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Pledge to bring families back together

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, March 19 (UPI) -- The International Committee of the Red Cross is working to reconnect separated families that have been displaced by the ongoing Sri Lankan military conflict.

Geneva-based ICRC and the local Sri Lanka Red Cross Society have been working to bring humanitarian aid and help evacuate civilians from a shrinking no-conflict zone in the north of the country, where civilians are caught in a conflict between the Sri Lankan army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebel group.

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While more than 36,000 people have left the northern Vanni conflict area, an estimated 150,000 to 180,000 remain. Additionally, many families have been split up in the displacement.

The ICRC and Sri Lanka Red Cross Society recently met with Sri Lankan government officials to present a pledge of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement to help bring the families back together.

"In the process of displacement, many families have become separated or have lost contact with relatives in other parts of the country or abroad. The movement offered to help them re-establish contact and reunite," according to a news release.

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