Canada’s new asylum policy, a victory for Lanka
by Manjula FERNANDO
A new policy note introduced by Canada’s Immigration and Refugee
Board which processes asylum seekers' applications says “Meaningful
changes in Sri Lanka suggest that Tamils - particularly young males -
won’t be persecuted because of their social group or political
opinions”.
The Globe and Mail last week reported that this ‘note’ by the IRB to
help refugee board members in ‘sound reasoning’ and to be ‘adopted in
appropriate circumstances’, could affect the refugee claimants who
arrived on the vessels, Ocean Lady and Sun Sea.
The IRB processes the asylum seekers' applications of illegal
immigrants who originated from Sri Lanka.
When the two rusty vessels, Ocean Lady and Sun Sea reached the
Canadian shores with nearly 450 illegal immigrants on board in 2009 and
2010, Sri Lanka informed the Canadian authorities that the two ships
were part of the LTTE’s international human trafficking network and may
be carrying potentially dangerous hardcore members of the terror outfit.
The IRB decision which stresses the fact that ‘your life is not in
danger because you are a Tamil who has been sent back to Sri Lanka’, is
a diplomatic victory for Sri Lanka, observers said.
The country had been countering the propaganda mill of the
‘rump-LTTE’ which is trying to portray a tarnished image of human rights
within the country, undermining the peace dividends.
The Permanent Representative to the UN Dr. Palitha Kohona in a
separate interview with the Sunday Observer (See story on Page 4) said,
“I think the way we have worked with these Governments (Australia and
Canada) over the past two or three years, has borne fruit.”
He said that foreign missions had done their part to keep the UN and
other countries informed of the LTTE’s activities including their
lucrative human trafficking operations. Elaborating on the LTTE’s
overseas propaganda Dr.Kohona, a former Head of UN’s Treaty Section
said, “The LTTE has to remain in its current form if it is to continue
raising funds. They make up anything to keep the anger and bitterness
continuing because for them it’s a way of making a living and
maintaining a certain lifestyle for some leaders.”
Australia in a policy statement issued earlier said that Sri Lanka is
not a place where people can legitimately claim that they are being
discriminated on the basis of religion, race and political affiliation.
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