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Australian minister dispatched to Sri Lanka to demand a halt to refugees fleeing destitution – By Max Boddy

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Australian minister dispatched to Sri Lanka to demand a halt to refugees fleeing destitution – By Max Boddy

Source:wsws.org

Australia’s Labor government sent Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil to Sri Lanka last weekend to insist that President Gotabaya Rajapakse’s hated regime stop desperate asylum seekers leaving the poverty-stricken country.

Australian minister dispatched to Sri Lanka to demand a halt to refugees fleeing destitution - By Max Boddy
Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs, Clare O’Neil with Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Affairs Prof. G. L. Peiris in Colombo [Image: Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs]

On Monday, O’Neil met with Rajapakse, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister GL Peiris, demanding assurances they would continue to block boat departures and accept the forced return of passengers pushed back or detained by the Australian Border Force or Australia’s navy.

While O’Neil claimed her sudden visit was about assisting a country “facing very difficult times,” the Labor government’s purpose had nothing whatever to do with helping the masses of the island’s population. They face intolerable living conditions, including food and petrol shortages, skyrocketing prices and austerity measures imposed by the Rajapakse-Wickremesinghe government to satisfy the dictates of the International Monetary Fund.

On the contrary, the focus of O’Neil’s mission was to block people from trying to escape the social catastrophe to seek refuge in Australia. She reiterated the Labor government’s continuation of Operation Sovereign Borders, the militarised policy introduced by Australia’s previous Liberal-National Coalition government of forcibly turning back refugee boats or immediately deporting their passengers to face persecution or impoverishment in the countries they fled.

A statement issued by Rajapakse’s office said O’Neil told him that the Labor government was committed to Operation Sovereign Borders and would continue its “Zero Chance” advertising campaign in Sri Lanka to dissuade so-called illegal migration to Australia.

In the past few weeks, the Australian navy has intercepted at least four asylum seeker vessels from Sri Lanka. Some passengers have been taken to the notorious immigration prison on Christmas Island, an Australian outpost in the Indian Ocean, before being swiftly flown back to Sri Lanka, denying them the legal right to apply for asylum.

According to media reports, 23 Sri Lankans arrived back in the country on Monday after being flown out of Christmas Island on the weekend and were being interrogated at the airport. All were believed to be from the west coast towns of Negombo, Chilaw and Muttur.

During the same weeks, the Sri Lankan navy reportedly captured more than 400 asylum seekers.

Mass protests are continuing in Sri Lanka over sky-high food and fuel prices, shortages and power blackouts. In May, inflation reached 38 percent and food inflation 57 percent. Protestors are demanding the resignation of Rajapakse and his government.

 

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