UN special rapporteur visiting war displaced in Sri Lanka

[ Tuesday, 03 December 2013, 05:52.27 AM GMT +05:30 ]

The UN special envoy on human rights of internally displaced persons has arrived in Sri Lanka to examine the status of people rendered homeless by the country’s three-decade civil war.

Chaloka Beyani, UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, said he intended to meet all stakeholders during his five-day visit. “I will gather first-hand information from all parties, including displaced persons and affected communities themselves,” he said. “I will also look at the challenges and opportunities for durable solutions for IDPs, while I discuss the progress made with regard to their protection and assistance.” He will visit the former war-torn districts of Jaffna and Mullaithivu in the Tamil-dominated north. Most of the nearly 300,000 people displaced by the war with the LTTE, that ended in 2009, came from the north. Beyani will meet representatives from the government, civil society and the UN. He will also visit various sites of displacement and meet displaced persons and local authorities. He will present preliminary observations through a written statement shortly after the end of his mission while a full report will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2014, PTI reports.