The Ministry of Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees (MRRR) recently sponsored a mission to Trincomalee and Batticaloa to further strengthen the information gathering and reporting process between the districts and its Policy Planning and Coordination Unit (PPCU). UNHCR continues to work with the PPCU on information gathering and management strategies. One example of this collaboration is the IDP Survey, which is nearing its final stages. Finder2000 has now completing the data entry work and the Census Department has begun work on processing and presentation of the data.

The Australian Government has agreed to provide 20 million rupees to UNHCR to assist the relocation and reintegration of Sri Lankans internally displaced by the conflict.

The project aims to provide support for emergency water and sanitation systems to communities in Jaffna, Vanni, Mannar and Trincomalee. Mobile health clinics and health posts will also be provided to assist returning IDPs and refugees. Australia's development assistance agency, the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) supports the work of multilateral agencies and NGOs in assisting some of Sri Lanka’s most needy people. At the recent Peace Process Support Meeting held in Oslo, Australia committed to provide A$2.2 million to assist communities throughout Sri Lanka that have been affected by conflict.

The Japanese Government has also agreed to provide approximately $1.62 million in emergency grant aid to UNHCR to support the displaced in Sri Lanka. Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said the aid is intended to assist UNHCR in providing emergency shelter, potable water and sanitation facilities for returning refugees.

With the assistance of ECHO, FAO has been able to deliver its inputs for programmes in the North and East. Additionally FAO is starting a broad-based training of trainers programme to commence in January 2003 and run through April, 2003. FAO has also started a technical operations project worth approximately US$400,000 in Vavuniya, Anuradhapura and Puttalam.

The Sri Lankan Government is currently finalising the new Unified Assistance Scheme (UAS) criteria with donors, including the World Bank. UNHCR has agreed to assist by monitoring the distribution of UAS to returnee families, once the revised scheme commences.

As one element of the planned reconciliation activities in Sri Lanka, UNHCR has launched an initiative to promote the coexistence of people returning to communities that have been deeply divided by internal conflict and mass violence. The purpose is to promote coexistence as a vital dimension of humanitarian theory and action in the context of return work by UNHCR and its partners especially as they address the gap between emergency assistance and development. Pilot projects were conducted in 2001-2002 in Bosnia and Rwanda with advice from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston, which also serves as a basis for the initiative in Sri Lanka.

The Peaceful Coexistence Initiative should be seen as a contribution to peace-building with a holistic, country-wide approach based upon UNHCR‘s mandate, and focussing on durable solutions for those displaced by the conflict. The initiative is mainly based upon small, community-based coexistence projects in situations where refugees and internally displaced persons return home to divided communities. It also aims to help members of divided communities and humanitarian workers to think in terms of coexistence in the course of assistance activities and when responding to urgent needs. The project approach focuses on joint activities for members of conflicting groups to overcome deeply rooted mistrust, and eventually lead to cooperation.

Coexistence is more than living peacefully side by side, as it involves communication, interaction and cooperation. “Coexistence” means the skills and determination that individuals and communities require, in light of an experience of trauma or history of division to recognise each other’s status and rights as human beings, develop a just and inclusive vision for the community’s future, and implement economic, social, cultural, or political development across former community divides.

As we move into 2003, World Food Program (WFP) continues with its Food-for-Work programmes in the Vanni. In addition to providing food assistance to the internally displaced, WFP also works towards rehabilitating the community and creating village assets, which benefit the entire population, not only the displaced. Wherever there are labour-based projects WFP would like to be involved and discussions are ongoing with the Government regarding the possibility of offering a food resettlement package to the recently returned.