06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Situation of Sri Lankan Refugees ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 19792]

"According to NGOs, conditions in the Sri Lankan refugee camps were generally acceptable, although much of the housing was of poor quality. The UNHCR continued to meet outside the camps with Tamil refugees considering voluntary repatriation. The NGO Organization for Eelam Refugee Rehabilitation (OfEER) had regular access to the camps during the year. According to OfEER, there were 121 refugee camps and one "special camp" which housed suspected members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). As of November 2005, only 11 refugees remained in the single camp. Sri Lankans who claimed to fear the escalating violence between LTTE cadres and Sri Lankan security forces in Sri Lanka took refuge in approximately 100 camps in Tamil Nadu. According to the UNHCR, 27 Tamil refugees returned to Sri Lanka during the year. As of August, there were 60,604 Sri Lankan refugees living in 105 refugee camps. By year's end 16,492 additional refugees had arrived. The government provided them with subsidized rice and other essential goods. "

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31.07.2006 - Source: BBC News

Sri Lanka bomb kills 18 soldiers ("Sri Lanka bomb kills 18 soldiers") [ID 15772]

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23.06.2006 - Source: ReliefWeb

More Sri Lankan refugees arrive ("India: More Sri Lankan refugees arrive"), Autor: Times of India [ID 15512]

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15.01.2006 - Source: ReliefWeb

15 Tamils arrived in India fleeing from violence between government forces and LTTE ("More S.Lanka Tamils flee to India fearing war (Reuters)") [#41850],  [ID 6906]

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24.05.2004 - Source: US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants

Annual report on conditions affecting refugees and asylum seekers in 2003 ("World Refugee Survey 2004") [#22816],  [ID 6907]

"At the end of 2003, some 317,000 refugees were living in India, including some 100,000 Tibetans, an estimated 50,000 refugees from Myanmar, some 15,000Lhotsampa--ethnic Nepalese refugees from Bhutan, and some 11,500 mandate refugees, mostly Afghans (10,300) assisted by UNHCR, and some 400 claims pending before UNHCR. In addition, almost 100,000 Sri Lankan refugees remained in India with some 20,000 living unrecognized by the government outside of camps, some 20,000 registered with the police outside the camps and almost 60,000 government-recognized refugees in camps. Thousands of Nepalese also fled to India during the year, and up to 40,000 Afghans were living in India unassisted by UNHCR. According to the Dalai Lama’s office, some 3,500 Tibetans arrived in India in 2003. The Indian authorities permitted Tibetan refugees to enter, but the government has not granted legal temporary residence to most Tibetans who arrived in recent years. [...]

Some 1,100 Sri Lankans and over 190 Afghans repatriated in 2003."

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25.02.2004 - Source: US Department of State

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2003 ("Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2003") [#19765],  [ID 6908]

"The Government provided certain assistance in refugee camps or in resettlement areas, most notable to Tibetan and Sri Lankan Tamil refugees; however, this was applied inconsistently. [...]

According to UNHCR and government statistics, there were approximately 110,000 Tibetans in 130 camps, approximately 64,000 Sri Lankan Tamils in 104 camps, and several thousand Sri Lankan Tamils living in the country at year's end. The refugees in the camps were permitted to work, and the state and central governments paid to educate refugee children and provided limited welfare benefits. [...] The Government also assisted an unknown number of persons from Tibet and Sri Lanka. Although the Government formally did not recognize these persons as refugees, it did not deport them. Instead, they received renewable residence permits, or their status was ignored. [...] Due to financial and other reasons, many refugees were unable or unwilling to obtain or renew their national passports and therefore were unable to regularize their status in the country.

The central Government generally denied NGOs and the UNHCR direct access to the camps. NGOs reported refugee complaints about deteriorated housing, poor sanitation, delayed assistance payments, and inadequate medical care in the Tamil refugee camps. Human rights groups alleged that the Government used some of these "special camps" to hold suspected members of the LTTE terrorist organization. Human rights groups alleged that inmates of the special camps sometimes were subjected to physical abuse and that their confinement to the camps amounted to imprisonment without trial. They alleged that several of those acquitted by the Supreme Court in 1999 of involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi remained confined in these special camps. During the year, the Tamil Nadu government initiated a review of the inmates of the special camps to determine whether any could be released. At year's end, approximately 35 persons remained in the special camps."

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20.01.2004 - Source: Refugees International

Tamil Nadu: At present 61,000 Sri Lankan Tamils are living in 103 government-run camps/ additional 20,000 refugees live outside the camps ("Sri Lankan Refugees in India: Hesitant to Return") [#19610],  [ID 6909]

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