Tamils have nothing to fear at home
Majority has Disappeared
De Telegraaf, 25 February 1997
The 173 Tamils, who arrived at Schiphol last week with a boeing by
Turkmenistan Airlines and applied for asylum in the Netherlands,
have nothing to fear in their own country.
Tamils are in no danger at all, neither in the capital Colombo
noe in Northern Jaffna, unless they are involved in terrorist
activities. This was said by the Dutch director of UNHCR in
Sri Lanka, the organisation for refugees of the United Nations.
It turned out that the large majority of the Tamils have disappeared,
once the Central Organ for Shelter of Asylum Seekers (COA) had made
the balance of the remaining Tamils yesterday. More than 100 of the
173 Tamil asylum seekers have disappeared without a trace.
The Canadian immigration service has already been alerted
about the arrival of the Tamils.
Peter Meijer said at his UN office at Horton Place in Colombo:
"It is very bad that the Netherlands is admitting these people
for the time being. Because then there will be no more space for
genuine asylum seekers from countries other than reletively safe
Sri Lanka."
Meijer is an authority in the refugee sector, he has been working
for the United Nations for 25 years and has been leading a staff
of 55 social workers in Sri Lanka since 1994.
He is accusing the entire Dutch asylum policy by saying:
"Tamils can walk around as freely as every other Sri Lankan.
Police and Army are only hunting down independently fighting
Tamil Tigers. In this struggle innocent Tamils might be arrested
and questioned once in a while, but they are all able to go home
later. There will certainly be no prosecution."
As all authorities in Sri Lanka Meijer is afraid that the group
of 173 asylum seekers are economic refugees; and their families
had to provide all the money they had in order to send just one
of their family members to the 'paradise in the Netherlands'.
The Dutch Embassy refers to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for
comments; Rainer Schmiedschen of the German Embassy said: "We are
being fed up by these economic refugees. This is why we have a
special detective in our visa department, who exposes these refugees."
Consul Schoni of the Swiss Embassy said: "Our Government is
sending back the Tamils, and in order to prevent being accused
of inhumane behaviour in our own country, we have rented a hotel
in Nugegoda, southern Sri Lanka, where the Tamils can stay after
their return, while they are waiting to get a house or an apartment.
At this moment there are only two people in the hotel, all the others
have returned to their families immediately after arriving in Colombo.
This is hard evidence of fake refugees."
During the last few days this news paper has been talking to a number
of Tamils in Sri Lanka, who all state not to be in any danger on the
tropical island.
Government officials as well as Embassy staff members believe that
the Tamils, who travelled to Europe for 21,000 Guilders, have recieved
part of the money from the terrorist LTTE party of the cruel Tamil Tigers.
Peter Meijer of the UNHCR: "Every month millions of Guilders are being
transfered here, from Tamil refugees, and designated for the battle of
the LTTE. I have lived in Switzerland, and I know that the Tamil asylum
seekers there had to pay for the war in Sri Lanka, and returned to their
country of origin for a vacation. It is a well organised world wide network."
Only 71 of the 173 Tamil asylum seekers are still in the different asylum
centres. The majority of them is staying in a former army barracks in
Schalkhaar in the province Overijssel, which has been serving an asylum
shelter for years. There is no trace at all of the other 102 Tamils.
According to a spokesman of the COA it is not clear where the refugees
are now. Next to that there is a possibility that the Tamils will stay
illegally, the COA spokesman recognises, "... although we do not
immediately assume this, because it is also not easy to live in illegally."
There is also a possibility that the refugees will try their luck
outside of Europe by starting new asylum procedures elsewhere.
Especially Canada is a popular destination.
28 February 1997 12:32:55
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