Refugee Highway Partnership

Refugee Ministry in South Asia

During 2007, intervention of the Alliance Development Trust impacted over 8,000 IDP and refugee families in Sri Lanka. (The Alliance Development Trust, or ADT, is the relief and development arm of the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka, NCEASL.)

The refugee situation in Sri Lanka interconnects with number of South Asian countries. Because Sri Lanka has been experiencing civil war for the last 3 decades, over 1 million Sri Lankans have left the country to seek refuge in North America and Europe. The encouraging fact is that most of the refugees in Europe and North America were able to establish local congregations, and then support the congregations in Sri Lanka. NCEASL plans to initiate a networking project with the Sri Lankan Diaspora churches to raise awareness on the Sri Lankan situation. It also aims to build bilateral partnerships with Diaspora church and the local congregations, to equip and strengthen the churches on both sides.

Refugees in India
Estimates report that over 65,000 Sri Lanka refugees are housed in 133 refugee camps in Tamil Nadu, India, and that over 40,000 Sri Lankans live outside these refugee camps. In the last 18 months alone, over 9,000 people have crossed the Sri Lankan borders seeking refuge in India.
Most of the refugees are poor farmers, laborers and fishermen. To pay their boat fares, they had to scrape together several thousand rupees – which in many cases were their life savings. Women and children have died making the risky journey. The Sri Lankan navy, which patrols the straits between the 2 countries, has arrested refugees; and in a number of cases, refugees were killed in middle of the ocean.

Refugee camps are pathetic. The 287-acre camp at Mandapam has high walls with electric barbed-wire fencing. On the other side is the sea, patrolled by Indian coastal guards. The refugees live in a dilapidated row of houses. Bathroom and toilet facilities are virtually non-existent. According to people living in the camps, the so-called Indian standards of food rations and dole payments are not enough to live on. The refugees have become a source of cheap labor, exploited ruthlessly by local employers. In some instances, women have been forced into prostitution and substance abuses.

There is significant development in reaching out to these refugees. Two local churches have sent their workers to India, to work among the refugee congregations; and in the meantime, the refugees in the camps have begun a number of congregations. ADT will initiate a refugee ministry among these refugees to bring holistic intervention - to meet the spiritual, physical and psychological needs of the refugees in India. ADT has initiated a need-assessment project and looking for financial resources to implement the project without any delay.

With the escalation of violence and with the military plans to advance towards the rebel-held areas in Sri Lanka, it is anticipated that more people will flee the country using the sea route towards India. (If you wish to support this initiative, please write to us at nceasl@sltnet.lk )

Internally Displaced People
In the last 12 months, Sri Lanka has seen terrible violence. According to human rights groups, over 6,000 people have been killed or disappeared (abducted and killed) due to escalating violence. UNHCR estimates over 350,000 people are internally-displaced in north and east districts.
According to the defense spoke’s person, there will be a mass exodus of IDPs (internally displaced peoples) from the rebel-held Wanni region to government-held areas in coming weeks due to military plans to advance towards rebel-controlled territories. ADT and the local churches are planning to address the needs of IDP communities in coming months.
ADT will continue the livelihood-recovery activities for displaced communities. In 2007 we were able to impact over 8,000 lives through various projects and 300 families were assisted with livelihood recovery projects. Recreational and psychosocial projects were initiated in refugee camps.

In 2008, we anticipate 600 families will recover their livelihoods and over 1,500 children will gain access to nutritional and education activities. Due to poor standards in water and sanitation, ADT has initiated a special sanitation awareness project among the children in the refugee camps.

Pakistani Refugees in Sri Lanka – S-SARC
S-SARC is an initiative to support the asylum-seekers from Pakistan coming to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is not considered a “host country” for asylum-seekers, so after these asylum-seekers gain refugee status in Sri Lanka, they are settled in host countries by UNHCR. ADT has been providing practical assistance for Pakistani asylum-seekers and is networking with the other agencies that are providing similar services.

NCEASL urges you to uphold the ministry and the staff members who are vulnerable to security concerns and hardships. Thank you.