COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office
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7 MARCH <strong>2012</strong> SRI LANKA<br />
―The government‘s policies and Tamil suspicions are also increasing the vulnerability of<br />
certain members of the Tamil community, especially former or suspected LTTE cadres.<br />
Many of those caught up in the government‘s ‗rehabilitation‘ camps were not hardcore<br />
fighters. Some were forcibly recruited in the final days of the war; others had lived under<br />
Tiger rule for decades and had to cooperate with their orders to survive. Nonetheless,<br />
when detainees are released and returned to their communities, they are treated with<br />
suspicion.<br />
―The resulting ostracism is dangerous. But instead of trying to build trust between<br />
people who have been associated with the LTTE (rightly or wrongly) and those who<br />
have not, the government is undermining those relationships. This is true of the<br />
military‘s widespread use of former detainees as informants, but also of the<br />
government‘s development policy.<br />
―Finally, the decades of war in the north and east, and the LTTE‘s control of society<br />
have encouraged a selective amnesia within the Tamil community as well. There is little<br />
recognition among Tamils that the LTTE committed crimes against Muslims and<br />
Sinhalese in the name of the Tamil people.‖<br />
Tamils of Indian origin (‘Up-country Tamils’)<br />
18.14 The MRGI report of January 2011 309 (accessible from the footnote) contains a specific<br />
section on up-country Tamils which provides detailed information on this group. It noted<br />
inter alia that: ―Tamils of Indian origin, also known as plantation Tamils or up-country<br />
Tamils, comprise about 5.4 per cent of the Sri Lankan population‖ and that ―[p]lantation<br />
Tamils are the most neglected and underprivileged ethnic minorty [sic] community in Sri<br />
Lanka.‖<br />
18.15 On 9 January 2009, The Official Government News Portal of Sri Lanka 310 announced:<br />
―Parliament passed legislation granting Sri Lankan citizenship to over 28,500 stateless<br />
Tamils of Indian origin yesterday [8 January 2009]. The two Bills granting citizenship to<br />
persons of Indian origin and stateless persons, amended without vote in the House as<br />
all the parties agreed on the right to citizenship of such stateless persons. Tamils of<br />
Indian origin who fled to Tamil Nadu after the 1983 anti-Tamil riots amounting<br />
approximately to 28,500, would be granted citizenship with this new scheme. Tamils of<br />
Indian origin had to remain in the country for 30 years continuously to be eligible for<br />
citizenship, According to the Granting of Citizenship to Stateless Persons Act of 1964.‖<br />
The Grant of citizenship to stateless persons (Special Provisions Amendment) Act, No.<br />
5 2009 is accessible from this weblink.<br />
309 Minority Rights Group International (MRGI), No war, no peace: the denial of minority rights and<br />
justice in Sri Lanka, released on 19 January 2011 http://www.minorityrights.org/10458/reports/no-warno-peace-the-denial-of-minority-rights-and-justice-in-sri-lanka.html<br />
date accessed 3 February <strong>2012</strong>, Case<br />
Study – Tamils of Indian Origin<br />
living in the plantation sector, p18<br />
310 Official Government News Portal of Sri Lanka, Legislation granting citizenship passed, 9 January<br />
2009 http://www.news.lk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7985&Itemid=44 date<br />
accessed 17 August 2010<br />
The main text of this <strong>COI</strong> <strong>Report</strong> contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section<br />
to 2 <strong>March</strong> <strong>2012</strong>.<br />
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