UK sends Lankan Tamil asylum seekers to Rwanda after suicide attempts

Five Tamil asylum seekers who attempted suicide on the British-held Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia have been sent to Rwanda for medical treatment, The New Humanitarian said.

The news follows a recent backlash against the British government’s immigration deterrence policies and a scandal that involved 200 unaccompanied minors who went missing after being in the care of UK immigration authorities.

All five asylum seekers are being treated at the Rwanda Military Hospital in the Rwandan capital, Kigali. They are undergoing psychotherapy as well as treatment for their wounds and for other illnesses they developed during 18 months of confinement on Diego Garcia.

Their move to Rwanda follows the previous medical transfer of three other asylum seekers from Diego Garcia in November. They have since been returned, but the transfers will fuel fears that the UK is moving forward with plans to use Rwanda as a “third country” option for an offshore migration processing deal set up by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson with the Rwandan government last April.

“If these [attempted suicide] allegations are true, the British authorities should consider all options for the immediate welfare of asylum seekers on their territory,” Emilie McDonnell, UK advocacy and communications coordinator at Human Rights Watch, told The New Humanitarian. “This could include facilitating their safe passage to the UK for urgent medical care and allowing them to claim asylum on British soil,” she added.

Many of the 94 asylum seekers on Diego Garcia allege that they were tortured and sexually abused by Lankan security forces for alleged links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) – a separatist group that fought for independence during a 26-year-civil war against the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan government.

Hamshika*, 22, told The New Humanitarian that she broke apart a pencil sharpener and swallowed the blade on 1 March. She said she did it because days earlier she had been told by a UK government official that she would be sent back to Sri Lanka.

On the same day, one of her fellow asylum seekers broke a sewing needle in half and swallowed both pieces, Hamshika said, adding that three more men on the island attempted suicide on 13 March in similar ways.

Hamshika and the other asylum seeker who attempted suicide on 1 March say they were sexually assaulted by security services and police in Sri Lanka and India, respectively.

“They were scared, they were threatened, and they decided to end their lives because they believe they are going to be removed,” Geeth Kulasegaram, a senior legal adviser at London-based Jein Solicitors, told The New Humanitarian. He represents three of the five asylum seekers, including Hamshika.

*Surname omitted at the source’s request for fear of reprisals.