Sri Lankan boat people to be deported within 72 hours says Aussie FM

By Uditha Jayasinghe

Australia and Sri Lanka formalised cooperation yesterday to combat illegal immigration that has seen nearly 3,000 local arrests this year by returning boat people within 72 hours.

Australian Foreign Minister Robert Carr, who arrived in Sri Lanka on Friday, holding a joint press conference with his counterpart Prof. G.L. Peiris, insisted that tough policies would be put in place to combat people smugglers.

He insisted that under a new policy by the Australian government, illegal immigrants will be returned to Sri Lanka within 72 hours.    

“Let me make it very clear. Australia is going to be returning people who enter its waters through the people smugglers; we are going to be returning them to Sri Lanka and doing so within 72 hours. I give this warning to anyone in Sri Lanka who might be tempted to give a big sum of money to a people smuggler,” he said. Carr noted that most of the arrivals are economic refugees.  

A separate statement released by the embassy noted that a range of new services will be provided by Australia including surveillance, strengthening the Sri Lankan navy though training and direct supply of search and rescue equipment.

The Australian government is also giving US$ 45 million over five years under AusAID’s broader Sri Lanka program to build or rebuild poor and rural communities – reducing poverty and helping cut demand for economic migration.

“Since August, a total now of 800 irregular arrivals have been returned to Sri Lanka. I feel very sorry for those people as they are the victims of people smugglers. They have thrown away their money and risked their lives on the high seas and during the last few years, hundreds of people have died on the high seas, so the risk is real.”

Cooperation between the two countries has resulted in 65 smuggling ventures involving 2,900 people disrupted this year.