[antiwar-van] Release: Uphold the Rights of Tamil Migrants aboard MV Sun Sea

[Harsha W.]

Approximately 200-500 Tamils have risked their lives in an extremely long
and dangerous journey on a boat heading for Vancouver Island. We say: LET
THEM STAY!

No One is Illegal - Vancouver calls on all allies, fighters, trouble
makers and social justice activists to organize and fight the racist and
anti-immigrant sentiments and policies of the Canadian government and
society. Stay tuned for more information on how to support.

For now, take a minute to tpost the following image as a your facebook
profile pic, or print it and display it on your window, office, school,
etc:

http://noii-van.resist.ca/?p=2151


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Uphold the Rights of Tamil Migrants aboard MV Sun Sea

August 11, Vancouver – The immigrant and refugee rights group No One Is
Illegal is demanding that Canadian government officials respect the human
rights of the estimated 200-500 Tamil migrants aboard the MV Sun Sea. The
boat is expected to land by the weekend and the detainees will be
transferred to Fraser Regional Corrections Centre and Alouette
Correctional Centre for Women, who have both prepared for a 3-4 month
incarceration. Based on reports in the media, the group includes up to 100
women and children, and there has been at least one death during the
voyage.

According to Magin Payet Scudalleri, a member of No One Is Illegal,
“Public officials and the media must refrain from stereotyping these
migrants as queue-jumpers or terrorists based on unsubstantiated
speculations. The migrants have survived a long and arduous journey in the
hopes that the Canadian state will fully comply with its international
refugee and human rights law obligations to the right to asylum.”

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has previously
warned that “The association of irregular migration with criminality
promotes the stigmatization of migrants and encourages a climate of
xenophobia and hostility against them.”

Harsha Walia, member of No One Is Illegal, states “We saw a similar
unfounded hysteria last October with the 76 Tamil migrants. All were
eventually released when Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) was forced
to admit they had no evidence of a LTTE connection. In fact, based on a
lack of evidence, CBSA consented to the release of the last group of 25
detained refugees in January 2010.”

“The Canadian government is relying on fear-mongering and racist
stereotypes to justify their new prison budget and the violent
incarceration of asylum seekers, many of whom are women and children. The
Conservative government throws around the catch-all phrase ‘terrorism’ to
create an atmosphere of paranoia and to prevent any public or media
scrutiny of their actions. This is reflected in a growing trend of
anti-refugee policies and sentiments under Minister Jason Kenney,” further
states Walia.

Rohan Gunaratna, the Canadian’s government’s primary source, has already
been discredited by lawyers as well as an Immigration and Refugee Board
adjudicator. They have questioned his sources as well as his credibility
given his ongoing close relationship with the Sri Lankan government.

In a March 2010 meeting with Kenney, United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees Antonio Guterres warned that refugee claimants from countries
with human rights violations including Sri Lanka are faced with a
“shrinking humanitarian space”. This is evident in the Australian
government’s recent repressive decision to no longer accept refugee claims
from Sri Lanka, despite well-documented human rights violations against
Tamils and mass displacement into refugee camps. UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon has appointed a panel to investigate war crimes committed by the
Sri Lankan military against Tamils last year.

Despite this, Kenney met with the Sri Lanka High Commissioner in Ottawa
this month to discuss greater cooperation with the Sri Lankan government.
“It is clear that the Canadian government is more interested in promoting
a relationship with a government known to commit massive human rights
violations, military atrocities against civilians, and indiscriminate
killings; rather than supporting the victims of such a regime,” further
states Scudalleri.




-- 
No One is Illegal-Vancouver
NEW: visit our updated site
http://noii-van.resist.ca

To subscribe to low-traffic email annoucement list email noii-van at resist.ca

web: http://noii-van.resist.ca
email: noii-van at resist.ca
(604)682-3269 x 7149
WE ARE MOVING! So please do not send us any snail mail at our previous
address, please email us to make arrangements for mail.

No One is Illegal-Vancouver is a grassroots anti-colonial
immigrant/refugee rights community collective with leadership from members
of migrant and/or racialized backgrounds. As a movement for
self-determination that challenges the ideology of immigration controls,
we are in full confrontation with Canadian border policies; denouncing and
taking action to combat racial profiling, detention and deportation, the
national security apparatus, law enforcement brutality, and exploitative
working conditions of migrants.

We struggle for the right for our communities to maintain their
livelihoods and resist war, occupation, and displacement; while supporting
indigenous sisters and brothers fighting theft of land and colonization.
We also place ourselves within the broader movement for global social
justice that struggles against capitalism, militarism, oppression,
poverty, imperialism, and other systems of domination and exploitation.