Challenge of boat returnees

Thursday, 22 November 2012 00:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

With over 400 asylum seekers deported from Australia, economically vulnerable people are finding their dim hopes for a better life getting even dimmer. It is an obvious observation that most of the people attempting to illegally enter in Australia are doing so for economic reasons rather than political ones. Therefore their return puts more pressure on policymakers to find them better economic opportunities.

Despite the end of the war nearly four years ago, people have found little relief, with the cost of living an ever-growing burden. Their attempts to earn more money abroad are often dangerous and futile quests. With little hope for a better solution, concentration must at least be put to creating awareness against people smuggling.

Australia’s Immigration is committed to returning Sri Lankan nationals. Illegal migrants are assessed on a case-by-case basis in accordance with Australian law and United Nations conventions. This means that any person not covered by Australia’s international obligations will be returned to their country of origin – quickly.

The Australian Government is working with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to provide reintegration assistance in the form of livelihood training, medical care and even limited monetary handouts. However, involuntary returnees as well as those engaged in human smuggling will not have access to this assistance. Moreover, Alvarez noted that any information they have on people smugglers will be shared with Sri Lankan authorities to assist in arrests and investigations.

Earlier Australian authorities reported that over the previous months, asylum seeker numbers have trebled, hitting higher digits than in 2009, when Sri Lanka ended a three-decade conflict. Already, over the first half of this year, 1,346 asylum seekers claiming to have come from Sri Lanka have arrived in Australian territory, with the numbers likely to have doubled by now. Moreover, at least 1,500 people have been arrested locally while attempting to embark on the dangerous voyage.

It is therefore clear that the Government as well as all other stakeholders need to combine and find an effective and multifaceted method to help people not be fooled into skipping the country for wrongful reasons.

The fact that Sri Lanka needs to tighten its human smuggling and asylum seeker legislations is an obvious point. Unscrupulous people who dupe others into parting with their savings on false promises of a plentiful life need to be punished severely. Yet, at the same time, there must be economic opportunities made available to them so that their reasons for leaving are no longer valid.

Awareness of the danger could be one aspect that needs to be driven home, but the ordeal they will face if they reach their destination must be made known to them as well. Perhaps the most important point is that they must be provided with security and the assurance that law and order will protect them, thus allowing them to be productive citizens in their own country.

Giving economic returns to the majority of people is the biggest challenge and ultimately the best solution to this exodus but with little Government attention being paid to reduce the cost of living and a challenging global environment, a solution is becoming ever distant.