2006 - 2009 Sri Lanka Field Reports

• January
• February
• March
• April

The new year was off to a difficult and violent start in Sri Lanka in 2009. Following the government's taking of Kilinochchi, the previous administrative center of the LTTE in the north, a suicide bomber killed at least three and
wounded more than 30 others outside an air force headquarters in the capital. As the government forces advanced throughout the North, an estimated quarter of a million people were being repeatedly displaced as they attempted to find safety from the escalating fighting. While the world's attention was focused on the Middle East and the conflict in the Gaza, at least 50% of the people in the large area known as the Vanni were said to be on the move, with an unknown number of daily casualties.

The Government's security forces progressively narrowed the area in the northeast corner of the country where the LTTE were making what appeared to be their final stand. Condemnation of the LTTE came from many quarters, with accusations they were using civilians as human shields and conscripting children as young as 14 to bolster their depleted ranks. The death toll for both combatants and noncombatants was rising. Independent verification of the extent of the suffering was not possible due to continued lack of access by the media and the bulk of humanitarian agencies. The ICRC has been able to facilitate some exchange of combatant bodies, to evacuate some of the injured civilians, and to get humanitarian aid to others. Some civilians were also making their way into government-controlled areas from several directions, and beginning to share the stories of their journeys and the destruction they left behind.

January was also marred by the killing of a prominent journalist in Colombo, the editor of a leading English newspaper, gunned down on his way to work by unidentified men on motorcycles who surrounded his vehicle in traffic. The
assassination followed an attack by grenade-wielding gunmen on the country's largest private TV broadcasting company the week prior. At least 10 media personalities have been killed since 2006, with many others reportedly leaving the country for their own safety. Security was tightened throughout the country, and particularly in the capital, at the end of the month in the lead up to Sri Lanka's Independence Day celebrations slated for the first week of February. 

The Environment for the NP Teams in the Field

For the Jaffna Team in the north there were frequent power and mobile phone cuts this month, and an observed increase in military presence as approximately 2000 displaced civilians made their way into Jaffna from the Vanni. The students at Jaffna University called for a week's boycott of classes in reaction to the ongoing fighting in the Vanni, where many of their families are and with whom they lost touch. It is not known if the shooting of one of the university wardens was related to the protest. 

Security was tight in Trinco in conjunction with a visit of the Special Peace Envoy from Japan; and for demonstrations by Muslims who turned out to protest the attack on Palestinians in Gaza.Clashes were reported in several areas in Batticaloa between factions within the TMVP political party, and between the TMVP and LTTE cadre operating clandestinely throughout the eastern districts.

Summary of the Work of the NP Teams

The activities of the NP teams are focused on the beneficial role internationals can play in promoting civilian security and human rights, particularly in relation to vulnerable civilians such as children, internally displaced persons and resettlement communities, human rights defenders and other community-based structures that seek to solve problems nonviolently, improve human security, and promote access for civilians to human rights mechanisms and protection under the law.

• In Colombo, the Colombo Response Team (CRT) supports the work of the field sites and the civilians referred by the teams for various needs and resources in the capital. The team also regularly attends several capital-based forums, and meets with a variety of stakeholders to further the mission of NP. The team facilitated the stay of two young human rights interns from Jaffna, who were undertaking their second internship with an NP partner organization in the capital. For the first time, a sweep of the NP Guesthouse was carried out by police under the government's Emergency Procedures, and the intern, along with an NP driver and two other partners, were taken into custody for questioning. The NP driver and one of the three others were released, but the intern and the other partner remain in custody for further inquiry. The CRT, as well as management staff, have engaged in frequent international presence at the local police station and there is hope for a successful resolution, with the help of human rights lawyers engaged in the cases. 
• In Jaffna, the NP team carried out 18 field activities and inter-agency coordination meetings during January, recorded five new cases of families seeking assistance and advice, and accompanied two families to access authorities and/or improve their safety. Families were reporting a variety of concerns, including confiscated identity cards, harassment, or requests for safer places for threatened family members. The team received requests from both a local and an international partner to collaborate on some kind of trainings around conflict resolution and conflict transformation skill-building in the future. Despite some confusion over current procedures for government permission to access various areas, the team did travel to several communities to meet with child protection or human rights partners. Concerns were raised in district protection forums that there has not been consistent data collection of the newly displaced coming into Jaffna from the Vanni, including the needs of children, which will be addressed by UNICEF and its partners in the coming weeks. The team also visited the university following the student unrest there and the shooting of a hostel employee. 
• In Trincomalee, the team continued to work on strengthening the linkages between and among the district Peace Committees and other NGOs, INGOs, government departments, and community based organizations (CBOs) and institutions. The team is facilitating the implementation and evaluation of 12 small initiatives identified by the Peace Communities and funded by NP supporters from Japan. These initiatives are aimed at impacting all three ethnic communities through peace and harmony activities and access to justice initiatives, affecting as many as 1000 individuals in six divisions in the district. Ten to twenty key religious leaders have also been engaged. The team also continues to receive new cases of human rights abuses and attempts to connect the families immediately with other potential supports both in and out of the district. 
• In Valaichchenai, the team assisted 19 families throughout the month requiring various interventions, including two accompaniments, and continued regular monitoring of IDP camps and resettlement areas affecting at least 290 families. Through the Early Warning Network developed by the team in collaboration with local CBO partners, 98 contacts are readily reachable in times of crisis or to verify rumours in times of tensions that can spark communal violence. The team has been asked by the CHA (Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies) to join its Human Rights Forum, and by UNHCR to become the focal point agency for monitoring two IDP/resettlement areas, including one considered to be the district "hot spot" at this time. Child Protection work remains an important part of the team's activities each month. 
• In Batti Town, the NP team also carries a large family caseload and recorded seven new cases this month, with two of them involving threatened children. They also followed up on 14 other families from the previous month. The team provided emergency response and monitoring, with support from the Valaichchenai team, when a prominent Muslim businessman disappeared and tensions rose immediately in the area. Fortunately, the man was released from unknown captors the following day and the tense situation was defused. Batti Team fielded 18 activity reports, and attended a total of 14 coordination and information-sharing meetings with a variety of partners, inter-agency forums, and the government sector, including the opening of a new Child Welfare Unit set up for children affected by armed conflict under the government's Action Plan with UNICEF. Both teams enjoy a strong working relationship with many local government servants and security force representatives in Batticaloa District. 

Rita Webb, Programme Officer

With tens of thousands of civilians caught between warring forces, throughout February the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) continued to push the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) into a progressively proscribed area of the
northeast corner of the country. The goal is to finally eliminate both the LTTE's military capability and the territorial control they have exercised over a large area of the North and East for a generation. By mid-month the government reported they had the LTTE encircled in an area of land of less than 2 percent of what the separatists had controlled two years ago.

The GoSL reports that it is continuing to work on a political solution to the conflict as well, and is trying to reach consensus among the political parties in the south. An offer of a ceasefire by the LTTE was rejected by the government this month as the LTTE would not meet the pre-condition demanded of them that they unilaterally lay down their arms.

The Context and Work of the NP Teams

After months of planning, networking, consolidation and reorganizing, February marked the phasing out of the NP Trinco Team's full-time work in Trincomalee District. International staff have been gradually shifted to other districts to provide needed reinforcements to other field sites, along with some members of the national staff. Several community-based projects facilitated by NP Trinco and supported by the Niwano Foundation of Japan will continue under the auspices of local Peace Committees, with NP national staff remaining in the district monitoring their progress to completion. With the closure of one district office, exploration continues, pending additional funding and in response to requests of local stakeholders, into the possibility of NPSL expanding into other districts in the second half of 2009, namely Vavuniya in the North and/or Ampara in the Southeast.

In Colombo, the Colombo Response Team (CRT) supported vulnerable civilians and human rights defenders, providing international presence in a number of instances including, upon request, making regular visits to points of detention and to the courts. The team maintains good relationships with all stakeholders, with government authorities and with civil society, and team members attend a variety of fora that meet regularly in the capital.

In Jaffna, displaced civilians from the areas of fighting to the south and east continue to come into the Jaffna peninsula. The IDPs (internally displaced persons) are currently staying in four main locations, with access to them limited. The ICRC is working on reuniting separated family members. Save the Children is supporting pre-school education activities, but older children thus far have not generally been able to access continued education in the local area outside the camps. When the NP Jaffna Team visited one transit center in mid-month, the 15 families they met with said they had not been visited by any agency since December and were grateful for the team's presence. They shared their concerns and requested the team to convey their needs to the other humanitarian agencies. Permission to visit another resettlement area took two weeks to secure. The 83 families temporarily housed there were suffering from fishing restrictions and other livelihood issues, and promises of being returned to their home area were  repeatedly delayed. Due to its capacity, the Jaffna Team is focusing its protection work on four communities in Point Pedro, Chavakachcheri, Allaipiddy, and Jaffna town. The media reported six people were killed this month in Jaffna. A rival Tamil party, the EPDP (Eelam People's Democratic Party), held a protest march against the LTTE's holding of civilians in the war zone; and there also was a hunger strike by the Jaffna Catholic Church Society.

In the East, the Batticaloa and Valaichchenai Teams continued their focus on Child Rights and Protection work, IDP Camp and Resettlement Area monitoring, and community capacity building for enhanced protection of Human Rights. The context in Batticaloa District remained relatively stable but with heightened security checks and frequent cordon and search operations, especially in the first half of the month. Suspected infiltration of combatants fleeing from the fighting in the North may have contributed to the insecurity in the District. A feared upsurge in clashes within the TMVP between loyalists of Parliamentarian Karuna and those of Chief Minister Pillaiyan did not materialize following Karuna's
abandonment of the TMVP and his joining with the ruling coalition in the President's Sri Lankan Freedom Party. Several incidents of attacks on TMVP cadres were reported, however, but assailants were unidentified. Such attacks continue to bring trauma to some families NP has worked with, as their sons or husbands, who were earlier forcibly recruited into the group, are still not released from the party. 

Two young women at Eastern University were found hanged in their hostel rooms but reports of precipitating circumstances of their deaths were not clear. There have been numerous reports of the anguish university students both in the East and the North are experiencing due to the unknown condition or fate of their families trapped in the Vanni where the fighting is at its most intense level and where widespread civilian casualties continue to be reported.

The teams completed 36 field visits this month, handled 16 new or follow-up protection cases, and accompanied 6 at-risk youth and/or family members to increase their safety or access to needed services. Vulnerable youth and their
families, and the community structures that are housing or supporting them, continue to rely on NP's emergency response in times of need. Whether it is support to approach the police or other authorities, the re-unification of a mother and son after a long separation, or access to government mechanisms to gain proper documentation for an identification card or a land deed, such ‘simple' transactions are often not easy in a conflict environment. In too many cases people fear to pursue their rights, and NP's presence can increase the confidence of vulnerable people to accomplish such ‘normal' activities. Sometimes to act as if life is normal is the first step to it becoming so.

Local human rights defenders also requested NP Batti's accompaniment on three occasions to carry out their work, and NP Valaichchenai worked through the local Sri Lanka army commander when requested to provide additional presence in a remote area where Muslims landowners are attempting to reclaim their lands. Six monitoring visits were made to IDP camps and resettlement areas where more than 700 families are living. Providing regular international presence in these areas increases the confidence of people to stay in these locations and to not displace again, despite some areas not being entirely secured and infrastructure and services still inadequate.

All NP teams participated in the launch this month of a new national campaign against the use of child soldiers called "Bring Back the Child," a joint effort led by the Government and UNICEF. This campaign marks the fulfillment of a dream NP field team members had from the beginning of our service in Sri Lanka. The silence NP teams faced when we first arrived in our communities and raised uncomfortable questions with responsible authorities, facilitated scores of conversations with war-affected mothers and fathers, strategized with community human rights defenders, and attended countless meetings of a variety of stakeholders-that silence has finally been broken. And NP, over more than five years of solidarity on this issue, shares in-and celebrates-this historic turning point in Sri Lanka's long and bloody conflict. 

The Political Context of Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka, throughout March 2009 the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) tightened the noose around the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) in an increasingly narrow strip of land on the northeast coast of the island, perhaps as small as 10 square miles, hoping to put a final end after 25 years to the separatists' armed resistance.

According to government figures, about 61,000 people have fled the combat zone and are housed in a dozen "welfare camps." The government has accepted the UN's recommendation that the camps be administered by civil authorities as opposed to the military, and will make that transition as soon as feasible.

The government was reluctant to agree to a pause in the fighting, asserting it would only allow the LTTE to regroup and consolidate their positions, causing continuing harm and an extension of the suffering. At month's end, denying they are on the brink of defeat, the LTTE again appealed for a halt in the fighting but, as they refused to unconditionally and unilaterally lay down their arms, the government refused the call.

The Context and Work of the NP Teams

With the NP team in Trincomalee District having phased out their operations last month, the NPSL teams in Colombo, Jaffna, Valaichchenai, and Batticaloa continued their humanitarian efforts and participated in more than 75 coordination meetings and field activities in March, and handled more than 40 new and follow-up cases documenting protection concerns and alleged human rights violations. The work of the teams continues to focus on reducing violence and improving the safety and security of vulnerable civilians and can be viewed as falling into four overlapping programmatic areas, as summarized below. 

Child Rights and Protection

NP works with families and community structures to improve the safety and security of children, youth and their families living in situations of vulnerability and fear due to the armed conflict. In all field sites NP also partners with other child protection agencies, such as UNICEF and Save the Children-Sri Lanka, as well as government structures, such as the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) and the Probation Department. This month the teams attended the regular district coordination meetings on Child Protection, attended a UNICEF partners' meeting on their 2009 Action Plan, and participated in planning sessions for the programming and services needed throughout the Release and Reintegration process for children affected by armed conflict (CAAC). Various collaborative efforts are underway in response to the need to help reintegrate former armed cadres back into society and establish livelihoods for them. Various options will be assessed and explored, including job placements both in Sri Lanka and overseas, self-employment opportunities, and the creation of other income-generating and training activities. In Batticaloa, community-based vocational training centers continue to play an important role in partnering with NP to offer
some additional security and training options to vulnerable youth. The teams were also part of coordination meetings hosted by SCOPP (Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process) to discuss the design of a national framework for reintegration activities following the resolution of the armed conflict.

Some families continue to search for their children formerly taken into an armed group, with many families throughout the country in anguish over what their relatives are facing in the Vanni region where the fighting, casualties, and civilian displacement is focused. NP is following up with all families with children who have sought NP's support. In Batticaloa the teams registered more than 20 new family cases, and did follow-up visits with 18 more. In Jaffna the team participated in a workshop on child rights violations under UN Security Council Resolution 1612, which documents child rights violations in 6 categories of concern. The conclusion reached is that more training of military, police and community leaders is needed on 1612 violations, which continue to affect Sri Lanka's children. For sexual and gender-based violence, NP coordinates with UNHCR, which assists UNICEF in officially reporting on these 1612 violations, such as the reported rape this month of a 14 year old girl taken to Batticaloa Hospital.

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and their Resettlement

Partnering with the UN High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and others, NP teams monitor IDP camps in their areas of operation and assist with the safety and security concerns of IDPs, and their
rights to safe, dignified and voluntary return to their places of origin as soon as possible. In Jaffna, the NP team is monitoring the situation at some of the Transitional Accommodation Centers, where there is some tension between people who have been staying in centers for a year or more, waiting for government permission to return to their home villages, and those newly arriving in the Peninsula who are currently getting the attention from government and aid agencies. Refugee Council (NRC), and others, NP teams monitor IDP camps in their areas of operation and assist with the safety and security concerns of IDPs, and their rights to safe, dignified and voluntary return to their places of origin as soon as possible. In Jaffna, the NP team is monitoring the situation at some of the Transitional Accommodation Centers, where there is some tension between people who have been staying in centers for a year or more, waiting for government permission to return to their home villages, and those newly arriving in the Peninsula who are currently getting the attention from government and aid agencies.

In Batticaloa, the teams conducted 5 monitoring visits to IDP camps and resettlement areas. In three villages in one resettlement area, the Valaichchenai team will help community leaders engage in a mapping activity to help assess their protection needs and resources, with an eye toward identifying and strengthening community-based mechanisms and resources. Good relationships with government servants and community leaders in the areas where NP operates enhance the teams' ability to gain access to remote areas and provide protective presence and confidence-building measures to the civilians struggling to re-establish their families and livelihoods in their home communities. Coordination with other agencies also improves the access rural people have to needed resources.

Human Rights Protection and Promotion

Many of the activities touched on above that affect children, youth and families, or that support Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), also involve the protection and promotion of their human rights. In addition, NP supports the work of a number of human rights defenders (HRDs) by providing international presence that opens up the political space for them to carry out or extend their human rights work into vulnerable areas or with at-risk populations. To a large extent, many activities of the teams serve more than one objective, such as: the safe accompaniment of a local peace activist to a remote area can also assist them in making needed community connections in the area so that in the future their confidence and network might allow them to continue or extend the reach of their work.

NP teams also collaborate with others, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) or the national Human Rights Commission, in advocating for improved access to or implementation of human rights mechanisms. In the districts, the teams accompanied several vulnerable or threatened people to the local police or other authorities this month.

In support of vulnerable populations in the districts where NP works, other collaborative and joint awareness and advocacy efforts are possible through strong relationships with a variety of other stakeholders, including embassies, international and national humanitarian organizations, local government structures, and community-based organizations. 

Strengthening Community-Based Structures

Working with and through existing community structures is a large part of NP's strategy to move beyond emergency response and to positively impact the field of the conflict for longer-term sustainability of nonviolent strategies. Such work is built on long-term relationships of trust in communities where NP lives and works and in strict adherence to nonpartisanship and nonviolent principles.

In Colombo, the team continues to build awareness around the need for better networks, and in Jaffna the team supports the human rights community that continues to carry out awareness activities despite geographical limitations.

In Batticaloa strong relationships with all stakeholders allows the teams to facilitate the coming together of actors across ethnic, religious or community divides. The Batti team is engaged in outreach to interfaith leaders, including
facilitating the inclusion of the one and only Buddhist monk in Batti Town into conversations with Hindu and Muslim religious leaders nearby. Local government structures at the grassroots level (through the Grama Sevakas) are also offering in some instances to assist in the outreach to community-based organizations (CBOs), like the Rural Development Societies (RDS), including Women RDSs, that could play a pivotal protection role at the community/family level in rural areas.

In Valaichchenai a growing Early Warning and Information Network continues to meet, along with the Organisation for Coordinating Peace and Coexistence (OCPC), which added a new Tamil-member CBO this month from the north end
of the district. Eighteen Tamil and Muslim organisations met together this month in the NP office and decided to pursue joint Sinhala and English language learning so that they can better communicate across their differences.

Each month the Batticaloa teams make a practice of delivering a monthly summary report of their activities not only to the head Government Agent (GA), which is required, but also to more local government servants at the divisional
level (DSs), as well as to local police chiefs and officers-in-charge, and to Army commanders in two brigades. Such transparency allows NP to gain acceptance despite the often sensitive nature of the protection and human rights work they undertake in a fragile security environment.

April 2009 appeared to usher in the endgame in the fight between Government of Sri Lanka Security Forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE were progressively cornered in a diminishing strip of coconut groves in the northeast corner of the country, along with unknown numbers of civilians trapped on a narrow piece of sandy beach unable to escape. What was verifiable was the number of civilians that have poured out of the combat zone this month, tripling the number of displaced civilians in a matter of days to approximately a quarter million when government forces blasted through a massive earthen dam and thousands of desperate people literally ran for their lives.

The President of the Security Council issued a statement condemning the Tamil Tigers for using civilians as human shields and keeping them trapped in the battle zone. He also spoke on behalf of the 15 members of the Council, saying the Sri Lankan government also must abide by international humanitarian law on allowing aid access to refugees. The meeting was not a formal session of the Security Council and the president's statements were non-binding.

Speaking from previous experience, the government continued to maintain that a ceasefire would only give respite and succor to the rebels, who have refused repeated calls from the United Nations, many governments and neighboring India to release the civilians under their control and lay down their arms. Hope still persists that an acceptable political solution and a genuine reconciliation process will be undertaken with all due speed.

The Context and Work of the NP Teams

Nonviolent Peaceforce teams provided international protective presence in its three field sites in Jaffna in the North, and Valaichchenai and Batticaloa in the East, as well as assisting human rights defenders and vulnerable civilians in the capital of Colombo to access needed resources for the protection of their fundamental and human rights. NP field workers attended more than 35 coordination meetings this month with a wide variety of stakeholders. Such meetings support and facilitate needed networks and build relationships of trust at the grassroots level, and also build awareness and advocacy among other actors at multiple levels to improve the overall human security situation for vulnerable civilians. 

In Jaffna District the numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) escaping the conflict zone doubled to about 11,000, most of them arriving by sea. They are being housed in approximately 12 sites in three areas of the peninsula. The teams in Batticaloa received 20 new reports of alleged killings, abductions, arrests or threats this month, with 26 families returning for additional help and advocacy. Highlights of the activities of the teams this month are outlined below in four broad areas of NP's protection work.

Protecting Children

The direct and indirect impact of the war on children, youth and families is tremendous. NP teams coordinate child protection efforts with UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations, particularly UNICEF, as well as with
government structures, such as Probation Officers, the Department of Child Protection, and the police, and with civil society actors at the community level. The teams also work with families and coordinate with Save the Children to
identify options and needed reintegration activities for children and youth who have previously been part of an armed group.

In Batticaloa, NP was asked by a parents' group to provide presence at a demonstration at one of the schools where an 8-year-old girl was abducted. Her body was later found in a well not far from where she was taken. A harthal (or
general strike) was called, which shut down the district for a day, as parents demanded more protection for their children. No update was available on the fate of the other two missing children. Sixteen accompaniments were performed by NP teams this month, several of them for vulnerable youth or families with children to gain greater safety and to access needed services and resources.

Promoting Human Rights

Promotion and protection of human rights for all under girds much of the work of NP. Coordinating with the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission (HRC) and assisting human rights defenders to carry on their activities under difficult
circumstances is on-going. NP teams provided a number of human rights defenders with protective accompaniment to vulnerable areas to carry out their work, including a request to accompany a government servant doing family casework. Fears regarding the fate of friends and relatives in the Vanni dominate the discussions with many families. 

Monitoring IDP Camps and Resettlement Areas

NP teams are part of district and national level coordinating bodies related to the needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs), including in areas where they are returned or resettled. As referenced above, there is a humanitarian crisis related to the many thousands of IDPs created by the recent months of fighting in the Vanni area in the north of the country. NP has been requested by local and national actors, and is poised to participate, in helping provide monitoring and protective presence in those areas, once resources are secured and permission is granted by the government for humanitarian organizations to fully access the areas where the IDPs are being sheltered.

NP teams gained valuable experience during a similar IDP crisis in 2006-2008 in the East. In Jaffna and Batticaloa, the teams still monitor weekly assigned IDP camps and other resettlement areas as part of their role in district protection
working groups. In Batti, both teams were asked to monitor additional camps and resettlement areas this month. In Jaffna, with the influx of new refugees, already tensions have been raised as IDPs compete with local communities for limited aid and resources.

Supporting Community-Based Structures

In order for peace and stability to come permanently to Sri Lanka, local initiatives and structures must be supported and strengthened. NP teams build relationships of trust within the communities where they live and work in order to play a facilitating role to local peacemakers and to encourage nonviolent problem-solving when problems do arise. At the grassroots levels, relationships with the lowest level government servants (or GSs) are of particular importance, as well as with village societies, such as RDSs (Rural Development Societies) and farmers' and fishermen's associations. In Jaffna the team met with representatives in four GS areas this month, noting that children were now attending school in one previously displaced and vulnerable community, and that 6 schools in two other areas have been taken over for temporary housing of IDPs. In another area, fishermen continued to seek outside advocacy for the lifting of fishing restrictions that have had a long term impact on the livelihoods of at least 600 fishermen in the area.

In Batticaloa the Batti team visited with GSs in two areas and met with representatives from several community-based organizations and RDSs to hear their perspectives and ideas on security in their areas. In another historically volatile area, the divisional secretary (DS) invited the team to work with the conflict-affected families in his division, which the team will follow up in coming months. The team also participated in the important monthly meeting of the Community Protection Network held under the auspices of CHA (the local Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies).

In Valaichchenai, the team used the opportunity of the appointment of a new Head of Field Office to re-connect with a variety of government servants, security forces, and other community stakeholders. The community networks facilitated by the team are functioning well, including an Early Warning Network that includes approximately 100 people that can be called upon quickly to help dispel rumours and otherwise help mitigate potential violent situations as they arise. A second network of Tamil and Muslim grassroots organizations continues to use the safe office space in NP's annex and to work together across ethnic lines. This month they began jointly taking Sinhala language lessons and began a clothing drive to send needed clothing to the IDPs in the Vanni.

The Sri Lankan government continued to solidify its military and territorial victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) declared from mid-May. Despite on-going concerns coming from some national and international advocates, conditions at camps for the internally displaced were reported to have been improved and the arduous work of mine-clearing continued in selected locations of the north. Limited media and humanitarian access to the more than a quarter million refugees and the lack of freedom of movement for the displaced continued to be voiced as main concerns in the immediate post-conflict period.

There are now some cases before the Sri Lankan Supreme Court challenging the continuing restrictions on freedom of movement of displaced citizens in the 'welfare centers'. Recognizing that there are genuine national security issues, rights groups have asked the justice system to issue some criteria for the screening process within the camps so that it is not perceived to be ad hoc and arbitrary. Officials claim that only those who have admitted to being part of the LTTE have been separated out from the general population and that their relatives are told of their whereabouts. By month's end the Government reported that it was drawing up guidelines for a structured amnesty programme for lower-ranking LTTE cadres. The Government also reiterated its intention, despite concerns that 'permanent displacement sites' were being built, that their goal remains to resettle 80% of the displaced populations by the end of the year.

Also this month, the President's Commission of Inquiry, established in 2006 to look into 16 cases of serious human rights violations, was disbanded. Seven of the sixteen cases were said to have been investigated by the Commission during this period, with reports on five of them being written, but none released to date.

As the country begins its recovery from a costly and protracted civil war, Sri Lanka, along with many other nations, will continue to struggle for development dollars in the midst of the global economic downturn, predicted to result in significant decreases in official development assistance world-wide.

The Context and Work of the NP Teams

While the NP Sri Lanka management team in Colombo was focused on the search for a new Country Representative to assume the leadership of the project, NP field teams continued their activities within the four areas of focus as outlined below. As a number of the international peacekeepers finished their contracts in the first half of 2009, replacement field staff, who underwent NP's intensive Mission Preparedness Training (MPT) in the Philippines in March, have arrived to begin their tour of service. In addition to orienting and integrating new staff into the field teams, NP carried out more than 70 activities this month with a focus on protecting and promoting the rights of children and internally displaced populations, and supporting the capacity of local and national organisations and community leaders to help promote a sustainable peace in Sri Lanka.

Protecting Children, Youth and Families 

Under the leadership of NPSL's Child Protection Coordinator and with the support of the Child Protection Unit of UNICEF, the teams are engaged in a thorough review and evaluation process of their child protection work, focusing on achievements, constraints, lessons learned, and opportunities for the future in the changing political and security context.  Families continue to seek NP's help in addressing issues of reintegration and rehabilitation of ex-child combatants and other issues of human security.

In Batticaloa District, NP's two field teams were busy with new casework involving vulnerable children and youth, including 14 requests for accompaniments, and many follow-ups, requiring more than 20 referrals for psychosocial supports to mental health providers and to the government's Probation Department. The teams also supported the government's Department Child Protection Unit in their community awareness campaign called "Bring Back the Child."

In Jaffna, the child protection networks have recently been focused on gaps in educational services, family reunification issues, and support for children with disabilities. The NP team coordinated with the government's Child Protection & Rights Officers (CPROs) to identify communities for capacity building of village-level committees on issues of child rights. In one area, NP participated in a child protection meeting that focused on supports for single mothers and their families to assist in information sharing and access to resources. In one instance, NP was asked to help improve district-wide coordination of child rights/protection issues. Because of the networks and coordination bodies that NP participates in, the teams can assist in sharing information and resources for family and community capacity building, including encouragement to establish children's clubs that can be a stable and positive network for children and parents in remote areas.

Promoting Human Rights

Many of the situations that families bring to NP, and requests for protective accompaniment, involve concerns about human rights, whether of children, youth or other adults in the family. The Valaichchenai team in June fielded 42 new cases, with half of them being related to fears of human rights abuses being suffered by the relatives being held in camps in Vavuniya. The Batti team served more than 50 families this month, and networked with area leaders in one community to help mitigate the potential for violence following the abduction of a Muslim businessman that resulted in a day-long harthal, or community strike. Fortunately the man was released later and tensions eased in the area. Two of the military checkpoints were dismantled this month between Valaichchenai and Batti Town, helping to build the confidence of civilians that steps toward demilitarization in the district are happening.

In Jaffna, the NP team participated with one of their human rights partner organisations in a workshop for pre-school teachers on human rights and conflict resolution skills, involving 63 participants. While individual/family case reporting is historically less in Jaffna than in the East, the team was contacted by several families seeking assistance related to their security, and the team was able to meet community representatives in one remote area where they could introduce NP's mandate and protection services and listen to community concerns in the post-conflict environment. The ratio of security forces to civilians in Jaffna (said to be 1:10) continues to be voiced by the Tamil community as a contributor to ongoing feelings of community insecurity on the peninsula.

Providing Presence in Displacement Camps and Resettlement Areas

The Jaffna team, along with many other humanitarian organisations, lack access to the 10 displacement camps and the more than 11,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) on the Jaffna peninsula.  Two schools were cleared of IDPs with the construction of a new camp to accommodate them. Educational activities were able to continue in the cleared schools and all children in the camps were reported to be receiving educational services. Two hundred fifteen elderly people were released from the camps and resettled with family members. Some 85 families were resettled in one area and the local government servant for the area was awaiting permission for 122 more to be resettled. He asked NP for help and advocacy for this group and the team was following up with UNHCR and the security forces on the needed processes and permissions.  The team also visited 30 families at two temporary Transit Centers to monitor the situation.

In Batticaloa District, the NP teams are part of an extensive coordinating network of humanitarian and government stakeholders to monitor and serve remaining IDP camps, still housing almost 200 displaced families from Trinco District (with another 200 now in resettlement areas of the district) who have been unable to return to Trinco since 2006. In Valaichchenai the team conducted seven field visits in June to other resettlement areas in the central part of the district covering approximately 900 families. In one instance some humanitarian agencies reported observing an instance of forced resettlement being carried out, in violation of international standards, which caused heightened tension in some areas of the district.  Emergency advocacy meetings were subsequently held with government representative and humanitarian actors to address the situation.

Support for Capacity-building of Community-Based Structures

While  NP does not provide livelihood support to the communities where the teams live and work, NP teams can help communities liaise with potential partners and resources, particularly for farming and fishing communities, and to make other stakeholders aware of needs in remote areas to help stabilize vulnerable communities.  In Jaffna, the team was able to help network the Swedish Development Corporation with a fishing society in need of support; and a meeting with a Women's Rural Development Society in another area was able to focus on available resources for female-headed households and their security issues.

In Batticaloa, the team in Valaichchenai had numerous meetings this month with their networks of Tamil and Muslim organizations and assisted one of their coordinating committees to successfully access financial support from another international funder. Ninety-eight individuals, some representing other remote networks, are part of an Early Warning system that helps to quickly share information and reduce rumours to enhance human security in the district. Both teams continue to be in close and regular contact with community and religious leaders, meeting regularly with them, and using their international protective presence in times or in areas of heightened tension or potential violence.

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While the economic costs of war are ever-increasing, keeping the peace also costs money. The current costs of the United Nation's 14 peacekeeping operations are double of what was being spent fifteen years ago.  For the Nonviolent Peaceforce, its total annual budget of approximately four million dollars is roughly equivalent to what the US Defense Department spends in two minutes. 

Throughout the month of July, the Government of Sri Lanka continued to solidify its military victory in mid-May over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Security precautions remain tight, including in the capital, with Parliament voting month by month to continue a national State of Emergency, stating it is still needed to maintain law and order. As Sri Lanka's conflict holds the global record for the largest number of suicide attacks, government forces continue to be on alert for armed cadres operating throughout the country who could continue to cause death and injury to civilians or state security forces. It was reported in early July that the first military fatality occurred when a soldier was killed by an LTTE cadre in the East, with other armed cadres allegedly being hunted down by the Security Forces throughout the month.

Subsequently, military officials have called for a dramatic expansion of the Security Forces in a post-war environment, with a drive to recruit upwards of 50,000 new recruits to help secure and administer the northern areas long held by the LTTE. The Government claims the expanded military is needed for urgent de-mining operations and to help rebuild and stabilize the North and East for the longer-term.

In the wake of the crushing defeat of the LTTE leadership, one of the world's largest displacement camps mushroomed within the jungle areas of northern Sri Lanka, administered and tightly secured by the military. Screening continues in camps across the north housing up to 300,000 displaced civilians who await permission to be released from the camps to return to their villages and be reunited with their families. The government plans to take legal action against seasoned rebel fighters, and to rehabilitate the majority of former Tamil Tiger insurgents and supporters, many of whom were forcibly recruited into the ranks of the LTTE. Conditions are reported to be difficult in the camps, with aid workers and foreign diplomats voicing concerns over the potential for disease and malnutrition, especially among children. Claiming the humanitarian situation is well in hand, the Government asked the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who had spoken out against the lack of international standards in the treatment of war-affected civilians, to scale down their relief operations island wide. As a first step, the expatriate staff of ICRC in its eastern offices have been withdrawn as their operations wind down.

After months of uncertainty, and calls from a number of international human rights organizations to make any funding contingent on Sri Lanka meeting basic humanitarian and human rights standards, the Government of Sri Lanka was successful in securing a highly contested agreement for crucial funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Citing human rights concerns, the U.S. and Britain abstained from the voting. The Government of Sri Lanka called the opposition to the loan "deplorable," arguing the $2.6 billion line of credit from the IMF was essential for rebuilding the North and East and for beginning the healing process after 26 years of war.

The Context and Work of the NP Teams

The work of the Nonviolent Peaceforce peacekeeping teams in Sri Lanka is evolving in the post-war situation. NPSL continues to advance its request to secure a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Government to solidify its continuing international presence and its contributions to the protection and confidence-building of populations that have suffered the long-term consequences of civil war. Plans to establish an NP presence in the area of the displacement camps in the North are awaiting Government permission.

Organizing the Work of the Teams

Administratively, a newly-expanded Programme Department is moving NPSL toward a fully developed Project-Based Approach to the planning and implementation of all areas of the work. This approach will provide the teams with a strong shared vision of NP's mandate and a firm foundation for the monitoring and evaluation of the impact of NP strategies and activities in the communities where the teams live and work. This is particularly important in a political and social/cultural context that is rapidly shifting in the post-conflict period.

In the coming months, both continuing and new initiatives will be carried out under seven broad objectives:

1.    To reduce children's risk of being recruited or harmed by armed groups.

2.    To strengthen existing mechanisms for the protection of civilians in the North and East and build confidence of affected populations to use and trust those mechanisms

3.    To build the capacities of individuals and community-based structures to engage in unarmed civilian peacekeeping at the community level

4.    To improve the safety and security of human rights defenders (HRDs) so they can continue to promote human rights in Sri Lanka

5.    To improve the safety and security of local election monitors so they can help ensure free and fair elections at local, provincial and national levels

6.    To develop NPSL to have more strength and capacity to achieve the above objectives

7.    To effectively manage the ongoing work and existing commitments of the organization

Monitoring and Evaluating Our Impact

In July, NPSL received feedback about its operations from a variety of stakeholders as part of its annual review for Unicef, which has been a key partner and funder for much of the child rights and protection work that NPSL teams have undertaken since 2006. In all districts, a range of partner organizations and individuals were interviewed and useful information was received on the perception of NP's contribution to issues of human security and on continuing gaps that individuals and organizations are highlighting.

Contributions of NP teams cited throughout evaluation interviews included: Positive recognition for the independent and nonpartisan role NP has played in a variety of highly politicized or contentious situations, including during elections and in times of crisis and tension between ethnic communities. The value of international presence to give confidence to communities and individuals was frequently mentioned. One person said that having NP present gives families hope that someone cares and is paying attention. Citing the closure of the ICRC offices in the East, several voiced fear that more internationals would now leave, with some voicing concern that the absence of internationals would likely increase the vulnerability of civilians, including human rights defenders. One religious leader said that "the people are more in danger than before."  Another mentioned the strategic location of the Valaichchenai office in the East, and encouraged more rural locations for international offices.

NP was cited numerous times for filling a unique role in responding to crises when called upon, and in accompanying vulnerable children or other individuals when needed to increase their safety. A mother said she was grateful NP helped her son and asked for nothing in return. In one district, a long-standing partner cited NP's facilitation of community meetings and the opening of its offices for meetings of conflict-affected mothers, which gave parents "the space" and confidence to come together in times when they had no where to safely gather to discuss their common fears and break their isolation and silence. In addition to the losses and suffering across Sri Lankan society as a consequence of the war, some families are still awaiting news of the fate of the children, with UNICEF reporting in July that there are still more than 1500 young people on their database yet unaccounted for, all of whom were recruited or forcibly abducted when they were underaged. UNICEF also acknowledges that their database has always represented only a portion of those children directly caught up in the conflict.

Monitoring and follow-up advocacy on behalf of internally displaced people (IDP), both in camps and in resettlement areas, was noted as a valuable contribution of NP teams. NP's periodic facilitation of national NGO visits to vulnerable areas allowed one Sri Lankan organization, which conducts human rights documentation, research and advocacy at national and international levels, to directly meet themselves with civilians in the IDP communities this month and to make recommendations directly to the relevant Sri Lankan authorities. A report on their findings was posted on the Groundviews website. NP's consistent presence and advocacy in Batticaloa District resulted in an invitation to attend special government-led meetings to further understand the needs of the displaced, and coordinated steps were taken to better serve this population in the resettlement process in the future.

Gaps Noted in Community Protection and Services:
A variety of continuing fears and gaps were also mentioned during the course of the evaluation interviews. Youth frequently cited continuing inability to safely return to their home communities, with ex-combatants and parents fearing potential reprisals. The need for training for community peaceworkers and peacebuilding programmes was highlighted, including community awareness programs regarding reintegraton and acceptance for returning combatants. Several people mentioned the widespread need for capacity- and confidence-building, including for community-based organizations, and for government actors at the ground level, in order for government entities to be accountable and responsive to all citizens.

The dire need for livelihood supports, including additional supports needed for youth completing vocational training programs, was frequently mentioned, including engaging youth meaningfully and productively in the life of the community. For youth fortunate enough to be finishing vocational training programs, the lack of tools for the trades they have been prepared in, the inability to speak Sinhala or English, and limited employment opportunities were all mentioned as significant obstacles for Tamil youth. Fears were also voiced regarding the lack of monitoring visits/presence available to remote areas, leaving people feeling insecure and vulnerable.

In other activities this month: NP staff also hosted the visit this month of two members of NP-Japan. The delegates evaluated the outcomes of the projects funded by the Niwano Foundation in Japan for the support of inter-ethnic Peace Committees in Trincomalee District. The delegates were able to meet with many members of Peace Committees to hear first-hand of the importance of the support they received to advance their objectives to increase inter-ethnic programmes and build relationships and understanding across ethnic divides. In more than a dozen meetings involving more than 120 participants, the delegation got a broad range of feedback and insight into the changing Sri Lanka context. They were also able to visit some of the partner organizations of the NP teams in Batticaloa District and other stakeholders in Colombo, including the Japan Embassy. 

In Jaffna, the NP team was engaged with IDP concerns in one area where IDPs were threatened with being forcibly removed from one center prior to being given government permission to return to their home area. NP was able to bring their plight to the attention of UNHCR, the lead UN agency for refugees. Among the IDPs in Jaffna and Vavuniya are a number of university students who are hoping to be allowed to return to university, despite the extended interruption to their education. In a meeting with the Vice Chancellor of the university, he thanked the team for their previous support of the university at critical times in the past and reported that there are at least 40 students in Jaffna camps and more than 170 in Vavuniya camps and that the university will be flexible in supporting these students to return, once they are given permission to leave the camps. The team was also involved in monitoring the lead-up to the Jaffna Municipal elections in early August, in which four parties and two independent groups are vying for 23 municipal council seats. In conjunction with a local partner, the Jaffna team participated in a training on nonviolent problem-solving attended by more than 60 preschool teaching staff. They also met this month with a number of government servants in remote areas regarding the revitalization and/or establishment of Child Rights Monitoring Committee, with requests for NP support.

The benefits of continuing international presence and NP's contribution to help solidify the peace appears compelling--and welcomed--by a broad range of stakeholders and partners, in the post-conflict environment of Sri Lanka.

Access to the displaced populations in the North continued to be restricted this month, and progress on resettlement of interned Tamils in the North has been slow. Conditions are likely to get more difficult in the camps due to the coming monsoon rains. Security screening to identify former cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and de-mining operations in the North are said to be the main obstacles to a speedier resettlement process. Some 10,000 of the elderly were reported to be resettled with their families this month. One hundred seven Hindu priests and their families, along with several Catholic priests, were also among those released. In response to a lawsuit brought forward to the Sri Lankan Supreme Court, the Court has said that war-displaced persons in government-run camps should be released if they are non-combatants and have a place to go. The media reported the Court's position when a petition was filed on behalf of five Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). A hearing on the petition is scheduled for mid-November. 

Internationally, following the death or surrender of the LTTE's main leadership last May, the self-appointed but still disputed leader of the LTTE, Kumaran Pathmanathan (also known as KP) was arrested in Bangkok and repatriated to Sri Lanka. KP, who is accused in the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was wanted by Interpol and was said to be the LTTE's chief procurer of weapons. His arrest was seen as another blow to the LTTE following their military defeat in May. KP had recently announced the formation of a 'transnational government' and some of the pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora were also planning to hold an election.

A Sri Lankan reporter singled out by U.S. President Barack Obama as an example of persecuted journalists around the globe was sentenced this month to 20 years in prison on charges of violating the country's anti-terror laws. J.S. Tissainayagam's articles in the now-defunct Northeastern Monthly magazine in 2006 and 2007 was said to be critical of the conduct of the war against the Tamil Tigers and accused authorities of withholding food and other essential items from Tamil-majority areas as a tool of war. Tissainayagam's conviction, 17 months after the ethnic Tamil reporter was arrested, was the first time a journalist was found guilty of violating the country's Prevention of Terrorism Act.

The Context and Work of the NP Teams

Workplans and reporting protocols are developing for the Sri Lanka project to organize both continuing and new initiatives under the following seven broad objectives:

1.    To reduce children's risk of being recruited or harmed by armed groups.

2.    To strengthen existing mechanisms for the protection of civilians in the North and East and build confidence of affected populations to use and trust those mechanisms

3.    To build the capacities of individuals and community-based structures to engage in unarmed civilian peacekeeping at the community level

4.    To improve the safety and security of human rights defenders (HRDs) so they can continue to promote human rights in Sri Lanka

5.    To improve the safety and security of local election monitors so they can help ensure free and fair elections at local, provincial and national levels

6.    To develop NPSL to have more strength and capacity to achieve the above objectives

7.    To effectively manage the ongoing work and existing commitments of the organization.

In August, NP team activities included fielding 15 new cases of threat or human rights violations and conducting follow-ups on 19 previously-reported cases. To address these civilian concerns, the teams coordinate and collaborate with a variety of other stakeholders, including government actors, to increase the human security and build the confidence of the civilians to access protective services and to pursue the human rights mechanisms available. The teams also carried out 64 monitoring visits to various locations, including IDP camps and resettlement areas, and networked with multiple other humanitarian sectors in 42 information-sharing and strategic planning meetings where the protection needs of civilians, especially of children, human rights defenders and IDPs, in the immediate post-conflict situation were considered.

Throughout July and into the first half of August, NPSL received feedback about its operations from a variety of stakeholders as part of its annual review for Unicef, the premier UN agency mandated to protect children, which has been a key partner and funder for much of the child rights and protection work that NPSL teams have undertaken since 2006. In all districts, a range of partner organizations and individuals were interviewed and useful information was received on the perception of NP's contribution to issues of human security and on continuing gaps that individuals and organizations are highlighting particularly in relation to children.

In addition to the contributions of NP teams cited in the July report, further evaluation interviews were conducted in August and incorporated into NP's Evaluation Report to Unicef. In one case of sensitive child protection work, NP teams had provided extensive presence and monitoring in the case of a child who was the only surviving witness to the massacre of his family by unknown perpetrators. In follow-up meetings, NP's diligent attention to the child's welfare throughout his initial traumatized response and beginning healing process was cited by his guardian as very helpful to the boy's recovery, as no other representatives of welfare or protection agencies or psychological case workers visited the family as consistently as NP team members. NP's help in identifying resources was cited as invaluable to the relations of the boy and gave them the confidence to pursue needed services that they would not otherwise have known about or used, including using the legal system to gain custody of the boy. As the whole extended family was traumatized by the event, the boy's guardian reported the family felt safer knowing that NP was involved and visibly monitoring their situation.

One of the challenges NP teams face, as they become involved in difficult family cases, is that some family members can feel that NP should be able to do more to meet additional and pressing needs once the immediate security situation has been addressed. In this case, for example, there was pressure on NP to take responsibility to send the boy abroad or to support him financially in a boarding school somewhere, as the family feared that he, as the surviving witness, (and, by extension, they) could be at continued risk. Such fears--and requests--while quite understandable on the part of families, push up against the limits as to what NP peace teams can do for vulnerable families, as well as the ongoing limitations of services and resources available to poor and rural families.

In another challenging situation, NPSL was asked by a family to provide accompaniment to a man who, for his own safety, wanted to surrender to the police following his escape from an armed group. Further support and monitoring by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the national Human Rights Commission was also arranged. Tragically, after some time, the family again contacted NP when they learned their relation died in custody. The Team immediately networked with the national Human Rights Commission (HRC) to gain assistance for the family in learning its options under such a traumatic circumstance. Since the HRC was already involved in the case, as they had visited the victim while in detention three times, they were also willing to meet with the family to discuss further legal avenues they might wish to pursue. NP facilitated the family to meet with HRC and is in regular contact with the family as a slow process to seek justice and accountability plays itself out. Being in relationship with such families as described above, families who have suffered tremendous sorrow and loss, is part of the work NP teams face continually in trying to contribute to nonviolent solutions in a still insecure post-war environment. 

In other work, NP teams are supporting all ethnic communities as they begin to engage with each other in ways and in places that they have not been able to do for more than two decades. Fears of the unknown and insecurities exist, as Tamils and Muslims in the East, for example, are wary of what will happen as more Sinhalese return and perhaps lay claim to properties they were forced to leave behind due to the rise of the LTTE in earlier decades. How the Security Forces will respond in times of trouble is one source of insecurity in both the North and the East. The government is attempting to address such fears, for example by initiating mechanisms and processes whereby Sinhalese and Tamils in one village can work together to determine joint settlement arrangements. They are also establishing Civil Security Committees in some areas that involve the local government servants, police and Army representatives, school principals, and other religious and community leaders. NP's support and presence throughout these processes is helping to build the trust and confidence of civilians to engage in such community initiatives.

In Jaffna, while there seems to be more military presence in certain areas, civilians are generally facing fewer restrictions on their mobility and fewer checkpoints that can hamper their livelihoods, access, and freedom of movement. NP has also been asked in Jaffna to be included in a resources flyer to be given to newly resettled civilians so they know who to contact when facing a variety of needs or issues. Civilian concerns in the north mirror those in East regarding ethnic relations, for example, where Tamils and Sinhalese are now starting to share communities and resources and how disagreements will be handled. A recent clash between Tamil and Sinhalese fishermen could presage more problems in the future. Also as in the East, the NP team in the north is collaborating with the government's "Bring Back the Child" Campaign and with growing government networks of Child Rights Promotion Offices and Child Rights Monitoring Committees that are being institutionalized in more areas. Localizing such mechanisms should help to strengthen local capacity to protect children and address community problems before they become unmanageable.

The benefits of continuing international presence and NP's contribution to help solidify the peace appear still to be compelling to--and welcomed by--a broad range of stakeholders and partners. The challenges and opportunities for Nonviolent Peaceforce peace teams in the post-conflict environment are, however, to make peacekeeping work increasingly redundant and unnecessary, such that local initiatives that build the peace and prevent violence from erupting, and peacemaking mechanisms that resolve conflicts nonviolently and justly when they do emerge, will become sufficiently entrenched, robust and trusted that the peacekeeping activities of internationals ultimately will no longer be needed.

Sri Lankan authorities continued throughout September to defend the government's overall post-war strategy, which has included the ongoing confinement in welfare camps of more than a quarter million Tamils. Meticulous screening procedures continue in an attempt to weed out LTTE loyalists among the IDPs (internally displaced persons). As the annual monsoon rains threaten, there has been growing international and local pressure on the government to expedite the process and release already-screened people for resettlement or to the care of their relatives.

The UN dispatched two delegations to Sri Lanka this month, including Lynn Pascoe, the UN's political chief, and Walter Kaelin, the under secretary-general for human rights of refugees, who visited the country to assess the needs of the IDPs. Kaelin included the many Muslims, displaced from the North for more than 20 years, in his call for an inclusive reconstruction programme. The pace of the release of refugees was described as "too slow" with people growing increasingly impatient to leave the camps. The government reiterated its pledge to resettle all displaced people by January, but said it needs international aid, in particular for clearing land mines in the North.

Sri Lanka and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) are planning to launch a USD $23 million programme to rehabilitate former LTTE cadres with the help of countries like the USA and the UK. The programme will include education, training and livelihood components. Besides the IOM and other countries, leading Sri Lankan companies will also provide assistance to the government in these rehabilitation and reintegration efforts. Sri Lanka plans to set up a Special Tribunal to try over 10,000 LTTE suspects, said to be held in various centers across Sri Lanka, and who are alleged to have been involved in various crimes. A top government official said the aim is to settle the cases against the LTTE cadres speedily, as it could otherwise take years in the normal legal system in courts.

In the North of the country, Sri Lanka is recruiting Tamil police officers, both male and female, from Jaffna for the first time since it became the epicentre of the separatist movement. The government has not recruited Tamils from Jaffna to serve in the police force since 1978.

The Context and Work of the NP Teams

September marked the start of new leadership in the NP Sri Lanka Project with the arrival of a new Country Director, Tiffany Easthom. Tiffany is Canadian and holds a Bachelors degree in Justice Studies and a Masters degree in Human Security and Peacebuilding. She has four years international project management and administration experience in Indonesia, Peru and Chile, where she managed peacebuilding, human rights and protection projects. Most recently, Tiffany was the Project Coordinator in Indonesia for Peace Brigades International.

Under new and inspired leadership, NPSL will further develop and implement its projects to contribute to steadily improving human rights and security for civilians in the post-conflict period in Sri Lanka. Some new cases of threats and human rights violations continued to be reported to the teams this month, followed by frequent referral to mechanisms and authorities that might be able to assist to address the problems these citizens were reporting. Eleven accompaniments occurred this month; with more than 25 monitoring and field visits to assess the prevailing conditions in various locations. Other highlights of the work of the NP teams this month are summarized below. 

Increasing the Safety of Children Affected by Armed Conflict 

NP teams in the North and East continue to work with child protection agencies and organisations and the Government in addressing the needs of children in the post-conflict setting. Teams are following up with all families who previously sought the support and interventions of NP to help insure that children have access to the needed resources to be able to safely reintegrate back into their families and communities. NP teams cooperate with the Probation Department and coordinate with their staff on case follow-up. They also continue to assist in awareness-raising and advocacy for the government's "Bring Back the Child" national campaign.

Poverty is a large obstacle to family stability, particularly in remote areas and in rural locations where displaced persons have been resettled. In some areas the infrastructure is not yet in place to provide for the medical care or the schooling of children, with the pressures of poverty causing some children to drop out of school to assist with family income-generation. In some areas there is no accessible educational facility beyond the 5^th grade level. In other areas, people more recently settled have not yet been able to get their children enrolled in school and thus they continue to fall behind. Vocational training centers played a significant role in helping many vulnerable children and youth learn a practical trade during the war. In some cases the security situation has improved to the extent that some youth are now able to live at home and travel with confidence to and from the training center. Some Centers are now reaching out to more poverty-stricken families, as issues of livelihood become ever more pressing for families, but available resources are very limited. One gap that has long been identified is that most training programs do not have sufficient funding to ensure that youth who complete the program have the tools of the trade when they finish, and in some cases there is little or no opportunity to pursue the trade in a particular area, such as being an auto mechanic, and particularly for girls. In Jaffna well over 200 children continue to be identified as separated from their families. 

While UNICEF's database was always known to hold only a percentage of the total number of conflict-affected children, according to their September summary, which tracks children who had been previously reported to them as involved in either the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) Movement or in the break-away political group (the TMVP), there are still 77 unresolved cases of children involved with the TMVP, and 1410 with the LTTE. (Note: in some cases, these children have now reached their 18^th birthday). Almost 100 children in the database have been documented as killed, with some parents continuing to report their missing children to UNICEF. 

Strengthening Existing Mechanisms and Building the Confidence of Civilians to Use the Mechanisms to Increase their Security

A number of resettlement monitoring visits and activities for internally displaced persons (IDPs) occurred this month, as the Government continued its efforts in the East to return the last groups of IDPs from Trincomalee District who had been displaced to Batticaloa District since 2006 and '07. In some cases the families have now been moved to another temporary site in Trinco District, as their original communities are still considered High Security Zones. Such a process has proved quite difficult for some families, especially for those who managed to secure some stable livelihood in their area of displacement, and now must be uprooted again. Recently some additional IDPs have also come into Batticaloa District from Vavuniya in the North and are yet to be screened and resettled. The NP teams help civilians access needed information, monitor the security of their transitions, and identify their concerns and needed resources to share with government and other humanitarian actors. On-going advocacy on behalf of war-affected civilians with a variety of authorities, including the Security Forces and Police, requires NP teams to continually develop and maintain relationships with all key actors in an area. 

Capacity-building for Individuals and Community-based Organisations

September was a month of outreach by the teams to many community-based Government Servants (GSs) and Divisional Secretaries (DSs) to lay the groundwork for future training programs on violence reduction and nonviolent community problem-solving. Such efforts will help further stabilize communities and the government is now investing in community structures to help in this regard. In Trinco District, for example, Tamil and Muslim community leaders in Mutur, a community that had a strong NP presence until early 2008, the government is establishing a Mediation Board and providing some training on leadership, conflict resolution, Sri Lankan law and human rights.  In some areas Civil Security Committees are forming, both mechanisms that can help resolve disputes at the lowest levels. In one case of a land dispute the Valaichchenai Team was able to help bring disputants together to unravel, in cooperation with the government representative, how two different claimants to a piece of land were misled into thinking they both had rights to it. In a post-conflict environment, with many shifts of population continuing to occur, such disputes over resources-land, water, forests-could prove a major source of potential community conflicts. NP's project of offering Capacity-Building activities in several remote areas has been welcomed by the government authorities and community-based organisations and will be carried out in the coming months. 

Improving the Safety and Security of Local Human Rights Defenders

Nonviolent Peaceforce teams know that it is critical to understand and to operate on the belief that it is the local people who are the experts when it comes to addressing long-term community stability, human security, and protection of everyone's human rights. Supporting local peacemakers and human rights defenders in order that they can more securely carry out their activities is an important area of NP's work. This month the teams performed a number of accompaniments in this regard and helped create more space and opportunity for these local efforts to thrive. In many cases, NP's accompaniment has allowed human rights defenders to continue to engage in their legitimate work of protecting larger communities' human rights. Encouragement for more people to take up such leadership roles within their communities will occur as people see that there is an acceptance of such work and that people of goodwill can safely reach out to others without fear of reprisal. There is still considerable fear in many places and it will take some time for people who have lived in a conflict zone for a generation or more to claim their dignity and their rights. In one case this month a local human rights defender, with NP's support, was able to advocate directly with a local Police station on behalf of a family whose relative was wrongly detained. In another case a national human rights organisation was encouraged to involve itself in a case where a defendant had no adequate representation in court. Encouraging systems and structures to be trustworthy is the first step in helping citizens begin to trust in them, creating a 'virtuous circle' to build a stronger civil society.

In November 2009, in the four districts where NP teams are currently operational, the teams received more than 25 new cases of potential human rights violations, and conducted a variety of follow-up activities and advocacy on more than 20 other cases. They also traveled throughout their districts, engaging with constituents and beneficiaries on security-related issues and participated in more than 60 stakeholder meetings. At the request of local partners, they also performed a number of protective accompaniments. The following summarizes some of the key activities of NP teams in relation to current project areas:

Increasing the Safety of Children Affected by Armed Conflict

In the East, the Batticaloa team participated in a meeting of the government's Department of Child Protection regarding the current status of children in the district, and supported 33 beneficiaries under its Child Protection programme. The team has facilitated the linkage of a mobile medical provider twice per month to serve ex-combatant youth enrolled through a vocational training partner.  Some youth report feeling unsafe to return to their home community and families continue to request NP presence in some areas. To assist in stabilizing communities in the post-conflict period, NP is collaborating with the government on a child protection awareness programme to be held in 7 divisional areas in remote areas in Batticaloa District.

In the northern part of the district, the Valaichchenai team continues its child protection work in three areas: accompanying government Probation and Child Rights Protection officers (CRPO) to remote areas to meet with affected families previously identified as in need of security monitoring, doing follow-ups with families who have reintegrated an ex-combatant child, and monitoring the situation for youth previously integrated into vocational training programmes.

To the north, NP's newest team in Vavuniya District established relationships with all Child Protection authorities and agencies at different levels. Access to the detention camp for under-aged youth has been granted periodically and the team directly supported 9 youth and families. At the request of the Government Agent the team accompanied a CRPO and 6 surrenderees to a rehabilitation center. Two ex-combatants were linked with the Probation Department in order to finalize their legal status with the Courts. Three cases of missing children were reported this month, but continued limited access to camps and returnee villages is delaying any action by protection actors on such cases.

Building the Confidence and Capacity for Individuals and Community-based Organisations to Engage in Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping at the Community Level

In supporting civilians to utilize existing mechanisms and security networks, the teams in the East accompanied local partners to resettlement areas several times, including once to attend an inter-religious programme on peaceful co-existence. The Valaichchenai team continued monitoring two vulnerable divisions in the west of the district, creating links between local communities and other authorities and national actors, such as the police, security forces, government representatives, local human rights defenders, the Probation Department, religious and community leaders and the Disaster Management office.

In Vavuniya, the Divisional Secretary has offered to gather 45 grassroots government servants to allow NP staff the opportunity to present the organisation and planned activities in the district. Such cooperation from the government sector upon the launch of the NP team in Vavuniya is a positive sign for future support and good relations. Several cases have been referred to the team and support has been provided to a family seeking to get their disabled child released from a detention camp, and in another case the family of a university student requested assistance in getting their some released so he could continue his education. NP was also asked to accompany 8 adult ex-combatants to a rehabilitation center. In December the team is planning to do a general baseline survey of host families to understand the needs and inform team planning into the new year.

In November the final groundwork has been laid for the launching in December and beyond of planned trainings in unarmed civilian peacekeeping at the community level. In Batti District, with the support of the UN Development Fund (UNDP) four grama sevakas, grassroots government servants, will be selected from each of five divisions chosen by the Divisional Secretary to participate in the initial training. This training will be preceded by further NP local staff training in order to build their capacity to deliver the training modules. In Vavuniya, the team is also quickly organizing potential participants, and the team met this month with 25 local NGOs to share the project idea and get input from them.

Improving the Safety and Security of Local Human Rights Defenders (HRD)

Launched earlier in 2009, the Human Rights Defender (HRD) Programme has quickly grown in to NPSL's largest project in Sri Lanka, with substantial donor interest in supporting and expanding this project throughout 2010. In the capital this month, overall 18 HRDs were supported through a variety of interventions. It was reported that four were able to increase their activity level this month with NP support, and four suspended their activities due to pressures and insecurities. Five were provided with direct protection, and seven implemented portions of their personal contingency plans. NP provided presence at a meeting organized by CID (Committee for Investigation on Disappearances) with about 150 members of families of disappeared people and political prisoners. The Colombo-Jaffna HRD network was strengthened, with two HRDs from Colombo facilitated to visit Jaffna and work with HRDs there. The Jaffna team also continued to strengthen collaboration with the Human Rights Commission and with Jaffna University on issues of human rights.

Human rights defenders were provided with protective accompaniment and presence, have formulated and implemented contingency plans, and further strengthened their protection networks. NP has been requested to provide security training to vulnerable journalists, as well as protective presence at court hearings. Further referrals of other HRDs began to be received, with emphasis on challenges HRDs are facing in the North and the East. NP was also requested to provide security training and protective presence at two public events on disappearances and political prisoners. Human Rights and Disaster Unit staff from Vavuniya, Jaffna, Batti, Vala, Ampara and Colombo met in Colombo for training in HRDU work, shared information and attended some legal sessions related to the work in the field.

In the East, twelve HRDs were supported in a variety of their activities. In one case an HRD was accompanied during his advocacy with the Army following reports of resettled families who claimed vulnerability and insecurity due to perceived army surveillance. In another area an HRD was able to advocate with a government servant to engage more in the pervasive land ownership issues and other problems for newly resettled communities before problems escalate. In Vavuniya, NP monitored the safety of six human rights defenders, and linked three service providers for greater collaboration in serving the needs of two traumatized youth coming out of refugee camps. Religious leaders, the NGO Consortium, international organisations, and other civil society actors are actively referring cases to the new NP team in Vavuniya. Local government actors report being satisfied with NP's ability to provide additional protection and support to community-based actors.

In December and beyond NP will also be undertaking a project before, during and after the January 26^th Presidential Elections, to improve the safety and security of local elections monitors. With 22 registered presidential candidates, the largest field of candidates ever, the election promises to be a close and contentious one in many parts of the country.

Following the Government of Sri Lanka's announcement in November that Presidential Polls would be held in January, almost two years ahead of schedule, the country's political parties and electoral mechanisms shifted into high gear in December. Nonviolent Peaceforce also positioned itself to assist throughout the pre- and immediate post-election period by coordinating with the country's leading election monitoring organizations as described below.

Improving the Safety and Security of Local Election Monitors and Vulnerable Communities

Prior to the official announcement of Presidential elections to be held on 26 January 2010, NPSL and three local election monitoring partner organizations-PAFFREL (Peoples Action for Free and Fair Elections), CMEV (Center for Monitoring Election Violence), and CaFFE (Campaign for Free and Fair Elections)-had already been in discussions regarding how best to improve the security and safety of local election monitors. The three partner organizations requested NPSL to facilitate a training for their monitors on safety and security measures. 

Following the request, NPSL was able to gain approval by the Elections Commissioner and to quickly identify and engage the services of a renowned resource person to design and implement a comprehensive elections monitoring training package to local elections monitors. With support from NP, seven training sessions were offered for two election monitoring organizations, one human rights organization, and one media company. Three training sessions were conducted for 45 monitors from the CMEV, and one for 15 monitors from CaFFE. While PAFFREL had also requested training, they were finally unable to participate.

The one-day highly-participatory training centered on the threats, vulnerabilities and capacities of election monitors. Participants were led to develop their own contingency plans based on their unique situations and what would work best for them. Post training evaluation showed that 95% of the participants felt positively empowered and were eager to participate in future similar trainings.

As the trainings proceeded, NPSL also undertook recruitment of qualified professionals to hire on short-term contracts as International Protection Officers for the Election Observers Protection Project. Ultimately four people from different geographical areas around the world were identified and, by the end of the month, the process of getting these additional resource people to Sri Lanka was well underway. 

In addition to activities related to preparation for the Presidential Elections, NPSL teams in Colombo, Jaffna, Vavuniya and Batticaloa continued their other protection activities, including:

Increasing the Safety of Children Affected by Armed Conflict

NP's Vavuniya team provided accompaniment to local Child Rights Promoting Officers (CRPO) to detention camps and rehabilitation centers to monitor conditions and security considerations of ex-combatants during their reintegration process. The Government Agent (GA) of Vavuniya requested NP to accompany also ex-cardres who were released by court order to various rehabilitation centers under government auspices. This month NP accompanied 07 ex-cardres to various rehabilitation centers in the District from the Vavuniya Remand Prison.  The team also coordinated on several missing cases with ICRC and the Human Rights Commission and reported back to the families. NP provided space and facilitation for Mothers of the Disappeared committee to discuss their issues with the HRC in relation to their children. In Batticaloa, the teams worked with local training center partners in regard to ensuring the protection of children and youth being reintegrated into their home communities following their training programmes.

Through its many partnerships, NP's child protection efforts over time have resulted in coordinated actions at multiple levels. Lessons learned from NP's work on behalf of both internally displaced persons (IDPs) and children have been incorporated into other national advocacy efforts. For example, through NP's partnership with UNICEF, NP has been able to contribute to the development and implementation of a Child Protection Action Plan, which was signed by the Government, the TMVP party, and UNICEF and resulted in the creation of a Child Welfare Unit, a reintegration support mechanism for ex-child soldiers. This has resulted in an improved security situation for children across the island through the establishment of sustainable mechanisms to monitor the security and well-being of these youth.

Capacity-building for Individuals and Community-based Organisations to Engage in Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping at the Community Level

Following the signing of our partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in November 2009, NP commenced the first phase of the project aimed at training NPSL national staff as trainers in Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeping (UCP). The goal of this training is to build the capacity of Sri Lankans to take an active role in increasing the safety and security of their own communities for the long term.

In coming months NP national staff will be training community leaders in UCP, providing them with both the skills and the theories needed to do this work, as well as cultivate their ability to sustain this work within their communities by training others.  Tools for mapping conflict and tensions, identifying strategic partners, developing strategies for mitigating conflict, and creating contingency plans for when tensions suddenly arise are some of the topics covered in the training. On the final two days, participants were given the opportunity to practice their training skills by leading the group through different modules and activities in the curriculum. 

Improving the Safety and Security of Local Human Rights Defenders (HRD)Currently our largest project in Sri Lanka, thanks to financial support from the European Commission and several European donor nations, Human Rights Defender project staff were deployed to three new locations: Ampara in the East, Mannar in the northwest, and Vavuniya in the north. As part of the project NP has signed partnership agreements with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka and the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) to collaborate in building the capacity of selected government officials to monitor and report human rights violations in their areas of jurisdiction.

To this end, a workshop was organized for the Regional Offices of the Human Rights Commission and officials from the Colombo head office which focused on skills and tools for improving the safety and security of human rights defenders in Sri Lanka. Five to six regional offices from Southern Sri Lanka were also the part of the workshop. An NP-facilitated forum also brought the Dean of the Law Faculty to deliver a lecture on the country's 17^th Amendment, entitled "Towards Good Governance: A Constitutional Conundrum in Retrospect." Among participants were lawyers, human rights defenders, diplomats, law students, civil society actors and others from different walks of life. 

In addition, the HRD Project staff organized a one day workshop for Sri Lankan Army members, where 60 commissioned and non-commissioned officials from different military branches were trained on conflict resolution, human rights, and human rights defenders protection issues.

Future plans include two trainings on improving the safety and security of human rights defenders that will be organized in the North, East and in Colombo on threat and risk assessment, context analysis, contingency planning and option analysis to build local human rights defenders' capacity and to improve their safety and security. A workshop and gathering of women human rights defenders will be organized at Colombo where they will gather to share information, exchange views and discuss issues and threat women faces due to their work on promotion and protection of human rights.Monthly meetings of local HRDs will be held in Ampara, Mannar, Jaffna, Trinco, Vavuniya, Mannar and Batticaloa. And further security forces training will be organized for Police and Military on their role in protection of human rights defenders.