Photo courtesy of Ruki Fernando
Mullivaikkal is a remote coastal village in the Mullaitivu and its ethnic composition is predominantly Tamil. It is significant as it is where Sri Lanka’s 30 year civil war came to a bloody end in 2009, with hundreds of thousands still unaccounted. Those who surrendered to the Army in Mullivaikkal on the last days of the war are alleged to have been killed or disappeared. The whole of Mullivaikkal village and the Mullaitivu district were displaced for several months and were detained behind barbed wire detention camps. Mullivaikkal is also where Tamils gather in large numbers every year on May 18, day the war ended, remembering, grieving and demanding justice for war time atrocities.
It is near the shores of Mullivaikkal that a boat with Rohingya asylum seekers fleeing persecution from Myanmar appeared on December 19, 2024. Theepan and other fishermen in Mullivaikkal were among the first to sight the boat and assist them. They went out using Theepan’s small fishing vessel and noticed lots of people on the boat, including children. Only few men were standing and others were lying down. They also noticed vomit and blood. They could not understand each other due to the language barrier but several asylum seekers had shouted the word “hospital”.
Theepan says he felt the Rohingyas, especially the children, wanted him to take them to land. He said that he and other villagers wanted to bring them ashore and take care of them. He said he could have brought them in his boat, about 10 at a time. But he was worried about legal consequences. Theepan had asked the Navy to bring the people ashore but the officers said they didn’t have permission from their seniors to do so. However, Theepan had taken a doctor, two Public Health Inspectors and Navy officers to the boat with the asylum seekers. An ambulance came to the site but was not used as no one on the boat was brought ashore.
The fishermen took glucose, food and drinking water, which were gratefully accepted by the Rohingyas who appeared to be starving. Theepan made about 20 trips. As the news spread, others started to bring food, which Theepan handed over to the Rohingyas as the Navy began escorting the boat towards Trincomalee in the evening.
Theepan and other fishermen had reservations about the Indian trawlers that were disrupting their livelihood but were exceptionally welcoming and supportive towards the Rohingyas based on belief that they were fleeing persecution and in need of help.
Trincomalee
The Rohingya asylum seekers, who had already been at sea for more than two weeks, were kept at sea for most of December 19. That evening they were escorted by the Navy to Trincomalee and were finally allowed to disembark on December 20. Government officials and civil society groups in Trincomalee provided health care, food and clothes.
Amadoru Amarajeewa, a local journalist, managed to interview a few asylum seekers and described them as hungry and weary. Some of the children and women were dehydrated and unable to walk. They had been at sea for 16 days without sanitary facilities. A refugee said that they had left in three boats, two had broken down and that people in those boats had boarded the boat that reached Sri Lanka. Six had died during the journey and their bodies were thrown into the sea. One refugee said he had left his home due to the ongoing ethnic conflict in Myanmar and that he had to bribe the country’s security forces and flee illegally. Another refugee said his village was being bombed, forcing him flee for safety. Another said communication links with his village had been cut off and he feared for his life.
Their stories tally with stories I have heard from Rohingya friends in exile in different countries and some of the Rohingya refugees who have been living temporarily in Sri Lanka for about two years after they were rescued from the seas off Jaffna by the Navy. There are about 100 Rohingya refugees in Sri Lanka before the latest arrivals while about a million are being hosted in Bangladesh. The persecution of the Rohingya is now the subject of a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), brought by Gambia against Myanmar.
Detention and potential deportation
After being kept in Trincomalee for three days, the asylum seekers were brought back to Mullaitivu on December 23 and are being detained in an Air Force camp. Theepan said he and other villagers were keen to visit them but that he is waiting until authorities allow visits. He said some of the asylum seekers may remember him from his many visits to the boat. An officer at the local Red Cross who had provided emergency assistance said local traders in Mullaitivu had contributed emergency supplies. Some local residents had visited the detention centre to inquire about needs but were turned back.
When a group of journalists and I visited the detention centre, Air Force officials stated that they couldn’t allow us to meet the asylum seekers without permission of immigration officials. But immigration officials were not present there and calls to numbers on the official website went unanswered. We had informed the Controller of Immigration and Ministry of Public Security in writing several days before and also made many phone calls but there was no response. On December 26, officials from the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka were also barred from visiting the detention facility. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is also waiting for access to register the boat arrivals and examine their asylum claims.
The Navy spokesman told the media that the destination of the Rohingyas may have been Malaysia or Indonesia and weather conditions had pushed the boat towards Sri Lanka. One of the asylum seekers had told journalist Amarajeewa in Trincomalee that they had no idea where they were headed but wanted to get to safety.
However, the Minister of Public Security was quoted on January 3 as saying the Rohingyas arrival was considered as a case of human trafficking and there was no basis to consider them as refugees or asylum seekers. The Minister said they may be deported to Myanmar and that the government had even shared details of the people with the Myanmar government and was having discussions with them.
The Minister’s statement led to criticism and questioning by the opposition leader and other opposition MPs. On January 19, the North East Coordinating Committee (NECC) together with civil society groups and residents from North and East held a protest outside the Mullaitivu District Secretariat calling on the government not to deport Rohingyas and to treat them in line with international law. They pointed that it was better to keep the Rohingyas under the supervision of the civilian administration rather than in an Air Force camp. A protest was held in Colombo on January 10 against deportation and detention in a military camp.
On January 10, when the case was taken up at Trincomalee Magistrate Court, the police asked for more time for investigations. Lawyers requested for access to the people being detained and magistrate summoned officials from the Air Force and the Immigration Department to the next hearing scheduled for January 31.
Detention and deportation vs. humanitarian care and support
Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees everyone the right to seek asylum and international customary law principles prohibits returning of those having well-founded fear of persecution to their place of origin.
Theepan and the local people see the Rohingyas as fleeing persecution and seeking protection. They categorically state that the government should take care of them. When asked about government minister’s fears about 100,000 people coming, a fisherman replied that those who come to protect their lives from anywhere must be helped. Theepan said the Mullivaikkal villagers could accommodate and feed the Rohingyas but government must attend to other needs including healthcare. The villagers recalled their own painful wartime experiences of trying to escape bombing, shelling, being in bunkers, displacement and starvation and said their experiences helped them to understand the plight of Rohingyas and motivated them to empathise and help the Rohingyas who have come to Sri Lanka. Local journalists who visited the boat and gave sympathetic coverage also remembered their own wartime experiences.
The Mullivaikkal people’s sensitivity, kindness and willingness to welcome and help strangers fleeing persecution who have come to their shoes must be an example for government politicians, state officials and all citizens to follow.