Sri Lanka

President Maithripala Sirisena says that the government has allocated Rs. 9000 million to provide dry ration to nearly 422,000 people who have been affected by the prevailing drought situation in several districts of the country.

The President made these remarks participating in the inaugural ceremony of the commencement of renovation works of the Nabadagasdigiliya tank in Mahawilachchiya, Anuradhapura under the Cascaded Tank-Village System to be implemented across the country, today (21).

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Extreme weather events dominate the news but changing average weather patterns are proving equally devastating to poor and vulnerable people in climate hotspots across South Asia.

• About 19 million people in Sri Lanka today live in locations that would become moderate or severe hotspots by 2050.

• A new report provides the right data and climate simulations to help put in place incentives, policies and smart solutions to protect communities across the country.

Considering the hardships being experienced by civilians in Kopay area as a result of the continuing drought, troops of 15 Sri Lanka National Guards (SLNG) under command to the 51 Division and 511 Brigade under the guidance of the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 51 Division, Major General Roshan Senavirathna and the Commanding Officer 15 SLNG began a project to distribute drinking water through own bowsers and vehicles.

Distribution of drinking water started on Wednesday (12) is continuing on daily basis for the benefit of more than 1102 families in Kopay.

Eight refugees previously held on Manus Island, have left Papua New Guinea's capital of Port Moresby to be resettled in the United States.

Read more on Radio New Zealand International.

Update of UNHCR’s operations in Asia and the Pacific

A. Situational context including new developments

Colombo - IOM, the UN Migration Agency, is today conducting a two-day training of trainers for SriLankan Airlines aircrew on identifying and reporting trafficking in persons on board flights.

The training, organized in Colombo at the request of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is designed specifically for airline personnel and draws on the Guidelines for Training Cabin Crew on Identifying and Responding to Trafficking in Persons launched this year by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR.)

The Government of Japan has decided to extend a grant assistance of nearly US$ 1.25 million (Rs. 1.94 billion) to expedite Sri Lankan government 's humanitarian demining efforts in the war-battered North with the aim of transforming Sri Lanka into a land mine free country.

The grant assistance from Japan aims to accelerate the Sri Lankan government's program to be free of land mines by 2020 and the relevant agreement for the grant assistance was signed on Tuesday (11) at the Japanese Embassy in Colombo.

Exclusion at the heart of today’s migration and displacement – new key trends survey

Distinguished President,
Director-General of the UN Office in Geneva,
Excellencies,
Colleagues and friends,

It is an honour to be called to this mandate, to assist States to uphold the human rights of their people, in this year in which we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Overview

The majority of those returned to Turkey are Pakistani nationals (39 per cent of total). Syrians constitute 18 per cent of the total number of those returned, and are followed by Algerians, Bangladeshis and Afghans.

In total, 309 Syrians have been returned to Turkey to date. 33 of them have been returned on the basis that their asylum claims were found inadmissible at 2nd instance.

SEAR/PR/1700

New Delhi, 7 September 2018: Countries in WHO South-East Asia resolved to accelerate efforts to control dengue which threatens nearly 1.3 billion people with frequent and largescale outbreaks, and control malaria, that continues to be endemic in the Region.

Full summary

This policy brief is based on the working paper titled ‘The political economy of violence: Women’s economic relations in post-war Sri Lanka’ and focuses on women’s engagement in beedi rolling, in a village in Jaffna. It attempts to understand the women’s continued engagement in a very precarious working environment as well as the alternative income generating opportunities available to them in the transition from a period of war to no-war.

Recommendations:

A. SITUATION ANALYSIS

Description of the disaster

Sri Lanka participating in an international tsunami drill held in 28 countries will be conducting tsunami drills across the island today (September 05th).The Ministry of Disaster Management said the island wide tsunami drill will be held at 8.30 am in several selected districts. Accordingly, Mullaitivu, Ampara and Galle districts of Sri Lanka have been selected to conduct the drill.

Author Karen Villholth Principal researcher; also Coordinator of the global partnership GRIPP, Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice, International Water Management Institute

Global Overview

Twenty-five (25) houses built under the "Senehe Siyapatha" housing project were presented to beneficiary families during a ceremony graced by the State Minister of Defence Hon. Ruwan Wijewardene at the "Senehase Gammanaya" in Eheliyagoda, on Tuesday (28 August). The housing beneficiaries are families affected by the recent floods in the Ratnapura District.

Long after the fighting ends, families continue to search for loved ones who have gone missing during a conflict. They live in limbo not knowing if their relative is alive or dead.

In Sri Lanka, it has been nine years since the conflict ended. But for the families of missing people, the quest for their loved ones, continues. What these families want to know most is the fate and whereabouts of their missing relatives.

Thirteen Manus Island refugees flew out of the Papua New Guinea capital of Port Moresby yesterday to be resettled in the United States.

Two members of the group are Pakistanis, two are Tamils, five are Afghans and four come from Myanmar.

Read more on Radio New Zealand International

Foreword