Rights group urges UAE not to deport Tamil refugees
8 April 2013 8:01 AM IST
Human Rights Watch has urged the UAE not to deport 19 Tamil refugees to Sri Lanka because they would be at serious risk of torture and persecution upon return.
The refugee agency UNHCR has recognised all 19 as refugees, but the United Arab Emirates authorities have told the group they must leave the country by 11 April.
A 66-year-old woman and a four-year-old girl are among the 19. Three members of the group allege that Sri Lankan authorities had tortured them in 2011.
‘For the UAE to return recognized Tamil refugees to a grave risk of torture in Sri Lanka would signal a total disregard for their well-being - and the most basic principle of international refugee and human rights law,’ said Bill Frelick of Human Rights Watch. ‘Sri Lanka's treatment of Tamils they deem politically suspect is dismal and under no circumstances should the UAE deport this group there.’ The 19, including six women, were part of a group of 46 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers.
The refugee agency UNHCR has recognised all 19 as refugees, but the United Arab Emirates authorities have told the group they must leave the country by 11 April.
A 66-year-old woman and a four-year-old girl are among the 19. Three members of the group allege that Sri Lankan authorities had tortured them in 2011.
‘For the UAE to return recognized Tamil refugees to a grave risk of torture in Sri Lanka would signal a total disregard for their well-being - and the most basic principle of international refugee and human rights law,’ said Bill Frelick of Human Rights Watch. ‘Sri Lanka's treatment of Tamils they deem politically suspect is dismal and under no circumstances should the UAE deport this group there.’ The 19, including six women, were part of a group of 46 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers.
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