There was a general acceptance of the situation and an unwillingness the question or challenge things. During our stay, we heard shelling towards the area of the Muhumalai FDL, daily; the sound of shelling seems to have become part of ‘normal’ daily life, and people continued to move about and attend to their work regardless of this. We were told that artillery firing from near the Jaffna Hospital increased anxiety among its patients, including those with heart conditions. Some people told us that on certain occasions artillery was fired from locations in or in close proximity to highly populated areas in the town, placing the people who lived there at high risk. IDPs too, were resigned to their lot. When we asked them whether they had protested about the delays in the delivery of rations they pointed out that all civilians in the peninsula were affected and that their situation was not a special one that called for special responses. The various restrictions imposed on the people have been accepted by them as a form of daily life. With a certain resignation, they expressed their belief that the worst is yet to come.
An improvement in the situation?
Many who experienced the difficulties after the A9 road closure and bombardment in 2006 and 2007, felt that the situation had improved since then and that things were not as bad as they were in that period. However, they were emphatic that this was a relative assessment. They stressed that they still lived in terror and that their situation had to undergo considerable and qualitative change. Many who spoke to us expressed a lack of faith in official investigations of human rights abuses on account of the culture of impunity that pervades the peninsula.
Decrease in but continuing human rights violations
The figures coming out of Jaffna, do not demonstrate that there has been a dramatic improvement in the situation there over the three months preceding our visit. However, it is clear that compared to some months prior to this three month period - August 2007 in which 26 people were killed for example - the situation has improved. Leading figures in Jaffna town had differing theories on why the situation has ‘improved’. Some suggest that it was a result of the visit of the Chief Justice, Sarath Silva on October 24 2007, others suggest that it was the meeting of the Congress of Religions in December 2007 and one person also pointed to the September 2007 visit of Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. What emerged was the sense that such high level visits created an impact locally and reduced the incidents of killings and abductions. Implicit in this is that many people in Jaffna feel that the presence and oversight of ‘outsiders’ - both national and foreign - is critical for their survival, giving them even a small degree of confidence that the outside world is paying attention to their plight.
Restrictions on livelihoods
While the violence has had a significant impact on restricting livelihood opportunities, it is the security restrictions that have had a far-reaching impact. The construction industry has ground to a virtual standstill due to restrictions on access to building materials such as cement and sand, coupled with the price hikes. Cement is currently Rs1,500 compared to Rs 800 in Colombo. In addition, as a result of the violence, outsiders and residents are less willing to embark on new projects and construction. This has a direct and debilitating impact on the employment and livelihood opportunities available for women and men who work as daily paid labourers. Random restrictions on mobility also place obstacles on those who work as daily-paid workers obtaining work. Unemployment and under-employment, in turn, have consequences on people’s ability to purchase essential daily goods and services.
The fisheries sector has been particularly affected. Night fishing is prohibited, and in some areas even the number of daylight fishing hours is restricted. The use of mechanized boats is also prohibited. One person sarcastically told us that “The fish here are trained. They only come out at night.” Even during the day time, fishermen cannot go out into the deep sea; they are restricted to 2km in most areas, sometimes even to 500 meters.
The impact on the catch is significant; As one fisherman put it “we go to plough the sea and come back.” Representatives from the fisheries sector claim that the average daily earnings of a fisherman in Jaffna in February 2008 was approximately Rs. 176 per day, and that too only if they are allowed to fish.
In manylocations, fishermen do not get to fish every day, since their right to go to sea is on a rotational basis. According to estimates, there are 10,000 active fishermen and their families in the Jaffna peninsula, and a further 7,900 families whose primary livelihood is in trades associated to fishing including repair work on boats, nets and engines for the men fish drying and preservation for women and fish trading for both men and women.
The Government has taken some measures by providing compensation for the loss of livelihoods through issue of dry rations to fisher families. Faced with such severe restrictions and a loss of income, fishermen with less resources have started to sell their boats and nets.
Shortages of good and cost of living
A point repeatedly made in our interviews is that the economic situation has markedly improved, when compared to late 2006 and much of 2007. A number of people pointed out that now most items are available in the market and that prices have dramatically dropped. Many people we spoke to stated that times were dire in late 2006 when there was a temporary halt to air and sea transport which led to the skyrocketing of prices of existing goods and when certain goods such as tomatoes and bread were not available. People we met told us that during December 2007 an egg cost as much as Rs.80. During our visit in mid-February, the price of an egg was Rs. 18 to 22. The majority of the people in the peninsula had lived on rice, dhal and a few vegetables for several months.
However, people who experienced the hardships of the earlier period, feel that the situation has improved. More goods are coming in to the peninsula now, even though prices are still high. For example, a coconut was about Rs. 70 and a kilo of rice was Rs. 100. Locally produced items such as onions and chillies were easily available and cheap. Local bananas were Rs. 10 per kilo. It needs to be noted that while prices have significantly reduced, the purchasing power of Jaffna residents is still low due to the problems of sustaining livelihoods.
While the closure of the A-9 is the principal reason for the difficulty in transporting goods to Jaffna, it is clear that there are other factors that contribute to the shortages and high prices. Items such as rice and other agricultural products from LTTE-controlled areas can no longer reach the peninsula due to the closure of the Muhamalai entry/exit point. Air transport is prohibitively expensive.
Sea transport is vulnerable to attack and insurance premiums are therefore very high. The LTTE refused to provide protection to vessels bearing the ICRC flag which could have been used to transport goods and civilians. Both sea and air transport can be called to a halt by the security forces at any given moment.
The shipping costs coupled with the handling charges are usually passed on straight to the consumer. People demanded that the Commissioner General of Essential Services should fix the prices of essential goods, rather than shipping lines. There was also a discrepancies between officially listed prices and real market prices, which enabled the authorities to play downthe complaints of high prices in the peninsula.
Problems faced by IDPs and humanitarian actors
In Jaffna, to talk to people displaced by the conflict would involve talking to almost everyone in the peninsula. Jaffna’s residents have faced multiple displacements over the past twenty years, as a result of various military operations – involving the security forces of the government, the LTTE, the Indian Peace- Keeping Forces and various armed groups. In addition, the forcible expulsion of Muslims from Jaffna and the rest of the North in 1990 and the exodus from Jaffna in 1995 both ordered by the LTTE, and the establishment of High Security Zones in the Peninsula by the Security Forces have directly contributed to the high figures of displacement. The current IDP population in Jaffna is staggering.
In December 2007 the figure stood at 107,136 out of a total population of 502,242 which roughly amounts to 21% of the total population. Of the IDP population 83,480 are ‘old’ displaced (i,e before January 2006) and 23,656 are ‘new’ displaced. (UNHCR figures based statistics collated by Jaffna District Secretary). Compared to the attention received by IDPs in other areas, especially in the East, IDPs in Jaffna have received much less attention. Focus is largely on those who were displaced after April 2006. Long term displacement, and tsunami-related displacement are low priority. A key issue that was raised by IDPs and by humanitarian agencies was the delays in ration distribution. Rations had not been provided in February since December 2007, due to the supplies not arriving in Jaffna. The two sets of IDPs – the “old” and the “new” – get different rations.
The “old” IDPs get Government rations which are decided on a cash amount set in 1995. IDPs from 2006 onwards get World Food Programme (WFP) rations distributed by the Government, which are based on calorific content.
As the cost of essential food items has risen, the amount of food that could be purchased from the allocation of government funds for dry rations has shrunk considerably and it is insufficient to meet needs. Although some assistance is provided by agencies and cash for work programmes are in place in some areas, these are ad hoc and not consistent, doing little to alter the structural problems of dependency and poverty.
Humanitarian actors are playing a critical role in Jaffna by assisting the Government in providing food and other assistance to the IDPs, and ensuring that the rights of IDPs are protected. It should be noted, however that they are working under severe restrictions. Some of these restrictions, such as the government’s unwillingness to grant visas, impact all humanitarian agencies throughout Sri Lanka.
Foreign nationals in the Jaffna peninsula, however, face more restrictions and paper work than in other parts of the country. Humanitarian agency personnel are also the victims of the violence. Between 2006 and 2007, 18 humanitarian 9 workers have been killed, many of them de-miners.
While there is no question that the security situation demands restrictions on movement of the people of Jaffna, the present situation creates an environment of alienation and fear which is counterproductive to the government’s stated intentions of working for the freedom of the Tamil people of the North and East.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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