COLOMBO ; The North-East Coordinating Committee (NECC), along with representatives of women’s community-based organizations, human rights defenders, members of fisher societies and journalists have jointly appealed to the Sri-Lankan government not to deport the Rohingya refugees who were rescued by the Sri-Lankan Navy on 19th December 2024.
In Mullaitivu ,the people and representatives from organizations staged a demonstration before Kacheri to show their stand in the refugee problem in Thursday, Jan 9
In a letter addressed to the authorities ,it is said: “We appreciate the immediate actions taken by of the local fishers of Mullaitivu district who initially seen the boat with people and informed to the Navy and provided immediate assistance to the people. We also respect the actions taken by the Sri-Lankan Navy to rescue the lives of these refugees.
Sri-Lanka is a member state of the United Nations. Therefore, we are obliged to respect the principles of the United Nations and abide to the international humanitarian laws, human rights laws and customary international laws. NON REFOULMENT is a core principle of these laws. Therefore, we appeal the Sri-Lankan government to uphold the humanitarian values and not to deport those refugees to their place of origin.
Further, the refugees are located inside the Keppapulavu Airforce base in Mullaithivu district for more than two weeks without the observation of the respective district’s civil administration. Sheltering the refugees under a militarized environment is incompatible with the international humanitarian norms and basic human values. Therefore, we urge the government to transfer the refugees to the refugee center in Mirihana or another suitable place and keep them under the observation of the civil administration of the area.
As Sri-Lanka is a developing country we do not promote Sri-Lanka to become a hub of international refugees. We basically request the government to treat the present refugees according to the international standards related to refugees. We also request the government to get the assistance of the United Nations and to speak with eligible countries to provide them refugee status in those countries.”
