Sri Lanka:

28 December 2024

A collective of 47 civil society organisations have issued a letter to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake requesting humanitarian asylum for Rohingya asylum seekers from Mynamar who recently arrived in Sri Lanka.

• Allowing asylum seekers to land in Sri Lanka and provision of assistance by the Navy, Government officials, citizens and NGOs in Mullaitivu and Trincomalee is commendable

• These refugees have fled violence, persecution and human rights abuses in Myanmar. Now, they seek safety and a dignified life in Sri Lanka

• Sri Lankans must never forget that we have been a refugee-sending country as well

• The Rohingya people are a stateless ethnic group who have been denied citizenship and basic human rights in Myanmar

On the morning of December 19th 2024, a multi-day trawler carrying over 100 Rohingya asylum seekers drifted towards the coast off Mullivaikkal in Mullaitivu. The boat was escorted by the Sri Lankan Navy to the Ashroff Jetty in Trincomalee Harbour later in the evening of the day and landed in Trincomalee on December 20th 2024. The asylum seekers were initially cared for by public officers and NGOs and were hosted at Jamaliya School in Trincomalee. Subsequently, they were brought before the Trincomalee Magistrate. In court, the refugees explained that they had come to Sri Lanka seeking asylum. They had left in three boats, but only one reached Sri Lanka carrying 115 people, including 103 asylum seekers and 12 men who had brought them here. The court ordered that the 12 men be remanded, while the 103 asylum seekers were to be sent to the Mirihana Detention Centre. The initial attempt to transfer them to Mirihana failed, as immigration officers were not prepared to accept them. Since then, we have heard that they were to be transferred to Mirihana on the morning of December 23rd, but were directed to be detained in an Air Force camp in Mullaitivu (Keppapulavu).

Allowing asylum seekers to land in Sri Lanka and the provision of emergency assistance by the Navy, Government officials, citizens and NGOs in Mullaitivu and Trincomalee is commendable. However, we are concerned about the long hours they were kept at sea and the frequent changes in deciding the place they are to be housed at and the news that they will be detained.

The stories of these refugees are heart-wrenching. They left Myanmar in three boats, and only one made it to Sri Lanka