The chief of Sri Lanka’s Immigration and Emigration Department has apologized to the state’s human rights body for refusing to allow their officials to visit the Rohingya refugees lodged in Mullaitivu.
More than 100 Rohingya refugees fled from Myanmar fearing for their lives in the war-torn Rakhine state in Myanmar.
Officials including a director of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) were stopped from visiting the Rohingya refugees lodged at the Sri Lanka Air Force Camp in Mullaitivu in the Northern Province, to know about their status. The delegation included a doctor.
They were stopped by officials of the Sri Lanka Air Force, stating they had been ‘orally informed by the Immigration officials not to allow anyone to meet the refugees’.
Among the 115 Rohingya asylum seekers, over 45 individuals are children, and many are reported to be infants according to the HRCSL.
Subsequently, the HRCSL wrote to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake expressing their resentment at being stopped from visiting the refugees to know about their well-being and their detention conditions.
Air Force officers told the HRCSL delegation that such instructions came from the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration.
However, the HRCSL was informed that if a written request was placed, the Immigration officials could then grant permission over the phone. Based on this, an official request letter was sent by the Secretary of the Commission to the Controller of Immigration.
Despite being advised to place a written request the HRCSL officials were snubbed by the Immigration Department saying they wouldn’t be in a position to grant such permission and they should approach the Minister for Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs. However, such communication was only presented orally.
In response, the Human Rights Commission wrote to President AKD the next day emphasizing the powers and functions of the Commission extend not only to Sri Lankan citizens but to “any person” detained within Sri Lanka.
In their letter to the President on 27 December, the day after their visit and refusal to meet the refugees, Chairman of the HRCSL and former judge of the Supreme Court Justice L.T.B.Dehideniya pointed out how they were stopped by the SLAF officials.
“HRCSL officials including one of their directors were denied permission to visit the ‘refugee camp’ by the commander of the SLAF camp citing that ‘they cannot permit anyone without the permission of the immigration authorities who are lodged in detention camps”.
Even after writing officially to B.M.D. Nilusha Balasooriya, the Acting Controller of Immigration and Emigration, seeking entry to the camp, no written reply was received from her by the HRCSL.
Exercising their statutory rights, the HRCSL summoned her to appear before it at 10.30 AM on the 31st of December last year and explain why their officials were stopped by them when they went to visit the Rohingya refugees lodged in Mullaitivu.
Responding to the summons, the Immigration chief along with Air Force officials and representatives from the Ministry of Public Security presented themselves before the HRCSL and made their submissions.
“Today (31) the Controller General expressed regret about it to us. She said there is a possibility that infection may spread through those who have come here seeking protection and that was the reason for not allowing anyone to meet them and nothing else,” Chairman of the HRCSL told the media after their meeting.
However, Nihal Chandrasiri, Acting Director (Research & Monitoring) of the HRCSL told the media no such reason was given to them when they went there to monitor the situation.
L.T.B. Dehideniya while speaking to the media added that the Controller of Immigration has agreed to offer all facilities to the officials of the HRCSL to visit the camp, inspect and monitor the well-being of the Rohingyas lodged there.
“Now, they are engaged in offering the necessary medical facilities. They agreed to offer all assistance to examine them. As such, we hope all inspections and monitoring as needed could be taken forward in the future”.
He also reminded the journalists about their right to inspect the place where people are held in detention.
“According to the statutory obligations of the Human Rights Commission, we have the power to meet anyone in detention either based on a court order or otherwise. This right is a constitutional right granted to us, by which we can travel to any place, conduct an inspection and monitor the situation. Our visit to the camp was also based on this right. Since we were denied that opportunity, they were summoned to know the reasons for not permitting us”.
The controller of Immigration and Emigration was basically summoned to explain the reason for obstructing constitutional authorities from discharging their duties.
HRCSL made it very clear in their letter to the President AKD emphasizing the powers and functions of the Commission extend not only to Sri Lankan citizens but to “any person” detained within Sri Lanka.
“The Commission has the statutory authority to access the said Air Force Camp and monitor the detention conditions of all asylum seekers, including the children present,” they told the President.
Apart from writing to the President about the issues they faced while attempting to visit the Rohingya refugees, it also requested him to “issue appropriate directives to relevant institutions to facilitate access to the asylum seekers”.
Of the 115 Rohingya Muslims who were rescued by the Tamil fishermen after noticing their lives were in danger as the rickety boat in which they were travelling was adrift in the Sri Lankan territorial waters dangerously, 103 are now detained in the SLAF camp in Mullaitivu.
Over 40 of them are infants, children that are apart from pregnant women. 12 of the Rohingyas suspected of steering the boat and human trafficking are in custodial detention in Trincomalee Naval camp.
War-affected Tamil fishermen rescued them on 19 December off the Mullaitivu coast. The Sri Lankan Navy which subsequently intervened, after finding the boat worthy of travelling escorted it to the Trincomalee Naval camp for further interrogations.
After the local Magistrate visited them at the camp, he ordered the refugees to be sent to the Mirihana detention centre, only to be sent back to Habarana and finally taken to the SLAF camp in Mullaitivu.
A place called “Sri Lanka Air Force Station” at Mullaitivu where Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar are being held, has been declared a ‘Temporary Detention Place’ from 23 December, 2024, by Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Ravi Seneviratne.
The Immigration and Emigration Department and the Ministry of Public Security both come under the same minister.
Rohingya people are Muslims and a minority in the Rakhine state in Myanmar which is ruled by the military. Consistent attacks against the Rohingyas since 2017 have forced them to flee Myanmar for safety fearing for their lives with more than a million having fled the country since then.
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Sri Lanka Human Rights officials stopped from visiting Rohingya refugees to know their welfare
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