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Abstract
The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement proposed by Francis M. Deng in 1998 offer three durable solutions to internal displacement. States are not unwilling alliances when it comes to drawing up elaborate policies as solutions in the best interests of their displaced populations, but which also, albeit most importantly, help to preserve the fragile national security situation of which IDPs are often a product. By counter-posing such dominant government and/or policy discourses on return to the lived realities of IDPs in a dynamic war-torn context, the paper seeks to highlight the ‘subaltern’ narratives of conflict-displaced IDPs in Vavuniya, in northern Sri Lanka, with regard to the solutions they consider viable in the face of ongoing conflict. Policy narratives and the discursive practices they produce, as well as an eclectic consideration of various concepts, should be useful in understanding not only the policy practices but also the extent to which the displaced are (or are not) part of the solutions that claim to address their displacement. Accordingly, a qualitative method of enquiry was judged to be a relevant approach to answering the question of whether the voices of internally displaced people (IDPs) feature in the discourses claiming to provide a solution to their displacement. The method was applied in an attempt to bring to the fore the perceptions and meanings which IDPs in Vavuniya assign to policies implemented on their behalf.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Piers Blaikie and Ragnhild Lund for their highly constructive comments on this paper. I also thank Catherine Brun, Hans Skotte, Sarah Khasalamwa, John Nigel, Chamilla Attanapola, and Anders Aspaugh for their valuable comments on all or parts of earlier drafts of the paper. Radmil Popovic is thanked for technical assistance and Catriona Turner for editorial help. Many thanks are due to all the research participants, without whom there would be no story to tell, and also to FORUT-Sri Lanka and FORUT-Vavuniya. P.C. Sivapalan deserves special mention for excellent interpretation services. I also extend my gratitude to two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments.
Notes
1. The GPs were formally proposed by Dr Francis Deng, the former representative of the UN Secretary-General on IDPs, in collaboration with a team of international legal experts, prominent among whom was Walter Kälin, the current representative (see Kälin Citation2000, v, Preface by Francis Deng).
2. See Kälin (2007, 3) for what a framework for durable solutions expects of governments or is intended to do.
3. Accurate figures as to the actual civilian death toll are not readily available. The estimates range from 65,000 to 75,000, but the number could be higher.
4. UNHCR document ‘IDPs by Place of Displacement and Place of Origin as at 31st January 2008’ (IDP movements after 7 April 2006), UNHCR/GIS Unit, Sri Lanka.
5. In Sri Lanka, areas under government control, especially those reclaimed from the LTTE in the north-east are and commonly referred to by the GoSL as ‘cleared’ areas whilst those under LTTE control are considered ‘uncleared’ areas.
6. It does not fall within the scope of the present paper to discuss the implications of methodological and ethical issues, but a critical reading of the paper is recommended as the information was necessarily framed by the prevailing circumstances.
7. Whilst my reception was generally warm, reactions ranged from shock, to incredulity, to curiosity bordering on exoticism, and in some cases, admiration, especially from the young women as to why I would risk conducting research in their environment, even though they felt encouraged by our presence. I cannot rule out suspicion and even maybe dislike, although I was not openly confronted by such attitudes.
8. My main interpreter was the programme coordinator of the NGO who had also followed a course at the Department of Geography at NTNU. He was instrumental in arranging for us to visit a location which many considered too risky to visit in the line of duty, much less to attempt to conduct research there. Other staff interpreted on a few other occasions.
9. Displacement covers a wide range of situations but in this paper it primarily refers to conflict-induced displacement, specifically experienced by IDPs, who are alternatively referred to as ‘forced migrants’.
10. Defined by Bhabha (1996: 50) as ‘oppressed, minority groups whose presence was crucial to the self-definition of the majority group: subaltern social groups were also in a position to subvert the authority of those who had hegemonic power’.
11. Mr M.S. Jayasinghe, as Secretary of the Ministry of Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (MRRR), lists among the Ministry's functions: ‘to resettle and relocate IDPs in the North-East and adjacent areas’. He also indicates that ‘rehabilitation assistance is to be made available only to families who have returned to land and property they own, or which has been granted by the authorities … and where the returnee and his family have demonstrated a clear intention to remain in the location in a permanent capacity’ (Jayasinghe Citation2005, 8, 12, my italics).