Consider consequences

THE news that as many as 75 asylum seekers from Sri Lanka could have drowned after a boat bound for Australia capsized is both deeply disturbing and is a call for locals to work harder to prevent tragedies of this nature. Wire services reported that Australian police on Thursday said that early reports suggested up to 75 asylum seekers had died after their boat capsized off remote Christmas Island en route from Sri Lanka.

Western Australia police commissioner Karl O’Callaghan had been quoted as saying a large number of the 200 on board were feared to have perished. In later news, the External Affairs Ministry was still struggling to identify the boat and get a better grasp of this tragedy. Outside of being a diplomatic and logistics nightmare, it is also a deep blow to hundreds of families that would have had members on board.

 For the past three years, Sri Lanka’s economic and social situation has increased significantly. Many people are grateful for the security this has brought, for not only can families now know that their loved ones will not be killed in bomb blasts but that economic opportunities are also increasing. It would seem that this is an improving situation if not an ideal one. But as the arrest of over 100 asylum seekers proved last month and again a few days ago, the problem remains.

 The UN arm for refugee and asylum seekers, the UNHRC, remarks in its 2012 report that the number of asylum seekers and refugees in Sri Lanka is expected to remain stable, but the search for durable solutions will continue to be challenging. Even though in a transitional phase, humanitarian assistance will continue to be needed in Sri Lanka in the years ahead in order to support the country’s mid- to long-term shift from relief to early recovery and development.

 People moving across national borders with no immediate intention of returning are classified either as economic migrants, voluntarily abandoning their homes to earn a better wage or as political refugees forced to leave for their own safety. From the reports that have emerged from Sri Lankan asylum seekers, it is safe to assume that one or the other of these reasons or indeed both provide the main impetus for hundreds of people to leave their country of origin under the most dangerous of circumstances.

 Asylum seeker status is greatly valued for the rights that it bestows under international law. Host states are also obliged to offer civil and economic rights, in particular the right to work. Refugees enjoy access to social services and protection of national laws. With such high rewards, there are many who would not hesitate to use the sad past of Sri Lanka to make a quick buck, namely through human smuggling.

It is therefore clear that the Government as well as all other stakeholders need to combine and find an effective and multi-faceted method to help people not be fooled into skipping the country for wrongful reasons. While there has been progress in working with countries such as Australia to reduce the number of asylum seekers, it is clear from recent events that the work is far from over.

 The fact that Sri Lanka needs to tighten its human smuggling and asylum seeker legislations is an obvious point. Unscrupulous people who dupe others into parting with their savings on false promises of a plentiful life need to be punished severely. Yet at the same time there must be economic opportunities made available to them so that their reasons for leaving are no longer valid.

 Awareness of the danger could be one aspect that needs to be driven home but the ordeal they will face if they reach their destination must be made known to them as well. Perhaps the most important point is that they must be provided with security and the assurance that law and order will protect them, thus allowing them to be productive citizens in their own country. For many that were on the boat it is already too late.