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Friday, January 10, 2025

Residents of Mullivaikkal provide support and show solidarity to Rohingya asylum seekers

 Residents of Mullivaikkal provide   support and show solidarity to   Rohingya asylum seekers

Daily Mirror 11 January 2025

Mullivaikkal is a remote coastal village in the Northern district of Mullaitivu in Sri Lanka and its ethnic composition is predominantly Tamil. It has become significant as it’s where Sri Lanka’s three-decade long civil war came to a bloody end in 2009, with hundreds of thousands still unaccounted. Those who surrendered to the Army in Mullivaikkal on the last days of the war are alleged to have been killed or disappeared. The whole of Mullivaikkal village and Mullaitivu district were displaced for several months and were detained behind barbed wired detention camps. Mullivaikkal is also where Tamils gather in large numbers every year on the 18th May (the day the war ended) remembering, grieving and demanding justice for wartime atrocities they suffered. It has led to terms such as “Mullivaikkal Tamil Genocide remembrance week” etc., by some Tamils.   


It is near the shores of Mullivaikkal that a boat with Rohingya asylum seekers fleeing persecution from Myanmar had turned up on the 19th December 2024. Theepan and other fishermen in Mullivaikkal were amongst the first to sight the boat and assist them. They had gone to the boat using Theepan’s small fishing boat and noticed lots of people on the boat, including children. Only a few men were standing and the others were lying down. They had also noticed vomit and blood. They could not understand each other due to language barriers, but several in the boat had shouted the word “hospital”.   

The boat of Rohingya asylum seekers fleeing persecution from Myanmar had turned up on the 19th of December 2024 near the shores of Mullivaikkal 

Theepan says he felt those on the boat, especially children, wanted him to bring them ashore. He also said he and most villagers wanted to bring those on the boat ashore and take care of them. He said he could have brought them all ashore in his boat, about 10 at a time. But he was worried about legal consequences. Baskaran was another fisherman from Mullaitivu who had visited the Rohingyas in the boat and both he and Theepan had asked the Navy to bring the people ashore, but that Navy officers said they didn’t have permission from their seniors and relevant authorities to do so. However, Theepan had taken a doctor, two Public Health Inspectors and Navy officers in their boat to visit the boat with asylum seekers. An ambulance had come to the site, but was never used as no one on the boat was brought ashore.   

The fishermen had also taken glucose, food and drinking water for those in the boat. According to them, these were gratefully accepted by those on the boat who appeared to be starving. Theepan, with some others, had made about 20 trips from the shore to the boat with Rohingyas. As the news spread, people from afar also started to bring food. A group from Puthukkudiyiruppu had brought food and Theepan had taken these by boat and handed them over even after the Navy had started to escort the boat towards Trincomalee in the evening.   

Theepan and Baskaran had reservations about Indian trawlers which were disrupting their livelihoods, but were exceptionally welcoming and supportive towards Rohingyas who had come by boat, based on belief they were fleeing persecution and in need of help.   

Trincomalee

The Rohingya asylum seekers who had already been at sea for more than 2 weeks were kept at sea for most of 19th December. That evening, they were escorted by the Navy through the sea to Trincomalee and were finally allowed to disembark there on the 20th December morning. Government officials and civil society groups in Trincomalee had provided health care, food and clothes.   

Amadoru Amarajeewa, a local journalist, had managed to briefly interview a few asylum seekers and had described them as hungry and weary. Some of the children and women were dehydrated and unable to walk. They had been at sea for 16 days without minimal sanitary facilities. A refugee had stated that they had left in three boats, two had broken down and that people in those boats had also boarded the boat that reached Sri Lanka. Six had died during the journey and their bodies were thrown into the sea. One refugee had said he had left his home due to the ongoing ethnic conflict in Myanmar and that he had to bribe the country’s security forces and flee illegally. Another refugee said his village was being bombed, forcing him to leave the country in search of safety. Another had said communication links with his village had been cut off, and he feared for his life.   

Their stories tally with stories I have heard from Rohingya friends in exile in different countries and some of the Rohingya refugees living temporarily in Sri Lanka for about two years after they were rescued from the seas off Jaffna by the Navy. There were about 100 Rohingya refugees in Sri Lanka before the latest arrivals while about a million are being hosted in Bangladesh. The persecution of the Rohingya is now the subject of a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), brought by Gambia against Myanmar.   

Detention and potential deportation

After being kept in Trincomalee for 3 days, the asylum seekers were brought back to Mullaitivu on 23rd December and have been detained there in an Air Force camp. Theepan said he and the other villagers were very keen to visit the asylum seekers being detained, but that he is waiting until authorities allow such visits. He said some of the asylum seekers may remember him from his many visits to the boat. An officer at the local Red Cross who had provided emergency assistance said local traders in Mullaitivu had also helped contribute emergency supplies. Some local residents had visited the detention centre to inquire about needs, but were turned back. When I and a group of journalists visited the detention centre, Air Force officials stated they couldn’t allow us to meet the asylum seekers without permission of Immigration officials. But Immigration officials were not present there and calls to numbers on the official website went unanswered. We had informed the Controller of Immigration and Ministry of Public Security in writing several days before and also made many phone calls, but there was no response. On 26th of December, officials from the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka were also barred from visiting the detention facility. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is also waiting for access to register the boat arrivals and examine their asylum claims.   

The Navy spokesman had indicated to the media that the destination of the Rohingya may have been Malaysia or Indonesia and weather conditions may have pushed the boat towards Sri Lanka. One of the asylum seekers had told journalist Amadoru in Trincomalee that they had no idea where they were headed but wanted to get to safety.   

However, the Minister of Public Security was quoted in the media on 3rd January 2025 as saying the Rohingya’s arrival is considered as a case of human trafficking and there was no basis to consider them as refugees (or asylum seekers) as of then. The Minister had said they may be deported to Myanmar, and that the government had even shared details of the persons with the Myanmar government and was having discussions with them.   

The Minister’s statement had led to criticism and questioning, including by the Opposition leader and other opposition MPs. In the morning of 9th January 2025, The North-East Coordinating Committee (NECC) together with civil society groups and residents from North and East held a protest outside the Mullaitivu district secretariat, calling on Sri Lankan government not to deport Rohingyas and treat them in line with international law. They had also pointed out that it’s better to keep the Rohingya under supervision of civilian administration rather than in an Air Force camp. A protest was also held in Colombo on 10th January against deportation and detention in a military camp.   

On 10th January, when the case was taken up at Trincomalee Magistrate Court, the police had asked for more time for investigations. Lawyers had requested access to the people being detained and the Magistrate had summoned officials from the Air Force and the Immigration to the next hearing scheduled for 31st January 2024.   

Detention and deportation vs. humanitarian care and support

Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees everyone the right to seek asylum and international customary law principles prohibit returning of those having a well-founded fear of persecution to their place of origin.   

Theepan, Baskaran and local people see the Rohingya as people fleeing persecution and seeking protection. They categorically state that the government should take care of them. When asked about the government minister’s fears about 100,000 people coming, Baskaran replied that those who come to protect their lives from anywhere must be helped. Theepan said Mullivaikkal villagers could accommodate and feed them, but the government will have to attend to other needs including health care. They recalled their own painful wartime experiences of trying to escape bombing, shelling, being in bunkers, displacement, starvation and said their experiences help them understand the plight of Rohingyas and motivates them to empathise and help the Rohingyas who have come to Sri Lanka. Local journalists who had visited the boat and gave sympathetic coverage also remembered their own wartime experiences.   

Mullivaikkal people’s sensitivity, kindness and willingness to welcome and help strangers fleeing persecution who have come to their shoes could be an example for government politicians, state officials and all citizens to follow. ⍐ 

பொங்குக விவசாய இயக்கம்!

கடற்தொழிலாளர், நிலத்தொழிலாளர், பெருந்தோட்டத் தொழிலாளர், பொது விவசாய சங்கமாக அணிதிரள்க!