Australia has no grounds to continue Sri Lankan asylum claims suspension
30 June 2010, 11:43AM
Amnesty International has warned that Sri Lanka remains a region of great insecurity and danger for many people and that there are no grounds for a blanket suspension on claims for asylum by people fleeing persecution in that country.
Amnesty International is calling on the Australian Government to return to the usual process of assessing each claim for asylum on its merits, as thousands of people continue to face a real risk of persecution and abuse in Sri Lanka.
“No area in Sri Lanka is entirely safe if someone has run afoul of an armed group or a powerful politician, been identified as a critic of the government or is suspected in some way of being ‘anti-government’,” said Amnesty International’s Sri Lanka researcher Yolanda Foster. “It is a small island with tight communities; it is a difficult place to hide.”
On 9 April this year, the Australian Government suspended the processing of asylum claims by Sri Lankan and Afghan nationals, for three months and six months respectively. The suspension of claims by Sri Lankans is due to be reviewed on 8 July.
Amnesty International has sent a letter to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, urging her not to trade away the rights of asylum seekers for political advantage.
“Australia assesses asylum claims on a case-by-case basis by people from countries all around the world so there are absolutely no grounds for Australia to discriminate against people from Sri Lanka, a country where thousands of people continue to be persecuted,” said Amnesty International Australia campaigns manager Andrew Beswick.
“As we said to Prime Minister Gillard in our letter, securing our borders does not necessitate the inhumane treatment of some of the world’s most vulnerable people. Our current country information indicates that the situation in Sri Lanka remains extremely dangerous for many groups and individuals.”
Among the many groups in Sri Lanka still at grave risk are members of the Tamil community, particularly those suspected of affiliation with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), as well as young Tamil men from northern or eastern Sri Lanka. Some members of the Sinhalese majority and ethnic minorities such as Muslims also are at risk. All ethnic groups continue to face the risk of torture or other ill-treatment in police custody.
A number of other groups continue to be persecuted, such as journalists, members of trade unions, human rights defenders, activist lawyers, and anyone else who has been a critic of civil society in Sri Lanka.
Also in particular danger are people suspected of backing, or who actually back, opposition political groupings, such as the Janata Vimukhti Peramuna (JVP) or United National Party (UNP), or anyone suspected of supporting the former army chief turned politician, Sarath Fonseka.
More than 10,000 people, detained for suspected links to the LTTE, remain in detention without charge. As recently as 24 May hundreds of people demonstrated in Vavuniya, demanding that the Sri Lankan government make public the names of detained people and do more to help families trace missing relatives, many of whom, their families claim, were either arrested or abducted.
Amnesty International continues to receive reports that LTTE suspects are being held in secret places of detention and tortured in those facilities. Killings in custody are also alleged. The police and the military have retained their extraordinary powers to arrest and detain individuals for lengthy periods without trial. Torture in detention remains common and enforced disappearances continue to be reported.
“The Australian Government has a rigorous process of assessing asylum claims, whereby individuals found to be at genuine risk of torture, persecution or death are offered our protection. People who are found not to have genuine claims are returned to their country of origin. That process should stand, for all asylum-seekers, whichever country they are from,” said Andrew Beswick.
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Comments are submitted by members of the public and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Amnesty International Australia. If you find a comment objectionable please contact us.
Marilyn Shepherd
1 July 2010, 02:40AM
And the Afghans, we can hardly say that Afghanistan has improved and yet we have hundreds of Afghan kids in detention.
Good luck with Gillard though, she is just blowing the dog whistle.
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