Sri Lankans to be sent back to war zone?

Saturday, February 24, 2007 - 11:00

On February 24, the Refugee Council of Australia called on PM John Howard's government to grant "full and fair hearing" in Australia to any claims for asylum by a group of 83 Sri Lankans rescued off Christmas Island by an Australian naval ship.

The 83 Sri Lankan men and two Indonesian men, whose wooden-hulled boat sank on February 21, were being taken to the Christmas Island and classified as "offshore entry people" under the migration act, immigration minister Kevin Andrews announced on February 24.

He told journalists that the men would be accommodated temporarily on Christmas Island while health checks and information gathering processes continued, and that they would not be brought to the mainland.

The Fairfax press reported earlier that same day that "Sri Lanka's ambassador to Indonesia, Janaka Perera, last night confirmed Australian and Indonesian officials had told him the 83 men would be returned to Jakarta, then sent home." This would be a move in violation of international refugee conventions.

"Australia cannot, as suggested in press reports today, consider returning any asylum seekers to Indonesia and then to Sri Lanka without giving them a chance to put their case for protection", Refugee Council president John Gibson told media.

Gibson said: "The 30-year conflict in Sri Lanka has rapidly worsened in the past year. In December, UNHCR appealed to governments around the world to give asylum claims from Sri Lankan citizens a fair hearing, in view of the bombings, terrorist attacks, extra-judicial killings, abductions, rapes, communal violence and other forms of persecution taking place in many parts of the country.

"In October, a research team from Melbourne's Hotham Mission visited Sri Lanka and documented the widespread nature of the human rights abuses occurring within the country.

"The conflict between government forces, the Tamil Tigers and other factions has led to more than 500,000 Sri Lankans becoming internally displaced. Another 16,000 people have fled to India in the past year."