Interview with Sir John Holmes

20th November 2009, Colombo


Q: Are you satisfied with the outcome of your visit ? Has it yielded the desired results?

There is progress, in particular, the fate of the people in the camps and the progress of the return home of those people. And I and talk to the government officials, first of all in Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar and finally in Colombo.

I think what one can say is that the situation is changing and changing for the better. Clearly more that half the people from the camps are now out, released in one way or another and many people are going home.

That's a good step in the right direction. We still have a lot of issues to discuss and resolve, a particular, fundamental point that we have stressed from the start is that the people in the camps should have freedom of movement, full freedom of movement, and at the moment that is still not the case. I did detect from the government, in my discussions with them, that they are more open to that
than they were and I hope to see some progress on that in the next few days, and that will be very important, too.


I think that you can see there is the beginning of a bit of a movement in the right direction with the A9 being opened between Jaffna and the south and people from Jaffna being allowed to go out and travel down that, freely. I think that is a big psychological step, a step in the right direction of moving towards genuine peace and not just the end of the war. Even though, as I say, there is still a huge distance to go.

Q : What sort of impact do you think will your visit have on the conditions of the IDPs? Will it bring about significant changes in terms of the IDPs?

A: I don't think you can point to any one visit and say that's going to make a difference to people's lives. The fact that the United Nations has, right from the beginning, been very heavily engaged on this issue, has been visiting very regularly at high level with me and others, including the UN Secretary General, taking a very close interest beyond that. And the international community taking an interest has helped keep a focus on the conditions of life for IDPs and, in particular, this fundamental point of freedom of movement. I think it is more the overall context, the overall engagement with the government and the overall pressure for change and for movement, which has contributed to the progress we are seeing now, rather than any one particular visit.

Q: What are your observations regarding the IDP situation this time?
Has the situation of the IDPs improved compared to your previous visit ?

I think it is a good thing that people are now beginning to go home and certainly, there is no doubt that the people who are going home want to be doing that. They would rather be doing that than staying in the camps. But, at the same time, yes, we do have some concerns about the quality of the process of returns. We would like to have seen more consultation with the IDPs, themselves, better information for the IDPs themselves, and greater consultation with us, the humanitarian actors, about exactly where people were going and when, so that we could help more. And making absolutely sure, as far as we can, that when people are going home that the demining process has been fully carried out and, if there are any remaining mines, they are properly marked. And, of course, that there are basic services there to help people when they go home, in terms of not only the packages they get to help them start to re-establish their lives, but basic services like schools and health clinics. All those concerns are there but nevertheless it is better that people are getting out of the camps and going home than staying where they are.


Q: Government has not given full access to the IDP camps to any of the Local or foreign NGOs or UN… How does it affect the humanitarian efforts of the UN with regard to the IDPs? Did you take up this matter with the government officials when you met them?

I think you are wrong, we do have full access to the IDP camps. The UN agencies and the NGOs do have full access to Manik Farm and to the other camps, such as they are. Not everybody does,perhaps. There is a problem with the ICRC who have not had access for some time – that is a separate issue that they are discussing with the government. Otherwise we do have access. The people we don't have access to, and we want to improve that so much, are in the so-called rehabilitation centres. Those who are suspected of having been associated with the LTTE in the past, the 10,000 to 11,000. We would certainly like to have full access to them through the ICRC or some other way.


Q: US came up with a report on the alleged war crimes and human right violation charges against the Sri Lankan government… In your capacity as the humanitarian chief of the UN, What have you got to say about this report ? What are your remarks?

We have said from the beginning that there needs to be a process of accountability, to look at and investigate the allegations of serious violations of International Humanitarian and Human Rights law by both sides during the conflict. Not only during its last few months but also looking back over the the whole conflict. That's what we would very much likfe to see and what We have urged the government themselves to do as an internal process.

If there is no internal process, then we have to look at what kind of process we might be able to initiate from the outside in terms of fact finding.

At the moment we are urging The government to do this as an internal process and they have set up a committee of inquiry go look at the allegations made in that United States Congress report .Let's see how that progresses and we are going to keep a very close eye on this.


Q : UN has requested the access to the war affected areas.. have you been successful in this regards? Are you hopeful that you will be given the access?

I think we will be, gradually,. We have access to the Wanni now, in general not necessarily to all areas of it because some are still very contaminated by mines and UXO, but the government is not stopping us going there anymore except to these mine-affected areas. Of course, ee have our own safety rules which we need to keep looking at but we are gradually being given access and that is good progress as well.


Q: Presidents advisor Mr.Vasudeva Nanayakara told the media recently that people are not being resettled in their native places ,government restlle the people in different places to satify the international concerns ? What sort of mechanism the UN has to ensure the proper resettlement process?

We are following the resettlement process as closely as we can. I haven't heard this accusation that resettlement is not happening in proper places. Of course, the people who have gone back, for example to Jaffna, 6,000 have gone back to Jaffna, not all of whom have homes there but they have some link there and said they want to go there because they prefer to be there rather than be in the camps.
I think that they are being resettled in their villages of origin wherever possible, but there are some places where, because the demining process is not completed, it is going to be more difficult.


Q: When do you think the UN will get access to rehabilitation centres ? Have you discussed any thing about this?

Yes, we are trying to get access to those people in the centres and I think the most important thing is that the best people to have that access, because they have the expertise and the credibility, is the ICRC. They had the access at the beginning but because of some difficulties in their relationship with the government, have not had access and I hope that access will be re-established soon because I think that will be reassuring for all concerned.

Q: Inercity presses continuously accuses UN of providing unconditional support to Sri Lankan government… Any comments?

I think that is total nonsense. We have been making clear what we want to see in the IDP camps and elsewhere. We have talked about the absolute need for political reconciliation and that should move as fast as possible. We have talked about the need for an accountability process and continue to press that point. We have demanded freedom of movement for the IDPs and process of resettlement be started, We have made clear that we will not give assistance beyond emergency relief assistance to those in the camps., I think we have been engaging with the government in a responsible way. But what we are seeing now is some progress in the right direction and I think it is right to acknowledge that progress when it happens.


Q: War has ended in May 2009 5 months has paseed but the world is not aware about the casualties during the war .as the UNs chief for humanitarian activities what are steps taken by you to find the figures in detail?

The point is that there is no way to know what those final figures are. We have said that from the very beginning. We believe the casualties were very high, the civilian casualties were very high, unacceptably high, but we don't know how many there were,. There were, no doubt, several thousands and we were critical of the government at the time for not taking greater care of civilian casualties and for using heavy weapons when they said they were not using heavy weapons. We have made our position quite clear on that but we are not in a position to say now many civilian casualties there were.


Q: During Walter Kalins visit the IDPs have told him to stop feeding them and let them to go to their place did you come across any incidents like this

No I did not because I think the situation has begun to change since Walter Kaelin's visit, that people have begun to leave the camps in large numbers and people now have a greater degree of confidence that they are going to be able to go home. So they do not need to make this plea, to pressure the government to let us go home, because that is already happening.


Q: What is the main message you would like to share with IDPs in the North ?

We want to go on providing emergency assistance to those still in the camps. We want to assist those who are returning with a basic package to help them re-establish their lives and livelihoods, with full consciousness of how difficult that it going to be. We will keep closely engaged in the process to make sure it it is going in the right way, in so far as we can influence that
We are encouraged that at least people are being allowed to go home and the previous fears that they would not be allowed to go home and kept in camps for years or the areas would be recolonized by other people, those fears have not been realized and that is good news.