Thursday, 13 February 2014 00:00
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Seventy-five people including six children were detained by Police while attempting to illegally migrate to New Zealand on Tuesday, showing that even if doors to Australia close, the socioeconomic challenges at home keep people desperate enough for options. The group is reported to have been from the eastern region of Sri Lanka and had been preparing to undertake a dangerous sea journey to reach New Zealand via Beruwala.
Sri Lanka has been the source of thousands of illegal migrants or boat people to Australia for the past few years. Despite the end of a three-decade war in 2009, the number of asylum seekers from Sri Lanka has increased, pushing the Australian Government to take tough measures to prevent them from reaching that country.
At least 1,500 people have been arrested by the Navy while attempting to leave Sri Lanka by boat while the Australian Government has returned around the same number as part of a stricter immigration policy. The Australian Government is working closely with the local Navy to monitor and prevent boat people from Sri Lanka and has implemented awareness programs to discourage locals from attempting to illegally migrate.
Cooperation on people smuggling has increased since Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott took office in 2013 and fresh arrivals have reduced significantly due to methods by both Governments. Indeed Sri Lanka’s Government can also depend on Australia for unconditional support at international forums thanks to this issue and they are not alone.
Canadian officials have also expressed concerns over illegal migrants, urging the Government to improve domestic conditions, including human rights, good governance and economic opportunities to keep people home. 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at the same time, there must be economic opportunities made available to them so that their reasons for leaving are no longer valid.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.
Given that public officials are also among the numbers detained, the time has come to accept that the asylum seekers issue has a deep economic facet that cannot be explained away by international conspiracies or human smugglers connected to the LTTE, a point that was acknowledged by officials from Australia and Canada, who pointed out that economic reasons were behind most migrations.
Giving economic returns to the majority of people is the biggest challenge and ultimately the best solution to this exodus.
