Freedom of movement is critical if a humanitarian crisis is to be averted, Development Minister Mike Foster said as he visited camps in the north of Sri Lanka today.  After visiting the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps he voiced concerns about the impact that heavy rains, due to hit the north of the country from mid-October to December, will have on the 260,000 civilians living there.

Mike Foster added that the UK is assisting civilian returns through supporting demining and transportation of civilians back to their home areas but that progress on returning civilians to date had been disappointing.  He confirmed that the UK is holding £4.8 million ready to provide further support to help the Sri Lankan Government meet its welcome commitment to release the majority of civilians from the camps before the end of the year.

But Mike Foster also made clear that UK funding could not support people simply being transferred from existing ‘closed’ camps – which detain civilians for long periods of time - to new closed camps. Freedom of movement has to be allowed now.  
Many IDPs have friends and relatives to whom they should be allowed to go to, as an interim measure.  For this reason, he confirmed that once the critical monsoon season was over, the UK would only fund life-saving emergency interventions in the existing ‘closed’ camps.

Mike Foster said:

“Freedom of movement for the displaced people is our top priority, particularly ahead of the monsoon. Conditions in the camps have improved since my last visit but heavy rainfall could cause devastation – polluting water and sanitation supplies and spreading disease. Host families are a viable option to avert the humanitarian consequences of the rains in the camps. This option could be used to accommodate 70 percent of the people in the largest camp – Menik Farm – for example. Transferring the civilians to new closed sites is not acceptable”

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