Sri Lanka official records reveal 11000 deaths in north in 2009

Sri Lanka has officially released a report on the deaths occurred in the  Northern Province during the last four years of the war that ended in May 2009.

The Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) conducted the Enumeration of Vital Events (EVE)-2011

during the months of June/ July 2011.The Main objective of the EVE- 2011 is to provide the government with important information concerning the population and vital events in the Northern Province which were not recorded since 1981 due to acts of terrorism prevalent in the province for 3 decades.

The EVE 2011 covered the entire Northern Province and the information thus collected can be presented

at Province, District, Divisional Secretariat Division, GramaNiladhari Division and Local Government Authority levels.

According to the 80-page report on Enumeration of Vital Events-2011 released Saturday, the Department  records a total of 22,329 deaths in northern Jaffna, Mannar, Vavuniya, Mullativu and Kilinochchi districts during the five years before the end of the conflict in May 2009 and nearly 8,000 deaths due to the fighting during the first five months of 2009.

The Department had carried out the census project of Enumeration of Vital Events (EVE-2011) in the Northern Province from June 10 – August 15.

The deaths were categorized under old/sick, natural disaster, accident, homicide and suicide, other which includes the deaths due to fighting, and unknown causes.

Natural deaths include deaths due to succumbing to diseases, aging, due to natural disasters etc. while ‘other deaths’ include deaths due to accidents, homicides, suicides, acts of terrorism etc. However 71% of the deaths that occurred in 2009 are reported as being due to extraordinary circumstances but majority of the deaths, prior to and beyond that, are reported to be the results of natural causes.

The five districts of the Province recorded 22,239 deaths due to all causes during the period 2005-2009 and over half of those, 11,172 were in 2009.

In 2009, a total of 7,934 died due to ‘other deaths’ and 2,523 died natural deaths.

Out of the total deaths during the final stage of Sri Lankan war 6,858, including 552 children under the age of 10 were killed due to the fighting and another 2,635 were gone missing.

Most of the killed From January to May of 2009 were from Kilinochchi district, where the Tamil Tiger terrorists had their de facto capital.

The census recorded 2,614 deaths in Kilinochchi, 1,576 in Mullaitivu, 1,273 in Jaffna, 1,047 in Vavuniya and 348 in Mannar.

In relation to the total size of the population, Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts have shown higher deaths during the year 2009.

The report did not differentiate the deaths, whether they were of civilians or Tiger combatants.

The actual recorded figures are much less than the estimates by international rights groups, which have put the death toll as high as 40,000 during the five months of 2009.

The EVE-2011 concluded the total population of the Northern Province to be 997,754, out of which 934,392 were Sri Lankan Tamils. There are only 21,860 Sinhala and 32,659 Muslims in the five districts of the Northern Province. All ethnic groups live in the five districts with Sri Lankan Tamil being the majority.

Among the Sinhalese, about 75 percent lives in Vavuniya District. Most of the Muslim population lives in the Mannar District.

According to the last Population of Census and Housing covering the entire province was conducted by the Department in 1981, the population of the Province was 1,109,404.

For further details :

http://www.statistics.gov.lk/PopHouSat/VitalStatistics/EVE2011_FinalReport.pdf

 

Source: Government News Portal