Refuse asylum to Tamil boat refugees, Sri Lanka tells Canada

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 August 2010, 23:36 GMT]
The Sri Lankan High commission in Ottawa has made a representation to the Canadian Government urging Canada to refuse asylum and citizenship to the Tamil migrants who came to Canada on a ship seeking asylum, the state run Dinamina newspaper said in a front page news article. According to the article, Sri Lanka has claimed that majority of the Tamil migrants comprised of members of the LTTE organization.

“Taking into account that the LTTE is a proscribed organization in Canada, the Sri Lankan High Commission has urged the Canadian government not to provide asylum to the migrants in the ship,” Dinamina said.

The request was intimated by the High Commission in Ottawa to the Canadian government via letter, according to the Sinhala daily.

In the letter the Sri Lankan High Commissioner Chitrangani Wagiswara claimed that these LTTE supporters and members were trying to fake their hardships and seek asylum in Canada and try to spread ‘terrorism’ within Canada.

Meanwhile, ten Canada-based Latin American organizations in a press release issued in support of Tamil refugees said: "Canadian media and public officials are perpetuating politically motivated stereotyping by classifying these refugees as terrorists. These unfounded statements are based on already discredited sources close to the genocidal Sri Lankan government. We believe this to be a racist and xenophobic discourse that signals the predisposition and historical tendency of our government to deny the human and legal rights of these people.

"We call upon the Canadian government to comply with its obligations under international law to respect the human rights of refugees and asylum seekers. We also call on the people of Canada to express their solidarity with the Tamil people by contacting their elected officials and demand they begin to act in accordance with the principles and values of a just society."

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Latin Americans in Canada support Tamil Refugees