Comprehensive data on rejected Sri Lankan Tamil asylum-seekers who were returned from France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom to Jaffna peninsula and Colombo could not be found among the sources currently available to the DIRB in Ottawa.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) branch office in Colombo, the number of rejected Sri Lankan asylum-seekers deported to Sri Lanka from the above-mentioned countries was "extremely low ... if any have taken place at all" (15 September 1994). While the UNHCR has learned of a small number of volontary returns from Germany to Sri Lanka, it is not aware of Germany actually deporting Tamils to Sri Lanka (ibid.).

The Sri Lanka Monitor reported that in October 1993, a 17 year-old Sri Lankan was forcibly returned to Sri Lanka (Oct. 1993, 4). Further information could not be found, however attached please find documents providing information on repatriation or planned repatriation of Sri Lankan asylum-seekers from European countries, such as Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands. This information may be of interest.

Attached also is a 26 November 1993 letter from the UNHCR branch office in Ottawa to the Canadian Department of Citizenship and Immigration reporting the arrests of two Sri Lankans upon their return to Sri Lanka from Sweden in October 1993.

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. Please find attached the list of additional sources consulted in researching this information request.

United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Colombo. 15 September 1994. Letter faxed to the DIRB in Ottawa.

The Sri Lanka Monitor [London].October 1993. No. 69. "Colombo Unsafe for Refugee Returns Say Euro MPs."

, Ottawa. 26 November 1993. Letter forwarded to the Department of Citizenship and Immigration in Ottawa.

Documentation-Réfugiés [Paris]. 19 July-1 August 1994. No. 247. "Réfugiés en Suisse," p. 2.

. 23 May-6 June 1994. No. 243. "Réfugiés en Suisse," p. 2.

. 12-25 April 1994. No. 240. "Réfugiés en Suisse," p. 2.

. 4-17 January 1994. No. 233. "Réfugiés en Suisse," p. 2.

InterPress Service (IPS). 6 July 1994. Rita Sebastian. "Sri Lanka-Switzerland: Refugees Return to Homes in War Zone." (NEXIS)

Reuters. 2 May 1994. BC Cycle. "Dutch Open Talks to Repatriate Tamil Refugees." (NEXIS)

Sri Lanka Information Monitor (INFORM). July 1994. Situation Report. Colombo: INFORM, p. 1.

. April 1994. Situation Report. Colombo: INFORM, p. 3.

. March 1993. Situation Report. Colombo: INFORM, p. 6.

. February 1993. Situation Report. Colombo: INFORM, p. 8.

The Sri Lanka Monitor [London]. June 1994. No. 77. "NGOs Condemn Swiss Deportation Programme," p. 4.

. January 1994. No. 72. "Swiss to Deport Tamils Refused Asylum," p. 1.

. October 1993. No. 69. "Colombo Unsafe for Refugee Returns Say Euro MPs," p. 4.

The Sri Lanka Project Briefing [London]. February 1994. No. 2. "The Swiss Solution: Sri Lankan Asylum-Seekers in Europe and the Threat of Deportation."

United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Colombo. 15 September 1994. Letter faxed to the DIRB in Ottawa.

, Ottawa. 26 November 1993. Letter forwarded to the Department of Citizenship and Immigration in Ottawa.

Department of State. July 1993. "Sri Lanka." World Refugee Report. Washington, DC: Bureau of Refugee Programs, pp. 197-98.

The Xinhua General Overseas News Agency. 30 June 1994. "Tamil Refugees to Be Repatriated from Denmark." (NEXIS)

. 22 April 1994. "Switzerland to Repatriate 12,000 Sri Lankan Tamils." (NEXIS)

Oral sources.