Protecting the Post-Tsunami Displaced Persons: Critical Analysis of the Sri Lankan Experience

The book on ‘Protecting the Post-Tsunami Displaced Persons: Critical Analysis of the Sri Lankan Experience’ written by me, will be published this month by Culcutta Research Group, India. It is an analysis of how and how not Sri Lanka has attempted to protect the victims of the Tsunami during the relief, rehabilitation and the reconciliation phases. The book is inclusive of an analysis of the human rights instruments, mechanisms established or mandated to protect IDPs; its applicability in the post-Tsunami context in Sri Lanka; and the human rights issues faced by the IDPs.

The book is based on the hypothesis that the Government and the civil society could have implemented better programs to protect Tsunami displaced persons in the aftermath of Tsunami, if existing human rights laws and policies on civil and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights and group rights were applied. Not the lack of appropriate laws, but the failure to implement existing laws has negatively impacted in protecting the affected persons during a natural or man made disaster situation.

Practical and Effective policy recommendations presented in this book after the in-depth analysis of post-Tsunami experience will be a great tool for the Government and the Civil Society to react in a more efficient manner in a future disaster situation.

This book gives a comprehensive analysis of Post-Tsunami IDP situation of Sri Lanka. It presents an overview of the Post-Tsunami situation in Sri Lanka; analyzes the International and National human rights instruments applied and the mechanisms established or mandated to protect the rights of post-Tsunami displaced persons in Sri Lanka; and identifies human rights gaps experienced by the post-Tsunami displaced persons and the reasons for these gaps.

The book is written based on a literary survey, interviews, and an analysis of my experience in volunteering in Tsunami recovery activities, working with Post-Tsunami IDPs for a period of one year at the Disaster Relief Monitoring Unit of the Human Rights Commission, and coordinating a research on ‘Recording the Voices of IDPs in Sri Lanka’ for National Peace Council.

The first chapter is an introduction to the study. It outlines the hypothesis of the study, objectives, methodology and constraints of the study.

The second chapter presents an introduction to the Post-Tsunami situation in Sri Lanka. The chapter compromises an analysis of the Districts affected, number of deaths and displaced person, involvement of the Government and Civil Society and the programs introduced to protect the IDPs. The aim of this chapter is to contextualize the study.

The third chapter tries to analyze the impact of the Sri Lankan Human Rights framework applicable to Tsunami affected IDPs. It identifies to what extent the International and National Human Rights instruments were applied in Sri Lanka to protect the post-Tsunami displaced persons and discusses the role of the mechanisms established or mandated to protect the rights of post-Tsunami displaced persons. The mechanisms focused include, the main Coordinating bodies, Monitoring bodies, Government Ministries, Regional bodies, Departments and Authorities, UN bodies, INGOs and NGOs that were involved in post-Tsunami RRR activities.

The forth chapter analyses the human rights issues faced by Tsunami IDPs. Rights discussed in this chapter include, lack of equality in post-tsunami service provision, the buffer zone and restriction of movement, constrains in dissemination of information, lack of participation in the decision making process on livelihood issues, delays in providing new documentation, delays in addressing complaints, obstacles in practicing cultural rituals, unemployment, inability in providing an adequate standard of living, non-delivery of health services, damaged schools, lack of shelter, problems of tsunami affected children (which include, child labour/ trafficking, lack of protection and adoption implementing and monitoring mechanisms, underage marriages), discrimination against tsunami affected women (limited access to relief, lack of participation of women in decision making and problems with land and property) and difference in treatment between tsunami affected IDPs vs. War affected IDPs.

The fifth chapter concentrates on Policy Recommendations for the Government and the Civil Society, in order to react in a more efficient manner in protecting the affected persons during a natural or manmade disaster situation. It is categorized into four parts, namely, recommendations related to civil and political rights, recommendations related to economic, social and cultural rights, recommendations related to group rights and general recommendation. The policy recommendations are based on the post-Tsunami lessons learnt. The recommendations concentrate on effective implementation of international and national human rights instruments and mechanisms to protect the rights of displaced persons.

The sixth and the final chapter is the concluding chapter. Here I have analyzed the problem addressed through the thesis and presented my independent opinion about the problem.

Hope the findings of this book will be used by policy makers in addressing issues of IDPs in a more efficient and effective manner.

I am thankful to Dr. Marcus Mayor for the guidance in writing this book and Culcutta Research Group for publishing.