Protection denied
A new British Refugee Council report titled Protection denied: Sri Lankan Tamils, the Home Office and the forgotten civil war, launched in London on 17 February says human rights abuses have been carried out by both sides in the civil war and there is no longer a visible flight alternative for Tamils fleeing persecution in the north of Sri Lanka.
The report follows a Refugee Council mission to Sri Lanka led by Chief Executive Nick Hardwick in December 1996. The Sri Lankan government’s attempts to promote human rights have been slow to change the institutional prejudices and practices which have resulted in continued pattern of abuse, particularly by security forces.
The report further says arbitrary arrests, detention without trial and torture continue and it is unsafe to return asylum-seekers. The Refugee Council has pointed out that the high percentage of refusals of Sri Lankan asylum applications between 1994 and 1996 in Britain had resulted on Home Office’s assessment of the situation in the island. The Home Office has been urged to modify its assessment in the light of the report findings. International refugee agency UNHCR has also been encouraged to review its position papers on Sri Lanka.
The Council has called on the British government to facilitate peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE. The only way to reduce asylum applications is to end the causes of flight - the war and human rights abuses.
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