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Sri Lanka Cabinet approves amendments to Citizenship Act; refugees in India will benefit

COLOMBO: The Sri Lanka Cabinet on Thursday approved amendments to relevant sections of the Grant of Citizenship to Stateless Persons Act No. 39 of 1988 and the Grant of Citizenship to Persons of Indian Origin Act No. 35 of 2003.

The amendments, expected to be moved in Parliament in October first week, will benefit 28,500 ‘Sri Lankans of Indian Origin’ now living in Tamil Nadu refugee camps as stateless citizens.

The Cabinet approved a memorandum moved by Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka detailing amendments required to enable the refugees to acquire citizenship rights.

His move follows an assurance given in Parliament in May in response to an adjournment motion tabled by Ramalingam Chandrasekeran of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna.

As per estimates, approximately 80,000 Sri Lankans fled to India as refugees in the wake of the July 1983 disturbances and the continuing ethnic conflict.

Of them, 28,500 are Sri Lankans of Indian origin (kith and kin of plantation workers) and do not have citizenship rights due to lacunae in the 2003 legislation.

The JVP MP, along with his colleague Bimal Ratnayake, had visited Tamil Nadu earlier in the year and met representatives of refugees with the help of OfERR, working for the refugees. According to them, the refugees want to obtain Sri Lankan citizenship and return to the country.

Mr. Ratnayake told The Hindu that a host of issues on refuge welfare were being considered by a select committee of Parliament.

“We hope to finalise a package under which the refugees would receive maximum support from the government of Sri Lanka as well as pave way for their return home as and when situation permits.”

Grant of citizenship rights to plantation workers, who were taken by the British mainly from south India, has been a contentious issue right from the independence of Sri Lanka in 1948. Despite several pacts between India and Sri Lanka, it was not settled till 2003.

“In terms of the 2003 Act, children of people who have lived continuously after October 30, 1964 are entitled to Sri Lankan citizenship. But those who have had to live as refugees in Tamil Nadu owing to the situation in Sri Lanka after 1983 have not been able to meet this requirement. As a result of this, about 28,500 people have not received citizenship,” the JVP motion said.

Under Section 2 of the Act, “any person of Indian origin, who on the date of coming into operation of this Act, (a) has been a permanent resident of Sri Lanka since October 30, 1964 or (b) is a descendent resident in Sri Lanka of a person who has been a permanent resident of Sri Lanka since October 30, 1964, shall be granted the status of citizen, with effect from such date and be entitled, in like manner and to the same extent, to all the rights and privileges which a citizen of Sri Lanka is entitled to by law.”

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