The Daily Mirror carried an article on the Rohingyas. As per the article Rohingya “asylum seekers” had held a protest in front of the UNHCR Colombo in early 2024 demanding permanent solution to their issue. It was a well-organized protest with posters in English to gain international media attention & questions who organized the protest, while another batch of “asylum seekers” had landed on 19 December 2024 to Mullaitivu & questions why they are not kept in the North until they are deported & being sent to Colombo?
As per the article these asylum seekers are seeking “a dignified life in Sri Lanka”. Why Sri Lanka?
Daily Mirror also mentions 47 civil society organizations issuing a letter to President Anura Kumara requesting “humanitarian asylum for Rohingya asylum seekers”. Are they going to be funding a regular inflow of Rohingya asylum seekers since 2011?
115 Rohingyas (103 asylum seekers & 12 who organized their trip) arrived on a trawler to the coast of Mullivaikkal in Mullaitivu on 19 December 2024. They specifically came to Sri Lanka to seek asylum as per their statement to the Magistrate in Trincomalee. If they landed in North Sri Lanka, why have they been sent elsewhere? Why not keep them in North Sri Lanka?
No person can enter a country illegally. They must have a valid identity & passport & a valid visa.
Sri Lanka is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 Protocol, thus Sri Lanka is not bound or cannot be forced to accept any refugees or asylum seekers. This is why the “humanitarian” angle is being peddled.
UNHCR has got Sri Lanka to agree to accept temporary stay of asylum seekers & refugees.
Unusually, majority of asylum seekers are Muslims. There are 49 majority Muslim nations, some ultra-rich – why don’t these Muslim nations take these Muslim Rohingyas & give them the “dignified life” they seek?
908 nautical miles from Myanmar to Malaysia (Islamic state
1534 nautical miles from Myanmar to Maldives (99% population are Muslim)
1335 nautical miles from Myanmar to Trincomalee
When there are enough & more Muslim nations close to Myanmar, why are boats being arranged to take “Rohingyas” to only Sri Lanka?
Of the 8billion world population 2billion are Muslims. Of the 49 Majority Muslim nations, 7 stand out as the richest. Qatar (1.7m people), Kuwait (3.5m people), Brunei, UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia & Bahrain. Many of these nations depend on foreign immigrants to support their productivity. Why can they not provide refuge to their Muslim brethren from Myanmar?
The Arab states in the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman & UAE) had refused to accept the 9m Syrians displaced since 2011. As GCC is not signatory to the UN 1951 Refugee Convention it is not bound by law to accept refugees.
In 2017 India’s Supreme Court expelled 40,000 Rohingyas with Indian Home Ministry producing evidence to show Rohingya links to armed groups including illegal transfer of money. Furthermore, the Ministry claimed involvement of Rohingyas in plots by ISIS to ignite communal & sectarian violence in India. The Indian police had also arrested a British Muslim national trying to recruit Rohingya living in India to fight security forces in Myanmar.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/9/18/india-rohingya-have-terror-ties
Sri Lankan President should not forget Easter Sunday massacre by jihadist suicide bombers, and therefore be cautious. He does not need to start a new wave of home-grown terror.
The “asylum seekers” scenario has to be viewed together with a global human smuggling racket. Sri Lanka has yet to solve its own internally displaced. Does the cash-strapped Sri Lanka have money to feed, clothe, send their kids to schools, look after refugees from other countries? Civil society can write appeals, are they spending for the upkeep of these refugees? NO. (as of 2016 – 42,038 IDPs need to be resettled).
Australian federal court has ruled that a baby born in Australia to an asylum seeker is not entitled to a refugee visa.
It was in 2011 that environmentalists brought to the notice of the general public mass deforestation inside the Wilpattu forest to settle illegal Muslims. In 2015 a report detailed over 1500 houses constructed funded by Qatar.
http://nation.lk/online/2015/06/27/illegal-settlements-around-wilpattu-national-park.html
The response of the Muslim minister was “These Muslims whom I am resettling and have resettled in the Wilpattu National Park after clearing the jungle and also in the Northern province, are partly my voter base. There is nothing illegal in building houses and places as I have acquired permission in a correct manner from the relevant line ministries and this is sanctioned by the government,”http://www.onlanka.com/news/is-there-an-illegal-settlement-and-mosque-inside-wilpattu-national-park.html
As of March 31, 2017 there were 572 asylum seekers in Sri Lanka from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Yemen, Syria other than the Rohingyas – all Muslims.
These asylum seekers have travelled quite a distance bypassing many countries many of them Muslim countries too. Why should they travel so far?
Afghanistan to Sri Lanka – 3,191 km
Pakistan to Sri Lanka – 2,769 km
Yemen to Sri Lanka – 3,607 km
Iran to Sri Lanka – 3,904 km
Syria to Sri Lanka – 5,199 km
Bangladesh to Sri Lanka – 2,027 km
Myanmar to Sri Lanka – 2254.4 km
Several articles raised concern in 2017 linking both Islamic terror & drugs to Sri Lanka. Had these got the attention it deserved the 2019 April Easter Sunday attacks would not have taken place.
http://www.dailymirror.lk/101721/36-sri-lankans-gone-to-syria-some-to-join-isis-def-secy Article pondered whether Sri Lanka was turning into an IS hub
www.ceylontoday.lk/print20160701CT20161030.php?id=3383
Another explored Sri Lanka as a transit hub for cocaine smugglers.
Human smuggling is a $150billion dollar business & a transnational crime
- 9 million people are living in some sort of slavery (that’s the entire population of Sri Lanka)
- There are approximately 20 to 30 million slaves in theworld today
- Smuggling illegal immigrants is a big business. According to a UN report depending on the immigrant’s country of origin they pay something between $150 to $100,000 which covers the cost of the journey, hotel, bribes, taxes paid to the drug cartels. Apparently, it is $10,000 to be smuggled to Australia!
- Into thisbaby selling trade is also involved. Buying babies from pregnant women in Nigeria is another lucrative trade. In Nigeria a women gets $378 for giving a boy and $189 for delivering a girl for trade. Babies in Indonesia are sold from $160 to $250. Even children in the UK are sold for $25,000.
- Child traffickingis also a lucrative trade. Notice how many children were among the 31 Rohingyas who were intercepted living in a house in Mount Laviniya a few days back without the knowledge of even the police. According to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 20% of all human trafficking cases involve children. According to UNICEF at least 1.2 million children are trafficked globally annually. Of this 230 million children worldwide are born without official birth certificates, making them impossible to track. In Thailand it is $25 typical price to rent” a child beggar.
- The LGBTQIA new industry linked to pedophilia is also intrinsically connected.
Aligned to this is the global prostitution trade as well.
- There are 42million prostitutes worldwide in an industry that generates at least $186billion
- Many of these refugees are sold into prostitution. In Iraq girls are sold – $5,000 for Virgins, $2.500 for Non-Virgins. In Canada $4,879 is paid by pimp to trafficker. According to ILO $99 billion from commercial sexual exploitation. A 2003 study in the Netherlands found that, on average, a single sex slave earned her pimp at least $250,000 a year.
- To further highlight the dangerous scenario the BBC Radio 5 Live investigation report is noteworthy. Quoting from the report
- African refugees dreaming of a better life in Europe must attend anti-Western religious education” courses before boarding the ramshackle vessels.”
- “European police don’t know who is from IS and who is a normal refugee.”
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/577796/Islamic-State-earn-millions-human-trafficking
According to ILO The Asia-pacific region accounts for the largest number of forced laborers— 15.4 million (62% of the global total).
As you can see unbelievable things are happening. Therefore, there is very valid ground for caution. Human trafficking has surpassed the illegal sale of arms.
The reality is shocking. This is why any asylum seeker must be viewed with caution. Sri Lanka does not know the gravity of the situation.
Given that Sri Lanka is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention, there is no requirement to accept Rohingya Muslims and UNHCR should desist from encouraging boatloads to arrive to seek shelter in Sri Lanka.
As a solution, it is suggested that UNHCR approach Maldives and hire an island to maintain these Rohingya asylum seekers given that the UNHCR would be anyway maintaining them (food, clothing, housing etc).
Since Maldives is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention, UNHCR would have to seek permission from the Maldives government but it is advisable that Muslim refugees be placed in Muslim countries as these Rohingyas like all Muslims insist on giving prominence to their faith, their eating habits, their dress habits, their prayers, their Shariah compliant laws and customs and it is best that countries that follow these laws and customs will be the best and happiest place for these Muslim refugees/asylum seekers amongst their own.
It is the most practical solution that would make these Muslim Rohingyas feel at home and the Muslim majority countries can be happy that they are looking after their destitute brothers and sisters. The issue of non-Muslims not wanting them in view of the complications that are likely to arise as a result of marriage, religion, birth, customs would not arise if Muslim refugees are living with people who follow the same in countries where Islam and Shariah laws prevail.
More importantly, the Muslims in Sri Lanka have been nurtured following the Sinhala Buddhist culture & radicalizing them led to the horrific incident in April 2019 which should not be repeated by allowing “terrorists” or radicals who can enter Sri Lanka on the guise of “asylum seekers” if Sri Lanka does not have strict regulations in place not to allow such as entering a country without valid identification or visa is considered illegal & that status quo cannot be changed using “humanitarian” jargon especially when periodic flow of asylum seekers as a trade is taking place which is also linked to illegal drug smuggling & illegal human trafficking.
Shenali D Waduge
http://www.colombotoday.com/52233287-2/
http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2014/06/01/ltte-human-smuggling-links/
http://www.havocscope.com/black-market-prices/human-smuggling-fees/
http://www.havocscope.com/black-market-prices/human-trafficking-prices/
https://www.factretriever.com/human-trafficking-facts