The Main Concern Among IDPs
An IDP camp in Vavuniya town
This is a reproduction of an article in today’s Sunday Leader newspaper.
I visited Vavuniya last week and spoke to a few IDPs. In the makeshift hospitals and camps people aren’t really talking about humanitarian needs anymore. What they mention are the same things I worry about. Being separated from their family. Losing track of those they love. This is not a humanitarian need, it’s a human one, a Sri Lankan one. Beyond food, water and medicine, I think it is coming time for us to provide something simpler. A list of names.
Relief Phase Ending
The need for emergency relief is slowly but surely being met. The courageous and tireless work of government servants, doctors, nurses, armed forces and volunteers has met most basic needs. There is still much work to do, especially on water and sanitation, but these are not the main concerns among people I’ve talked to. I spoke to an older women who cannot find her grown children. I spoke to a man not much older than me who has lost his wife and young daughter.
This I think we can all understand. If you live in Colombo you know the fear after a suicide bomb, before you get in touch with your loved ones. Were they on that bus? That road? If you’ve ever been in medical or legal trouble you understand how important family is. Right now I think separation is the main concern among IDPs, and it’s a human concern, not humanitarian. They want to know where their family is, same as you or me.
Securing the camps has to be done, but the people need security too. Something as simple as a printed list of names. Even if a name is not there, in time people could at least know something. In the medium term, our people also need phone calls. Many have family in the south or abroad who don’t know where they are, and everyone is worried sick.
Solutions Vs. Decisions
While the solution is as simple, the decision is not. The threat of terrorism is very real, and there are LTTE cadres in the camps. In fact, almost everyone that lived under their occupation has some connection to the LTTE, be it work, family or sympathies. Not necessarily by choice, but by circumstance. This makes screening incredibly difficult and the process tragically imprecise. Yet it is vital for all Sri Lankans that the LTTE never reconstitute and spread terror and separatism again.
At the same time, however, I find it incredibly difficult to explain any of this to a father looking for his daughter. That is a human need and I cannot help but understand. I told him I was very sorry for his loss, but now you and I can do something more. They do not have voices, but we do. We can encourage the government to post a list of names in every camp. In time, we can encourage basic communication facilities, logged and recorded if necessary. Then, in due time, full Sri Lankan rights for all Sri Lankans.
Bread Alone
There is more to being human than being alive. What makes us human is the care and compassion we extend to each other, especially our families. If you have lost a child in a crowd or rushed to hospital then you know that feeling. There is no greater loss, or emptiness. Relief from this feeling cannot be donated or packed on a truck, but it is within our reach. Right now all people want is a name and a place. Someday a phone call. In the future, reunion.
The vital work of defeating terrorism and separatism must be done, but I do not think a list of names is too much to ask. And I hope you do ask. Ask your contacts, ask your government, ask your Ministry Of Defence. I do not say demand, but people have asked me and I’m asking you. Where is their family? Where is our family? What can we do to help?
Today on the 
Janith has updated 
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Sri Lankan domestics never say anything, they just stop coming. My maid just stopped coming and when I finally pressed her she said I needed to get a washing machine. I was hoping to ride this one out, but I’ve run out of underwear and I have no choice. I finally caved and bought a washing machine, from 
government settled more that 180,000 IDPs in EAST and they will do the same here. the only things is that there are still LTTE in the camps, as u said and proper action should be taken to change their minds. i am sure we sri lankans can redevelop NORTH.
So did you find out if any of these IDPs can leave the camps if they want to? Suppose they have families outside the camp who are willing to take them in- are they allowed to leave?
Or is everyone a terrorist suspect by virtue of their place of origin?
TYFR
No they can’t leave the camps. Even if they have family they still can’t leave till everything is cleared. I spoke to one man (who spoke better Sinhala than I) who said he just wanted to get to Ratmalana, where his ID said he was born.
They were reading the names of family members who’d come to visit, but people certainly weren’t allowed to leave. Plus you simply cannot get through the Medavachchiya checkpoint or travel more than a few kilometers. To get to Colombo or anywhere you need an exit pass (which you collect on the way up) or a shitload of paperwork and approvals from this that and the other.
So no, they’re not free to leave. This is not news.
Archangel I think your approach to the issue you raise is far too simplistic and black/white. Clearly there are many shades of grey in those camps, and a screening process is a must.
I don’t think it’s by their place of origin, but by their place of ending up – I think the GOSL’s, not mine, simplistic answer to your final question would be, yes.
And as much as you disagree with that I would urge you to detach and analyse their reasons for saying so.
Wait, Sophist, do you support the illegal detention(even on the face of it, because not a single one of them has even been served with a detention order) of 300,000 civilians including women and children? No point hypothesising what the government’s argument is. Just tell us what you think.
If there is a terrorist suspect there, by all means, let us torch the bastard. Or if he’s not a hardcore, freedom-hating, blood thirsty, human bomb, let us put him in a rehabilitation camp.
I’m saying this because that is the approach taken so far. Suspects have in fact been transferred to less hospitable camps. Let’s not underestimate the ability of this Government to weed out terrorists. There are rehabilitation camps set up for male suspects and separate ones for women and children. Women and children. These are your terrorists. And they are being dealt with in the way we know best, so speculating the government’s agenda here is unnecessary.
I’m more interested in what the liberal thinking in Colombo is.
As this post suggests, these IDPs are essentially victims of circumstances. The leftovers you get after a messy meal. We all feel sorry for them. Because we are good people. No one claims that each of these 300,000 civilians are in fact terrorists in disguise. That is absurd. We wouldn’t rush to their aid if we really thought that. So, why justify their internment?
So I ask the author again,
Did you find out if these IDPs can leave the camps if they wanted to? Suppose they have families outside the camp who are willing to take them in- are they then allowed to leave?
TYFR