oday
(07. Sep. 2015) National Fisheries Solidarity Movement conducted a successful
round table discussion on IDPs and women headed families in North and East with
about 250 participants from highly war affected 5 district of North and East
(Mannar, Jaffna, Trincomalee, Baticaloa and Ampara) and 6 other districts from
south including Mathara, Galle Kaluthara.
With
high militarization, people have no enough room even for their privacy in those
confined camps. People who live in camps saying that they have no much respect
from any of the government authority or even from the out side community as
they living in camps.
Women
who have lost their husbands due to war are facing much harder situation in
camps. Most of them have no livelihood for feed their families; some of
children still go to school from the families who can afford for their
education but most of the children from women headed families do not go to
schools as they have no family income, some live with having one meal per day
as no body look after them, for the government, they didn’t exists until few
months back.
Only recently the new
government accepted that still there are IDP caps in North and East with around
45000 people in those camps.
Some of these people are holding land
titles, some have lost their deeds during during the war time since they
displaced time to time, one place to another, lands belongs to these
people are acquired by the government in name of security and most lands
are occupied by the militaries and some using for and
economic activities by the militaries in North. Several large scale,
star grade hotels have build in HSZs.
Now
a new opportunity has emerged after the change in political arena of the
country in 8th of January 2015 to find a sustainable solution on
resettle the displaced people, develop the families who’s members were
disappeared and people with disabilities due to war.
NAFSO
invited to the Provincial ministers of North and East provinces, Ministries of
Land and Land Reform, Women Affairs, and Resettlement-Reconstruction and Hindu
Religious affairs and other relevant officers in civil services for the event.
Several
foreign diplomats from France Embassy, of Switzerland, Norwegian embassy were
participated to the event while
Representative from the Ministry of National Dialogue,
Representatives from
Eastern Provincial counsel and additional secretary of Jaffna divisional
secretariat was also present at the event. Several representative from
SAAPE also attended to the event and given their active participation.
Doing
the videos and documentation will not enough, we have to practical things to
solve these issues we discussing told one of participants from North, and a lady
from Civil Organization sector told that when we invited to authorities some
times they come and just showing their faces and leave soon, even before the
discussion starts, she proposed that civil sector people should not allow such
things to happen in the future During the audience had a chance to give their
views and opinion on the matters we discussed,
“We
had not exposed to this much of information on the people in North and East who
are still suffering due to war, every body in the country should know these
facts, as people from South we wish to give our hand to the fight to win their
rights” told a women from Mathara district.
Almost all these people asking for the
land they belongs nothing else. They hope the new government will act
according to people's will and help them to to get released their properties form the military.
NAFSOs convenor Mr. Herman Kumara present the content and background of
the report and Mrs Lavina Hasanthi, Coordinator of NAFSOs Women desk
clarify the objectives of the program and several representatives from
subjective districts and from invites were preset their views and
opinion to the audience before open the discussion for audience.
This as
first step, affected community members from Jaffna, Ampara, Mannar, Trincomalee
and Baticaloa districts, States and political authorities, Civil activists and
general public was sat together to develop a progressive dialogue and will have
develop a sustainable program to resolve those issues as a nation who have
common responsibility to build an equal ground to all people in the country.
3:23 AM
Leaders of National Women Federation, lead by Lavena Hasanthi, the women
coordinator of NAFSO met the leaders of SNEHA in Naga[attinam on 24th
October.
Jesurethinam Christy, the coordinator of Coastal Action Network lead the
discussion and shared their valuable experiences of the struggle
against the Nuclear Power Plant i Koodankulam which is one of the most
hazardous projects in the coastal communities. This is one of the
possible threats among others to the small scale fisher communities in
Tamil Nadu and also in Northern SL too. 
Jesurethinam shared in her presentation, "SNEHA supposed to be an
organization fight for the rights of coastal communities and ensure
their sustainable livelihoods. Nuclear power plants are not meant for
the development of the poor and marginalized rather those are about to
run with the cost of poor and marginalized communities wiping out them
from their ancestral lands and coasts.
We expect the communities will take this battle forward as they are the
victims of the such development."
Adding to what Jesurethinam shared, Laxamann Thamarajina, a woman leader
representing Poonthalir women federation in Jaffna in the SL team
shared,
"We are also losing our original lands hence lose our customary rights
and the GOSL is not pay genuine attention to release the captured and
occupied lands by military and other development purposes. Our attempt
as National Women Federation under the banner of NAFSO to fight to get
back our land snd coastal areas. We fought 25 years and will continue
further till we get the land.
