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Sri Lanka


Country Statistics  
Latest IDP figure:
Number of refugees:
(Originating from the country)
134,948 (UNHCR, June 2008)
Total Population:
20,74 million
26 September 2007

Civilians in the way of conflict: Displaced people in Sri Lanka


Sri_lanka_cp_sep07
Civilians fleeing fighting between
the government and LTTE in 2006
(Reuters, www.alertnet.org)
Since mid-2006, a dramatic escalation in the civil war in Sri Lanka between government forces and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has resulted in over 4,000 deaths and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. The latest phase of the 24-year conflict has also prolonged the misery of large numbers of civilians already displaced by the conflict between 1983 and 2002, and by the December 2004 tsunami.

At the end of 2006, at least 520,000 people in Sri Lanka were victims of conflict-induced displacement in a country of 20 million, making up one of the largest displacement crises in Asia in absolute terms and particularly in terms of the proportion of the population displaced. Upwards of 300,000 people were displaced in the offensive from 2006 onwards, with Tamil and Muslim minorities in the districts of Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Jaffna the most affected. Despite a major return programme initiated by the government in Batticaloa and Trincomalee in recent months, the number of conflict-induced internally displaced people (IDPs) in the country is estimated still to be around 460,000.

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"Causes and Background","Background","Causes of displacement","Peace efforts","Displacement after the 2003 breakdown of peace-talks","Post-tsunami displacement situation","Renewed conflict outbreak in 2006","Peace efforts 2006"
"Population Figures and Profile","General","Geographical distribution and disaggregated figures","Vulnerable groups"
"Patterns of Displacement","General"
"Physical Security & Freedom of Movement","General","Freedom of movement","Physical security"
"Subsistence Needs","General ","Food","Health","Water & sanitation","Shelter and non-food items"
"Access to Education","General","Obstacles to education"
"Issues of Self-Reliance and Public Participation","Self-reliance","Public participation"
"Documentation Needs and Citizenship","Documentation Needs","Citizenship"
"Issues of Family Unity, Identity and Culture","General"
"Property Issues","General","Law and policy","Institutions","Restitution"
"Patterns of Return and Resettlement","General","Return","Policy","Obstacles to return and resettlement"
"Humanitarian Access","General"
"National and International Responses","National and International Responses","Reference to the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement","Recommendations"

Previous Profile updates

News 
Sri Lanka's forgotten displaced, Reuters AlertNet, 24 June 2008
Communal violence disrupts relief efforts in the east, Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), 3 June 2008
Eastern vote, Frontline Magazine, 24 May 2008
More
Documents and recent reports 
End Internment of Displaced Persons, Human Rights Watch (HRW), 2 July 2008
SRSG Report on Sri Lanka Mission (December 2007), Office of the United Nation's High Comissioner for Human rights (OHCHR), 21 May 2008
No safety no escape: Children and the escalating armed conflict in Sri Lanka, Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, 14 April 2008
More