IDPs and Land rights from the speech made by Minister
of External Affairs and Leader of the Sri Lanka delegation at the High Level Segment of the 25th Session of the
UN Human Rights Council in Geneva today (05th March 2014).
Full Text Of The Sri Lanka’s Response: ‘Sri Lanka Reiterates Its Continued Cooperation And Engagement With The Work Of UNHRC’ -
https://www.colombotelegraph.
IDPs
A total area of 1,980 sqkm, which is 96 % of the areas identified for
demining have been cleared as at the end of December 2013. 70 % of the demining was carried out by the Sri Lanka Army
This paved the way for the expeditious
resettlement of internally displaced persons. 297,000 Internally
Displaced Persons who were housed at Menik Farm Welfare Village
immediately after the conflict in 2009 have now been fully resettled and
this facility was closed in
September 2012. Action is being taken to expedite resettlement
of the remaining 7,094 IDP families in the North and the East. Of this,
5,585 are currently staying with host families. The Government is also
working towards finding durable solutions to
resettle approximately 75,000 Muslim who were forcibly evicted from the
Northern Province by the LTTE in an ethnic cleansing exercise, over 20
years ago. Further, a study is underway with the collaboration of the
UNHCR to establish whether there are any hitherto
unreported displaced persons and the report is expected by end March
2014.
Land
Land
is one of the most complex and sensitive
residual issues of the conflict and continues to be addressed. In line
with the LLRC recommendation, the Government is implementing the Land
Commissioner General’s Special Land Circular which provides for the
granting of legal ownership of land to those IDPs
who have been resettled. In January 2014 alone, 3,623 land requests
have been received in the Northern Province. Of this, 2,321 have been
resolved, making a total of 24,389 resolutions of 147,504 land requests
to date. In the Eastern Province, 490 land requests
have been received in January (total 11,662 to date) and 83 have been
resolved (total 1,260 to date).
The former
High Security Zones (HSZ) have ceased to exist. Palaly cantonment
is now the only area in which some security restrictions remain
although civilians have unrestricted access to Palaly airport and KKS
harbour. Similarly, former HSZ in the Eastern Province,
located in the Sampoor area from 2007 has been reduced in extent by 65
per cent and declared a Licensed Zone under the Board of investment.
As
at January 2014 the Government has released 19,322 acres of private
land and 2,518 acres of State owned land in the Northern Province
which were hitherto used by the military. In the East, the Government
has released 689 acres of private land and 3,222 acres of State land.
Therefore the total figure of
lands released in the North and the East amounts to 20,011 acres of private land and 5,740 acres of State land.
The Terms of Reference for a Fourth Land Commission are under preparation.
Amendment to the Prescription Ordinance will be presented in
Parliament by April, 2014. Steps are being taken to Gazette the
necessary Orders under the Special Mediation Boards Act, to establish
relevant
Boards in certain areas where the armed conflict prevailed, and
address certain identified land disputes that have arisen in those areas. This
amply demonstrates that allegations of ‘land grabbing’ taking
place in the former conflict-affected areas are entirely unfounded.
Full Text Of The Sri Lanka’s Response: ‘Sri Lanka Reiterates Its Continued Cooperation And Engagement With The Work Of UNHRC’ -
https://www.colombotelegraph.
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