While victims of the tidal wave is Sri Lanka are still struggling to re-establish their livelihoods and homes, government entities, international agencies and financial institutions are trying to sneak in programs that were rejected during the last elections.

Sri Lankan civic groups, human rights groups and various unions are protesting the rehabilitation programs being planned by Asian Development Bank, World Bank, IMF being put together through TAFREN (Task Force for Rebuilding the Nation) without the voices and concerns of the people affected by the Tsunami.

A people's protest took place in Kandy, Sri Lanka, on the inaugural day of the Sri Lanka Development Forum 2005. It was jointly organized by the Alliance for the Protection of National Resources and Human Rights (ANRHR), the Trade Union Centre for Building the Country and the Free Media Movement, with the participation of other civil society organizations of various sectors. The main concerns and demands of the people were highlighted in a statement submitted to the government and donors, which was signed by over 170 Sri Lankan organizations, with the support of nearly 50 organizations from abroad.

Protesters were demanding that the grants and loans for rebuilding after tsunami to be finally agreed at the Development Forum be directly invested in meeting the needs of those affected by the tsunami in the way they see fit. In particular, protesters insisted that the government and donors give up their hidden agenda to push ahead with the Regaining Sri Lanka PRSP plan that was rejected by the people at the last election, which comprises the construction of superhighways, airports and ports, the privatization of water and power, the selling off of land and national resources such as the Eppawela phosphate deposit. They stressed that donors must abandon their practice of imposing conditions on the government to oblige them to implement this destructive plan against the will of the people. Officials have also announced that they will be including their previous plans for
infrastructure development in the country, including the Upper Kotmale Dam and the Norochcholai Power Plant.

To that end, protesters were pushing for the disbanding of the TAFREN (Task Force for Rebuilding the Nation), to be replaced by a people's planning commission with representatives of all affected communities and their organizations, and with appropriate experts with experience of social, psychological and environmental as well as physical rehabilitation. They also insisted that the establishment of the Joint Mechanism between the government and LTTE was crucial in the processes of rebuilding after the tsunami.

This union of people’s groups and civic bodies strongly supports the guiding principles declared in the action plan of responding to local needs and priorities, without discrimination, in a transparent and accountable manner, through consultation and the empowerment of communities and their organizations. However, they argue that in practice almost the complete opposite is happening.

After nearly 5 months, hundreds of thousands of people affected by the tsunami are still living in the most desperate circumstances amidst complete uncertainty about their future. Relief is being dumped hurriedly, without proper consideration of their needs and desires or of the problems of poverty and in some cases conflict in which they were living even before the disaster. The affected people are being pushed into positions of passive,
subservient receivers, who begin to compete with each other to get whatever possible, while the supposedly unaffected people, are given nothing, despite in some cases suffering equal distress, such as those who have been living in temporary camps for up to 15 years having been displaced by the conflict.

Rebuilding policies are being imposed without dialogue. Decisions are being made by an extra-governmental body TAFREN composed entirely of big business leaders with vested interests in the tourist and construction industries, who are completely unable to represent the interests of the affected communities and who have no professional experience of dealing with disasters. Policies and plans developed by this body are not known even by many local government officials, certainly not by the affected communities.

The tsunami is being used by interested parties to further their own interests and the government is creating such a body of interested parties to define rehabilitation programs in Sri Lanka. This body is not a democratic body and does not represent peoples’ interest not includes peoples’ participation.

Various civic bodies are requesting international NGOs to support their demand for democratic processes in defining rehabilitation policies. They are requesting international NGOs to start an intensive program of education of their supporters who have generously contributed resources for the affected people, to help them understand that short-term time targets for disbursing money, and tying aid to tsunami-affected areas while leaving out communities living in some cases only meters away in equally dire conditions, is totally counterproductive.

They are also requesting international NGOs to hold Government and Donors Institutions accountable to the affected communities as well as to their supporters.

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