TWO IF BY SEA: SRI LANKAN REFUGEE HOPEFULS TEST

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 000992 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/26/2019 TAGS: PREF CVIS SMIG PTER PHUM CE CA AS SUBJECT: TWO IF BY SEA: SRI LANKAN REFUGEE HOPEFULS TEST NEW ROUTES TO AUSTRALIA, NORTH AMERICA REF: VANCOUVER 244 Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Valerie C. Fowler, reasons 1.4 b and d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. The recent arrival of a freighter of Sri Lankan Tamil refugee claimants in Canada, along with a surge in Sri Lankans attempting to reach Australia by boat, highlight the increasing desperation and sophistication of would-be asylees and refugees of Tamil ethnicity hoping to reach Western countries. Apparent links between the designated terrorist organization the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the boat, as well as at least one of the 76 men, demonstrate the challenges these countries face in ascertaining the veracity of protection claims while also assessing potential security risks. END SUMMARY. -------------- BACKGROUND - M.V. OCEAN LADY INTERCEPTED -------------- ¶2. (U) On October 17, Canadian authorities intercepted a freighter calling itself "M.V. Ocean Lady" in Canadian waters off the coast of British Columbia. Onboard, Canadian authorities found 76 men claiming to be of Sri Lankan Tamil origin, averaging 27 years old and ranging in age from 12 to ¶39. This is the first boat landing of Sri Lankans in Canada since 1986, when a group of 183 were dropped onshore in Halifax. ¶3. (C) The ship previously sailed under the name "Princess Easwary" and is one of five known to the Canadians to have been previously used by the LTTE to move weapons between Cambodia and Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, Canadian officials in Colombo report that a second of these boats, the "Princess Yasmine," may also be en route to Canada, perhaps arriving within the next two weeks. ¶4. (C) Early indications from the Canadian High Commission are that many of the men aboard the Ocean Lady flew into Bangkok then traveled overland to Kuala Lumpur, in order to avoid tighter immigration formalities at the Kuala Lumpur airport. The ship is believed to have departed Malaysia on September 19, at which point Canadian officials began tracking it in cooperation with other partners. Before departure from Malaysia, the last-known crew - primarily Burmese and Cambodians - may have been deposited as part of a separate migration attempt within Australasia. Sailing under the name "M.V. Ocean Lady," the ship may have made multiple stops in the region to collect additional passengers en route to Canada. ¶5. (C) As reported REFTEL, Canada's large Tamil community has made itself an early advocate for the men. One Canadian official in Colombo expressed to the embassy his concerns over the rapid politicization of these cases, particularly the influence that this may have on Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board, which is composed of appointees who have often been accused of pursuing individual agendas rather than upholding common standards for approving claims. -------------- -------------- A COMMON THREAD OF PREVIOUS FAILED MIGRATION TRIES -------------- -------------- ¶6. (C) At least four of the men who arrived in Canada aboard the Ocean Lady have previous visa refusals from the United States under Section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. One was refused on bona fides in Singapore during January 2008 for a C1 visa to transit to Belize as a seafarer. He applied with a group of five other Sri Lankans of Tamil origin; none of those names register aboard the Ocean Lady. Two others are young brothers from Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka who were refused in late 2007 along with their father for B1/B2 visas to visit a maternal relative. Notably, the father, whose name does not appear on the Ocean Lady manifest, was a retired seafarer with over US$50,000 savings, which is relatively significant for Sri Lanka, and they claimed to have another sibling already in Canada. The fourth was refused in mid-2008 along with his wife and two children after applying for a B1/B2 visa to visit a cousin working at the Sri Lankan Mission to the United Nations. ¶7. (C) Three of the men aboard the Ocean Lady have lookouts issued by other governments. The most significant is MANICKAVASAGAR, Kartheepan (also spelled as MANICCAVASAGAR, Karthtepan; DOB 08 AUG 1983),who is wanted by Sri Lanka on an INTERPOL Red Notice for charges of aiding and abetting the LTTE. Sri Lanka's warrant lists him as armed and dangerous, violent and suicidal. Another of the group was caught at the Bangkok airport in April 2009 attempting to travel to Moscow via Beijing on a fraudulent Malaysian visa. A third was deported from Fiji in 2004 after entering with four other Sri Lankans of Tamil origin, one who was a known human smuggler, believed to possibly be en route to New Zealand. -------------- -------------- POSSIBLE LINKS BETWEEN AUSTRALIA, CANADA ARRIVALS -------------- -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Authorities in Australia and Canada are trying to ascertain the connections between the Ocean Lady and a recent surge in both successful and attempted boat arrivals of Sri Lankans to Australia. Officials at the Australian High Commission in Colombo report that more than twelve boats carrying Sri Lankan refugee claimants have reached Australia in the past year, with most arriving within the past six months. The majority of the estimated 750 Sri Lankans who have made it to Australian waters over the past year are being held as refugee claimants on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, where Australian law affords them fewer options of appeal than on the mainland. ¶9. (SBU) At least 500 of these 750 Sri Lankans are believed to be of Tamil origin. Among those whose refugee claims have been heard and refused thus far, Australia has only begun attempting to repatriate ethnic Sinhalese. One Sinhalese man who recently returned from Christmas Island told The Australian newspaper that he voluntarily returned to Sri Lanka after being told by Australian authorities than he had less than a one percent chance of having his claim approved. According to Australian High Commission immigration officers, the majority of Tamil refugee claims are likely to be accepted; however, the officers note that "approvals are a big pull factor" and express concern that such results will only encourage more Sri Lankans to attempt passage to Australia. ¶10. (SBU) As is suspected in the Canadian case, many Sri Lankan refugee boats arriving in Australian waters make multiple stops in the region to collect additional passengers, who are often ferried to a "mother ship" by smaller boats. In the past, these "mother ships" have primarily originated in Malaysia and Indonesia. However, there has been a recent increase in the number of boats departing directly from Sri Lanka. According to Australian officials, many Tamil men have sufficient deep sea fishing and other maritime experience to be able to make the fourteen-day voyage successfully, without outside assistance from Indonesia or Malaysia-based smugglers. Interviews with fishermen in an October 26 article in Sri Lanka's Sunday Leader newspaper underscore this point. As one man explains, "(Smuggling is) happening with the consent of the harbor men... We can help by advising them of the risks and helping them to buy a boat or fishing gear. It all comes down to money." ¶11. (SBU) As Australia and other countries increase their surveillance of boats moving within the region, more are being intercepted before reaching their intended destination. On October 11, the Indonesian Navy intercepted a boat carrying 254 men, women and children claiming to be Sri Lankans en route to Australia. Indonesian authorities arrested Abraham Lauhenapessy, known as "Captain Bram," an Indonesian who is believed to have assisted more than 1,500 asylum seekers in reaching Australia since 1999. The spokesman of the group detained in Indonesia claims that their attempt is linked to that of the Ocean Lady, with those choosing to attempt to reach Australia paying US$15,000 each, whereas the Ocean Lady passengers paid $45,000 to reach Canada. Australian and Canadian officials in Colombo suspect but cannot yet confirm that there is a direct connection between the two. According to Australian officials, they have thus far been unable to verify that the 254 are of Sri Lankan origin, as some evidence points to them originating from Tamil Nadu in southern India. Meanwhile, yet another boat carrying 78 individuals claiming to be Sri Lankan Tamils was intercepted by Australian patrols in Indonesian waters on October 19. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶12. (C) COMMENT. Intense recent efforts by Sri Lankans to reach Western countries by boat reflect individual desperation as well as larger questions about how Tamil minorities - particularly young men - affected by civil conflict perceive their future prospects. For the receiving countries, it will likely prove difficult to differentiate between genuine victims and those who remain loyal supporters of the LTTE looking to reorganize outside of Sri Lanka. Furthermore, each asylum claim successfully granted only increases the pull of motivation for others to attempt their own passage. Details are still emerging; however, the financial and logistical resources required to successfully bring the Ocean Lady to Canadian shores suggest a complex underlying human smuggling network not easily disabled. END COMMENT. BUTENIS