A child broke his arm when he had to take sudden refuge in a bunker during an attack in the Vanni area.
UNICEF Sri Lanka/2009
For the last 30 years, Sri Lanka has been caught up in a civil war between the Sinhalese government and Tamil Tiger rebels who want an independent homeland in the north and east.
The conflict has intensified over the past year, and the northern part of Sri Lanka, known as the Vanni, is now facing a humanitarian emergency due to the escalation of the conflict. To date, 65,000 people have escaped the fighting and are in refugee camps in Vavuniya, Jaffna and Mannar and as 35,000 people have recently fled Sri Lanka’s conflict zone, UNICEF said it held grave fears for the children who remain trapped in escalating fighting.
Children in this area face immense physical and emotional trauma. They spend a large portion of their time in shallow bunkers, under regular threat from armed groups. The living conditions are dire - lacking basic essentials such as water, food and medicines. There is also a growing risk of disease.
The UN's humanitarian coordinator, Neil Buhne, said tens of thousands of people were living in camps in the northern town of Vavuniya. "I saw infants with dysentery, malnourished children and women, untended wounds, and people dressed in the ragged clothing they've been wearing for months," Associated Press
A British surgeon with Medicins Sans Frontieres said the hospital was equipped with 400 beds but was treating nearly 2,000 patients. With tens of thousands of children still caught amid growing hostilities between the LTTE and troops of the Government of Sri Lanka, UNICEF warned of dreadful consequences for children.
“If fighting continues and if the LTTE refuses to allow people to leave the conflict zone, then we face the intolerable inevitability of seeing many more children killed,” said UNICEF’s Regional Director for South Asia, Daniel Toole.
UNICEF's response
UNICEF is working to meet the urgent needs of women and children who have escaped the fighting. We are working with our partners to ensure that children who have left the conflict zone have access to nutrition and health support, safe water, proper sanitation and temporary learning spaces, so they can restart their schooling. We are also providing assistance for unaccompanied or separated children.
UNICEF has provided essential life-saving services and supplies for the 60,000 displaced children - including 67,000 hygiene kits, water treatment kits and water purification tablets, so that they can have access to clean water. 57,000 learning kits and school-in-a-box and recreational kits have also been given to children affected by the conflict.
UNICEF is calling for a humanitarian pause in the fighting, for civilians to be allowed to leave the conflict area and for greater access for aid agencies to deliver much needed humanitarian assistance.
“Sri Lanka is facing a humanitarian crisis that requires a rapid response,” said UNICEF’s Representative in Sri Lanka, Mr Philippe Duamelle. “We estimate that there are approximately a quarter of a million people who need help and they need it quickly.”
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