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Over 1000 asylum seekers ejected; UNHCR helpless
View(s):The United Nations High Commission for Refugees is working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to relocate more than 1000 asylum seekers, who were ejected from their places of residence after the Easter Sunday bombings.
Many refugees, including Pakistani Christians and Ahmadis, were taken out or sent out from their rented houses by mobs or by house owners. They are now housed at two Ahmedi mosques and in the Negombo police station.
The UNHCR has had little or no success in finding them alternative rented accommodation as no house owners –Muslim, Christian or Buddhist Sri Lankans–want to give them space, said a source familiar with the process. Therefore, they are still in their areas of displacement in cramped conditions with limited toilet facilities. Food is provided to them.
The UN agency is now relying on the Government to assist in relocation with security guarantees. The Government is willing to consider it, the sources said. The police and military have provided security to the refugees thus far. The Negombo police say that it is at great inconvenience that they are giving shelter to about 150 displaced people.
“There has been a positive effort by the State to help. This is not a long-term solution or should not be a long-term thing. All efforts are being made on two fronts. One is to make them as comfortable as possible where they are and the second is to look for an option for relocation,” the source said.