Asylum seekers set sail in a sea of silence

By Dr Sam Pari | ABC Net
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With Labor and the Liberals announcing their respective asylum policies yesterday, the debate has again re-focussed on how to stop the boat people coming.

However, if both parties are serious about cutting down on asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, they need to look at the root cause of the problem and review their foreign policy in regards to Sri Lanka.

While our Western allies continue to publicly denounce Sri Lanka's appalling treatment of its civilians, Tamils in particular, Australia is yet to publicly condemn any of the country's current or past acts.

This week, the European Union (EU) announced its withdrawal of trade benefits to Sri Lanka, known as GSP Plus, blaming the country's appalling human rights record. Despite several months of discussions, the Sri Lankan government opted to place the EU's request "in the dustbin" rather than implement human rights conventions.

Earlier this year, the United States State Department released a report highlighting serious human rights violations in Sri Lanka. Stating that the "overwhelming majority of victims of human rights violations, such as extrajudicial killings and disappearances, were young male Tamils", it reported there were "secret government facilities where suspected LTTE sympathi[s]ers were taken, tortured, and often killed". It further reported that the "government required Tamils who wished to move within the country, especially those Tamils living in Jaffna, to obtain special passes issued by security forces" highlighting that Tamils regardless of whether in the North, East or in the capital, Colombo, faced harassment and lack of freedom of movement:

"Security forces at army checkpoints in Colombo frequently harassed Tamils. After the government assumed effective control of the east, both the government and the TMVP operated checkpoints that impeded the free movement of residents, especially Tamils" with "Tamils throughout the country, but especially in the conflict-affected north and east, reported frequent harassment of young and middle-aged Tamil men by security forces and paramilitary groups".

The response of the Sri Lankan government was to dismiss the credibility of the sources rather than investigate the claims.

In addition to human rights violations, evidence suggesting that war crimes may have taken place in Sri Lanka continues to mount. In May 2010, one year since Sri Lanka declared an end to the war, Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group released independent reports on alleged war crimes, consisting of eye witness testimonies and photographs. In addition to this, video footage of admissions by a Sri Lankan army commander and a frontline soldier have also been reported reinforcing these allegations.

Initial video footage suggestive of extra-judicial executions of Tamils at the hands of the Sri Lankan military surfaced in August 2009. The Sri Lankan government, as expected, dismissed the footage as doctored but the UN conducted its own independent investigations and deemed the video authentic with UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, adding his voice to calls for a war crimes probe.

This is in addition to existing evidence of Tamil civilians being targeted by the Sri Lankan military during the war through the bombing of Tamil civilian locations and shelling of hospitals in the Tamil areas. Satellite images have provided strong evidence. Evidence also exists of the use of cluster bombs and white phosphorous by the Sri Lankan military in its attacks on Tamil civilian targets - all in breach of international law.

Earlier this year, the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon announced his intention to appoint a panel of experts to advise him on Sri Lanka's human rights accountability. Sri Lanka rejected this, declaring it had no "moral justification". In June 2010, he finally announced the names of a three-member UN expert advisory panel. Sri Lanka was quick to respond. It blocked the members of the UN panel from visiting the island, announcing it would not issue them with visas to the country.

Such blatant acts of defiance by Sri Lanka, publicly rejecting any accusations of human rights violations and persecution of Tamil people, and openly denying visas for UN officials, makes one wonder how much liberty and freedom of access the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) officials in Sri Lanka really had and how accurate their assessment of the situation in Sri Lanka was in the latest report.

Sadly, as an international move to boycott Sri Lanka unfolds, as the EU withdraws trade benefits and the US openly states its support for the UN inquiry into Sri Lanka, Australia continues to remain silent enjoying diplomatic rapport with the government of a country responsible for a large number of those seeking asylum here. Australia's current policies will not address the root cause of the problem and as long as Tamils continue to get persecuted, boats will continue to arrive on our shores.

So, the next time you take a sip of Sri Lankan tea or you think of visiting Sri Lanka on a holiday, just remember, you too are supporting a regime that persecutes its civilians forcing them to jump on boats and "invade our borders".

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Dr Sam Pari is the spokesperson of the Australian Tamil Congress. She is also a panelist at the International Peace Research Association Conference 2010. She has previously volunteered in war and tsunami ravaged regions of Sri Lanka.

© ABC Net