Criticising the Australian government's continued deportation of asylum seekers fleeing Sri Lanka as "extremely reckless", the Human Rights Law Centre, said Australia was placing the deportees in direct danger.

Speaking as further evidence of the rape and torture of Tamil deportees emerged, this time those who had been deported from Australia, HRLC's Director of Advocacy and Research, Emily Howie, said:

“The Immigration Department should stop denying Sri Lankans the opportunity to use the proper processes to make claims for protection. By using a flimsy screening process, Australia is being extremely reckless and risks placing men, women and children directly in danger."

A researcher who travelled to Sri Lanka under the guise of a tourist to establish contact with asylum seekers deported from Australia, unearthed several accounts of rape and torture that could be attributed to the “highest levels” of Sri Lankan governance. See more here.

“The Sri Lankan security forces have a long and well-documented track record of torture and mistreatment in custody, including the rape of men and women. Australia is well aware of this track record, having raised it as a matter of concern at the UN in 2012,” Howie said.

“Australia cannot claim that no returnees have been harmed when it has no way of knowing whether that claim is true. If the government is serious about its protection obligations, firstly it should provide Sri Lankans with genuine, fair procedures to claim asylum and secondly, is should actively monitor and ensure the wellbeing of the people it returns,”

See here for more by HRLC.