16 refugees, fleeing food shortage and economic misery in Sri Lanka which is facing a forex crisis, have landed in Tamil Nadu but are facing an uncertain future as India has no law to safeguard them.

With Sri Lanka facing an economic meltdown and shortage of essentials including food and fuel, several young families have fled the island country to the shores of Tamil Nadu seeking refuge. This week, so far, 16 Sri Lankan Tamils have reached Tamil Nadu. They are from Jaffna and Kokkupadaiyan, in northern Sri Lanka, and undertook a difficult journey to reach India. The refugees include three men, six women, a four-month-old infant and seven children.

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Henri Tiphagne, executive director of People’s Watch, a human rights organisation, said the action by the Tamil Nadu government of slapping cases against the refugees and putting them in prison amounts to human rights violations.

“I have been closely working with Sri Lankan Tamil Refugees, who fled the ethnic conflict  in the 1990s. They were put up in the Mandapam camps, and fed, their children were sent to schools and they were allowed to work. The state government even set up a State Bank of India counter for the migrants to exchange their currency to the Indian rupee,” Henri said, alleging that the manner in which the Tamil Nadu government is treating these refugees now is drastically different.

He said some of these refugees had lived in India for decades during the period of ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and had gone back to their home country after the war ended.

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