Freedom of movement welcomed – cautiously

The promise to free the remaining detainees was cautiously welcomed by some Western governments and international organisations, which have been providing most of the funding for the camps.

However, many expressed concern that the Government had not shared details of its plans to resettle the detainees, or allowed international organisations to observe or assist.

“Granting genuine freedom, to decide their own future, will be a major relief for those still trapped in the camps,” said Mike Foster, Britain’s Minister for International Development.

“Humanitarian agencies must now be allowed to give them the help they need, in all the places they return to.”

Mr Foster visited Sri Lanka last month and expressed disappointment at the pace at which detainees were being released, warning that British funding for the camps would be withdrawn.

In Brussels, the European Union said it remained cautious despite Colombo's announcement that the camps would be closed.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the announcements, but also called for support for the displaced.

The government is urged "to improve the quality of the returns process, including through consultation with the IDPs themselves, and to ensure the best possible assistance and services to returnees", said Ban in a statement on 21 November.

Rene De Vries, country director for Oxfam in Sri Lanka, said allowing freedom of movement was a "good step forward from closed camps", but it was unclear to what extent the IDPs would move freely.

"We'll just have to see how far this will be implemented ... As far as we understand now, it's not total freedom," De Vries told IRIN.

"It will be a pass system where people will be allowed to leave for a fixed period of time ... but then will have to return to the camp."

The decision received a qualified welcome from the humanitarian agency Unicef, whose spokeswoman Sarah Crowe said it was "to be welcomed without any doubts" but cautioned that those who had been locked up for months would need time to adjust.

"It means people now have a chance to live a normal life and it must be a huge relief to them," she said.

"But the next step will be reunification. That clearly has to happen and there is a need for trauma counselling, particularly for children who have lived through horrid, horrid times and seen things they should never see, really the stuff of nightmares, that will live with them for a very long time."