Only their parents’ home

The Colombo government's new initiative to resettle displaced Sri Lankans has not only angered many of the people it is targeted to serve, but also fails to address the concerns of over 100,000 refugees who live in Tamil Nadu. On 16 March, international watchdog Human Rights Watch claimed that authorities were using "threats and intimidation" to force Sri Lankans who had fled because of recent fighting to return to their homes, although this has been widely disputed. According to UNHCR, there are more than 130,000 displaced people from within the northeastern district of Batticaloa alone – 40,000 of whom had fled during the second week of March. Nevertheless, by mid-March 800 people are reported to have been sent back to Batticaloa, as part of the government's plan to 'return' 2800 people back home.  

Even as the internally displaced are being relocated, the new scheme, the brainchild of Abdul Risath Bathiyutheen, the Minister of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services, does nothing to address the situations of Sri Lankans who have fled to Tamil Nadu. This silence is a clear departure from the tone set by a 2002 government initiative, which sought to repatriate individuals living in the more than 130 camps in the Indian state. Some say that such an initiative is doubly important in the current context, with more than 18,000 Sri Lankans having fled to Tamil Nadu since the outbreak of the war in July last year. The refugee camps are now bursting beyond capacity.