A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Back to 500BC.
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Thursday, June 22, 2017
World Refugees Day and refugees from and to Sri Lanka
Photograph courtesy Borgen Magazine
RUKI FERNANDO on 06/21/2017
20th June
is World Refugee Day. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) estimates that 65.6 million people have been forcibly displaced
globally. I have heard that close to one million Sri Lankans have fled
the country to escape violence, war and persecution. I had met few of
them in different countries and been struck by their differences in
their experiences, challenges, fears and aspirations.
It was alarming to hear that some had fled the country since 2015,
including this year. Acording to the International Truth and Justice
Project – Sri Lanka (ITJP)[1],
they have taken testimonies from 57 Sri Lankan Tamils who had sought
asylum in European countries after having faced abduction, illegal
detention, torture and/or sexual violence at the hands of intelligence
and security officers under the Sirisena government in 2015-2017. There
have been many more who had sought asylum during previous governments.
Early this year, in Thailand, I met a Sri Lankan family who had been
recognized as refugees by UNHCR. They were barely surviving, with no
possibility to be employed legally, struggling to pay for a room to stay
in, find food to eat and unable to send children to school. But they
were still scared to return home. In 2016, a Tamil journalist / human
rights activist who had decided to return to Sri Lanka after going into
exile, was detained at the airport and questioned about his activism for
more than 24 hours, before being produced before a magistrate and
released on bail. His family members were subjected to questioning
afterwards.
I also know a few Sinhalese and Tamil journalists and activists who had
sought refuge abroad under Rajapakse regime, but had returned to Sri
Lanka since 2015. Some had come permanently and some have been visiting
regularly. Some had given up benefits of refugee status and possibility
to obtain citizenship in a European country which had offered them
refugee status. They had not faced any harassments at the airport or
afterwards.
Despite rhetoric of inviting those who went into exile to return, the
new Sri Lankan government has done very little to guarantee security and
assist those who had requested for assistance to return home after
being recognized by UNHCR as refugees. In 2015, it literarily took an
earthquake for the government to take action to ensure the return of two
Sri Lankans from Nepal, who had been granted refugee status by UNHCR.[2]
For around a year, the Sri Lankan government had not assisted two other
activists also in Nepal who have been recognized as refugees by UNHCR,
and had made repeated requests for the government to intervene to bring
them home.
Returning Refugees from India
A significant number of Sri Lankans, mostly Tamils from North and East,
had fled to India during decades of war, living as refugees. More than
11,000 are estimated to have returned to Sri Lanka. Despite some limited
support from the Sri Lankan government, those who want to return face
multiple challenges and the majority of refugees remain in camps in
India, uncertain of their future. Like some of those mentioned above,
they also fear intrusive visits and questioning from Sri Lankan
authorities.
A major challenge they face is lack of legal documents, such as birth,
marriage, and death certificates and the National Identity Cards (NIC).
The lack of supportive documents[3] of
parents has been a major hurdle for children to obtain consular birth
certificates and subsequently Sri Lankan citizenship. Many returnees
face difficulties in obtaining their citizenship, including heavy
penalties and complex documentation requirements. A waiver of penalties
is available only to those who possess a return letter from UNHCR, but
not to those who return spontaneously of their own accord. Difficulties
in obtaining consular documents increase the risk of refugees falling
into the category of stateless persons. The inability of refugees born
in camps to obtain citizenship (through the Sri Lankan consular process)
before return causes delays in their ability to obtain other documents
in Sri Lanka after return, such as the NIC, passports, and driving
licences. This results in further delays in returnees claiming rights
and reintegration benefits, including social welfare schemes, opening
bank accounts, finding employment, and enrolling in educational
institutions.
Many returnees have ended up being homeless and landless. Some of the
refugee’s lands and houses have been occupied by others and refugees
have been compelled to live with friends and relatives, in welfare
centres or spend their meagre resources on rent. Loss of land documents,
land disputes over boundaries and the inability to locate and demarcate
land have also been challenges. Some returnees who are able to recover
their land are unable to use it for resettlement due to the land being
overgrown by jungle growth and wild animals. There are no governmental
programmes to provide temporary or transitional shelter.
Deprivation of agricultural land, inability to get fishing licences, and
requirement of compulsory guarantors for loans makes it difficult to
restart livelihoods. They also face difficulties in finding employment
opportunities in both the private and public sector, with limited
support schemes available. There are no special employment schemes.
Non-recognition of educational qualifications, including high school /
secondary school, degrees and diplomas, obtained overseas while living
as refugees, has posed challenges for pursuing higher education and
career opportunities. Obtaining equivalent certificates (to recognise
certificates from foreign institutions) places an additional financial
and procedural burden on returning refugees who are already struggling
with very limited resources.[4]
Refugees and Asylum seekers coming to Si Lanka
Sri Lanka is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967
Protocol. There are no national procedures for the granting of refugee
status. Refugees who come to Sri Lanka are left to the care and
protection of UNHCR, which, in agreement with the Government of Sri
Lanka, registers asylum seekers and carries out refugee status
determination.
About 75% of asylum seekers and refugees in Sri Lanka are from Pakistan
and about 15% from Afghanistan. Visa restrictions for these nationals to
enter Sri Lanka remain in place and some asylum seekers are turned away
at the airport and sent back to the conditions they sought to flee,
without an opportunity to present their case or right of appeal,
violating the customary law principle of non-refoulement.
As of end of 2016, there were 604 refugees who had been recognized as
refugees by UNHCR and 576 whose applications were pending at UNHCR in
Sri Lanka. In addition to Pakistanis and Afghans, others were from
countries such as Bangladesh, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar,
Palestine, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Ukraine and Yemen. Asylum
seekers and refugees live in fear of random and unannounced intrusion
into their lives by the police and immigration authorities, and the
threat of deportation.
UNHCR provides those recognized as refugees with an allowance of about
Rs. 10,000 per person or Rs. 22,000 for family with two or more
children, which is not enough to cover even accommodation and food and
live in dignity in Sri Lanka. Asylum seekers don’t get any allowance and
are left to fend for themselves. Few religious groups (Muslim and
Christian) and NGOs have been supporting them with
education, accommodation, food, healthcare etc. But these have been very
minimal, often adhoc and only few have benefited.
The Sri Lankan government doesn’t ensure rights of housing, food,
education, healthcare or legal employment to asylum seekers and
refugees. No permanent or even transitional shelter is provided by the
government. Due to hostility, mistrust, and negative stereotyping from
the local community, and threats from police and immigration officers,
landlords have been reluctant to rent houses and are known to take
advantage of their vulnerable situation and charge unreasonable rental
rates and advance payments.
They are not included in government programs for food and nutrition
security or social security programs such as Samurdhi, even though this
could be done fairly easily and at little extra cost. The treatment and
services available to asylum seekers and refugees at public hospitals
and clinics is often lacking in terms of care and compassion. In some
cases, the provision of treatment is at the discretion of authorities
and asylum seekers and refugees who seek medical care are made to feel
like they are seeking a privilege, rather than exercising a basic right.
Despite having had to flee after experiencing and witnessing
atrocities, violence and discrimination, anxieties about family and
friends they had left behind and finding themselves in unfamiliar and
unwelcoming environment, there is no psychiatric and psychosocial care
made available to asylum seekers and refugees.
Although Sri Lankan constitution guarantees “assurance to all persons of
the right to universal and equal access to education at all levels”,
this is not extended to refugee and asylum children. As of March 2017,
there were 106 children of primary school age, of whom 46 were
asylum-seekers and 60 are refugees. The refugee children between 6 – 10
years have access to schooling through UNHCR’s support, but a further
167 children of secondary school age, of whom 71 are asylum-seekers and
96 are refugees, do not have any access to formal schooling. Asylum
seekers and refugees are also not absorbed into the many government
technical education and vocational training systems, which has the
potential to help them to learn and develop vocational skills that they
could utilise in seeking employment and living independently in their
countries of resettlement.
Long way to go
After the end of the war in 2009 and change of government in 2015, some
Sri Lankan refugees try to return back, amidst security concerns and
minimal assistance from the government. At the same time, other Sri
Lankans continue to flee from persecution. And Sri Lanka is failing to
provide humane care to asylum seekers coming from other countries, in
line with international standards. Our government and as people, we
still have a long way to go towards being a compassionate society where
it’s citizens don’t have to flee from persecution and fear and welcome
those fleeing from persecution in their countries and coming to us for
care and refuge.
[3] Such
as birth certificates of parents, marriage certificates, grandparents’
birth certificates, parents’ consular birth certificates
[4] The
expenses include travelling to and from Colombo and the fees for
conversions, such as Rs 35,000 for National Apprentice and Industrial
Training certificates and Rs 2,500 for university degrees.