Refugee Rights Action Network WA
On the 3rd of December, members of 10 refugee rights activist groups met in Sydney to discuss national priorities and coordinated actions for the coming year.
Following on from this meeting, and the focus on stopping deportations, the groups note:
(i) that according to the UN Secretary-General’s special report on Sri Lanka there are “credible allegations and evidence” that the Sri Lanka military, headed by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is guilty of war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed in its war against the Tamil Tigers in 2009;
(ii) that 80 per cent of the UN’s unresolved cases of government disappearances are from Sri Lanka;
(iii) that thousands of Tamils remain in government controlled internment camps from which the media and groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Crisis Group are excluded;
(iv) that the Australian government cannot guarantee the human rights or the safety of asylum seekers deported to Sri Lanka.
We therefore call on the Australian government: (i) to recognise that human rights are not protected by the government of Sri Lanka and; (ii) to immediately refrain from forcibly deporting Sri Lanka asylum seekers.
.
Share this article
