UNHCR concerned over Lankan refugees at sea

Colombo, May 29: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today expressed its deep concern over the danger facing the Sri Lankan refugees on the high seas, while fleeing to India's Southern State of Tamil Nadu seeking asylum.

''The UNHCR is deeply concerned about the recent drowning of ten Sri Lankan refugees travelling by boat to India. Many refugees fleeing localised violence are being put at great risk by unscrupulous traffickers who operate unseaworthy and overcrowded vessels,'' the UNHCR said in a statement here.

The UNHCR statement has come at a time when over 2000 Sri Lankan refuges, mainly from the restive Eastern Trincomalee district, have already landed in Tamil Nadu in India while several more are waiting in the Mannar island to cross the deep sea.

Sri Lanka's spokesman on defence matters, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella had last week accused the LTTE of trying to get some refuges sent across to India's Southern State of Tamil Nadu ''so that they could make an issue within their political arena''.

Claiming that the election in Tamil Nadu was ''very significant, Minister Rambukwella said ''in fact we knew that they (LTTE) would try to have these refugees sent to Tamil Nadu or Chennai in order to have a pressure built up in this area knowing the political complexity there''.

Citing the drowning of a boat carrying refugees on May 19 ''as the latest in a series of incidents involving Sri Lankan refugees travelling to India, which includes abandonment at sea, capsised vessels, and previous fatalities'', the UNHCR said that the vulnerable passengers such as women, children and the elderly may be subjected to additional hardship en route, such as sexual and gender-based violence in addition to a greater susceptibility to adverse weather conditions.

''While everyone has an inalienable right to claim asylum, UNHCR urges those planning on making the perilous journey to Tamil Nadu, to carefully consider the dangers they may face,'' Mr Amin Awad, UNHCR Representative in Sri Lanka said in the statement, adding that it would continue to work closely on this issue with all concerned parties.

UNI