Lanka asks UNHCR to expedite resettlement of refugees

Facing criticism over deportation of Pakistani asylum seekers, Sri Lanka today said it is burdened with influx of refugees and called on refugee receiving countries and UNHCR to expedite the processes of finalising resettlement claims.
In a statement to the 65th Session of the Executive Committee of the UNHCR in Geneva, Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Samantha Jayasuriya said that despite not being a signatory to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, Colombo has been accommodating refugees.
During the last two years Sri Lanka witnessed an almost 700 per cent increase in the arrival of refugees, but the process of resettlement has slowed down considerably, resulting in serious law and order, security, as well as health-related issues for the country, the statement said.

Lanka appealed for UNHCR assistance towards establishment of a safe house or welfare centre for identified refugees until their resettlement.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) last month charged Sri Lanka with detaining 328 refugees and asylum seekers since early June and deporting 183 of them to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Pakistani asylum seekers were from Ahmadiyya, Christian and Shia communities who are allegedly facing persecution.
The UN refugee agency and local civil society organisations have been deploring deportation of Pakistani asylum seekers claiming that they were under serious threat if returned to Pakistan.
The UNHCR has been critical of Sri Lanka's action claiming that Ahmadiyya, Christians and Shia communities need protection in Pakistan.