The Role Of Social Support In The Return Of Internally Displaced Persons In A Post Conflict Context: An Experience Of Sri Lankan Muslims
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Date
2014-02
Authors
Abdul Rauff, Salithamby
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
A 30-year local armed conflict in Sri Lanka between government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) displaced at least 500,000 people. When the conflict was at its height, about 72, 000 Muslims from the North of the country were forcibly displaced by the LTTE in 1990s. These Muslims since lived outside their places of origin as internally displaced persons (IDPs). The armed conflict came to an end in 2009 after government defeated the LTTE. In this post-conflict context, many of these Muslim IDPs returned home to renew their life in their places of origin. The general objectives of his study were: i) to examine the problems of displaced Muslims and support they sought to rebuild their life in their areas of origin, ii) to categorize social support needed for them, and iii) propose a social support intervention model to address their problems. This was a qualitative study. Data were collected from 20 in-depth interview participants (IDIPs), three focus groups (FGs) and eight key informants (KIs), who were recruited by purposive sampling. Face to face interviews with semi-structured questions were conducted. Data were analyzed manually. The findings showed that in rebuilding life in their places of origin, Muslim IDPs faced several problems: Physical security, illegal property occupation, livelihood, housing, water, sanitation, healthcare, education and infrastructure. IDPs sought an instrumental and informational support to continue their life. The study proposed a social support intervention model to address their problems to rebuild life in their areas.
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Keywords
Social Support , Internally Displaced Persons