Please find attached a number of documents that describe the activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other organizations actively assisting refugees and displaced people in Sri Lanka.

One of the attached documents states that several non-government organizations are working closely with the UNHCR, including Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF), Save the Children Fund (UK) and Care International (Robinson 1991, 24). The document adds that "in the past nine years [as of 1991], however, a diverse mix of indigenous organizations has supplemented the central and state governments' aid to Tamil refugees both inside and outside the [refugee] camps" (Ibid., 31). In addition to the Organization for Eelam Refugees Rehabilitation (OFERR), the report names some of the indigenous organizations that are "quite local in their focus," including the Community Rehabilitation Organization Project (CROP), the Medical Unit for Service of Tamils (MUST) and the United Front Federation for Repatriates (UFFR) (Ibid.).

Other attachments include less detailed information on assistance work provided by various organizations, and one of the attached documents includes a listing of human rights organizations in Sri Lanka that may or may not be involved in assisting displaced Tamils from the North of Sri Lanka.

One report not included with this Response states that the Peace Brigades International (PBI) and the War Resisters International (WRI) have provided "escort support" for lawyers in Colombo (World Solidarity Forum 1990, 31). Response to Information Request LKA1995 (8 Sept. 1989) refers to the Tamil Refugee Rehabilitation (TRRO). However, it is not clear from the available sources whether this organization continues to exist and operate in Sri Lanka at present.

Additional references to non-government organizations working in Sri Lanka can be found on pages 10-12 of a Danish Refugee Council report included in the Immigration and Refugee Board Documentation Centre's issue paper Sri Lanka: Repatriation (IRBDC May 1989).

The organizations named in the attachments and other referred documents may not be all the organizations currently active in Sri Lanka, and changes in the named organizations may have occurred since the dates of publication of the attached documents.

Additional and/or corroborating information could not be found among the sources currently available to the DIRB.

Immigration and Refugee Board Documentation Centre (IRBDC), Ottawa. 8 September 1989. Response to Information Request LKA1995.

. May 1989. Sri Lanka: Repatriation.

Robinson, Court. October 1991. Sri Lanka: Island of Refugees. Washington, D.C.: United States Committee for Refugees.

World Solidarity Forum on Sri Lanka for Justice and Peace. May 1990. Report of Programme in Sri Lanka & Thailand. Bangkok: World Solidarity Forum on Sri Lanka for Justice and Peace.

International Peace Research Institute (PRIO). October 1986. International Alert: Prospects for Peace in Sri Lanka. Oslo: International Peace Research Institute (PRIO), pp. 19-20.

Jesuit Refugee Service Asia Pacific. February 1991. Long Road to Jaffna: The Situation of Sri Lanka's Tamil Refugees. Bangkok: Jesuit Refugee Service Asia Pacific, pp. 7-15.

Keller, Walter. May 1990. Sri Lanka: Informationen für HilfswerksvertreterInnen im Asylverfahren. Lausanne: Swiss Central Office for Refugee Assistance (OSAR), p. 57.

Robinson, Court. October 1991. Sri Lanka: Island of Refugees. Washington, D.C.: United States Committee for Refugees, pp. 18-33.

United States Committee for Refugees. 1992. World Refugee Survey 1992. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Committee for Refugees, pp. 106-107.