Comprehensive data on the above-mentioned subject could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB. However, the following may be of interest.

The attachment from Human Rights in Developing Countries Yearbook 1994 states that "by the beginning of 1993, 22,000 thousands persons had been resettled in areas "cleared" as safe by the military in Trincomalee, Mannar and Vavuniya, and over one thousand persons had volunteered to settle in uncleared areas." (1994, 378). In a 2 November 1993 Virakesari article, mention is made of the government's attempt to resettle refugees in the Vavyniya district in 1993.

In March 1993, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, as quoted by Mayan Vije in his June 1993 report entitled Sri Lanka: Economic Blockade, estimated that there were 11,407 displaced persons in Vavuniya, 3271 of whom were living in its eight welfare centres (22 and 23). In September 1993, the figures released by the NGOs consortium amounted to more than 24,000 displaced persons in Vavuniya, more than 7,000 of whom living in the government-run welfare centres (Chandrakanthan 5-9 Jan. 1994, Annex 1).

In a Public Information Fact Sheet on Sri Lanka dated 30 November 1994, the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that at the end of August 1994, 2,253 refugees were in transit at the reception centre it established in Vavuniya. And in February 1995, according to the Colombo-based Sri Lankan Information Monitor (INFORM), following the government's decision to close down all refugee camps in Sri Lanka, 4,640 persons living in 39 camps in the Vavuniya, Trincomalee and Mulaitivu districts were reportedly "due for re-settlement" (Feb. 1995, 11).

For more information, please refer to the attachments. For information on the travel conditions from the North to Vavuniya, please refer to the following attachments: an extract from an address by Professor Bruce Matthews to the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) branch office in Toronto on 19 January 1995, an extract from Human Rights in Developing Countries Yearbook 1994, a 29 June 1990 AP report and a 4 February 1994 Los Angeles Times article. Further information on the requirements to leave the Jaffna peninsula can be found in Response to Information Request LKA16960.E of 11 April 1994.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Chandrakanthan, A.J.V. 5-9 January 1994. An exodus Sans Destination: Refugees and the Internally Displaced in Sri Lanka. Fourth International Research and Advisory Panel Conference: Conference Papers. Oxford: University of Oxford.

Human Rights in Developing Countries Yearbook 1994. 1994. Edited by Peter Baehr et al. Oslo: Nordic Human Rights Publications.

Tamil Information [London]. March/April 1995. Nos. 44 and 45. "April Diary; April 9: Resettlement of Refugees."

Vije, Mayan. June 1993. Sri Lanka: Economic Blockade. London: Tamil Information Centre.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 30 November 1994. Public Information Fact Sheet: Sri Lanka. (HCRViews)

The Associated Press (AP). 29 June 1990. PM Cycle. Dexter Cruez. "Vavuniya One of Hundreds of Ghost Towns Emptied by War." (NEXIS)

Chandrakanthan, A.J.V. 5-9 January 1994. An exodus Sans Destination: Refugees and the Internally Displaced in Sri Lanka. Fourth International Research and Advisory Panel Conference: Conference Papers. Oxford: University of Oxford, Annex 1.

Human Rights in Developing Countries Yearbook 1994. 1994. Edited by Peter Baehr et al. Oslo: Nordic Human Rights Publications, pp. 377-79.

Lankapuvath [Colombo, in English]. 18 May 1992. "Refugees Resettled in Former LTTE Areas." (FBIS-NES-92-097 19 May 1992, p. 59)

_____. 20 February 1991. "Tamil Civilians Defy LTTE in Vavuniya Area." (FBIS-NES-91-034 20 February 1991, p. 58)

Los Angeles Times. 14 February 1993. Bulldog Edition. Minoli de Soysa. "Crossing Risky Waters; The Mundane Becomes Deadly Serious on Sri Lankan Ferry." (NEXIS)

Matthews, Bruce. 19 January 1995. Sri Lanka, The Civil War and The Crisis of Immigration. Address to the IRB, Toronto, Appendix 2, pp. 2, 3.

Sri Lanka Information Monitor (INFORM). February 1995. Situation Report. Colombo: INFORM, p. 11.

_____. October 1994. Situation Report. Colombo: INFORM, p. 10.

Tamil Information [London]. March/April 1995. Nos. 44 and 45. "April Diary; April 9: Resettlement of Refugees," p. 9.

_____. November/December 1994. Nos. 40 and 41. "British Minister Visits Tamil Refugees," p. 4.

_____. September/October 1994. Nos. 38 and 39. "September Diary; September 26: Returnees Reach North," p. 6.

_____. November/December 1993. Nos. 28 and 29. "December Diary; December 7: US Officials in Vavuniya," p. 9.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 30 November 1994. Public Information Fact Sheet: Sri Lanka. (HCRViews)

_____. 1994. Repatriation of Refugees from India to Sri Lanka; 28 January to 19 February 1994. Colombo: UNHCR, pp. 9-10, Annex 1; Tables 2, 5.

Vije, Mayan. June 1993. Sri Lanka: Economic Blockade. London: Tamil Information Centre, pp. 22, 23.

Virakesari [Colombo, in Tamil]. 2 November 1993. "Bid to Forcibly Resettle Refugees Criticized." (FBIS-NES-93-218 15 Nov. 1993, p. 88)