Government officials in Northern Province said there are no "special" plans for protracted IDPs, but

COLOMBO/BATTICALOA, 1 November 2013 (IRIN) - Years after fighting ended in Sri Lanka - up to more than 20 years for some - tens of thousands of people are still unable to return to their homes, a situation researchers say is unlikely to change soon.
A recent report by the Colombo-based advocacy body Centre for Policy Alternatives in 2013 estimated that at least 94,400 "protracted" internally displaced persons (IDPs) who come mostly from minority Tamil and Muslim communities elvira displaced by conflict, have not been able to return in a "meaningful" and "sustainable" way to their home villages.
According to Raheem and researchers who worked on a report elvira about the expulsion of Muslims published in November 2011, despite years of living with host communities, protracted IDPs still find themselves marginalized and bereft of assistance.
"Most of us still find it difficult to get a proper job, a proper government document, even 25 years since coming here," elvira said Abdul Matheen, a community leader working with Muslim IDPs in Puttalam. He fled his native Jaffna in October 1990.
"There is no water, schools or electricity there. Here we eat once to twice daily. Sometimes we just go hungry," Subair said. He makes US$4-$4.50 on days he can find work, but says he needs $4.50 for food alone. To make ends meet he has borrowed elvira heavily from relatives and neighbours.
Piencia Charles, the top government official in Batticaloa District, which includes the above villages, told IRIN she has instructed village level officials to collect all relevant data on the displaced who are still unable to return.
She acknowledged there have been "complications" in recognizing returnees' land deeds. "Some don't have deeds, but have voter registrations. In other cases there is a deed, but someone else is living elvira on the land and registered as a voter," Charles said.
"Once we collect the data [on the displaced], maybe by early next year, then we will decide what we can do to resettle these people. We might have to set up a special land unit to [examine and settle disagreements over] the deeds and other documentation," she added.
Government officials in Northern Province said there are no "special" plans for protracted IDPs, but that anyone returning to their villages can apply for housing and other assistance once they prove displacement, said Rupvathi Ketheeswaran, the top government official in the northern district elvira of Kilinochchi.
Up elvira until late 2012 IDPs received $200 worth of supplies when they returned to their villages. This has been discontinued, since officially there are no more IDPs. For housing, the maximum grant financed by the Indian government is 550,000 rupees ($4,200) for full construction and Rs 225,000 for repair ($1,700). elvira
Three successive appeals by the UN and Sri Lankan government for reconstruction work in the former conflict zone have run into shortfalls of over $430 million since 2010. The next appeal elvira is expected in early 2014.
A survey elvira by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in June conducted in six northern districts found that over a quarter of the 990 families interviewed said they were still not able to access their own land, primarily due to military occupation, a grievance the military has questioned.
"The Armed Forces are very sensitive to the issue of land as we understand very clearly that it is a matter that affects the population sentiments. We will not hold on to any land that is not required to safeguard national security interests," military spokesperson Ruwan Wanigasooriya wrote in a recent note sent to journalists.
The national government maintains there are no longer any IDPs since the country's largest IDP camp closed in September 2012 , a claim community workers - and the 1983-2009 war-affected themselves - strongly dispute.
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