COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
man, who arrived on the 29 September 2011 charter flight was arrested by local
uniformed police as the subject of an outstanding arrest warrant, and was transferred to
Kalmunai where he was subsequently charged with murder. All six of these returnees
were processed by the Sri Lankan judicial system through the Courts.
―On 10 February 2011 a man was returned who had gone through the entire asylum
and appeal process in the UK as a Sri Lankan national. He had also been issued with
an emergency passport by the Sri Lankan High Commission in London. On arrival in
Colombo he informed the immigration officer that he was in fact an Indian national and
he provided a completely different identity. The Sri Lankan authorities did not approach
the British High Commission in Colombo to arrange for his return to the UK, which they
were entitled to under our bilateral readmission agreement, but instead held him at the
airport and contacted the Indian High Commission in Colombo. He was subsequently
interviewed by the Indian authorities, issued with a travel document and was removed to
Chennai, India. Apart from these cases, no UK returnees have been held for more than
7 hours on arrival, none have been arrested and detained, and none have complained
about their treatment on arrival by the authorities.
―Negotiations are currently taking place regarding the implementation of the EU-Sri
Lanka Readmission Agreement (EURA). A project funded by the European Union has
contracted the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to take this forward. The
Government of Sri Lanka have indicated that they will develop their arrival procedures
and redocumentation processes for the implementation of the EURA, adding that these
will apply across the board for Sri Lankan returnees from all countries in the world. DIE
have indicated that they wish to launch these new procedures from January 2012, but
as yet we are not aware that this has taken place.‖
25.36 Human Rights and Security Issues concerning Tamils in Sri Lanka, Report from Danish
Immigration Service‘s fact-finding mission to Colombo, Sri Lanka 19 June to 3 July
2010 524 , dated October 2010 reported:
―As regards, the authorities‘ entering procedures for returnees, including returned failed
asylum seekers in the Colombo Airport, Mr. W. A. Chulananda Perera, Acting Controller
General, Department of Immigration and Emigration (DIE) explained that the returnee
can enter the Sri Lankan border with either a national passport or an Emergency Travel
Document issued by the Sri Lankan Embassy. If the returnee enters with a national
passport, DIE can check the data in a database. Entry with an Emergency Travel
Document does not give this possibility. However, an Emergency Travel Document is
considered a proof of identity established in the country of departure. DIE registers the
details of all returnee, including travel documents, flight numbers and country of return
in a register that all law enforcement agencies are given access to.‖
―A diplomatic mission said that the vast majority of Tamils returning at the moment are
facing a minimal risk for undergoing a scrutiny at the airport. The source commented
that the way people will be screened today seem to be the result of improved
intelligence, also exchange of intelligence between countries in Asia. People with a
clear LTTE-profile or people suspected of money transfer would be detained for further
524 Human Rights and Security Issues concerning Tamils in Sri Lanka, Report from Danish Immigration
Service’s fact-finding mission to Colombo, Sri Lanka 19 June to 3 July 2010, October 2010
http://www.nyidanmark.dk/NR/rdonlyres/899724D8-BEEB-4D9E-B3B2-
F2B28A505CCD/0/fact_finding_report_sri_lanka_2010.pdf date accessed 27 May 2011, p52-53
204 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.