OTHER OPINIONS : Close the camps in Sri Lanka

By The Toronto Star

Posted: October 26, 2009 at 4:46 a.m.

• Print item
• E-mail
• Share
• Tweet

TORONTO — Sri Lanka’s postwar human exodus is washing up on faraway shores: Hundreds of Tamils have reached Indonesia and Australia, and others apparently are being drawn here.

While authorities are still investigating, the Canadian Tamil Congress says 76 men from the merchant ship Ocean Lady off the British Columbia coast are Tamil refugees.

“Sri Lanka has become hell for Tamils and they have to get out,” says Congress spokesperson David Poopalapillai. Others who fled to Indonesia have made the startling claim that they are facing “genocide.”

While that strains belief, the Sri Lankan military continues to hold some 260,000 Tamils in detention camps, in poor conditions, five months after shattering the Tamil Tiger insurgency in mid-May. The government says only some 30,000 have been sent home. Tension in thecamps is reportedly reaching the boiling point. …

That leaves Canada and other countries of asylum in a fix.

More Tamils are bound to flee if they can’t live normal lives. We can either grant them asylum, or ship them back to a clouded future. The better course would be for President Mahinda Rajapakse to close the camps, restore normalcy and make flight a less desirable option. …

In the meantime officials should give the refugees a sympathetic hearing. Some would “draw the line” against taking in the refugees. But provided that they are not Tiger leaders, they should be entitled to temporary sanctuary until Sri Lanka finds a humane way to deal with people displaced by the fighting. Sri Lanka’s defeat of the Tigers should lead to national reconciliation, not indefinite internment.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 10/26/2009

Comments

To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers. Please read our comment policy.

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.