DENMARK DOUBLES AID TO DEMINING IN SRI LANKA

Minister for Development, Ulla Tørnæs says:

“I have decided to – already this year – double the support to demining, because substantial efforts in demining and resettlement lie ahead. The responsibility for this rests primarily with the Sri Lankan government, but the international society also has a role to play. Earlier this year, Denmark contributed 4 million Danish kroner to Danish Demining Group’s important work of clearing landmines to enable the internally displaced to return home to areas that would otherwise be uninhabitable. Danish Demining Group has produced excellent results, but there is still a great need for demining, so that all internally displaced can return home safely. Therefore, I am now doubling the Danish demining support in order to place positive pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka to solve the humanitarian crisis in a sensible way.

We have put pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka to open the camps, and have therefore refused to give aid that could render the camps permanent. It is important that the resettlement takes place in a sensible and safe manner, where humanitarian organisations are allowed to be present in Northern Sri Lanka and can ensure the protection of the internally displaced.”

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Per Stig Møller, says:

“I am very pleased that we are finally seeing a solution to the entirely unacceptable situation, where the internally displaced have collectively been held captive. On the Danish side, we have used every diplomatic avenue, including bilateral, EU and UN to contribute to a solution.

The causes of the conflict, including amongst others marginalisation of ethnic minorities, must be solved through a peaceful political process. The upcoming presidential election on 26 January 2010 and the parliamentary elections that should be held in April at the latest, give Sri Lanka the opportunity to move on and catch up with the development that was lost due to twenty-six years of civil war. As part of the reconciliation, the practise of widespread impunity for gross human rights violations must be discontinued.

Last month, the Sri Lankan government commenced the resettlement of the approximately 280,000 internally displaced Tamils, and it is estimated that the number of civilians in the camps are down to approximately 130,000 people. It is this group that is now being allowed to leave the camps in limited periods of time. The government has promised that everybody will be out of the camps by the end of January 2010. 11,000 people, suspected of being Tamil Tigers, are still held captive in camps for former combatants.

A great effort lies ahead in ensuring demining and resettlement of the many thousand people who need housing. In many of the areas where the internally displaced are being returned, land mines make the situation so dangerous that the UN cannot work there. It is still unclear, if the International Red Cross and other humanitarian aid organisations will get proper access to the Northern parts of Sri Lanka, where most of the resettlement will take place.

With the decision to allocate a further 4 million Danish kroner to demining, the Danish humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka reaches a total of 38 million Danish kroner (31.8 crore INR) in 2009.