Eelam Tamil student, Renuga Inpakumar, travelled from Australia to Geneva on Tuesday to discuss the release of two asylum seekers who have been detained in various Australia detention centres for over 10 years. She went to the UN conferences in Geneva in hopes of portraying the brutal lives that the two refugees are enduring and relayed the message to 'free the indefinitely detained refugees.'
They are currently detained in the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation detention centre.
Following her visit to Geneva for the UN Human Rights conferences, she posted a message on her Facebook page earlier this week after meeting a UN Special Rapporteur;
"On Tuesday I met with Nels Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
I discussed the case of Sivaguru Navanitharasa and Janarupan Loganathan who have been detained in Australia for over 10 years not knowing when they'll be released.
Sivaguru suffers from leukemia and depression, and Janarupan suffers from psychological fatigue.
I can't understand why these refugees continue to face such injustice. I kindly requested Mr Melzer to apply pressure on the Australian Government to respect the value of human life and free these two men.
Miss Inpakumar also posted a message following her meeting with Assistant Secretary-General of the UN and President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs;
"I was fortunate enough to meet with Gillian Triggs the UN-appointed Assistant High Comissioner for Protection. I was inspired by her dedication to advocate for the freedom for refugees including for Sivaguru Navanthirasa and Loganathan Janurupan.
She was generous with her advice and suggested further actions we could take, including who we could reach out to in Australia. I will continue to work to ensure both of these Tamil refugees will be released and finally have the freedom that they have lost for the last 10 years."
Earlier today, she addressed the 43rd session of the UN Human Rights Council to call on the Australian government to end its cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of the two Tamil refugees detained in the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation detention centre.
The Australia government's stringent attitudes towards Tamil asylum seekers has been condemned by many; Australian Tamil Congress have previously criticised Australia for detaining asylum seekers despite concerns of human rights violations and militarisation in Sri Lanka.
