Stirring the Pot about Sri Lankan Asylum-Seekers

SEE a range of articles plus Emily Howie’s summary of previous news items

I: Surge Sri Lanka ‘payback’ … by Cameron Stewart & Paul Maley in The Australian, 2 February 2013

Sri Lanka’s consul general in Australia, Bandula Jayasekara, yesterday described the claims against the official as a “bad dream” and a “piece of journalistic rubbish”. A spokesman for Foreign Minister Bob Carr said there was “no evidence” to support the allegation the official, whom The Weekend Australian has chosen not to name, was complicit in smuggling. That position was echoed by a government official who, on condition of anonymity, told The Weekend Australian they were unaware of a “smoking gun” that proved the case against the person.

However, the belief inside government is that it would be impossible for so many boats to leave Sri Lanka in such a relatively short period of time without the assistance of the man.

Australia was surprised last year when Sri Lanka became the largest source of asylum-seekers; 122 came despite the flow from Sri Lanka stopping shortly after the end of the 2009 civil war.

Boatloads of Sri Lankans began to arrive in large numbers around the same time that Australia co-sponsored a UN Human Rights Council Resolution calling on Sri Lanka to address alleged violations of international law during the country’s 20 year civil war, which ended in 2009  Some senior government officials do not believe this timing was a coincidence and that the Sri Lankan official helped to send boatsto Australia after the UN vote. However others disagree, believing the official had probably been motivated by money rather than by a desire for revenge.

The UN resolution adopted in March called on the government of Sri Lanka to take “credible” steps to ensure accountability for alleged serious violations committed during the final stages of the country’s civil war. The 47-member UN Human Rights Council called on the government to take “all necessary additional steps to fulfil its relevant legal obligations and commitment to initiate credible and independent actions to ensure justice, equity, accountability and reconciliation for all Sri Lankans”.

The Sri Lankan government has consistently denied allegations it committed any human rights violations during the war. The claims drew a scathing response from Mr Jayasekara. “It is very regrettable to see that you have taken great pains to tarnish the image of my country whilst seated thousands of miles away without knowing the trouble undertaken by the government and Defence authorities of Sri Lanka to stop the people smuggling,” he said.

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II. “Canberra denies Sri Lanka people-smuggling report,” by David Wroe, in The Age, 1 February 2013

The Gillard government has flatly denied a news report that a senior Sri Lankan government official was suspected by Australian authorities to have been complicit in the people-smuggling trade. The Australian reported Friday that intelligence agencies had identified a high-profile Sri Lankan official close to President Mahinda Rajapaksa who had authorised asylum-seeker boats leaving Sri Lanka bound for Australia. But a spokesman for Foreign Minister Bob Carr said the claims were untrue.’There is no evidence to support the allegation that this official is complicit in people-smuggling,” he said. ”Australia and Sri Lanka have a strong record of co-operation in preventing people-smuggling ventures.”

The official was not named in the news report, which drew an angry response from the Sri Lankan Consul-General in Sydney, Bandula Jayasekara, who called the claims ”unbelievable, ridiculous and mischievous”. The Australian stated that senior Gillard government figures were aware of the intelligence assessments about the Sri Lankan official. Options were canvassed for how to deal with the claims ahead of a December trip by Senator Carr to Colombo.

III. Emily Howie’s Summary Bulletin

Here is a bulletin of recent news and reports in relation to the boat migration from Sri Lanka to Australia. The stories relate mainly to the recent visit to Sri Lanka by an Australian opposition party delegation, allegations that the Australian Government has suspected that a senior Sri Lankan official is involved in people smuggling and to the reduced number of arrivals in January 2013.  As usual, please let me know if you have any articles to share in this bulletin or ideas as to how it might be improved. If you no longer wish to receive this, just let me know.
Best wishes
Emily