.jpg)
Over 100 refugees from Myanmar, including around 25 children, who arrived on the Mullivaikkal coast last week after enduring harrowing days at sea, have been moved twice, first to a school in Trincomalee for temporary shelter and then to the Mullaitivu Keppapulavu Air Force Base.
The refugees, who were suffering from severe hunger and dehydration, had been stranded on a fishing trawler in distress, and local Tamil fishermen were the first to respond to their plight, providing them with much-needed food and water.
The boat, which had been forced to steer towards the Mullivaikkal coast due to a critical shortage of supplies, was unable to land directly on the coast due to challenging conditions. After several attempts, the trawler was diverted to Trincomalee Jetty. Due to a lack of space at the school they were being housed at in Trincomalee, they have now been mvoed to the occupying Keppapulavu Air Force Base.
.jpg)
It is unclear how the Sri Lankan government will deal with the refugees. Sri Lanka is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 protocol – two key legal documents that protect transnational rights. Moreover, there is no domestic law or mechanism to deal with refugees or asylum seekers on the island.
Adding to these concerns is the fact that UN's refugee agency the UNHCR, has wrapped up its operations in Sri Lanka. In an interview with Al Jazeera earlier this year, the UNHCR said it would close its Colombo office in December.
“The phasing-down process will continue through the end of 2024, and UNHCR will maintain a liaison presence in Sri Lanka from 2025 onward,” UNHCR spokesperson Liania Bianchi told Al Jazeera in an emailed response.
The situation surrounding the refugees who arrived in Sri Lanka—primarily from Myanmar—fits within the broader context of the ongoing crisis faced by the Rohingya people, an ethnic Muslim group in Myanmar who have faced systemic persecution and violence from the Myanmar government and military for decades, which has led to large-scale displacement both within Myanmar and across its borders.
The Rohingya’s struggle for basic rights, recognition, and protection has reached a catastrophic scale, particularly since 2017, when Myanmar's military launched a violent crackdown in the Rakhine State, which is home to the majority of the Rohingya population. The campaign, described by the United Nations as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing," resulted in the deaths of thousands of Rohingya and the displacement of over 700,000 people, mostly women, children, and elderly. Many fled across the border to Bangladesh, where they now form one of the world’s largest refugee populations in the Cox’s Bazar area.
However, Rohingya have not always been welcomed in Sri Lanka. In 2017, a mob led by Sinhala Buddhist monks stormed a UN safe house in Mount Lavinia that was housing Rohingya asylum seekers.