Vanni region.
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Vanni IDPs loose hope of resettlement in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 November 2009, 03:54 GMT]
As immediate resettlement in their own villages in Vanni appears to be a remote possibility, Vanni Internally displaced Persons (IDPs) who are not originally from Jaffna district show interest in being brought to Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. The government too, reluctant to commence immediate resettlement in Vanni, is actively encouraging Vanni IDPs to be sent to Jaffna with the aim of reducing the number of IDP camps in Jaffna, the sources added.
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SLA refuses fishing permission in Jaffna for IDPs from Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 November 2009, 17:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna does not permit Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) brought from SLA internment camps in Vavuniyaa to engage in fishing in Jaffna peninsula though their relatives and friends are ready to help them to buy the needed fishing equipments, Fishermen’s Societies in Jaffna raised concern. Many persons in Jaffna have taken responsibility of maintaining their relatives and friends, creating a scarcity of places and houses to lodge the IDPs, the sources added.
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2nd batch of Vanni IDP children admitted to Ratmalana Hindu College

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 November 2009, 10:30 GMT]
Sixty-seven children including 44 boys and 23 girls left Vavuniyaa Poonthoaddam Rehabilitation Centre Saturday to Colombo under the second phase of rehabilitation program. They were admitted to Colombo Hindu College to receive fully fledged education. They would be provided with all facilities such as lodging, clothing and other expenses, sources in Vaviniyaa said.
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Sinhala encroachers deny Tamil owners land

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 November 2009, 16:59 GMT]
"More than 1,486 Tamil families are unable to peacefully resettle in their homes in Trincomalee, Vavuniya and Batticaloa due to unlawful and widespread occupation of state land by members of the majority community," Sri Lanka's weekly, The Nation said, according information from Tamil National Alliance leader, Rajavarothiam Sampanthan and member of parliament, Packiyaselvam Ariyanethiran.
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Mannaar IDPs transported during nights from Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 November 2009, 13:46 GMT]
Mannaar IDPs detained in Cheddiku'lam-Menik Farm internment camps are being transported to Mannaar during nights daily, and are being given shelter in transit camps. The IDPs are screened by the State Intelligence Units of the Sri Lanka Army and Sri Lanka Police to find out whether LTTE members are among the IDPs.
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596 Ampaa'rai IDPs seek urgent help for survival

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 November 2009, 13:27 GMT]
596 IDPs from Ampaa'rai district transferred from Vavuniyaa internment camps have been stranded in their villages without any dwelling facilities and help, civil society sources said. Many IDPs are forced to stay with their relatives and friends. The Ampaarai IDPs, who are former residents of Poththuvil, Thirukkoay8l, Aalaiyadivempu, Kaaraitheevu, Naavithanve'li and Kalmunai, were brought in four stages from Vavuniyaa and sheltered in transit camps located in Kaaraitheevu Vipulananda Central College.
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Abysmal 90% fail rate of internee Tamil children in Year-5 exam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 November 2009, 12:43 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Tamil cultural destruction continues at unabated speed with the latest results of the year-5 exams released by the Department of Examinations, after a 30-day unexplained delay, revealed that only 507 students out of 5413 children who sat the Year 5 examination-2009 from the internment camps located in Vavuniyaa have passed. The Department released the results of Year 5 examination for other provinces on October 2.
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IDPs brought to Jaffna from Vavuniyaa camps

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 October 2009, 06:26 GMT]
The number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa brought to Jaffna since 5 August, claiming that they will be resettled, has exceeded 41,000, sources in Jaffna said. The IDPs from Vanni district among the people brought have to stay in camps if they do not have any relatives to take charge of them, the sources added.
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SLA imposes new restriction on travel from Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 October 2009, 18:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) civil administration in Jaffna has ordered that people who had traveled to Jaffna from Colombo and other outstations can return only by the same conveyance they had used to come to Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. As it is extremely difficult to get seats on the buses plying through A9 road between Vavuniyaa and Jaffna people are forced to travel by plane or ship paying exorbitant prices. Meanwhile, civil society sources in Jaffna accused that this new restriction has been introduced by high officials of SLA and government as a tactic to make money as commission from air travel agencies.
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Vanni medical student in Jaffna commits suicide due to mental stress

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 October 2009, 18:49 GMT]
Jaffna University students paid homage Thursday to their fellow final year medical student from Ki’linochchi in Vanni who is suspected to have his taken his life Wednesday due to mental stress, sources in Jaffna said. Vignarajah Gowribalan, 26, who had been staying in a house in Aanaikkoadai in Jaffna, has been undergoing severe mental agony, being separated from his family detained in one of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa, Gowribalan’s fellow students said.
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Grade 5 results of Vanni IDP students not yet released

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 October 2009, 10:43 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Department of Examinations is yet to release the results of Vanni Internally Displaced students who sat the Grade 5 scholarship examination in the internment camps located in Vavuniyaa. The results of the examination for students in other parts of the country were officially released on October 29. But 5,200 IDP students are yet to receive the results, according to a complaint by the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) to the Commissioner of Examinations.
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Why are children kept in concentration camps, asks Prof. Peter Schalk

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 October 2009, 14:24 GMT]
Stating that a list of details of children ranging from 1 month to 18 years, within the internment camps in Vavuniyaa, was being composed by concerned western academics and rights activists, Prof. Peter Schalk, of Uppsala University, Sweden, on Tuesday said out of 1,200 names they have composed 1,082 were orphans. The information is documented by human rights’ organisations in the field in August/September 2009. "The list gives unfortunately only a part of the total number of children in all concentration camps," he said adding that the list could be ordered from him. "The list makes it possible to follow up the fate of each child over time and makes denials by the Government of killings through neglect of children impossible," he said in a note sent to TamilNet.
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More IDPs transferred to transit camp in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 October 2009, 11:11 GMT]
147 members of 52 Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) families from Menikfarm internment camp in Vavuniyaa district were transferred to a transit camp located in Illupaikku’lam in Mannaar district before being resettled in their villages, from which they were forcibly vacated due to military operation by Sri Lanka Army (SLA). They would be screened by the army intelligence unit and would be allowed to leave the transit centre for their villages for resettlement, civil authority sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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Vanni IDPs in Jaffna not allowed to go to Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 October 2009, 04:17 GMT]
The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Vanni origin detained in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention camp in Raamaavil in Thenmaraadchi have to stay in the camp if there are no relatives in Jaffna to take them over, according to Jaffna Secretariat sources. Though the government campaigns that Vanni IDPs will be resettled in their own villages, in reality they are not allowed to return to their homes, NGOs in Jaffna said.
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60 transferred IDPs arrested from transit centres in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 October 2009, 16:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army Intelligence personnel have been 'screening' the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who were being transferred in recent days from Vavuniyaa internment camps to transit centres in Trincomalee and have arrested 60 IDPs for interrogation and 'rehabilitation'.
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930 Jaffna IDP families brought to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 October 2009, 12:23 GMT]
2,950 persons of 930 families from Jaffna held in Vavuniyaa Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps arrived in Jaffna Sunday through A9 road and all of them are being lodged in I’nuvil Maththiya Mahaviththiyaalaym and Neerveali Aththiar Hindu College, sources in Jaffna said. Steps are being taken to bring around 20,000 persons of Jaffna origin held in Vavuniyaa internment camps to Jaffna in the next few days, Jaffna Secretariat sources said.
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