Serious Concern for Tamil Refugees and People Seeking Asylum in Offshore Detention Camps

Tamil people who are subject to Australia’s offshore detention regime, and who have been found to be refugees in genuine fear of life-threatening persecution, might not be given consideration to begin new lives in America.

Under America’s extreme vetting processes, anyone who has provided financial or material support to a “terrorist organisation” is ineligible for residence. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) group was defeated in Sri Lanka’s civil war and is regarded as a terrorist organisation by the US government. The LTTE took political control of the north and east of Sri Lanka during the 1990s and early 2000s, implementing compulsory military training in schools; undertaking forced recruitment of personnel; and using the property of civilians for their own purposes. Therefore, it is almost impossible for Tamil people to have no connections to them.

Spokesperson for the Tamil Refugee Council, Aran Mylvaganam, said, “I was 13 when I fled Sri Lanka and had lived under Tiger administration. My parents paid taxes to them so it would be very unfair to vet these people simply because they were living under that.”

Without a contingency resettlement plan, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has stated that Tamils are no longer at risk of persecution in Sri Lanka, and can simply return. However, this is contrary to the advice of respected international organisations.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism’s Impact on Human Rights, Ben Emmerson, visited Sri Lanka in recent weeks and found anyone suspected of even indirect association with the LTTE “remains at immediate risk of detention and torture”.

The International Truth and Justice Project released the Unstopped report in mid-July, which details ongoing torture of the Tamil people: http://www.itjpsl.com/reports/unstopped

In a report in February, the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that reports of rape, torture and ‘white van’ abductions committed by the Sri Lankan security and police forces persist. https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/861598/files/A_HRC_34_20-EN.pdf (Paragraph 56 & 57)

The Tasmanian Refugee Rights Action Group calls on the Australian government to bring these people to safety in Australia immediately. Group spokesperson, Carol Bristow said, “ If these people are returned to Sri Lanka they are almost certain to suffer extreme persecution including torture and murder. They are seeking asylum because of well founded fear and they must be protected; if we return them to Sri Lanka we are condoning the violence and are complicit in the crimes against them”
Carol Bristow, Tasmanian Refugee Rights Group