COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
TAMILS
18.06 Approximately 18 per cent of the population are ethnic Tamils (the combined total of
Indian and Sri Lankan Tamils) (Jane‘s Sentinel Country Risk Assessments, Country
Report, Sri Lanka 301 , accessed on 3 February 2012. Jane‘s added that:
―Although some of the main Tamil areas of the northeast were not covered by the
estimated census of population conducted in 2001, there is evidence of a decline in the
Sri Lankan Tamil population ratio in the country as a whole between 1981 and 2001.
This is mainly due to the emigration of an estimated 800,000 Tamils from Sri Lanka to
India and destinations in the West as political refugees since the intensification of the
ethnic conflict in the mid-1980s. The Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora forms the largest and
most politically significant expatriate grouping outside the country. Many were driven
from the country and have retained a strong sense of animosity towards Sri Lanka
coupled with a willingness to support the cause of an independent state through
financial donations to front organisations associated with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE). The largest concentrations of Tamils are in India/Tamil Nadu (approx.
200,000), Canada (150,000-200,000), followed by the United Kingdom (180,000),
Germany (70,000), Australia (45,000), France (40,000) the United States (25,000) and
Malaysia (25,000). Smaller communities also exist in South Africa, Italy, Norway,
Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand.‖
18.07 In Colombo district there were 247,739 Sri Lanka Tamils and 24,821 Indian Tamils out
of a total population of 2,251,274 (figures from the 2001 census). The districts of
Ampara, Gampaha, Kandy, Puttalam and Nuwara Eliya also had a high concentration of
Tamils. However, data from Jaffna, Mannar, Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Batticaloa
and Trincomalee districts in which the 2001 census enumeration was not completed
were not included. (Sri Lankan Department of Census and Statistics (Statistical Abstract
2010, Chapter II, tables 2.10 - 2.11, accessed on 1 June 2011) 302
18.08 A British High Commission (BHC) Colombo letter dated 9 November 2011 303 observed:
―There are frequent comments made in conversation in Sri Lanka that, ‗There are more
Tamils in Colombo than Sinhalese‘. Published statistics do not support this claim. In
some small areas of Colombo there are indeed a much higher percentage of Tamils
than Sinhalese, but equally there are areas which are considered almost entirely
Muslim. In establishing the ethnicity breakdown, compilers often mix race and religion.
Not all Sinhalese are Buddhists, not all Tamils are Hindus and there are many Muslims
and Roman Catholics who are considered Tamil merely because that is the language
they speak.
―A former Chief Justice once told me [Second Secretary migration] that there were
400,000 Tamils living in Colombo. Similarly, Mano Ganesan MP informed me that
Colombo District has close to 300,000 Tamils living here as permanent residents and
301 Jane’s Sentinel Country Risk Assessments, Country Report, Sri Lanka,
http://sentinel.janes.com/docs/sentinel/SASS_country.jsp?Prod_Name=SASS&Sent_Country=Sri%20La
nka& [subscription only] accessed on 3 February 2012, Internal Affairs, 17 January 2012
302 Sri Lanka Department for Census and Statistics, Statistical Abstract 2010 – Chapter II (Population),
Table 2.10 http://www.statistics.gov.lk/abstract2010/chapters/Chap2/AB2-10.pdf and 2.11
http://www.statistics.gov.lk/abstract2010/chapters/Chap2/AB2-11.pdf date accessed 1 June 2011
303 British High Commission Colombo, Letter dated 9 November 2011
124 The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.