I believe that the people who take the decisions do not properly use the information available to the country assessment civil servants. There is no joined-up government between the caseworkers and the information. There is a further serious point. People receive a standard reply when their application is turned down. It says:

Regarding any ill-treatment which you may have sustained whilst in detention, the Secretary of State is aware of reports of continuing abuses of human rights by members of the Security Forces in Sri Lanka and concerns about the impunity of those responsible. However, he understands that the government of Sri Lanka, and in particular, the President herself, are firmly resolved to improve the country's human rights record . . . human rights training programmes for the Security Forces have been set up . . . the Government has undertaken to prosecute those responsible for human rights violations . . . the Secretary of State is satisfied that the Government has taken genuine steps to address this issue. Our officials appear regularly to conclude that it is safe for someone from Jaffna to return to Sri Lanka, because he can live in Colombo. I have been to Colombo and life is not safe or secure there. Is it acceptable to say to a Sri Lankan from Jaffna that it is fine to return because he or she can live in Kandy? As I suggested to my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for North-East Fife, that is like telling him that his asylum application has been dealt with and, even though we know that he cannot return to North-East Fife, the Scilly islands are a nice place to live, and he could go there. It is not acceptable to tell people to go to the other end of a country where they have no family or roots and where they are not part of the community. Will the Minister ask the Home Office to undertake an inquiry into the processing of the asylum applications of people from Sri Lanka and to make sure that those who consider the cases do not give the fatuous and unacceptable reply that it is safe for them to return to a place that is less risky than the one from which they came or to one where, in theory, the Government are in control? Other colleagues want to contribute. We do not have enough debates about Sri Lanka, which is a friend and Commonwealth country, so I am glad to be having this one. The Sri Lankan Government must sometimes think that those of us who get exercised about such issues are all allied to the Tamil cause, but I hold no exclusive brief

7 Jun 2000 : Column 52WH
for either community. However, I am sympathetic to the idea that there must be a better process for self-determination and that there must be a solution that gives the much greater autonomy and self-government sought by the Tamil people. The Government in Sri Lanka have not delivered that for 50 years. We cannot stand aside and watch as tens of thousands more people are killed and injured. We have a responsibility to Sri Lankan residents in this country but, more importantly, we have a responsibility to a poor country which is in need of international community support and which should not have a terrible drain on its own resources. I hope that there can be an initiative that urgently will bring the parties to the table. There are difficulties every time elections loom--indeed, a parliamentary election looms later this year--and political tensions mount. However, I hope that another peacemaking initiative can be made as soon as is humanly possible and that all parties in Sri Lanka understand that that is not just their responsibility. The rest of us have a responsibility, and the Sri Lankans are responsible to the rest of us for ensuring that peace, not more years of conflict, is brought to that beautiful country.

10.2 am
Mr. Edward Davey (Kingston and Surbiton): I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Southwark, North and Bermondsey (Mr. Hughes) for securing this debate and for his tireless work in trying to bring about peace in Sri Lanka. He undertook such work during his recent visit, as well as before and since. I also pay tribute to the remarkably balanced and fair way in which he presented his case. I shall try to follow my hon. Friend's example. I have an interest in the issue following a visit by some of my constituents to one of my advice sessions. To my discredit, I knew little of what was going on in Sri Lanka before their visit. They told me about the tragedy taking place in that lovely island and talked me through the experiences of their families. One family in my constituency has lost loved ones in Sri Lanka: some have disappeared and some have been murdered.

That is the background to my interest in the issue, which also informs my approach to it. I therefore apologise if my argument is slightly less balanced than that of my hon. Friend. However, I agree with many of his points, especially his plea to the Government to take a more active role in the peace process. He is right to suggest that the Norwegian initiative is the way forward. It has the greatest chance of success and I believe that the Government support it. Will the Minister tell us how the Government intend to give that initiative active backing? My hon. Friend said that the election in August may create difficulties. However, it also creates opportunities, as outside sources could give parties contesting the election an indication that a commitment to the peace process would be in their interest. The previous Government did a good job in ensuring that all parties contesting elections signed up to a peace process. The constitutional package put forward by the Kumaratunga Government in the approach to the August elections may not be liked by some in the Jaffna peninsula, but they are trying to get wider support for it,

7 Jun 2000 : Column 53WH
especially from the United National Party, which is the main opposition party. I hope that, in becoming more active in the peace process, our Government will push that further and suggest that more parties should try to commit themselves to that package prior to the election. That may be difficult, as nothing is easy in any peace process. However, such measures could underpin the Sri Lankan peace process, although I accept that the Government may have others in mind. My hon. Friend referred to export licences for arms, which is an area in which the Government need to be rather less active. It is unfortunate that some export licences have been granted since the election. Will the Minister assure us that his Government will grant no more arms export licences? Indeed, I hope that he will go further than that. My hon. Friend spoke about the recent amazing thaw in relations between the Colombo Government and Israel, and explained how that is tied up with the purchase of jet aircraft and other arms supplies. The defence budget in Sri Lanka is now projected to rise to 6 per cent. of gross domestic product, which dwarves the amount spent on health and education. That extra money will go towards buying jets from Israel. Has the Minister--or his colleagues--had discussions with representatives of the Israeli Government or, indeed, of the American Government to prevent such escalation? A large, expensive introduction of new arms cannot be in the interests of peace.

My hon. Friend spoke about the press and raised the media embargoes sometimes imposed by the Colombo Government. We are told that those embargoes have been lifted recently: we shall wait and see. I wish to encourage the Colombo Government to remove them permanently and ensure that the international community can report events there fully so that we can monitor on the ground whether the Sri Lankan Government are meeting their United Nations and international obligations on aid, medical supplies and so on. We cannot lay the lack of coverage of the dispute only at the door of the Colombo Government. The wider media are to blame, as they have stepped back from reporting it and have not tried hard enough to get to the truth. Of course, there are difficulties but, in other international conflicts, certain broadcasting stations, channels and other media outlets have tried hard to get to the truth. However, they are not so willing to do so in this area. It is incumbent on all media outlets, such as the BBC, CNN and others, to ensure that the terrible tragedy of the civil war is exposed to an international spotlight so that it moves up the political agenda. In many ways, the media's role is more important than that which we are playing here. If they gave the conflict greater coverage and it became a more important priority for the Foreign Office, that might create a greater sense of activism in the Government.

I conclude on one point that is directly relevant to my constituents. If Jaffna falls, as is possible in the next few weeks, there is real concern that there will be a backlash against the members of the Tamil minority living in the rest of the island. We know that 55 per cent. of Tamils in Sri Lanka live in the Sinhala south. It is to the credit of the Colombo Government that despite the war that is going on there and despite suicide bombers, for example, such a backlash has not been allowed to

-Page 4-

Previous Page   Next Page

Back to Latest News

Copyright © LankaWeb 2000

Home News Business DhammaWeb Info & Services Classified Search