Deported Lankans never mistreated

23 June 2011 07:25 am Views - 6854

While claiming that the British government does not accept that all Tamil asylum seekers are in need of international protection, British Immigration Minister Damian Green said there is no evidence that those previously deported Sri Lankan asylum seekers to Sri Lanka have been mistreated by the Sri Lankan authorities.

MP Green told the British House Commons,” the UK Border Agency does not routinely monitor the treatment of individual failed asylum seekers who return to their home country. We believe that the best way to avoid ill-treatment is to make sure that we do not return those who are at risk. We do this by ensuring that trained caseworkers make the right decisions based on the circumstances of each individual case and by providing a right of appeal to the independent courts.”

He also stated that the UK Border Agency carefully considers all asylum claims and human rights claims including those from Tamils on their individual merits in accordance with UK international obligations against the background of the latest available country information.

“We do not accept that all Tamil asylum seekers are in need of international protection. This view has been endorsed by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the case of NA v. UK 2008. An Asylum and Immigration Tribunal Country Guidance case in October 2009 agreed with the European Court and affirmed that in some cases there is a reduced the risk to Tamils than previous case law had identified,” MP Green said.

According to MP Green, if an applicant demonstrates a need for international protection, asylum is granted. If their application is refused, they have a right of appeal to the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the Unified Tribunal framework. “In this way we ensure that we provide protection to those asylum seekers who need it,” he said.

“The protection needs of individual asylum seekers are assessed on an individual basis and are based on the risk they would face on return to their country of origin now, not on risks they may have faced in the past,” he added.

Meanwhile, Secretaries Of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs William Hague told the House of Commons that his government welcomed the publication of the UN Panel’s Report and encourage Sri Lanka to act on the report's recommendations to lead to a process of accountability. The Report suggests that both the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were involved in potential violations of international law.

The MP also said that his government make it clear that Sri Lanka needs to address the allegations of war crimes and that we expect to see progress on this by the end of the year. “If the Sri Lankan Government does not respond, we will support the international community in revisiting all options available to press the Sri Lankan Government to fulfil its obligations,” he said. (Daily MIrror online)