Asylum seekers and host country impacts: a case study of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Across the continent, countries play host to many people from an assortment of ethnic, linguistic and religious backgrounds. However, increasing political, economic and social tensions worldwide have paralleled a global increase in the number of asylum seekers. With an increasing number of asylum seekers in a post-conflict context, Sri Lanka has increasingly been the subject of debate and speculation in recent months. Thus, the island nation provides a unique opportunity to explore the reasons that underlie the increase in individuals seeking asylum, and ensuing impacts these trends may bear on host nations. Interviews were conducted with several officials to identify reasons for this outflow of people and analyse policies currently in place to address the problem. A number of policy recommendations are provided to address the flow of asylum seekers from Sri Lanka.

Keywords:

• asylum seekers
• refugees
• Sri Lanka

JEL Codes:

• F22

Acknowledgements

This article was written while I was visiting the European Union Delegation to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. I wish to thank staff members for their hospitality, in particular, Sandali Cooray, Vanessa De Silva and Terhi Lehtinen. I also wish to thank Leelananda de Silva for valuable suggestions and the officials who provided interviews.

Notes

1. An asylum seeker is someone who is seeking international protection but whose claim for refugee status has not yet been determined, whereas a refugee refers to any person who has a well-founded fear of being persecuted in their home country. This does not cover those who leave their country due to a civil or natural disaster in order to seek a better life. Generally speaking illegal immigrants are people who enter a country without meeting the legal requirements for entry, however according the 1948 Universal Declaration for Human Rights, everyone has the right to seek asylum, and thus the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) emphasises that a person with a well-founded fear of persecution should be viewed as a refugee and not an illegal immigrant (Parliament of Australia Department of Parliamentary Services, 2011, p. 2).

2. This was mentioned by an official at the Department of Immigration.

3. It is important to note that all asylum seekers do not necessarily represent the poorest of the poor in Sri Lanka.

4. Intelligence has been vital to tracking the movements of illegal migrants. For example, the Government of Canada and its partners have successfully stopped several planned smuggling voyages to Canada by boat, including a venture involving a significant number of Tamil migrants who were gathering in West Africa. Thanks to very alert policing and intelligence action, that human smuggling operation was shut down before it could leave port (Canadian High Commission, 2013).

5. The Navy reported 80% Tamil and 20% Sinhala.

6. An example of this within Australia is the enterprise migration agreement under which the $6.5 billion Roy Hill project funded by Gina Rinehart ‘allows Hancock Prospecting to bring in 1700 migrant workers on a temporary basis’ (Australian Associated Press, 2012). Union leaders have protested against this stating that ‘it is a kick in the guts for Australian employees’ (Australian Associated Press, 2012).