Sunday Times | 23.12.12
Journalists, gays, lesbians, suspected LTTE supporters
favoured; but warns of armed forces personnel
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees
(UNHCR) has listed persons suspected of LTTE links, journalists, opposition
politicians, political activists, and gays and lesbians, as being among the
categories of Sri Lankans “likely to be in need of international refugee
protection.”
On the other hand, UNHCR also advises that
applications by persons such as members of the armed forces be carefully
considered.
It says this is in light of “documented human rights
violations and transgressions of international humanitarian law by all parties
during the three-decade long armed conflict, in addition to alleged serious
human rights abuses post-conflict”
The recommendations are published in the 2012 ‘UNHCR
Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection needs of
Asylum-Seekers from Sri Lanka’. It was released on Friday.
The guidelines are aimed at helping decision-makers
and governments to assess applications for asylum.
The last guidelines for Sri Lanka were issued in 2010.
This year’s document says it has taken into account the current situation in
the country where “ongoing human rights concerns are reported, including in
particular with regard to reports of post-conflict justice, torture and mistreatment,
disappearances, arbitrary detention and freedom of expression”.
It says all claims lodged by Sri Lanka asylum-seekers
“need to be considered on their own merits” More specifically, it adds, the
possible risks facing individuals with profiles specified in the document
“require particularly careful examination”.
“UNHCR considers that individuals with these profiles
– though this list is not exhaustive – may be, and in some cases are likely to
be in need of international refugee protection, depending on the individual
circumstances of their case,” it states.
The categories are persons suspected of certain links
with the LTTE; certain opposition politicians and political activists; certain
journalists and other media professionals; certain human rights activists;
certain witnesses of human rights violations and victims of human rights
violations seeking justice; women in certain circumstances; children in certain
circumstances; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI)
individuals in certain circumstances.
With regards to categories whose applications need
close perusal, UNHCR says “exclusion considerations under Article 1F of the
1951 (Refugee) Convention may arise in individual claims by asylum-seekers from
Sri Lanka”.
Article 1F states that the provisions of the Refugee
Convention shall not apply to any person with respect to whom there are serious
reasons for considering that he has committed a crime against peace, a war
crime, or a crime against humanity; has committed a serious non-political crime
outside the country of refuge prior to his admission to that country as a
refugee; has been guilty of acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the
UN.
The Sri Lanka country guidelines state, therefore,
that careful consideration must be given, in particular, to certain (former)
Government officials, including in functions with responsibilities relating to
the conduct of war during the final phases of the conflict, and those posted in
the conflict-affected areas during the final phase of the conflict.
Also in this category are certain (former) members of
the Sri Lankan Army and other security forces; certain (former) members of the
police, including the Criminal Investigation Division (CID), the Terrorist
Investigation Department (TID), and the Special Task Force (STF); certain
former members of the LTTE, in particular former combatants; certain (former)
members of the ‘Tamil Makkal Viduthali Pulikal’ (TMVP), including the Karuna
faction and the Inya Barathi Group.
The UNHCR has cautioned further on applications from
certain (former) members of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP); certain
(former) members of the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam
(PLOTE); and certain (former) members of other pro- and anti-government
militias and paramilitary groups.
