Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has one of the largest populations of displaced persons in the world. It is estimated that there are over 300,000 internally displaced people in Sri Lanka today - displaced by war or natural disaster - with a further more than 100,000 living as refugees in India.
Various efforts have been made to promote the right to return and restitution and to recover former homes and land. However, many IDPs are not able to secure these rights through judicial or other remedies.
Women are particularly vulnerable to housing rights violations and have suffered from gender-based discrimination. Displaced women are particularly vulnerable and have endured discrimination related to titling schemes, restitution, and other elements related to emergency/disaster relief.
Many Sri Lankans live in informal settlements with no security of tenure – making them vulnerable to the forces of the economy and government-sponsored ‘development’ projects, resulting in forced evictions.
The current housing policy framework in Sri Lanka is extremely weak. New initiatives are underway to develop a national housing policy and policies that address restitution and resettlement. It is critical that marginalized communities have a voice in shaping these policies and that they conform to existing international human rights law.
COHRE established a country programme office in Colombo in July 2005, in the aftermath of the devastating December 2004 Asian Tsunami. It is the only COHRE office dedicated to working only a single country. Through this office, COHRE provides a variety of services to improve the housing, land and property rights situation in Sri Lanka, working through partnerships with a wide variety of organisations.
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