Bonus for Lankan asylum seekers

By Chris Kamalendran

The British Government has relaxed the procedure for thousands of Sri Lankan asylum seekers with immediate effect because of what it sees as a deteriorating security situation in Sri Lanka.

A British High Commission spokesperson said Sri Lankan asylum seekers could now remain in the country and make their appeals if their applications had been rejected.

Earlier, Sri Lanka was among 14 countries whose citizens had to leave Britain as soon as their asylum applications were rejected and make any appeal from outside Britain.

The other countries in this category are Albania, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Ecuador, India, Jamaica, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia & Montenegro, South Africa and Ukraine.

The Sunday Times learns that some 30,000 applications by Sri Lankan seeking asylum in Britain are either pending or rejected.
"The latest country information on Sri Lanka has been closely examined and given the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka, the British Home Secretary is of the view that the legal test for designation is no longer met,” the spokesperson explained.

He said however as the escalation in violence in Sri Lanka had not affected all parts of the country to the same degree, the Home Office would be examining whether it was appropriate to re-introduce a partial geographic designation.
The move would mean that only the areas directly hit by violence might be considered.

Meanwhile, The Sunday Times learns that a group of Sri Lankan lawyers who were involved in defending asylum applicants called for an emergency meeting of their applicants at Tooting in London yesterday.