COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
―The senior intelligence official said that [if an individual has visible scarring] SIS would
obviously question them, ask for an explanation and assess the merits of each case.
SIS may carry out background enquiries via their local police. Scarring more directly
related to military training would trigger specific questions and there would be a need to
carry out specific enquiries, depending on where the person was from.
―The Superintendent Police, Criminal Investigations Department (CID), said he was not
sure. If they suspected an LTTE link, a scar may trigger questions, but strip searches
were not conducted at all.‖
See also Torture
26. CITIZENSHIP AND NATIONALITY
Return to contents
26.01 The US State Department 2010 Human Rights Report: Sri Lanka (USSD 2010) 541 ,
released on 8 April 2011 noted that: ―Citizenship was obtained by birth within the
territory of the country and from a child's parents if born to citizen parents overseas.‖
26.02 The Centre for Reproductive Rights, Women of the World: South Asia, Sri Lanka
chapter 542 , undated, website accessed on 1 June 2011, recorded that:
―The 1948 Citizenship Act is the primary central legislation on citizenship. The act was
amended in 2003 to allow both parents to confer citizenship upon their children. Prior to
the amendment, only a father could pass Sri Lankan citizenship to his
children…Changes to regulations under the act have also been recently approved by
the Cabinet of Ministers; these changes permit foreign spouses of Sri Lankan women to
obtain citizenship on the same basis as foreign spouses of Sri Lankan men.‖
26.03 The website of the Department for Immigration and Emigration 543 has a specific section
on citizenship (accessible from the hyperlink in the footnote) providing specific
information on this issue including the specific provisions related to dual citizenship.
26.04 The USSD 2010 report 544 also noted that:
―The 2003 Grant of Citizenship to Persons of Indian Origin Act recognized the country's
nationality of previously stateless persons, particularly hill-country Tamils. The
540 Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), Report of the FCO information gathering visit to Colombo,
Sri Lanka 23-29 August 2009, 22 October 2009 http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs09/igcolombo-
0809.doc date accessed 6 January 2010, Executive Summary, paragraphs 1.66-1.67
541 US State Department 2010 Human Rights Report: Sri Lanka (USSD 2010), released on 8 April 2011,
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/sca/154486.htm , date accessed 11 May 2011, Section 6
542 Centre for Reproductive Rights, Women of the World: South Asia, Sri Lanka chapter, undated
http://reproductiverights.org/sites/crr.civicactions.net/files/documents/pdf_wowsa_srilanka.pdf date
accessed 1 June 2011, p220
543 Sri Lanka Department for Immigration and Emigration, Citizenship, undated,
http://www.immigration.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=146&Itemid=185
&lang=en date accessed 2 February 2012
544 US State Department 2010 Human Rights Report: Sri Lanka (USSD 2010), released on 8 April 2011,
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/sca/154486.htm , date accessed 11 May 2011, Section 2d
216 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.