Australia's new “hardline” refugee resettlement policy will not stop young men in Sri Lanka boarding boats to seek asylum, but it may stop them from trying to come to Australia.
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The announcement by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Friday that asylum seekers who reach Australian waters would be resettled in Papua New Guinea has made prominent news in all major newspapers in Sri Lanka.
Mr Rudd is also on the front page of India's mass-circulating Hindu, alongside the headline "Australia slams the door on refugees".
Father Sarath Iddamalgoda, a Catholic priest in Negombo, on Sri Lanka's west coast, told Fairfax he has seen thousands of people, both Tamil and Sinhalese, board boats for Australia.
He said Australia's decision would not stop the exodus of refugees from Sri Lanka, it would only move the problem elsewhere.
“I have read about this announcement from Australia. It will not stop people from leaving Sri Lanka, but now they might try for other countries.
“There is very little democracy here, people are oppressed, and they don't think this is a place where they can live. They will still get on the boats, if not to Australia, then to some other countries.”
Father Sarath said political oppression and dire economic circumstances were pushing mainly young men, in Sri Lanka towards people smugglers and their promises of resettlement overseas.
A series of Australian government advertisements - in newspapers, on radio and TV, and in English, Tamil and Sinhala - has for months been cautioning Sri Lankan asylum seekers “there is no special treatment” for those who arrive in Australia by boat.
Government pronouncements are generally disbelieved in Sri Lanka, and these official messages are further countered by people-smuggling agents who promise they have contacts overseas who can provide visas on arrival, even citizenship papers.
“These ads have been here for a long time now,” Father Sarath said. “Many people still go, but surely they are having some affect, and are stopping some people.”
Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, said Australia's shift in refugee policy would quickly become widely known in Sri Lanka.
“People will pay attention to it, but the people who are leaving Sri Lanka are doing so because of their situation in Sri Lanka, the lack of political freedom, fears for their own safety, the fact that they don't believe the government's rhetoric about economic development.
"I don't think they are jumping on boats because of a desire to go to Australia per se… it is not about where they are fleeing to, but where they are fleeing from.”
Australia's international obligations, nor its status as a signatory to the UN's refugee convention, are unchanged by the policy shift.
“In the particular case of Sri Lanka, some of those who have been sent back by other countries have been tortured, ill-treated, and arrested,” Dr Saravanamuttu said. “Countries that receive people have certain international obligations around human rights which must be observed.”
The number of Sri Lankan asylum seekers arriving in Australia has dropped this year, after 6428 reached Australian waters in 2012. So far in 2013, 1730 Sri Lankans have come to Australia by boat.
The fall in numbers has been driven by a number of factors, including weather, increased surveillance by Sri Lankan authorities, and other countries being preferred.
