SRI LANKA: Humanitarian access improving in resettlement areas in east
COLOMBO, 21 November 2007 (IRIN) - Basil Sylvester, coordinator in Batticaloa District in eastern Sri Lanka for the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA), is more relaxed now than three months ago. He no longer hears myriad complaints from frustrated aid workers about being denied access by the government to areas where nearly 100,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) have been resettled since June 2007.
Some relief agencies now say they are able to work in the resettlement communities effectively even though they still have to operate within government guidelines. The guidelines require agencies to submit project proposals to the government agent (GA) who in turn refers them to the regional military headquarters. Agencies can begin work only after approval by both entities.
“Access has improved, with a procedure that needs to be followed, but it is working smoothly,” Maleec Calyaneratne, spokesperson for Save the Children UK, told IRIN. “There is now an overall system and once you understand it, access to areas of work is not an issue.” The charity is now assisting 13,000 children and 1,500 families in Batticaloa District.
According to the CHA’s Sylvester, the change is significant. He says that while three months ago few agencies had continuous access to resettlement areas in Batticaloa West and North, now at least 20 UN agencies and international and local non-governmental organisations have such access.
New system generally manageable
A fair amount of paperwork is necessary before access is granted. “You have to go through the paperwork despite already having authorisation,” CHA executive director Jeevan Thiyagaraja told IRIN. “There is a lot of focus on security.” Most likely, he said, it is because the resettlement areas are in regions regained from the Tamil Tigers in March 2007 and where isolated attacks still occur.
Aid agencies are required to provide government authorities with personal details, including places of residence and identification numbers for project personnel, and the registration numbers of all vehicles that will be deployed.
Despite this bureaucratic hurdle, most agencies have found the new system manageable. The CHA’s Sylvester points out: “I’m now in the process of helping to channel agrarian supplies to farmers. Three months ago, even gaining access to the resettlement sites of the farmers was a challenge.”
Among other agencies that have found the new procedures manageable is the World Bank. Its Sri Lanka country head, Naoko Ishii, told IRIN that it had managed to adapt to the new government requirements for access.
“We have been able to continue operating in the north and east to a reasonable extent, and as such, there has been no reason to scale down or suspend our operations,” she told IRIN.
Concerns about protection issues
Mirak Raheem, senior researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives, a Colombo-based think-tank, told IRIN that despite the improved access for many relief and development agencies, there were still concerns regarding access among certain agencies - particularly those involved with protection issues related to forced recruitment, abductions and other abuses.
“Essentially the message is unless you are going to give material items you are not allowed in by the authorities,” he said. “This means that monitoring protection issues, be it recruitment of children by armed groups, extortions or abductions, is much more difficult.”
CHA’s Thiyagaraja feels that there is currently some reluctance on the part of relief groups to work on protection-related issues in the resettlement areas due to concern for the security of their staff. “Paramilitaries are still active in those areas, and until they are no longer a presence on the roads, very few agencies will touch these issues.”
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Copyright © IRIN 2007
This material comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States.
IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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