Families split as Sri Lankans flee fighting

Hungry, traumatised children are arriving at camps in Sri Lanka after being separated from their parents as they escape heavy fighting. Growing numbers of children, some as young as five, are being forced to flee with relatives while their parents remain trapped in north-east Sri Lanka, where Tamil Tiger rebels are restricting people’s movement. But most unaccompanied children, all under the age of 16, are getting lost as they arrive at overcrowded camps in government-controlled areas.

"The camps are chaotic," aid worker Branko Golubovic told the Guardian newspaper. "These children are coming out of combat areas where they have been severely traumatised, only to find themselves in yet another harsh environment in the camps. Many of them are malnourished and most have witnessed horrific events. Being removed from the support of their families at this point will have serious long-term consequences for their overall development."

Some 72% of families had been separated and lost each other, revealed a recent survey of 100 shelters. It warned that the number of children parted from one or both parents will have risen dramatically in the past few weeks, when there was an influx of displaced persons. The United Nations special representative for children and armed conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, has expressed her concerns at the deteriorating crisis and its serious toll on children. About 196,000 people have escaped the area in northern Sri Lanka controlled by the rebels since the beginning of the year, at least 40% of which are children. Most arrived in government camps in the past three weeks.

According to UN figures, more than 6,400 people have died in the fighting since January, when the government launched an offensive that has left the Tamil Tigers trapped in a tiny enclave in the north of the island. The government estimates that 50,000 civilians remain trapped in the conflict zone. Of those still trapped about 20,000 will escape and arrive in the hugely overcrowded camps by the end of the week, aid workers estimate. In the meantime, thousands of unaccompanied children are relying on aid organisations attempting to reunite desperate parents with their missing children.

Earlier today (Thursday), The Sri Lankan government said thousands of civilians were crossing a lagoon today to escape the combat zone. "Already, 2,000 civilians have crossed the lagoon. There is a large number of people crossing, and the [rebels] fired at them. Four people were killed, 14 were wounded," army spokesman, Brigadier Udaya Nanyakkara, told Reuters agency. The Tamil Tiger rebels are pursuing their fight for a separate nation for minority Tamils, which began in the 1970s and erupted into full-scale civil war in 1983.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children