Key messages

• Malnutrition is caused by inadequate dietary intake and disease, which in turn are caused by food insecurity, inadequate care and a poor health environment. In theory, cash transfers in emergency and transitional settings could address most if not all causes of malnutrition. However, attributing changes in nutritional status to interventions, including those using cash transfers, is extremely difficult.

President of the SLRCS Jagath Abeysinghe handing over a rescue boat to the Divisional Secretary of Thawalama

18/01/2012 – Galle, Sri Lanka: According to Early Warning System audit reports, it is evident that the knowledge on risk reduction is very low among communities, those who are living in disaster prone areas in the Gin ganga basin.

J Jeganaathan Research Officer, IPCS email: chamujegan@gmail.com

The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has recently released the much-criticized report of the Commission of Inquiry on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation (LLRC). The report came in the midst of international pressure on the GoSL for its alleged war crimes and human rights abuses.

The war in Sri Lanka ended in May 2009 after nearly 27 years, having not only caused tremendous hardship to its people, but also fragmenting the relationships between the country’s Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities.

UNDP efforts to support the reconciliation process have helped children throughout the country to understand and accept each other’s traditions, cultures, and ways of life. Many children growing up in the shadow of the war had never met those from other parts of the country.

Highlights

Funding Situation

The CERF raised a record amount of US$465 million through the contributions of Member States, Observers, regional governments and the private sector. 2011 marks only the second time in the history of the Fund that it exceeded the $450 million target established for it by the General Assembly.

Additionally, $46.4 million was transferred from the CERF loan window to the grant window with the reduction of the loan element by the General Assembly.

Introduction to ADPC Strategy 2020

As the most hazard prone region in the World, the Asia-Pacific Region cannot afford to ignore nor delay addressing the challenges that confront it in disaster risk reduction (DRR). More and more, holistic and innovative approaches to address disaster risk are becoming mandatory, given the close inter-relationships and inextricable links that exist between disaster risk and the other key challenges of poverty reduction, sustainable development, environmental sustainability, as well as the emerging realities of global climate change.

Introduction

UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children 2012 describes the daily situation of some of the world’s most vulnerable children and women in more than 25 countries and territories beset by emergencies and crisis.

By Amantha Perera

COLOMBO, Jan 25, 2012 (IPS) - Experts agree that Sri Lanka's free pre and postnatal clinics across the island nation have helped bring infant mortality down to 15 per 1,000 live births and the under-five mortality rate to 21 per 1,000 live births.

But, beneath that general picture of success lie pockets of vulnerability where poverty and lack of awareness are causing high levels of malnutrition in this country, classified as a middle-income country by the International Monetary Fund in 2010.

BANGKOK, 25 January 2012 (IRIN) - About 150 asylum-seekers in Australia have suspended their hunger strike after accusing the government of reneging on a promise for community detention and bridging visas for long-term detainees who posed no risk, activists confirm.

At least 34 of the participants had been on hunger strike for a week.

"The ball is now in the government's court," Ian Rintoul, a spokesman for the Refugee Action Coalition (RAC), told IRIN from Sydney. "I hope this will be followed by action and not just words."