In her Briefing paper entitled Sri Lanka: Transitioning from a Humanitarian Crisis to a Human Rights Crisis, Lynn Yoshikawa, Senior Programme manager of Inter Action, writes-

“ Sri Lanka is recovering from a devastating 26-year civil war, which ended in May 2009 with the military defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by the government of Sri Lanka. The rapid reconstruction of major roads, power lines and public buildings by the government is an impressive achievement. The return of 300,000 people displaced at the end of the war was also swift, but in a number of cases the government of Sri Lanka did not adhere to internationally accepted standards for voluntary, safe and dignified return. Furthermore, an estimated 100,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) remain in camps, host communities and transit centers1 and about 136,000 Sri Lankan refugees remain in exile, with the majority in India. Sri Lanka’s postwar transition from relief to development has been artificially stunted in that there was little recognition of the underlying grievances of the Tamil minority”.

In her conclusion, Lynn Yoshikawa says, “Sri Lanka has demonstrated it has the infrastructure, capacity and systems to make major development progress. The government of Sri Lanka, however, has often been reluctant, if not obstructionist, in facilitating recovery efforts in the Northern and Eastern provinces by restricting aid agencies’ access and scope of programming”.

InterAction is the largest alliance of U.S.-based international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), with more than 190 members working in every developing country.  Members are faith-based and secular, large and small, with a focus on the world’s most poor and vulnerable populations.