Causes of displacement

Many situations have led to the displacement and landlessness for scores of people in Sri Lanka.

Well known, of course, are the half million people who were washed away by the Tsunami of winter 2004, and more than half that many who have been uprooted by the 25 years of civil war between the Tamil Tigers, a rebel separatist group, and the military. In addition to this number, there are another 260,000 people from over 86,000 families who were displaced during the last battle of this year, and now live spread over six refugee camps, which each house more than 30,000 people.

Read about Sinhalese refugees from Namalwatte who returned to their homes twenty years after they had fled advancing Tamil Tigers in a recent newspaper article with references to Praja Abhilasha.

There are also the thousands of people who have sustained the loss of their habitat through other natural disasters, such as land slides, cyclones and floods, while several hundreds of villagers have had to leave their homes due to animal conflicts, such as elephants who have invaded their natural habitat.

But besides these natural disasters and war there are still other manmade causes of displacement. Some situations are rooted in the past, such as the families who have been unable to obtain the title to the land they have inhabited for up to 200 years, as is the case in the tea estate sector. Similarly, underpaid plantation workers are forced to live together in common shelters.

Others are the result from more recent phenomena with entire communities being evicted from their land by the government in the name of "development activities" like the Oluvil Harbour project, which was described in the Sri Lanka Chapter of the last Newsletter. Communities have also been displaced because their land was given to multinational companies, or confiscated by the government for security reasons. In other cases land that had been designated as a compensation measure to the people has not yet been given. There are, for example, families living in housing of the National Housing Authority, who had been promised deeds but have still not received them.

Throughout the country many people live this way without a house or land, and each and everyone of them needs a place to live. The issues surrounding these displacements are huge and Praja Abhilasha feels a special policy change is needed in order to help solve these problems.

Legislation on land ownership issues

Without national land policy the Sri Lanka government and others are handling the land according to their wishes. The government did appoint a land policy commissioner, but even he was unable to form a commission and write up a land policy. And so the Praja Abhilasha Network has identified the need to establish land rights for the people and for a Sustainable Land Policy to be drafted and implemented.

And so, the network has been trying to make the population aware of the land situation through the distribution of leaflets. In a next move to step up to the issue, it is carrying out a signature campaign in the 18 districts it did its survey. Each district network partner is responsible for achieving the target goal defined for their respective area, with the expectation of attaining a total of 300,000 signatures for this campaign. The signature campaign began mid-August, and will conclude mid-October.

A People's Movement for Reclaiming Land Rights

Through discussions with our partner organizations, many people suggested that the ownership of land should be considered as a fundamental right in the constitution and should be legalized. They pointed out that most of the current land laws were established in the British period, and are not suitable for Sri Lanka today. There is also not a proper mechanism to regulate land usage throughout Sri Lanka. If enforced, such a system could be beneficial to the people.

PA team visits a farmer (right) who, despite promises by the government, is still struggling to obtain the deed to his rice paddy field in Kurunegala, a village in northwest Sri Lanka

We have held discussions with Non Governmental Organizations (NGO), Civil Society groups, and Government Agencies on this matter. While Praja Abhilasha has continued to work together with the PPD (People to People Dialogue on Peace and Sustainable Development Network) in support of this campaign, many groups now show their interest in joining hands with us for this mission. In particular, Batticaloa District NGO's Union has, as the largest NGO forum of Sri Lanka, given its blessing. Meanwhile we are networking with NGOs and people in other regions as our district organizations collaborate with others within their area, based on the issue. Through this campaign we hope to build a People’s Movement for Reclaiming Land Rights to pressure the government.

Campaign objectives

The Praja Abhilasha and PPD Networks are joining hands to achieve the following objective:

Hopefully as we move on with our signature campaign and subsequent actions, we can develop a strategy to open discussions with the government to achieve these goals for land, to install the equality and justice these communities deserve.