HRW gets body blows from Gillard and UNHCR

[ Australia takes lead]

* To help Lanka fight people smuggling in the region

* Seeking greater regional cooperation to deal with people smuggling

* Establishing refugee processing centre in East Timor

* UNHCR states persons from Northern Sri Lanka no longer refugees

* Drastic reduction in asylum applicants since end of war

* Uthuru Vasanthaya made life better in North

The new Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has not fallen for what was a clear attempt by Human Rights Watch to massage her ego when its acting Asia Director, Elaine Pearson, said the Aussie leader had a chance to turn her eloquent rhetoric on refugees into positive action by ending the suspension of Sri Lankan and Afghan refugee claims, making it an excellent start to Gilliard’s Government and demonstrate her commitment to human rights.

Gillard did not fall for what Sri Lankans will call ‘buttering up’ but went ahead to retain the suspension on new asylum claims by Sri Lankans when the three-month moratorium expired on July 8, 2010. Australia has gone even further and announced that Sri Lanka will be among the several countries supported by the Australian Government to fight people smuggling in the region.

Refugee status

The Australian Government has now stated that law enforcement agencies in Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be provided with additional support, to stop people-smuggling, which has become a problem for Australia, with people having the least claims to refugee status enriching the international racketeers in people-smuggling with their hopes of greener pastures Down Under.

The announcement comes a day after Julia Gillard revealed she would seek greater regional co-operation to deal with people smuggling, including establishing a refugee processing centre in East Timor.

HRW in its constant targeting of Sri Lanka said urging the Canberra Government’s suspension policy on refugee claims, adopted on April 8 because of allegedly improved security situations in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, failed to recognize that certain groups and individuals in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan remain extremely vulnerable to persecution and may have legitimate claims for asylum, adding that the policy also violates Australia’s obligations under international law not to discriminate in the treatment of refugees.

While this is the claim of HRW, the Australian Government is clearly more in line with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which earlier this week announced that persons from the North of Sri Lanka need not be considered refugees any more, because of the much improved human rights and living conditions in the North of the country and elsewhere, too.

If last week there was the concomitant presenting of the new Budget of the Government almost in sync with the good report on the Sri Lankan economy by the IMF, this week too there was a confluence of events propitious for Sri Lanka. The first was the UNHCR report of the status of ‘refugees’ from Sri Lanka, followed soon by the Australian Government’s decision on asylum policy.

The UNHCR Report on Sri Lanka should indeed be an eye-opener to many who keep repeating largely unverified claims of the situation in Sri Lanka, as stated by well-funded HR organizations, both in Sri Lanka and elsewhere, and some governments that prefer to give ear to such statements than to actual fact; easily verifiable from their own embassies in this country, where people who value their credibility hold important office.

It states that given the cessation of hostilities, Sri Lankans originating from the North of the country are no longer in need of international protection under broader refugee criteria or complementary forms of protection solely on the basis of risk of indiscriminate harm.

Asylum-seekers

Releasing its latest report on July 5, 2010, titled ‘Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Asylum-seekers from Sri Lanka’, UNHCR further says that human rights and security situation in Sri Lanka has improved.

‘In light of the improved human rights and security situation in Sri Lanka, there is no longer a need for group-based protection mechanisms or for a presumption of eligibility for Sri Lankans of Tamil ethnicity originating from the North of the country’, UNHCR report states.

UNHCR states that the end of the armed conflict and the significantly improved security conditions throughout the country have resulted in a reduction in the number of Sri Lankans seeking international protection in industrialized countries. During the period from January to June 2010, 2,947 asylum applications have been registered - compared to 4,573 applications registered during the same period in 2009 - representing a 35 percent decrease.

The UN Refugee Agency considers the security situation in Sri Lanka significantly stabilized, paving the way for a lasting solution for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country’s North and East, noting the significant progress by the government in resettling IDPs.

‘Many of the initial restrictions on the freedom of movement of IDPs have been lifted, and by mid-June 2010, approximately 246,000 persons had left the displacement camps to return to their places of origin or live with host families, relatives and friends. More returns are expected to take place within the coming weeks and months’, UNHCR notes, and cites the reasons for delays among other factors, total or partial destruction of their homes, ongoing de-mining operations, land disputes and arbitrary seizure of land belonging to Muslims by the LTTE in the North and East.

UNHCR’s report

The report also states that Sri Lanka has experienced ‘significant political developments’ during the first half of 2010. It adds, ‘some areas of the North such as Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts that had previously been under the control of the LTTE for decades are now governed by the central authorities.’ UNHCR also notes the establishment of ‘a truth and reconciliation commission mandated to examine the ‘lessons to be learnt from events’ between February 2002 and May 2009’.

Although a careful study of the UNHCR’s report would give most credit for the improved situation in the North to the Uthuru Vasanthaya the Government’s response to it was exceedingly modest.

This was most noticeable considering the antagonistic positions it faces from the Office of the UN Secretary General and the European Union.

It was not a loud exclamation of joy, which it is entitled to, but a statement that while welcoming the UNHCR’s realistic assessment of the actual situation in the country; it would not lead to complacency. “The Government and people of Sri Lanka will continue to work tirelessly to realize our goals of health, safety, happiness and equality of opportunity for all,” a Government spokesman said.