Colombo – IOM has launched a USAID-funded pilot project in the eastern district of Batticaloa to help reintegrate demobilized former LTTE Tamil Tiger rebels into civilian life.

The Information, Counselling and Referral Services (ICRS) project aims to reintegrate up to 1,000 former members of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikel (TMVP), an armed Tamil group led by Col. Karuna Amman, which split from the LTTE in 2007.

"Reintegrating former combatants into society, retraining them and helping them to find jobs and generate income is not easy, but is an essential first step towards stabilization, peace and economic recovery," says IOM Sri Lanka Chief of Mission Mohammed Abdiker.

P., a former LTTE and TMVP cadre who joined over 100 other former combatants to register for the programme and to attend an initial interview with IOM last week, agrees that he needs a job and income to support his family, but is not convinced that he can restart his life in Batticaloa.

"There are no jobs here and it's not safe. People here don't see us as civilians and are suspicious. If anything happens, they point to us. If I had LKR 10,000 ($84), an agent could to get me a job in Libya or Korea or Europe for three or four years. I would be safe and make money. My wife agrees," he says.

IOM programme coordinator Tatjana Cerovino is sympathetic, but says that while wanting to leave is a common reaction for former combatants in similar IOM programmes around the world, it is not a viable solution for the tens of thousands on both sides who will need to return to civilian life when peace returns to Sri Lanka.      

"These men have been referred to the programme by the Ministry of Defence, which has guaranteed their security. Our job is to provide them with the information and counselling that they need to make informed decisions about their future. Based on their preferences, we can refer them to other agencies for training, or to employers. If they meet the right criteria, we can also arrange a small grant to help them set up their own business and generate income," she says. 

The Batticaloa project follows another pilot reintegration project implemented by IOM at the request of the government in 2003. The RECLAIM programme successfully helped some 600 former combatants return to civilian life.

IOM has implemented post-conflict disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes that, over the past 20 years, have helped over 300,000 former combatants and 1.5 million of their dependents in 25 countries to return to normal civilian lives.

Sri Lanka has been an IOM member state since 1990 and IOM has had a major presence in the country, including six sub-offices in the north and east, since the December 2004 tsunami.  In addition to the reintegration of former combatants, IOM Sri Lanka's activities include emergency response and reconstruction, technical cooperation in migration management, capacity building, counter trafficking, and return and reintegration.

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For more information please contact: Aurela Rincon, IOM Sri Lanka, Tel. +94 11 5325 392 (Ext. 379), E-mail: arincon@iom.int; Passanna Gunasekera, Tel. +94 11 5325 300 (Ext. 341), E-mail: pgunasekera@iom.int; or Chris Lom, Tel. +94 772300952 (mobile), E-mail: clom@iom.int