Writing in The Guardian, Donna Covey, the chief executive of a leading UK charity for refugees and asylum seekers, Refugee Council, condemned the UK's policy of deportation to Sri Lanka, following the recently published testimony of the tortured Tamil deportee, 'Hari'.
'Evidence that shows it is unsafe to return people to Sri Lanka grows by the day. Just last week, the UK's high court stopped the removal of 40 refused asylum seekers to Sri Lanka on the grounds that their human rights would be violated. Human Rights Watch have this year alone reported 13 cases of refused asylum seekers who have been tortured on return to the country, and have called for the UK to halt all returns. The charity Freedom From Torture has consistently raised this as a serious issue, with a "steady stream" of clients who have been recently tortured, including individuals who were forcibly removed to Sri Lanka from the UK.
The human cost of sending people back to Sri Lanka can no longer be ignored, and it's clear the UK government should stop removals without delay. Yet the message does not seem to be getting through. The Home Office's response to this appalling story – that it will continue to return people "who do not have a genuine need for our protection" – is simply unacceptable.'
See here for full article in The Guardian.
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