§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Tamils, whose permitted time of remaining in the United Kingdom has run out, have made requests during the past six months to be allowed to remain in the United Kingdom because of danger to their lives in Sri Lanka; and, of these, how many have been allowed to stay in the United Kingdom and how many have been required to leave.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe information requested is not readily available in the form requested and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. In the six months to 30 November 1983 approximately 180 applications covering about 220 people were received from Sri Lankan Tamils seeking leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom who cited as one of the main grounds for their applications that they were afraid to return to Sri Lanka. The majority of these applications have not yet been decided; about 10 have been granted and 20 refused, but the latter figure does not include cases in which an initial refusal is at present the subject of representations.
§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will take steps to ensure that no Tamils are forcibly removed from the United Kingdom to Sri Lanka until such time as the situation in that country is sufficiently improved to ensure their safety from anti-Tamil action;
(2) what policy reviews have been undertaken by his Department in the current year concerning the returning of Tamils from the United Kingdom to Sri Lanka; whether discussions were held between his Department and either Amnesty International or the United Nations High Commission for Refugees on this matter; and if he will make a statement clarifying Government policy on this question.
§ Mr. WaddingtonWe have kept in close touch with the situation in Sri Lanka since the disturbances there, and have kept under review policy on the return of Sri Lankan110W Tamils to Sri Lanka in the light of it. Each case in which a Sri Lankan Tamil expresses a fear of returning to Sri Lanka is carefully considered in accordance with our obligations under the 1951 United Nations convention and the 1967 protocol relating to the status of refugees and in the light of the particular circumstances of the case. But we do not believe that the situation in Sri Lanka at present is such as to justify a general policy of not returning Sri Lankan Tamils there.
The Department has been in correspondence with the London representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees about the position of Tamils wishing to remain in the United Kingdom and I have received a letter from Amnesty International on the subject, to which I will be replying shortly.