Forty-one Sri Lankan Tamil refugees currently in Tamil Nadu, India are scheduled to be arriving in Sri Lanka under the UNHCR facilitated voluntary repatriation programme.
The voluntary repatriation of the 41 persons consisting of 13 families will take place on Thursday (17), according to the Ministry of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs.
The Government of Sri Lanka under the leadership of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has initiated action to encourage the voluntary refugee returnee programme and the current trend of increased refugee returnees is a sign of reconciliation and moving towards permanent peace, said the Ministry secretary V. Sivagnanasothy.
He confirmed that of the 41 refugee returnees 22 are males and 19 are females. These refugee returnees will get back to Mannar, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Mullaitivu and Jaffna.
