United States offers 2.25 million dollars aid to Sri Lanka IDPs

The United States Government will contribute an additional $2.25 million to support internally displaced persons (IDPs) as they return to their homes and villages in northern Sri Lanka, a press release issued by the U.S. Embassy in Colombo announced.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) of the U.S. Department of State, Kelly Clements, who is visiting Sri Lanka June 17-19, is to visit Jaffna and travel to Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu to discuss returnees' needs and their hopes for the future, the Embassy announced. Her visit is to highlight the U.S. Government's continued support for IDPs and returnees.
The aid money is to be given to approximately 9,000 returning families as shelter cash grants through the Sri Lankan office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Each returning families receive a modest sum of 25,000 rupees ($220) as a shelter cash grant. The money is an integral part of returnees' return packages, the Embassy says.
Many returnees have used the grant money to purchase bicycles, which allow them to access services, transport goods, and re-establish social ties. Some families have used the money to clear land for agriculture or to start up small businesses.
UNHCR, with the assistance of the United States government, has provided over 50,400 families with the shelter cash grant since the program began in October 2009, but funding constraints have threatened to suspend continuation of the program. This additional funding from the United States will help prolong it, the release highlighted.
With the addition of this $2.25 million contribution, the U.S. Government will have provided more than $33 million in humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka since October 2009. This includes more than $24.7 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide basic food rations and meet basic health, protection, shelter, water, and sanitation needs of IDPs and returnees; and $8.7 million from the U.S. Department of State for ongoing assistance in both the remaining IDP camps and areas of return.
The U.S. Government is pleased to support the broader efforts of the Government of Sri Lanka and its international partners to allow IDPs to return to their homes in safety and dignity, the press release stated.