COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

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