Sri Lanka: The Red Cross continues its livelihood assistance to tsunami victims in the South
December 29 2009 – ICRC
When the waves of the 2004 Tsunami finally receded, Upali, 52, was found clinging to a coconut tree – barely alive. He had suffered a stroke a month before the 2004 tsunami and was just recovering when the tidal wave struck. Upali, his wife Rupawathie, 45, and his four children live in Peraliya, Galle district – a coastal village in the south of Sri Lanka.
Although Upali and his family survived, to this day, Upali suffers from the effects of the tidal wave. Not only did he have to be hospitalized for a month afterwards, his leg was left partially paralysed and his hearing is now permanently impaired. Their house was completely destroyed and all their furniture washed away.
Today, five years after the tsunami, Upali and Rupawathie have a very different story to tell. Their house has now been reconstructed by the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society with the support of the Spanish Red Cross – and they have moved back after living in a temporary shelter.
Before the tsunami, Upali and Rupawathie earned a living by selling dried fish door-to-door from a cart but after his stroke, Upali was unable to work and had to rely solely on Rupawathie to earn a living and needed her help to communicate with others due to his hearing impediment. Their lives changed dramatically – they could not continue their livelihood and had very little money to survive on.
With the support of the livelihood grants given by the Red Cross Upali and his wife have opened a little wooden shop, a few kilometres away from their house, just off the main road. With the Rs 30,000 grant they purchased stocks of dry fish from wholesalers, set up the shop and have managed to earn a stable income selling dry fish to families in the area.
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IFJ Mission Identifies Key Challenges for Sri Lanka’s Media after War’s End
December 18 2009 – IFJ
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today released the report of a press freedom mission to Sri Lanka, identifying key challenges for the country’s journalists and media at the end of 25 years of internal conflict and the inauguration of a new phase of political contests.
Media stakeholders who met with the mission during its visit to Sri Lanka in November identified the current political circumstances as embodying numerous threats and opportunities.
The entry of a former army commander into the race for the Presidency next year has thrown the contest open and provided an opportunity for local media to create more space for itself. At the same time, the heightened intensity of the political contest may also engender threats.
Certain new flashpoints have emerged in the always fraught relationship between the media and political power-holders. Any form of reckoning with the tactical decisions made during the final stages of the war earlier this year and the humanitarian consequences is actively discouraged. Despite this element of coercion on the media, this issue has been coming up in the campaign debates between rival candidates for the presidency.
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Australia asks Canada to take in Tamil refugees
December 18 2009 – Canada.com
The Canadian government has been asked by Australia to resettle a small but unknown number of Tamil refugees whose boat was found drifting through international waters near Indonesia earlier this year.
In mid-October, 78 Sri Lankan Tamils were found in a boat floating off the coast of Indonesia’s Bintan Island, and signalling for assistance. An Australian customs vessel, the Oceanic Viking, came to their rescue, taking the asylum seekers aboard.
When the ship attempted to bring them back to Indonesia, where they had been living for several years, they refused to disembark and asked to be taken to Australia.
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Oceanic Viking refugees begin resettlement
December 18 2009 – ABC
Some of the 78 Sri Lankan refugees who spent a month aboard the Oceanic Viking in an Indonesian port will begin the resettlement process today.
Indonesian Foreign Ministry officials say 15 Sri Lankans will leave the Australian-funded detention centre at Tanjung Pinang and board a flight to Jakarta today.
All 78 of the asylum seekers who spent one month aboard the Australian Customs ship have been found to be refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
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Detention conditions inappropriate and out of step with Government’s stated values
December 16 2009 – Amnesty
The isolated location of Christmas Island makes it impossible to implement a humane immigration policy, and is leading to extreme detention conditions that are inappropriate and out of step with the Government’s stated ‘new detention values’, Amnesty International Australia has said, following a research trip to the remote Australian territory.
“Of particular concern are the significant and disturbing levels of overcrowding within the North West Point Immigration Detention Centre, which has led to the use of tent and demountable accommodation, and the lack of ready access to essential services such as adequate mental health care. This situation is completely unacceptable,” said Dr Graham Thom, Refugee Coordinator for Amnesty International Australia.
“Immigration detention on Christmas Island should be stopped. The island is too remote, and the logistical challenges too great for this policy to be effective or sustainable. The policy of excision is not working. It does not have a deterrent effect on people seeking protection from persecution, and constitutes a fundamental breach of Australia’s international obligations under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention,” said Graham Thom.
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