[ UN News Centre ]

The United Nations, along with dozens of partner agencies, are working to improve basic conditions in camps housing people who fled the recently-ended conflict in northern Sri Lanka, it was announced today. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that since the arrival of the last of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) at the camps, relief workers have been working to ease pressure on overcrowded sites, construct more latrines and improve water supply to meet international standards. Other priorities include reuniting families and improving freedom of movement in the camps.

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[ UN News Centre ]

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said today it is stepping up support for women and girls affected by the conflict in northern Sri Lanka, particularly those who are pregnant, amid disruptions to reproductive health services caused by ongoing fighting. UNFPA believes that at least 3,000 pregnant women have fled the fighting in recent days and some 350 of them will give birth in the next month. “In this overwhelming situation, it is important that women’s specific health concerns, from their hygiene needs to life-threatening complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, are not overlooked,” said UNFPA Representative in Sri Lanka Lene K. Christiansen.

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[UN News Centre]

A senior United Nations official today expressed concern over the fate of thousands of children caught up in the conflict in Sri Lanka pitting Government forces against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said in a press release that she is worried about children who are internally displaced persons (IDPs) and child combatants used by the LTTE.

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[UN News Centre]

The United Nations is increasingly concerned for the well-being of tens of thousands of civilians caught up in the conflict raging in the northern Vanni area of Sri Lanka pitting Government forces against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the world body’s humanitarian chief said today.

“As fighting surrounds the areas towards which families have been displaced, and with few choices about where to move, they are increasingly susceptible to harm due to the fighting,” Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes said in a statement.

“While they have had access to basic food, in large part due to the Government and the UN assistance transported through the lines of fighting,” he said, “they have few, if any, reserves and the conditions of their basic shelter, water and sanitation are increasingly inadequate as many have been displaced multiple times over the last months, weeks and days.”

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The United Nations refugee agency has called on the Government of Sri Lanka to ensure security for civilians in the eastern part of the strife-torn nation, citing a significant increase in the number of killings, abductions and injuries in areas of return, including 24 civilian deaths recorded in November alone in the Batticaloa district. “We’re also worried about the negative impact these security incidents may have on the sustainability of the return process,” Ron Redmond, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told reporters in Geneva.

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[UN News Centre]

An independent United Nations human rights expert has called on Sri Lanka to significantly improve access for more humanitarian relief and personnel to reach hundreds of thousands of people displaced in the northern Vanni region by the ongoing conflict between the Government and Tamil separatists. In a letter to the Government, Walter Kälin, the Secretary-General’s Representative for the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), acknowledged Sri Lanka’s continuing efforts to enable humanitarian convoys to reach the estimated 200,000-300,000 IDPs in the region.

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The top United Nations humanitarian official in Sri Lanka today called on authorities to mount a thorough investigation into last week’s murder of an aid worker in the east of the violence-wracked country — the third staff member from the same relief group to have either disappeared or been killed in the Asian island nation. Neil Buhne, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sri Lanka, issued a statement condemning the shooting death of A. Vigneswaran, who worked for the Norwegian Refugee Council, by unknown gunmen in Batticaloa. He urged authorities to “vigorously pursue” the perpetrators.

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United Nations relief officials are continuing to assist authorities in the conflict-wracked north of Sri Lanka respond to flooding that has displaced more than 70,000 people and affected 300,000 others. A UN inter-agency assessment of civilian needs in Northern province’s Jaffna district — the district hardest hit by the floods — has been carried out, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported today.

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[ UN News Centre ]

Three United Nations agencies are offering relief to tens of thousands of Sri Lankans who have been displaced from their homes after floods struck at least five districts in the north of the island nation this week. Aid agencies held a coordination meeting in the town of Jaffna today to plan their response to the floods, which follow several days of heavy rains, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is coordinating the distribution of non-food relief items and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is providing dry rations at the request of local authorities. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is assisting with water and sanitation services.

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