Sunday, 1st June 2014
By Waruni Karunarathne
Tamil youth in Udappuwa seem finally tired of finding ways to flee the country to seek asylum in countries like Australia. For over the years in the past most of the Tamil youth in Udappuwa – a remote village that is situated 5 km off the Chilaw – Puttalam main road have been fleeing the country on boats to seek asylum in other countries despite all the restrictions imposed by the government against human trafficking.
“There is now lot of restrictions and the Sri Lankan Navy is on the constant watch. So people cannot easily flee the country,” residents said. According to them there are many people of the village who have returned to the county after their failed attempts to seek asylum in Australia and other countries – others in the village now seem to understand the futility of risking their lives.
Arumugasami who fled the country to Australia on a boat returned home about six months back as his asylum application was rejected. He had fled the country only when he was seventeen as he was desperate to help his family build their house hoping that he would be able to find a job in Australia and send money home.
He added, “There were 68 people who fled the country at the time. Our boat was arrested by the Australian Navy and I was kept in the Navy camp for six months. Then I was transferred to a community centre in Brisbane until my asylum application was processed.”
He fled the country at the end of 2011 and was held in the community centre until he was sent back to Sri Lanka after his asylum application was rejected. He added that it took them 21 days to go to Australia on the boat and they went through lot of hardship. He added, “I had to take a loan of Rs. 8 lahks to pay for the smugglers. The money lender is constantly asking his money back but now I have no way of paying the loan with the interest.”
Help from IOM
There are over 25000 people who live in Upappuwa and more than half the population of the village is Tamils and the rest are Muslims. 95% of the population in the village is engaged in fishing or fishing related activities and there are hardly any other jobs in the area – which has led to youth unrest. Arumugasami, now 20 years old added, “There are no jobs in the area other than fishing. That does not give us a regular income and during this season, they cannot fish in this area. So I have not found a proper job as yet.”
According to him, as he came back he had found work in a garment factory in Colombo but had come back to the village as living in Colombo was expensive. As he was sent back to Sri Lanka he had contacted the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and they had given him Rs, 60,000 for the hearing of the court case which Arumugasami has to appear every month. The IMO has also promised to support him buy a boat engine but he said that he would only want somebody to help them build their house.
Thirubaharan, another asylum seeker in Australia who returned about four months back said that the smugglers took him to Australia on a boat but on arrival they were arrested by the Australian Navy and he was held in the camp for nearly one year. He had paid Rs. 9 lahks for the smugglers.
Wasantha Kumar, another asylum seeker added that he took a loan of Rs. One million and paid the people-smugglers – and it was a complete waste of money. According to him, he was also kept in Australian Navy camp for six months and then was transferred to a community center. “I was there for two years without doing anything. So I could not earn the money back. When they rejected my asylum application I had to come back,” added Kumar.
According to him, he had contacted the IOM and they have helped him to get back home without lot of fuss – they have paid him 100 Australian dollars to cover initial expenses and promised him Rs. 4 lahks to start a new job in his village. He added, “It is being a month since I returned and I have not started any work yet. I am waiting for the IOM to give me money to start work here.” He said that he asked money from the IOM to buy fishing nets and other equipment to engage in fishing activities as there are no other jobs in the area but fishing.
Fishing is tough
Fishing is not a comfortable job and fishermen in the area do lot of hard labour, Asangan, a fisherman of Uduppuwa added. According to him, they cannot catch fish in that area during this season – therefore they have to go to Mullathivu to catch fish. He added, “Fishing is not a very easy task – it is a risky job. It involves a lot of hardship. Besides, there is no guarantee that we get a proper income every day. There are some days that we cannot catch any fish at all.” Due to these reasons, many youth in Udappuwa despise fishing but they hardly have any other choices.
According to Secretary of the Social Development Association in Udappuwa affiliated to IOM A. Mahendran, IOM provides community services to many migrants who have illegally migrated to other countries or staying in other countries without proper visa. He added that IOM works in close partnership with national and local government institutions, non-governmental agencies, grass-root community organizations and the donor communities to respond to the needs of vulnerable communities and counter human trafficking.
He added that he himself was in UK without proper visa for eight years but returned to Sri Lanka through the IOM which supported him to start a job. He added, “IOM encourages people who are staying abroad illegally or under vulnerable conditions to come back and start anew in their own country.” According to Mahendran, the IOM has provided the opportunity for a set of youth recently who had returned from Australia to sit for O/L and A/L examinations after three months of fast track learning period for which IOM spent a large sum of money.
According to the villagers, youth unrest in the area due to lack of job opportunities to perceive a better future leads most youth to take extreme measures to flee the country risking their lives. School teacher of Udappuwa added, “I have a list of students who have fled to other countries on boats through people-smugglers. Among them, there were students who were selected to enter university. However, these youth were unable to see a future in this village and went looking for greener pastures.” He added that the trend of fleeing to other countries on boats now has stopped as many who left in such manner have retuned, after their asylum applications were rejected. Now they seem to have realised the futility in spending a large sum of money and risking their lives only to come back into a house full of debt, he added.
From : http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2014/06/01/illegal-migration-rampant-in-udappuwa/
