Soft targets for asylum seekers

by Sarath Wiesinghe

(August 30, UAE, Sri Lanka Guardian) Ship Sun See was initially sailing towards Australia with 490 Sri Lankans allegedly seeking Asylum in some country with resources and a comfortable life. Anybody fleeing the birthplace in fear of persecution will be prepared to go to the closest safe haven, if they are genuine refugees defined in the refugee convention of 1951 and the protocol still in force though thoroughly outdated as the United Nations itself which is 61 years old and needs reforms as early as possible. These Asylum seekers need either Australia or Canada where Asylum Law and procedure is mild and soft for those who claim asylum on the grounds of persecution due to race, religion, ethnicity or similar circumstances defined in the refugee convention to which most countries including Australia and Canada has become a signatory. They do not claim asylum in India or Malaysia which are closer and more accessible if they are genuine asylum seekers. Apparently Canada has over 300,000 Tamil population most of who have come as refugees who strongly voice for the inmates of the ship currently stationed in Canada whose applications are being processed. 76 Sri Lankans who travelled previously in similar circumstances too have been processed to be asylum seekers to be considered to be given the facilities on housing, social security and education free. Canada too has identified LTTE as a terrorist organization which is wounded and completely wiped out from Sri Lanka with no iota or remnants of terror which terrorized the entire world over three decades as most feared and dangerous terrorist outfit on the globe. Enormous sums accumulated by drug and human smuggling is still in circulation among the Tamil Diaspora to be used on Drug/ human smuggling and on reorganizing the LTTE as social front organizations in soft targeted countries such as UK, Canada and Australia. Ship Sun See is a part of the LTTE propaganda and an adventure to be followed if and when proved successful. First attempts were proved successful due to the support and masterminds of the international network of the human smuggling chain linked to drug and international underworld.

Sri Lanka is a senior and a respected member of the United Nations and a signatory of main human rights conventions and protocols in the area of human rights. It has a fine human rights mechanism with an effective and independent judiciary with a chapter on fundamental rights in the constitution with easy access and an effective legal aid system on the British Modal. System of education judiciary and governance is similar to the system in the United Kingdom. Human rights Commission is strong and effective and NGO’s in Sri Lanka are the most powerful and rich receiving a sizeable income from the UN and affiliated non governmental organizations. NGO’s in Sri Lanka is the richest and the officers enjoy the best of all worlds with the foreign funds received in abundance freely with no checks or scrutiny. They are champions of the human rights industry thriving on money and used judicial activism and public interest litigation which gives wide world wide publicity which attracts billions of foreign funds. Private Media is powerful and vibrant and Government media is less effective as the human rights industry in Sri Lanka is lucrative and effective. In fat the most effective human rights mechanism in the world is set up in Sri Lanka with the establishment of a powerful human rights council, independent and vibrant judiciary and well established legal system and a net work of local and international NGO’s effectively and jealously protecting human rights with the help of the United Nations and a section of the international community. Sri Lanka is a free country today with these luxuries on human rights and all kinds of freedoms. North and East of Sri Lanka is completely liberated from defunk LTTE once a powerful and fared terrorist organization trying to regroup with a part of misguided Diaspora. Their shadows are haunting with the remnants of illegal funds collected during the war and the activism of the misguided Diaspora accusing the Sri Lankan government of violations of human rights. Visitors to North and East have exceeded to 500000 a month and the life in the North and east is fine and transparent. Ethnic harmony and to live in harmony is the main theme of the majority Tamil population followed by Muslims and Sinhalese. The other amazing and beautiful situation is that in Colombo the capital of Sri Lanka Tamil population is the majority followed by Muslims and Sinhalese. Tamils and Muslims prefer to live with Sinhalese in Colombo and suburbs. This is a unique situation the diplomatic community in Sri Lanka should witness personally without listening to disgruntled politicians and fat cat NGO’s aiming at more and more funds for different agendas. Ethnic harmony is Sri Lanka is more stabilized in Sri Lanka than the United Kingdom or any part of Europe. In France it is illegal to wear the traditional Muslim head cover. The immigration laws are now tough in UK and France. Immigration offences have become criminal. Organized immigration rackets have been broken after learning from bitter experiences and after having infested one time safe London an unsafe criminal infested city, mainly due to illegal immigrants who have destabilized the society and has become a pest to the law abiding and tax paying citizens engaged in illegal activities including false social security claims in large scale. In the UK illeal immigrants become legal after spending 14 years. It is easy to be underground for 14 years and claim the citizenship rights which is very often done by the illegal immigrants.

Depending on the success of Ship Sun See there will be more and more ships sailing towards Canada to join the Diaspora which is a powerful voice politically and economically as powerful as in UK, Germany, EU and USA. Are these Asylum seekers genuine or economic migrants? Do they come within the ambit of the definition of a refugee alum are matters for the immigration authorities to decide which depends on the situation then. When an aircraft full of Afghans landed forcibly in Heathrow there was a wave of protests. But in the end all were granted Asylum due to various pressure groups and NGO’s. Why are the asylum claimants in Sun See hiding their identities? Some may be non Sri Lankans and rich people from all parts of the country looking for a better and a better life for the children they carry with themselves. Now UK has learned a bitter lesson and tightened their immigrations rules. It about is no longer a soft target. In UK is as hard as USA and France too have followed suit. Ship Sun See has charged $50,000 per head is a sweep for the asylum seekers for generations. They will get free housing, education, food, medicine and rights for the next generation as Canadian Citizens. We do not mind Canada giving all the benefits to Sri Lankan citizens looking for green pastors- but not at the cost of the reputation and good name of Sri Lanka. Why do those in the ship hide the identity? If the identities are traced it will be established they are economic migrants looking for green pesters. What about the children and the families including elders. They exactly know what they are heading for and they are properly briefed by the organized ring to face the impending inquiries from the immigration officers.

End result in this scenario is certain. All 490 will be given asylum on humanitarian grounds which will give a boost and a lifeline for the organized ring of human trafficking. According to Lakbima English weekly LTTE has made 20 million Canadian dollars from this voyage alone! Profits would be spent to review LTTE which is wounded and ailing which has completely eradicated from Sri Lankan soil. 160 were arrested recently who have paid over 600,000 per head to the ring leaders to travel to Canada or Australia. If the second attempt is successful there will be fleets of ships with live human bodies supported by the activism in courts and ine international ring of human smugglers. It will be too late when Canada realizes the mistake as when LTTE is established in a country it is going to be worst that Alkadia, which is confined to a limited area with limited support and resources. Every shipload would bring billions to the coffers of the LTTE! They will certainly adopt new tactics and methods as the income is so lucrative and attractive. This will go on until they find Canada is no longer a sift target and they will earn the lesson after having gone through this process as has been done in the UK and France.

( The Writer, Sri Lankan Ambassador to United Arab Emirates )