Sunday, February 1, 2009

Spurt in refugees to Tamil Nadu

RAMANATHAPURAM: Influx of Sri Lankan refugees to Tamil Nadu saw a sudden increase in the last few weeks following escalation in the war between the Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE.
More than 100 refugees arrived during the last 20 days।
On Tuesday, a group of 27 refugees landed on the Kambipadu shore near Dhanushkodi in a fibreglass boat. This is the first time in recent months that a Sri Lankan boat carrying refugees chose to land during the day.
“A large number of displaced Tamil people are desperate to come to India as refugees due to the pitched battle. However, they are finding difficult to arrange boats due to heightened vigilance by the Sri Lankan Navy and others.
Abduction of innocent civilians by ‘unknown white vans’ has become a big menace for Tamils,” said Jayaseelan (29) of Murunkan, who landed along with his wife and nine-month-old baby.
A Defence officer said an alert had been sounded along the coast following the “recent developments.” A close watch was being maintained on boats coming across the border.
Instructions had been given to field-level personnel to check the occupants of these boats.
Fishermen had been cautioned against venturing into the sea without valid documents.
Police officers keeping any eye on Sri Lankan refugees said the focus was on verifying the antecedents of refugees between the age group of 20 to 35 years.
On arrival, they would be kept in quarantine camps for 15 days to verify whether they were genuine refugees or cadres of the banned LTTE. (Hindu)

90 Lankans sought refuge in Japan last year

The number of foreign nationals who applied for refugee status in Japan hit an all-time high of 1,599 in 2008, about double that of 2007, the Justice Ministry said Friday.
The ministry attributed the surge, which hit the highest level since Japan’s refugee recognition system began in 1982, to increased applications from Myanmar following pro-democracy demonstrations there in 2007.
In 2008, Japan recognized 57 people as refugees, up 16 from the previous year, the ministry said, adding that all but three were from Myanmar.
People from Myanmar were the largest group of refugee-status seekers, accounting for 979 of the total, followed by those from Turkey at 156 and those from Sri Lanka at 90.
Of those who were not recognized as refugees, a record 360 obtained special permits to stay in Japan on humanitarian grounds, the ministry said. (Japan Today)

Seven Sri Lankan refugees arrested

Seven Sri Lankan Tamils registered as refugees at a camp in Rameswaram, were arrested when they attempted to return to Sri Lanka illegally from Thangachimadam coastal village. Of the 13 refugees who were planning to return to Sri Lanka, the local police nabbed seven refugees while six others escaped on seeing the police. (PTI)

Illegal Sri Lankan migrants deported


Jan 19, 2009 (LBO) - Britain has started deporting illegal Sri Lankan migrants with the first batch sent back by charter flight on January 15 at the island international airport, the British High Commission said.
It said in a statement that the UK and Sri Lankan governments have struck a deal to send back illegal migrants on a regular basis on charter flights. "The British Government and the Government of Sri Lanka have an ongoing agreement to facilitate the return of Sri Lankan nationals who have remained unlawfully in the UK," it said. The first charter flight of Sri Lankan returnees, who were deported last week marks the start of what is hoped will be an ongoing programme of repatriation, it said.
The High Commission said the Sri Lankan government "was instrumental" in ensuring the flight took place. The agreement also "supports the UK Border Agency policy to detect, detain and remove those who have unlawfully entered the UK or pose a threat." The British high commission statement did not say who the returnees were. Hundreds of Sri Lankans, especially minority Tamils, are known to have entered Britain illegally and are living and working there. It said in a statement that the UK and Sri Lankan governments have struck a deal to send back illegal migrants on a regular programme of charter flights

SL refugees took Indian policeman hostage

Indian media reports that Sri Lankan refugees at a camp in Chennai had taken an Indian policeman hostage today. He was subsequently released.

UNHCR calls for security for east civilians


New York (PTI): The United Nations refugee agency has asked the Sri Lankan Government to ensure security for civilians in the eastern part of the strife-torn nation, citing a significant increase in the number of killings, abductions and injuries, including the death of 24 civilians recorded in November alone in the Batticaloa district.
"We are also worried about the negative impact these security incidents may have on the sustainability of the return process," Ron Redmond, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told reporters.
Most of the more than 200,000 people displaced during fighting between Government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the eastern districts of Trincomalee and Batticaloa have returned home over the past two years.
However, returnees in the Batticaloa area report they increasingly feel intimidated and face restrictions on their movement, Redmond said.
"More than 50 families have already left their villages in some of the return areas in Batticaloa due to fear and insecurity. Others are no longer sleeping in their own homes, but gather several families in one house at night," he said. UNHCR called on the Government to investigate the security incidents and urged it to provide adequate security to all civilians living in these areas.
It was also concerned about the abduction of four refugee returnees from India in the Trincomalee district.
"UNHCR is heartened by the fact that more than 1,500 Sri Lankan refugees returned from camps in Tamil Nadu in southern India in 2008, either spontaneously or with our facilitated voluntary return programme," said Redmond.
"We are keen to see this positive trend continue this year." UNHCR is also keeping a close eye on the situation in the country's north, where some 250,000 people remain displaced due to intensified clashes in recent months.

96 Lankan refugee families get houses


TIRUNELVELI: Of the 208 families living in the Naranammalpuram Sri Lankan refugee camp, 96 families, which are living in a 150-year-old dingy go down, have got houses.
The houses were constructed by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) at a cost of Rs. 1.15 crore on 8.50 hectares of land near Gangaikondan, close to the Tirunelveli–Madurai National Highway.
The decision to construct permanent shelters for these families was taken when government officials visited the camp in mid-2007 to see the pathetic condition of the people in the go down, once used by the British to store ammunition.
Collector G. Prakash identified 20 hectares of land and it was immediately handed over to the Tirunelveli Social Service Society (TSSS) through which the CRS completed the construction within 14 months.
Each house with a plinth area of 200 square feet has a hall, a kitchen and a toilet-cum-bathroom. Though groundwater is very good there, two taps have also been installed in each street to provide drinking water. A playground and park are also available. A ration shop has been established.
“The CRS and the TSSS should consider our request for construction of similar houses for the remaining 112 families as we are prepared to give the land,” said Minister for Backward Classes K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran after receiving the houses from Deputy National Representative of CRS Rev. Fr. Celestine and RC Bishop of Palayamkottai Diocese, the Most Rev. A. Jude Paulraj.
Mr. Ramachandran said the State Government, which had already forwarded a proposal for Rs. 17 crore to the Centre for renovating the houses of 19,598 refugee families with 73,522 persons living in 100-odd camps across the State, was preparing another proposal for Rs. 30 crore. Thanking the CRS and TSSS, the Minister said that construction of 100 houses each in Nattarasankottai and Kaangayam was about to start soon.
“This colony will be a model for other refugee camps which will get houses in a phased manner,” he noted.
Minister for Environment, Youth Welfare and Sports T.P.M. Maideen Khan, who handed over two volleyballs and nets to the youth of the colony, said tennikoit and volleyball courts would be established in all refugee camps.
Mr. Prakash said roads would be laid and electricity provided to the colony within 15 days. Former Rehabilitation Commissioner Karpoorasundara Pandian, Rehabilitation Commissioner Mohan Pyare, Deputy National Representative of CRS, Rev. Fr. Celestine and RC Bishop of Palayamkottai Diocese, Most Rev. A. Jude Paulraj, MLAs V. Karuppasamy Pandian and N. Maalairaja, Director of TSSS Rev. Fr. A. Joseph Kennedy and others spoke. (Hindu)

Two Lankans among victims of US boat


The U।S। Coast Guard called off its search Wednesday for at least 12 missing migrants — including two Sri Lankans — in choppy waters off the British Virgin Islands after their flimsy boat collided with a reef and broke apart।


Rescuers said roughly 25 people, most of them Haitians, had been aboard the overloaded boat that was illegally travelling the 100-mile (160-kilometer) passage from the Dutch territory of St. Maarten to the British Virgin Islands. They were apparently island-hopping in hopes of eventually reaching U.S. shores when the boat hit a reef Monday night, pitching passengers into the ocean.
Crews used aircraft and several boats to look for any sign of the missing people — including three children — in white-capped Atlantic waters off Anegada, a sparsely inhabited island of coral and limestone, according to U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad.
Rescuers scoured a vast ocean area covering more than 586 square nautical miles for two days before ending the search, he said। Fishermen reported spotting a corpse and a live person drifting a couple miles off the northernmost island of the wealthy British archipelago, but said they vanished beneath the waves.


DM
Refugee kids dream of return to an Isle of Peace

Chennai- India, ]



For more than 19,000 children under 12, growing up in 117 refugee camps across Tamil Nadu, home is where they have never been. Home is where their parents abandoned hearts and hearths as tanks rolled into village after village and terror-stricken Tamils fled.
They dream of returning home but not, of course, to a strife-torn Sri Lanka. They dream, perhaps even more ambitiously, of returning to a peace that the north of Sri Lanka has not known for three decades.
Says Vijayakumar from the Nagavathyannai camp, in a message with his painting: "When peace came to our Tamil homeland, there was happiness, many coloured flags waved, people came out in large numbers. The Yarl Devi train started running again from Jaffna to Colombo. Our hopes were high. We who had lived as refugees returned to our native villages. But when we thought we could have peace of mind, came news of war and fear has returned. Oh! When will there be peace in our country?"
These children were all born and brought up across the Palk Straits but have grown up thinking of Sri Lanka as their ultimate destination, not seeing mainland India as the motherland.
This revelation came in a recent exhibition of paintings, where 500 camp children painted their fears and aspirations in fascinating hues, for a contest that was organized by the Chennai-headquartered Organization for Eelam Refugee Rehabilitation (OfERR), which has been working towards refugee care since 1984.
Ten-year-old Satish Kumar, in his drawing of the emerald island, shows a terrified bird fluttering. In his wishful explanation, he writes: "The river of blood that ran through the land and the volcano that burst forth in our hearts are laid to rest by world peace.
"War - an event that affected my life," says the title of a painting by 10-year-old Maria Selvi from Vaazhavanthankottai camp. Her picture shows fleeing people in a boat, the sea caught between land on either side. At 15, K. Koneswaran from the Lenavilakku camp is more articulate and has drawn a prison. "Up to now, I have had no life."
Though ignored by governments, significantly a large number of the drawings submitted by the children are of the island of Sri Lanka, which hangs like a bright tear drop in many of the pictures.
S. Koushalya, 13, of the Paruvai camp says it all in her caption: "I want my country to be peaceful and prosperous like I have drawn."
Emee Perumal is an exception. As he makes tea for his mother's friends, the 11-year-old watches a Jackie Chan film on a tiny colour television set and admires "fighting", not unusual at his age, his idol, the LTTE fighter. He goes to school near his camp home, loves to play cricket.
One of the "camp children", as under-teens here are collectively called, Emee has an identification number, included in his mother's identification card which denotes her as a refugee from Sri Lanka.
Not many children want to be fighters. Most are like John Praveen of the Pooluvapatti camp, dreaming of being a great footballer, or Dhanesh Kumar of the Eenjampalli camp whose ambition is to be a scientist. Only one child in tens of thousands thinks of "fighting" as an end by itself and this really is what is so "unique" about Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka, growing up in India, say relief officials. "Thekids don't admire militancy but every child wants to go home."
According to OfERR, as of Dec 1, 2008, there are 7,006 boys and 7,121 girls below eight years of age in 114 of these camps. There are 4,667 more children between 9 and 11 years in such camps, most born in India, who are growing up with a sense of alienation that does not exist in any official document. But it comes out when one talks to them, sees their drawings, reads their writings.
"The Sri Lankan Tamil refugee community in India is a striking contrast to refugee communities in other parts of the world. Nowhere will you find such high investment in education of refugee children," says OfERR chief S.C. Chandrahasan, giving Palestine as an example to the contrary.
"Education, we decided right at the outset, was the best antidote to militancy. His organization has helped more than 22,000 refugee children go through the schooling system in India in the last 25 years.
Recalling the early days of OfERR, Chandrahasan told IANS: "Our vision was clear. "We decided what we want from India. We made a decision to rebuild. We wanted education for our young so that when one day our people return, they will be able to rebuild our country, Sri Lanka."