UN concerned about camp conditions, calls for clear IDP resettlement plan

A detailed plan to resettle almost 300,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sri Lanka is needed to sustain donor assistance, says UN Country Representative. Meanwhile Spokeperson for the UN Secretary General in yesterday's press briefing said "we have tremendous concerns about the humanitarian conditions in the camps, and that was in fact one of the topics that the Secretary-General raised with the Sri Lankan President last week."

“It’s very important that there be clear plans and timelines for people to return,” Neil Buhne, the UN country head, had told IRIN in Colombo.
“I think it is going to be difficult to sustain the financing (for relief measures) over a long period if you have 300,000 people in there (IDP camps) for months and months, stretching into a year,” Buhne warned. “The first stage in reconciliation is how (IDPs) are treated. I think the government recognizes that, we recognize that, but it is a huge challenge.”
His comments followed a pledge by Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa on 10 July to resettle up to 60 percent of the IDPs by November. In 180 days, we want to settle most of these people. It's not a promise, it's a target.
But aid workers on the ground have expressed concern that some of the facilities being erected in the camps appear more permanent than temporary.
Spokeperson for the UN Secretary General when asked about the deaths in the internally displaced person's camps on Tuesday said due to the level of available access they do not have precise information and added that UN is concerned about the humanitarian conditions in the camps, and that was in fact one of the topics that the Secretary-General raised with the Sri Lankan President last week.
"Well, that of course depends on the level of access we have. We don’t have necessarily the most precise information about things like death tolls. At the same time, we do have tremendous concerns about the humanitarian conditions in the camps, and that was in fact one of the topics that the Secretary-General raised with the Sri Lankan President last week."
Transcript of the question and answer at the Tuesday press briefing by the Spokeperson for the UN Secretary General at UN:
Question: Perhaps belatedly, over the weekend, Action Contre la Faim -- it’s this French NGO -- denounced the Sri Lankan Government’s ending of an inquiry of how 17 of their workers were killed, and they called for an international inquiry, including calling on the UN to take action. Since the UN -- John Holmes and others -- had said they were closely watching that investigation, what do they say now that it’s over, and the group concerned calls it a whitewash?
Associate Spokesperson: We’ll check with OCHA what kind of particular response they have on the issue concerning Contre la Faim. As far as that goes, there has been no UN investigation into this, as you are aware. We’ll first monitor events on the ground, and we do continue to monitor a wide range of issues concerning how the Government of Sri Lanka has followed up on the commitments that the Secretary-General had outlined in his letters. As you know, the Secretary-General met with President [Mahinda] Rajapaksa last week on the margins of the Non-Aligned Movement summit, and he brought up again the sort of actions we had wanted taken in Sri Lanka.
Question: Just one more on that. I wanted to know, there was a report in the Times of London saying that, in the camps in Vavuniya, up to 1,400 people have died, and the AP has also reported that the conditions are very dire in terms of health. What’s the UN, if they’re closely monitoring, are they monitoring both the health and the level of deaths inside these camps?
Associate Spokesperson: Well, that of course depends on the level of access we have. We don’t have necessarily the most precise information about things like death tolls. At the same time, we do have tremendous concerns about the humanitarian conditions in the camps, and that was in fact one of the topics that the Secretary-General raised with the Sri Lankan President last week.
Comment by Matthew Russell Lee, Inner City press at UN
With Sri Lanka putting restrictions on the Red Cross and the press, and despite statements by the UK and US on the country's application for a $1.9 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, on July 20 IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn announced his staff will recommend a $2.5 billion transfer to Sri Lanka at a board meeting on July 24.
Since March, Inner City Press has asked IMF spokespeople what safeguards if any would be attached to the loan. Most recently on July 16, the IMF's Caroline Atkinson said that the views of the international community will be taken into account. Four days later her boss issued a press release with no mention of safeguards. Pro-government media in Sri Lanka report IMF board approval as a mere formality. HSBC and now JPMorgan Chase are helping the Rajapakse regime to do a road show to foreign capitals to drum up more investment.
Outgoing UK minister to Asia and the UN Mark Malloch Brown told Inner City Press earlier this month that "the IMF loan is not moving," is not going anywhere. His boss David Miliband had said the conditions are not right for such a loan. With 300,000 people detained in government camps, are the conditions any better now?
An AP wire service reporter who exposed conditions in the camps was told to leave the country, his visa not renewed. (Reuters with more pro-government reporting, on the other hand, apparently had no such problem.)
The Red Cross was been ordered to cut back in Eastern Sri Lanka, where it had over 140 workers. Despite commitments to investigate itself, the Rajapakse government ended an investigation into the killing of 17 workers of the NGO Action Contre La Faim, exonerating its armed forces. And what does the UN have to say?