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Not aware of abuse of Sri Lankan asylum seekers: UK

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Press Trust of India Colombo

The British embassy in Sri Lanka it has no information that deported asylum seekers had been abused upon their return to the country, a defence ministry website posting said.

In spite of the UK-based Global Tamil Forum (GTF) and several international human rights groups constantly alleging systematic abuse of those who had been deported from the UK, the British High Commission yesterday said it was not aware of a single case of deportee abuse since the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009.

A British embassy official is quoted as saying that they had not received any substantiated allegations of mistreatment on return of those removed from the UK.

 

According to figures, since January 2009 to March 2012, 970 individuals had been deported. The deported included both enforced and voluntarily removals.

The GTF and the British Tamil Forum (BTF) carry out continued campaign against deportations of failed asylum seekers, a majority of them Tamils.

In the latest case at the end of May, several asylum seekers escaped deportation after a court intervention in the UK.

  

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First Published: Jun 21 2012 | 4:39 PM IST

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