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"The Secretary-General welcomes the decision by the Government of Sri Lanka to grant increased freedom of movement to internally displaced persons (IDPs) still residing in camps in northern Sri Lanka," said a statement issued here by Ban's spokesperson.
"These are steps which the UN has long been pressing for in its intensive engagement with the authorities in Sri Lanka, including during the Secretary-General's own visit in May," it added.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa's brother and Chairman of the Task Force for Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Basil Rajapaksa, told reporters in Vavuniya that the government had taken this decision to respect the human rights of the displaced persons.
The government maintained a strict restrictions over the displaced persons citing security reasons,and fearing a resurgence of LTTE loyalists.
Rajapaksa also noted and that present decision to ease restrictions would be in place till the end of January when all those displaced from the fighting are expected to be returned home. "We have decided to allow freedom of movement to these people from December 1, " Rajapaksa declared.
"They are free to move in and out of the camps and could even go home if they wished."
The decision to allow them to venture out of the camps came soon after UN's top official for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, who recently wrapped up his visit to Sri Lanka noted that the government was making good progress to send the IDPs home.
"The commitment of the government to resettle the IDPs is encouraging," he said, after his trip underlining that that more than half the displaced civilians in the welfare camps have been sent back to their villages.
Some 274,000 people were displaced during the final months of the conflict in Sri Lanka and then accommodated in closed camps in the Vavuniya, Jaffna, Mannar and Trincomalee districts.
The conditions in the refugee camps led to strong international criticism for human rights violations on the part of Sri Lankan government. Despite the returns of 150,000 displaced persons some 127,000 people still remain in the camps, according to the government.
"The Secretary-General also welcomes the release of over half of the IDPs from the camps, and encourages the Government to continue to prioritise the return of IDPs," Ban's office said.
"The Secretary-General urges the Government of Sri Lanka to continue to work with the UN and other humanitarian partners to improve the quality of the returns process, including through consultation with the IDPs themselves, and to ensure the best possible assistance and services to returnees," it added.
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Each and every citizen of Sri Lanka should contribute their individual might for Peace in their nation while rehabilitating the war displaced Tamil people and implementing a political solution for the Tamil ethnicity in the island nation. The next polls, both Presidential and Parliamentary , sometimes to be held simultaneously will be a critical factor for the same.
India%u2019s participation and valuable opinions should be for prompting the regime in Sri Lanka to be more proactive and moderate in designing the road map for a political solution to the ethnicity in the homeland of both Tamils and Sinhalese of all religions. It is quite interesting to high-light the Sri Lanka%u2019s indifferent response to the United Nations High Commissioner of Human Rights Ms.Navaneetham Pillay%u2019s request for international investigations into the alleged killing of civilians during the final phase of the war 2006-09 against rebels. She has declared that a similar request was made by the U.N.Secretary General also. As per reports released to press she had revealed that the Sri Lankan government would not let her visit in the nation.
President Rajapaksa was not sarcastic when he asserted to the visiting Indian delegation that for the political solution to be arrived at towards the ethnic issues of Sri Lanka, he would expect the fulfillment of two conditions viz. the solution is to be acceptable to all communities and it should also be acceptable to the neighbor (India) as well! The Rajapaksa government has gracefully come forward to hear opinions from the most responsible political front in India who have empathy to the victims of war. The octogenarian Chief Minister Dr.M. Karunanidhi has risen to the level of a statesman by interacting with the Sri Lankan regime and enabling a delegation to visit there. The Chief Minister refined his vision for peace in Sri Lanka and the life of Tamil speaking people belonging to the island nation for generations.