US embassy cable - 04COLOMBO175

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000175 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, PRM/ANE, DRL/CRA 
 
PLEASE ALSO PASS TOPEC 
 
E.O. 12958:        N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PREF, PHUM, EAID, PGOV, CE, LTTE - Peace Process, Human Rights 
SUBJECT:  Sri Lanka:  Ambassador's Fund for Refugees 
request 
 
Ref:  State 07199 
 
1.  (U) This message is Sensitive but Unclassified -- 
Please handle accordingly. 
 
2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Mission requests USD 20,000 from the 
2004 Ambassador's Fund for Refugees to support the 
activities of CHF, a U.S.-based NGO, that provides 
shelter for IDPs in northern Sri Lanka.  In addition to 
meeting a critical humanitarian need, this project would 
underscore U.S. support for Sri Lanka's fragile peace 
process.  END SUMMARY. 
 
3.  (U) Per Reftel, Mission requests funding for 
Community Housing Finance International (CHF), an 
international NGO headquartered in the U.S., engaged in 
providing transitional shelter to returning refugees and 
internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Jaffna 
Peninsula in northern Sri Lanka.  Jaffna has the highest 
concentation of returning refugees and IDPs in Sri 
Lanka.  (Note:  There are about 500,000 IDPs in Sri 
Lanka right now.  Over 300,000 have returned to their 
points of origin since the beginning of the peace 
process in December 2001.  There are approximately 
100,000 refugees living in camps and elsewhere in India. 
Of these, only a small number have returned to Sri 
Lanka.)  Many of those returning to areas in Jaffna 
District are unable to resettle in their exact points of 
origin due to the military's high security zones and 
thus temporarily resettle elsewhere in Jaffna District. 
At present, approximately 2,200 of these individuals are 
housed in 90 welfare centers located throughout Jaffna 
District. 
 
4.  (U) Since August 2003, CHF has worked with UNHCR and 
the GSL to provide assistance to targeted groups of 
returning refugees and IDPs living in welfare centers. 
As of the end of 2003, CHF had constructed 432 complete 
shelter units, which housed over two thousand 
individuals.  These units, constructed in part from 
local materials, can be defabricated to allow relocation 
to permanent locations in the future.  As a result of 
CHF's efforts, an additional 247 further families (1,230 
individuals) who have been living in seriously 
substandard shanty-type shelters received additional 
materials such as doors, cement, and sand for housing 
improvements.  The program has also provided tools, 
training and income to over 90 previously unskilled 
individuals living in the welfare centers.  Under this 
program, six locally constructed brick-making machines 
use waste from an international demining project to 
create low-cost, environmentally friendly bricks for 
program needs.  These cost a fraction of other locally 
produced bricks, and CHF intends the brick-making 
projects to sustain themselves as a local industry, 
providing households with a means to generate income.  A 
vital aspect of CHF's work is its efforts to engage 
local government officials in its projects. 
 
5.  (U) CHF is currently looking at a funding gap of 
several months, and may have to cease operations until 
new sources of funding are found.  Given CHF's proven 
track record in providing low-cost, high-impact shelter 
to returnees, Mission recommends that funds in the 
amount of 20,000 USD be made available from the 
Ambassador's Fund for Refugees to help CHF continue its 
shelter programs.  With this funding, CHF could provide 
technical assistance to local government officials on 
implementing shelter programs, a key aspect for 
sustaining the program in the mid- and longer term.  In 
the meantime, CHF has indicated that it will continue to 
search for other sources of funding.  Mission has 
consulted with UNHCR, which has high praise for CHF and 
recommended that the group be provided funding to meet 
its short-term gap if at all possible. 
 
6.  (SBU) COMMENT:  In addition to meeting a critical 
humanitarian need, USG assistance to CHF would 
underscore our commitment to the people of northern and 
eastern Sri Lanka, who have suffered the most during Sri 
Lanka's 1983-2001 ethnic conflict.  In doing so, we 
would also be underlining our strong support for Sri 
Lanka's fragile peace process.  Assistance to CHF is 
congruent with USAID programs in the north/east and we 
would highlight such assistance via public diplomacy 
tools.  Mission also certifies that it has the authority 
and the capacity to award a grant to the intended 
recipient agency before the end of the fiscal year.  END 
COMMENT. 
 
7.  (U) Minimize considered. 
 
LUNSTEAD