Sri Lankans on board a boat marooned in Indonesia for more than a week insist they will continue their journey to Australia if their boat is escorted back into international waters as planned by Indonesian authorities.

The 44 Sri Lankans, who were stranded in Aceh Besar on June 11 when their boat developed engine trouble, will be taken by bus to a nearby port in Lhoknga, and then escorted out of Indonesian territory as early as Monday afternoon.

But human rights organisations have urged the Indonesian government to allow the Sri Lankans, who are believed to be Tamils, to stay until they have been interviewed by the UN’s main refugee agency, the UNHCR.

“The last thing we want to see in these types of situations is for governments to turn boats back into the open sea where it could be very dangerous for people who have been through so much already,” said the UNHCR’s Indonesia representative Thomas Vargas.

“There have been too many statistics already of people losing their lives in these types of situations on the high seas.”

Vargas said the UNHCR had requested access to the Sri Lankans at all levels of government but it had so far been denied.

“At this point we don’t know if they are refugees or not or if they are seeking asylum.” The Geutanyoe Foundation, an Aceh-based humanitarian organisation, said many of the Sri Lankans were in possession of refugee identity cards issued by the government of Tamil Nadu, one of the 29 states of India.

-SMH
-Agencies