No TN Tamils among SL refugee returnees

By Shanika Sriyananda

No Tamils from Tamil Nadu (TN) are included among the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who are voluntarily returning to the country facilitated by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a top ministry official said, yesterday.

The first group of 34 refugees belonging to 16 families, including 15 men and 19 women, will return on 14 February and they are due to arrive from Madurai, Tiruchirappalli and Chennai sponsored by the UNHRC.

“The UNHCR is following a highly strict process that facilitates bringing the Sri Lankan refugees back home. They have all necessary documents and lists of displaced Sri Lankans who fled the country during the 30-year conflict,” Rehabilitation and Resettlement Ministry Secretary V. Sivagnanasothy said.

He also said that those refugees who were sheltered in welfare centres in different locations in TN were periodically reviewed and monitored by the UNHCR and they were also included in a database from the inception that they fled the country.

Sivagnanasothy told Daily FT that Sri Lankan refugees in welfare centres in TN could only return through a proper legal channel assisted by the UNHCR.

“They will be resettled in Vavuniya, Mannar, Matale, Mullaitivu, Trincomalee and Jaffna – the areas in which they lived until displacement. The Ministry will give them an initial allowance of Rs. 5,000 per person on arrival at the airport,” he said.

The statement released by the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office stated: ‘The Government is committed to taking all necessary measures to build peace and reconciliation among every Sri Lankan, and accordingly, invited all citizens who fled the country during the wartime to return home.”

The statement stated that 11,020 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, who had been living in welfare centres in Tamil Nadu, had voluntarily returned to the country so far since 2009 and 3,815 more refugees had expressed their desire to return to Sri Lanka under the patronage of the UNHCR.

Sivagnanasothy said that the returned refugees would be given Rs. 25,000 when they returned to their villages, Rs. 3,000 to get basic tools to clear their lands and also another Rs. 5,000. “They are entitled to apply for houses as they get priority when giving houses,” he said.

He said that they were also entitled to apply for a livelihood support scheme, which would grant them Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 150,000 per family. “All the refugee returnees are not granted livelihood support, but when they apply the prospective applicants will get priority when granting livelihood support,” he said.

According to Sivagnanasothy, Sri Lankan refugees over 65,000 out of the total 100,000 refugees are living in welfare centres but the rest 35,000 are living with their friends and relatives in different parts of India.

He said that most of those who were living in other parts of India were not willing to return as they had already adjusted to life in India.