SOCIETY-SRI LANKA: Detained Would-be Migrants Live in Limbo

By Feizal Samath Reprint | | Print |

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Mar 24 2004 (IPS) - For almost three months, Shiran Russel and 268 others have been taken to a courthouse in the Sri Lankan capital every two weeks from a southern prison 45 kilometres away, unsure of their fate after having been caught trying to sneak into Italy by boat.

”I don’t know what to do,” he says, tears welling in his eyes. ”My children are suffering.”

Struggling to maintain their families with wages that do not last the month, the group took off one night in mid-December from the north-west coast for a perilous three-week journey through the Suez Canal and on to Italy.

After hardly four hours at sea in Sri Lankan waters in an overcrowded boat meant for less than 150 people, navy gunboats spotted the craft and detained the passengers.

Over the past year, some 700 Sri Lankans have been caught trying to travel on boats to Italy, the most favourite western destination because of its liberal laws for undocumented migrants.

However, scores of others who have completed the journey, found jobs and say they are contented even though the work is often menial. Many work as labourers, in kitchens, clean toilets or care for old people.

Economic hardships are the main reason for youngsters and middle-aged men attempting the journey to Italy. Some passengers have died while others became violently sick on the way, cramped in overcrowded boats and with not enough water and food.

”We have heard some positive stories of what one can earn there. It is worth the risk because if we succeeded, our families would be better off. What can we do when there are no jobs here?” asked Ajit Kapila Kumara, a 34-year old prawn farmer who lost his life savings on failed harvests.

Kumara mortgaged his property to pay the 300,000 rupees (about 3,000 U.S.dollars) to the agent and the boat owner.

Only the 269 boat passengers caught in December are detained at a high-security prison at Kalutara in southern Sri Lanka. The rest of the 700-odd would-be undocumented migrants are kept in other jails.

Trying to leave the country through an illegal channel is a non-bailable offence, carrying a minimum jail term of one year and a hefty fine.

Meantime, those in prison count the days as they pass by. When weeks ago, veteran social activist Lorna Wright walked into the prison compound where the 269 boat people are being held, gleeful calls of ”aunty has come, aunty has come” met her arrival.

Moved to tears by television images of women, children and relatives grasping the iron railings of prison buses that carried their men, Wright thought of visiting them and has obtained a lawyer to act on their behalf.

”What can we do to help these unfortunate blokes? They only wanted to give their families better futures. Should they be treated like common criminals or shouldn’t they be looked at more sympathetically?” she asked.

”This lady is our saviour,” says Kumara quietly as others nod their heads in agreement, seated in a semi-circle listening to Wright during her visit to the prison earlier in March.

In interviews, several of those in the prison shared their stories.

”I tried to go on four occasions (to Italy) but failed because we were caught,” notes Sunil Wijesinghe, a 50-year old welder who said the 5,000 rupees (50 dollars) he earns monthly is insufficient to look after family.

He had no regrets over attempt after attempt he made to try to leave by boat.

Nicholas Richmond, a 34-year-old driver who has a wife and two children, believes there is a better future for his family in Italy if he could get there and make more than the 150 dollars he needs a month now.

”We can’t afford to fly to Italy as it costs more than 800,000 rupees (8,000 dollars). So we pay less than half this price and travel by sea,” said Richmond, whose brother and wife are already in Italy. Immigration sources conceded that there are Sri Lankans who enter Italy by air on bogus or forged visas and passports.

Mary Sheehan, head of the Colombo office of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), says an awareness programme the organisation launched last year seeks to inform would-be migrants of the perils of using illegal ways to enter the west.

”People get wrong information from human smugglers. They get duped, false passports. They give up their legitimate passports. They often don’t know what’s being done and often can get into a situation where boats are in a very bad state,” she said.

Sri Lankans are being also held in jail in Saudi Arabia and Egypt after being caught in boats headed for the west.

She said the campaign aims to make people aware that it’s ”not all milk and honey” at the end of the journey, adding that Italy has already tightened regulations about immigrants’ entry.

At least 300 Pakistanis and Bangladeshis – using Sri Lanka’s liberal laws on visa-on-arrival – were nabbed by police while trying to slip into boats to Italy from the southern coast.

Nirosha Fernando is among a group of anxious wives who regularly visit Wright’s residence to get news on whether her husband would be released soon. Five relatives of hers were on that boat in December – husband, two of her brothers and two brothers-in-law.

”My people are all fishermen and are struggling to make ends meet. The men pay for the boat, fuel and are then left with little to take home. The cost of living is very high and we are forced to take such drastic steps like going abroad illegally,” she said.

Elmo Perera, the civil rights lawyer looking after the interests of the 269 detained, is hoping that they would be released soon: ”The Attorney General also agrees that it’s a futile exercise keeping these people in prolonged detention.”

He said the men do not deny the fact that they did something illegal, but argue that their economic circumstances forced them into it. ”They should at least be charged or some charges brought against them because nothing has happened in the past, few months except for them being produced in court and further detained,” said Perera.

But prosecutors say that the investigation is still on, and that while those who organised the trip and collected fees from passengers have been taken in, others remain at large.