Information on the alleged extortions of business people by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for supplies, such as medical supplies, in Colombo or elsewhere in Sri Lanka [LKA19939.E]

For information on the above-mentioned subject, please refer to the attached extract from Appendix 1 to a transcript of Professor Bruce Matthews's 19 January 1995 presentation on Sri Lanka to the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) in Toronto.

Please note that, since August 1994, the government has partially lifted the economic blockade to the north by removing 28 items from a list of 42 prohibited items for transport to the northern areas under the control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) (AFP 31 Aug. 1994; INFORM Sept. 1994, 6; Tamil Information Aug. 1994, 5). The transport of items such as medicines, food, kerosene oil is now possible to the North (AFP 31 Aug. 1994; INFORM Sept. 1994, 6). For further information on the ban and on its partial removal in August 1994, please refer to the attachments.

This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References


Agence France Presse (AFP) [Hong Kong, in English]. 31 August 1994. "Prime Minister Discusses Partial Lift of Embargo." (FBIS-NES-94-169 31 Aug. 1994, pp. 58-59)

Sri Lanka Information Monitor (INFORM). September 1994. Situation Report. Colombo: INFORM.

Tamil Information [London]. August 1994. No. 37. "Removal of Ban."

Attachments

Agence France Presse (AFP) [Hong Kong, in English]. 31 August 1994. "Prime Minister Discusses Partial Lift of Embargo." (FBIS-NES-94-169 31 Aug. 1994, pp. 58-59)

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. 8 February 1994. "Tiger Leader under `Tremendous Pressure' from Jaffna Public to Lay Down Arms." (NEXIS)

Human Rights in Developing Countries Yearbook 1994. 1994. Edited by Peter Baehr et al. Deventer: Kluwer Law and Taxation Publishers, pp. 381-82.

Matthews, Bruce. 19 January 1995. "Sri Lanka, the Civil war and the Crisis of Immigration". Appendix 1 of an address to the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) in Toronto, p. 1.

Sri Lanka Information Monitor (INFORM). September 1994. Situation Report. Colombo: INFORM, p. 6.

The Sri Lanka Monitor [London]. March 1994. No. 74. "Payday at Puliyankulam," p. 2.

Tamil Information [London]. August 1994. No. 37. "Removal of Ban," p. 5.

Virakesari [Colombo, in Tamil]. 22 July 1994. "Editorial Decries Difficult Conditions in North." (FBIS-NES-94-149 3 Aug. 1994, p. 75)