During his visit, Mr. Morjane was accompanied by Mr. Jean?Marie Fakhouri, UNHCR Director of the Asia and Pacific Bureau, and Mr. Neill Wright, UNHCR Representative in Sri Lanka, as he visited officials, and travelled in the north and east to meet with IDPs and returnees in Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Jaffna and Puttalam.

Mr. Morjane commented on the many challenges ahead in consolidating the peace process, chiefly lack of resources. He noted that of the LKR 65,000 for the Government-sponsored Unified Assistance Scheme (UAS), the Government is presently only able to sporadically provide LKR 7-8,000 because of insufficient resources. To this end, Mr. Morjane expressed his commitment to work with other UN agencies and international organisations to support the Government as much as possible in garnering sufficient resources for relief, rehabilitation and reconciliation activities. Mr. Morjane predicted that the greatest challenge ahead will be restoring war-torn infrastructure and targeted assistance should be provided for this. Mr. Morjane also mentioned that psychosocial needs must be addressed to create an environment conducive to peaceful resettlement and reintegration. Furthermore he pointed out that while large scale landmine clearance is necessary, it is imperative that immediate steps be taken to conduct awareness campaigns in the North and East. Mr. Morjane reiterated UNHCR’s position that the conditions in Sri Lanka have not yet improved sufficiently to organise any large scale voluntary repatriation of refugees from southern India. Once peace is consolidated and the situation stabilised, he said that UNHCR would be prepared to facilitate repatriation of refugees from India.

He mentioned that in his meeting with Mr. S.P Thamil Chelvan, of the LTTE’s political wing, the issue of resettlement of the displaced was seen as a priority.

Mr. Morjane also explained that he hoped that Sri Lanka will be one of three countries in the world (along with Sierra Leone and Eritrea) where UNHCR would pilot an innovative partnership programme in cooperation with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the UNDP. The initiative focuses on ensuring coherence and continuity between humanitarian and development activities in Sri Lanka.

Underage recruitment, child demobilisation and psychosocial problems remain concerns for IDP families and communities, especially in areas of the north and east. Among the UN agencies, UNICEF plays the lead role in addressing these issues, and is working in conjunction with the Government and other organisations on psychosocial interventions for women and children. UNICEF has undertaken prevention, intervention and awareness activities in many parts of the north and east. The Agency reports that it has facilitated the creation of 50 village committees and provided training to over 2,000 people in the Vanni as part of its “Every Child Back to School” programme. The agency has been working with UNHCR and other international organisations on procedures and forms for data collection and information sharing regarding cases of underage recruitment. UNICEF is also working with the ILO, UNHCR and Save the Children to map specific preparedness interventions for demobilisation of child soldiers. UNICEF also provides support to organisations conducting mine risk education and rehabilitation of land mine victims in Jaffna.

The project will cover Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Jaffna, Mannar and Trincomalee. The funds will be used for supplying crop seeds, fertiliser, tools and implements, herbicide and farmer training. FAO will also use these funds to provide assistance to animal production activities in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu and rice production activities elsewhere. FAO investigations revealed that over 50% of the cattle and goats in the Wanni districts have been destroyed due to the war, therefore animal production is essential for food security. The ECHO project targets approximately 10,000 of the estimated 35,000 IDP returnee families in the area. Of these 10,000 farming families, half are targeted to receive assistance for rice cultivation and the other half to cultivate the remaining crops. The project is designed to provide assistance in food production and income generating activities so that IDP returnee families do not become dependent upon food aid.

The Mine Action Programme in Sri Lanka is supported by five “pillars” of interlinked interventions. The first is raising public awareness about mines and UXO leading to behavioural change and risk avoidance; the second pertains to Mine Action assessments, mined area survey, clearance, marking and mapping; the third pertains to providing medical, rehabilitation and vocational services to mine and UXO survivors; the fourth pertains to advocating for a global ban on the sale, use and manufacture of landmines; and the fifth pillar is stockpile reduction. Currently the Mine Action Programme is working together with the Government and local and international organisations to fulfil its mandate as outlined above. Mine Action reports that the Ministry of Defence has agreed to provide the Programme with Liaison Officers to the National Mine Action Authority (and the DMAO); access to purchase and store bulk explosive and accessories; helicopter medical evacuation support; training mines; and stores and land to construct a Mine Detection Dog evaluation and training area.

To address and coordinate these elements of mine action the following structure has been proposed and, in principle, agreed. A small, central National Mine Action Authority supported by a number of District Mine Action Offices. It is planned to create and support the first District Mine Action Office (DMAO) in the GA’s Office in Jaffna and the second in Vavuniya. The DMAO in Vavuniya will ultimately be located in the Government Agents Office, however, due to lack of office space it will work out of the UNDP Office in Vavuniya for the time being.

The following groups carried out preliminary assessment missions in Sri Lanka during July and August 2002:

- DanChurchAid (DCA): Mine clearance, EOD and survey;
- Mines Awareness Trust (MAT): Mine risk education;
- Handicap International (HI- France): Mine clearance and mine reduction education;
- Swiss Federation for Mine Action (FSD): Mine clearance, EOD and survey;
- Danish Demining Group (DDG): Mine clearance, EOD and survey;
- Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA): Capacity building support to HDU;
- US Army Special Forces (US SF): Capacity building support to SL Army clearance efforts.