Jaffna displaced to file FR applications in Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 August 2004, 15:21 GMT]
About one hundred internally displaced families (IDP) who have been refused permission to resettle in their homes and do cultivation in their agricultural lands in high security zones in Valigamam north in Jaffna district are to file fundamental rights violation applications in the Supreme Court.
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US embassy official inspects USAID projects in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 August 2004, 15:47 GMT]
Mr. James Endwills, US embassy official in Colombo, Wednesday visited three projects now being implemented in the Jaffna district with USAID assistance. He later attended a conference in the Jaffna district secretariat presided by the Government Agent Mr.S.Pathmanathan and discussed in detail with civil officials related to the ongoing development projects and proposed projects, sources said.
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SLA numbers IDP occupied houses in Palaly HSZ

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 August 2004, 16:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Monday started numbering the houses in villages Pannalai and adjacent areas located in the Palaly high security zones (HSZ) where internally displaced families have resettled after signing the ceasefire agreement. The SLA authorities say that they do the numbering enabling them to easily identify the occupants.
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UNHCR to provide permanent houses for Nagarkovil IDPs

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 August 2004, 05:01 GMT]
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has come forward to construct permanent houses in Point Pedro to those who were displaced from Nagarkovil in Vadamaradchchi division in Jaffna district due to the war. As a first step, 85 permanent houses will be constructed in Punithanagar, a coastal village in Katkovalam area located in Point Pedro, sources said.
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IDPs to launch two-prong campaign to retrieve their properties

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 August 2004, 13:55 GMT]
Internally displaced families from Valigamam division in Jaffna district have decided to launch two-prong campaign to retrieve their houses and lands from the occupation of the Sri Lanka Army. SLA currently occupies houses and agricultural lands of the several thousands internally displaced people in the Jaffna district in the name of high security zones, IDPs Federation sources said.
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Usan IDPs picket demanding resettlement

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 August 2004, 22:50 GMT]
Internally displaced families of Usan, a village in Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district Monday picketed the Thenamaradchchi divisional secretariat demanding that they should be allowed to resettle in their own houses now being occupied by the Sri Lanka Army in the name of high security zone. The picketing crippled the normal function of the Thenmaradchchi DS office, civil sources said.
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Jaffna IDPs woes worsen without relief

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 August 2004, 03:01 GMT]
Lack of employment opportunities, stalled economic growth, and infrastructure development at a virtual standstill continue to affect the lives of people of Jaffna especially the Internally Displaced People (IDPs). Many families, who have suffered loss of lives and loss of property during the two decades of war, face uphill battle to stay above the poverty line.
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Jaffna IDP families struggle to survive without relief

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 July 2004, 00:11 GMT]
Civil groups in Jaffna are concerned about the plight of thousands of internally displaced families in the Jaffna whose dry ration relief supply has been suspended by the Sri Lanka Government from February this year. Most of the families depended fully on the relief, according to the civil groups.
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Usan IDPs complain harassment by SLA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 July 2004, 14:38 GMT]
Several displaced persons from Usan village in Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district Tuesday complained to civil authorities that soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army are threatening them for organizing a picketing campaign demanding the return of their houses and other properties now under their occupation, civil group sources said.
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World Refugee Day held in Trincomalee welfare centre

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 June 2004, 00:46 GMT]
The World Refugee Day (WRD) was celebrated in Trincomalee Sunday morning in the welfare centre at Allesgarden, about three km off north of east port town where about 1665 persons of 437 displaced families live since 1993. Trincomalee district head of the UNHCR Ms Brita Helleland made the introductory speech at the event. This year theme of the WRD is "A place to call home: rebuilding lives in safety and dignity," UNHCR sources said.


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Danish Refugee Council assists resettled Swamimalai villagers

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 June 2004, 00:02 GMT]
The Trincomalee District Development Association (TDDA) under its Integrated Rehabilitation Programme (IRP) with the funding of the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) has provided infrastructure facilities to the resettled Tamil village, Swamimalai, in Thampalakamam Divisional Secretariat division. Swamimalai is located along Trincomalee-Kandy highway, about 24 km northwest off east port town.


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SL Government suspends dry ration relief to Amparai IDPs

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 May 2004, 17:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Government has suspended giving free dry rations to more than one thousand resettled internally displaced families residing in villages Sagamam, Kanchikudicharu, Thangavelauthapuram, Thandiyady and Kanchirankuda in the Thirukovil division in the Amparai district, forcing many families close to starvation, civil groups said.


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IDPs urge re-opening of Vadamarachchi-Nagarkovil road

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 May 2004, 17:09 GMT]
The Association of Nagarkovil Internally Displaced Families (ANIDF) in Jaffna district Saturday appealed to Sri Lanka's President Ms.Chandrika Kumaratunge to take steps to re-open the Vadamarachchi-Nagarkovil main road for civilian movement, sources said.


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LTTE, SLA discuss issues affecting Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 May 2004, 14:36 GMT]
Jaffna district political head of LTTE, Mr.C.Ilamparithi, and Jaffna district General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Sri Lanka Army, Major General Susil Chandrapala, held a two-hour long discussion at the office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Jaffna Friday morning, on problems affecting the normal life of the people of the Jaffna district, sources said.


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SL President's media spokesman visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 May 2004, 17:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka President's media spokesman and the Director General of the Northern Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Reconciliation Ministry, Mr.Harim Peiris, Wednesday arrived in Jaffna and held discussions with government officials and the Sri Lanka Army Commander in Jaffna, Major General Susil Chandrapala, at the Jaffna district secretariat.
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SLMM urged to assist IDPs to resettle in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 May 2004, 03:25 GMT]
The Jaffna District Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (JDCHA) Monday handed over a memorandum to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Jaffna with copies of complaints made by two internally displaced families who have not been allowed by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to resettle in their houses. The JDCHA urged the SLMM to take urgent steps to assist the IDPs to resettle in their houses and lands which are located outside restricted areas, sources said.


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SL govt. denies relief to majority of IDPs in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 May 2004, 03:13 GMT]
Mr.S.Pathmanathan, the Jaffna District Government Agent, said Monday that recipient families of dry ration relief in Jaffna peninsula would be reduced to 17,541. This accounts for about 27 percent of the total recipient families that benefited under the relief scheme. Between 1996 and January, 2004, about 71,000 families benefited under this relief scheme, Jaffna district secretariat sources said.
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SL President urged not to stop relief to IDPs in Jaffna district

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 May 2004, 14:20 GMT]
The Federation of Jaffna District Civil Organizations (FJDCO) Friday condemned the decision of the Government of Sri lanka to curtail the distribution of dry ration relief given to hundreds of thousands of families, a majority of whom are displaced and languishing in refugee camps and welfare centres without employment. The FJDCO has sent an urgent message to Sri lanka's President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, to order that all IDPs and those affected by the war be issued dry ration relief as usual without any reduction, sources said.
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Tie aid to ISGA progress, Sampanthan tells Akashi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 May 2004, 12:15 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader Mr.R.Sampanthan Sunday told the Japanese special peace envoy Mr.Yasushi Akashi that flow of foreign aid to Sri Lanka should depend on the progress made in establishing the Internal Self Governing Authority (ISGA) in northeast province. Mr.Sampanthan met with Mr. Akashi in the Japanese embassy in Colombo Sunday morning and held more than an hour long discussion on the current political situation in Sri Lanka, TNA sources said.


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Human Rights Commission to issue report on HSZ

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 May 2004, 15:27 GMT]
"The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) is to release a report shortly in regard to the alleged violation of human rights of internally displaced families due to the continuous maintenance of High Security Zones in the Jaffna peninsula by the Sri Lanka Army", said Mr. Senaka Dissanayake, HRCSL co-ordinator in the Project for the Humanitarian Assistance to IDPs and Returnees addressing a seminar in Jaffna Thursday.
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