In close coordination with the government and the UN, IOM has
scaled up its logistics and transport operations in the past month
to help return some 90,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) from
the Menik Farms displacement camp to their home districts across
northern and eastern Sri Lanka.

The returns, in hundreds of IOM-chartered buses, were funded by
the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) and
Australia (AusAID), and at one point reached 4,000 people in a
single day.

Destinations included Jaffna, Mannar, Trincomalee, Batticaloa,
Ampara and more recently, Mullativu and Kilinochchi districts.
(Tunukai in Mullativu and Poornaky in Kilinochchi have now been
identified as safe return areas.) 

"IOM strongly supports the government's decision to empty the
Menik Farms camp and return the IDPs to their home communities by
the end of January 2010. We are also planning to work with our
partners in the government and the international community to help
the IDPs to rebuild their lives after they return home," says IOM
Sri Lanka Chief of Mission Mohammed Abdi Ker.

The IOM return operation of the past month brings the number of
IDPs to leave Menik Farms, which in July housed about a quarter of
a million people, to over 100,000.

"An important aspect of the government's resettlement plan is to
ensure that local authorities are ready to receive the IDPs, to
provide protection to vulnerable people and to ensure their access
to services," says IOM Sri Lanka Emergency Operations Manager
Giovanni Cassani.

Clearing landmines and unexploded ordinance before the IDPs
return home to towns and villages across northern Sri Lanka is a
major challenge. IOM, with USD 1.3 million of funding from
Australia, has provided the government's humanitarian de-mining
unit with 220 mine detectors, helmets and other safety equipment.
Part of the money is also helping the Swiss Foundation for Mine
Action (FSD) to hire more de-mining teams.

IOM is also helping returnees through the provision of shelter
kits, transitional shelters and water purification systems, as well
as clearing wells, and installing drainage and sanitation
facilities. It is also setting up temporary health care facilities
and strengthening the capacity of local government to cope with the
additional needs of the returnees. Post-return, these will include
early recovery initiatives and the need for new livelihoods.

In addition to the UK and Australia, the Netherlands and Sweden
are also funding various IOM Sri Lanka IDP resettlement
projects.

In parallel with the IDP return operation, IOM will continue to
address the ongoing humanitarian needs of displaced families still
in Menik Farms camp. This support will include the provision of
emergency health care, temporary shelter, water and sanitation,
camp care and maintenance, distribution of non-food relief items,
transport, logistics and IDP registration.

For further information, please contact:

Aurela Rincon

E-mail: "mailto:arincon@iom.int">arincon@iom.int 

or

Stacey Winston

IOM Sri Lanka

Tel: +94.1.15325300

E-mail: "mailto:swinston@iom.int">swinston@iom.int