There are people seeking asylum in SL – UNHCR

It is little known by most Sri Lankans that there are refugees and people seeking asylum in Sri Lanka, said UNHCR’s Representative Michael Zwack said.

Issuing a statement to mark the World Refugee Day on 20 June, the UNHCR’s Representative said, although numbers are very small in comparison to most countries, Sri Lanka currently hosts 236 registered refugees and 141 asylum seekers.

We appreciate the good cooperation received by UNHCR from government, he said.

According to UNHCR, Sri Lanka is one country refugees are slowly starting to return to after the conflict has ended.

 Since 2010, some 2,900 refugees, mainly from Tamil Nadu in India, have returned with the help of UNHCR, and they continue to arrive at steady numbers. In addition, over 200 refugees returned on their own accord.

 According to UNHCR’s latest Global Trends statistics for 2010 just released, there are 141, 063 Sri Lankan refugees and 8, 563 Sri Lankan asylum seekers in different countries around the world – the majority in India. (www.info.gov.lk)