Shouldering responsibility

Monday, 6 December 2010 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

IT never rains, but it pours. The great duality of life is that even good news comes with its own set of challenges. Reports of more refugees displaced during decades of fighting to India are slowly beginning to filter back into their own country. However, this increases the responsibility to ensure that their basic rights are assured.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has observed an increase in the number of Lankan refugees in India voluntarily returning home. In the first eight months of this year, some 1,150 refugees voluntarily returned home with UNHCR assistance compared with 843 for the whole of 2009. The organisation expects this upward trend to continue.

As most of us know, thousands fled to India because of the decades-long conflict between Government forces and the now-defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which had been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland. Of the more than 100,000 refugees in India, about 72,000 are living in 112 refugee camps in the state of Tamil Nadu in south India, with about 34,000 living outside the camps.

With more and more people contemplating returning to their homes, the responsibility of the Government as well as all the stakeholders grows exponentially. In addition to fast-tracking the demining and phasing-out the High Security Zones, these people must also be provided with shelter, food, clothing and other basic needs. The time will come when they will need livelihoods and for their children schooling – all the instruments needed for a normal life.

There is already a significant challenge in the existing internally displaced population, which has to be rehabilitated and reintegrated into society. This challenge will expand with the ever-increasing arrivals and measures have to be taken to assist them from the very onset. There are already 40,000 war widows in the east, almost triple that number in the north and a host of other vulnerable groups that need to be tended to.

While infrastructure development makes sense for the long term, these people need to have their needs fulfilled on a daily basis. Therefore the call for labour intensive businesses to go to the north has become all the more imperative. It was reported last month that four apparel companies including Brandix and MAS were contemplating setting up factories in the north, with another prominent company considering Mannar as their base of operations. This would bring in billions of investment to the region as well as large-scale employment opportunities that would offset many of the needs faced by the returnees.

Size is not the only thing that counts. There are many more community based organisations as well as small and medium enterprises that can reach out to these people and connect with them. Dairy, fisheries and agriculture are just a few such sectors that would benefit from the assistance of technology transfer, opportunities and fresh outlook that can be provided by the private sector.

The Export Development Board while releasing its October statistics, which proved to be the best in two years, also noted that there was a decline in fisheries exports. This alone shows the potential for growth that exists in this region. These are our people and it is up to us all to help them in this hour of need.