When the Sri Lankan civil war ended in May 2009, civilians who emerged from the last LTTE-held pocket were transported to closed camps in Vavuniya district, the largest of which, Menik Farm, held more than 200,000 people behind fencing and under military administration. Residents were initially not permitted to leave at all, humanitarian and media access was tightly controlled, and families were separated when individuals were removed for screening. The government said the restrictions were necessary to clear landmines in the north before return and to identify LTTE cadres hiding among the displaced, and it undertook to release the population within six months. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and human rights organisations described the sites as internment camps, and Tamil political representatives used stronger language still. From 1 December 2009 restrictions were partially eased so that residents could leave for up to fifteen days after registering with the authorities, and some were released permanently subject to police reporting; the military said it would trace those who failed to return. Resettlement proceeded unevenly over the following two years and Menik Farm was officially closed on 25 September 2012, though thousands of families remained without a permanent place of return years afterwards.
The Sri Lankan government and military holding Tamil civilians who left the final conflict zone in guarded camps in Vavuniya district pending screening for LTTE membership
The government's own pre-offensive estimates put the civilian population of the Vanni at 100,000-150,000, while UN agencies working from food distribution and local administrative records argued for 300,000-360,000; the roughly 290,000 people who actually emerged and were interned settled the dispute in favour of the higher figure, and it became central to the later argument over civilian casualties in the final months.
No source establishes a death toll for the closed camps themselves. Human Rights Watch's October 2009 reporting on Menik Farm documented severe overcrowding, water rationing well below UN minimums, flooding and deteriorating shelter, but provided no aggregate mortality figure; deaths from the final phase of the war that immediately preceded internment are counted under the civil war entry.
Human Rights Watch documented that the Sri Lankan government was holding 255,551 displaced Tamils in camps and hospitals in late September 2009, 'unlawfully depriving them of their liberty and freedom of movement', and described the screening process as a pretext for prolonged detention.
Sri Lanka