Srilankan Tamil Asylum Seekers

We, the 254 Tamil asylum seekers from Sri Lanka since 11 October 2009 still live in a wooden boat leaning on Merak, Jawa in Indonesia.On the ship we share a place among 194 men, 29 women, one of us is 5 month pregnant, and 31 children.
We are Tamil who came from some areas in Sri Lanka such as Jaffna, Batticaloa, Mullaittivu and Colombo. We left our home country, Sri Lanka, a result from prolonged conflict between the government and LTTE armed groups. There are five main reasons why we left Sri Lanka: Racial Discrimination, genocide, persecution, kidnapping and murder. Now in Sri Lanka over 250,000 people are suffering in so-called refugee camps, which are in fact torture camps. In all parts of Sri Lanka Tamil-speaking people have been arrested and killed.
Because of that condition, we decided to flee on October 1, 2009 to continue the journey to Australia in the hope for a better life.
On October 11, 2009, we were intercept by the Indonesian Navy, and force us to dock at the port of Merak, Jawa in Indonesia. Since then, we were in detention Indonesian Navy. we refused to leave the ship and to be moved to land because of fears of arrest, deported back to Sri Lanka. we worry that there is no guarantee of fulfillment and protection of human rights, including rights to health and education for our children. Indonesia hasnt signed the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugee.

All we demand is a right to have a decent life with basic democratic rights including right to education for our kids.
We are determined not to waste rest of our life in another detention camp which denies our fundamental rights. All we demand is a better life that all human beings deserve in the world.

We appeal to the Indonesian and Australian masses, trade unions, human rights organisations and womens rights organisations to understand our plight and to support our demands.

We are appealing to all who stand against repression and for human rights to do whatever they can to help us. We especially urge the United Nations to act on our behalf.

We appeal to our brothers and sisters in Tamil Nadu, in Malaysia and in the Tamil-speaking diaspora around the world who have also suffered the brutality of Sri Lankan governments, to give voice to our desperate cry.

Please contact us
Mail - tamilrefugeeboat@gmail.com

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Srilankan
• Refugees

[littlepurplediamond]

Peace be with you Tamil men, women, children seeking asylum. For those on Christmas Island now, or still waiting for their processing, I pray for your future to be safe and secure in freedom.

[nac2324]

why did they not go to India which is 64k away?, where a lot of money came keeping the civil war going, they wanted to establish a uni racial state in the north , now they want to go to multi racial countries for ecenomic reasons taking advantage of genuine political refugees

[fair7deal]

One fart blows all noses.

[tamildeztiny]

thank u ltte, we r all refugees now!!

thak u thalivarr we tamils are happy now!!