Save the Children fears hundreds of children are missing or separated from their parents, following the chaotic escape from the Sri Lanka ‘no fire’ zone this week.
Sunday 26 April 2009
Civilians arrive at the village of Putumatalan in Puthukkudiyirippu, northern Sri Lanka April 22, 2009 after fleeing an area still controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the ‘No Fire Zone’.
Even before the current influx into government camps in the north of the country, Save the Children estimated that a fifth of all children (423 out of 2036) in four camps where we’re working, were separated from their families.
Stein Lied, a Save the Children protection advisor in Northern Sri Lanka said, "The last influx was so large and so fast that we fear many hundreds of children have lost their parents along the way. The escape from the ‘no fire’ zone was so panicked that even a breastfeeding mother was separated from her newborn."
While the Sri Lankan government has taken measures to help reunify children with their parents, Save the Children is deeply concerned that with so many families uprooted numerous times, the situation is becoming dire. The charity estimates that 50,000 of those displaced are children.
Lied continues, "In the chaos of fleeing, in hospitals and in crowded camps, families and children are easily separated. The government was helping children relocate their families after the first influx in February. But now with this second massive influx, it is really urgent that we scale up to support the government in protecting these vulnerable children who are facing such an unimaginable crisis on their own."
For decades, Save the Children has worked to reunify children and families in conflict zones across the world. We’re ready to help the Sri Lankan govenerment and the UN to resume registration of children so that they can find their families as swiftly as possible. For those whose parents have been killed, we believe there’s an urgent need to identify extended family members or foster families, so children do not end up in institutional care.
Save the Children is currently delivering life-saving aid — food and water — to the displaced in camps in Vavuniya and Mannar.
We’re also caring for children’s psychological well-being through its safe play spaces where up to 4000 children can be helped to overcome their trauma.
What you can do
Save the Children has launched an emergency appeal for £2.5 million to help children in Sri Lanka. To donate to Save the Children’s emergency response, please call 0207 012 6400 or make an online donation.
Save the Children UK’s CEO is now in Sri Lanka. Follow her updates at www.twitter.com/stcukceo