21 Nov. 2009, Sri Lanka

The Tamil war refugees in Sri Lanka who are detained in some government camps will be made free by December 1.The camp of around 136,000 detainees will be completely closed by January 31.

About 300,000 war-displaced Tamils were forced in these squalid, overcrowded camps from which more than half got released by the end of May. This was possible due to amid pressure by rights groups as well as foreign governments. The officials made it clear in May that rest of the people would be settled as soon as possible. Rajiva Wiesenthal of disaster management ministry said that some security concerns had to be settled before the resettlement of the refugees. He also said that it was also required to restore the infrastructure before sending back the refugees to their homes.

These ethnic minority Tamils were held against the will where the access to their camps was restricted. Sri Lanka took pledge in September in front of UN to send all the civilians back to their homes by the end of January. The release of these refugees is purely in accordance with the government policy. The government had announced that the Tamils should be screened for LTTE ties before the camps get closed.