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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Asylum and Immigration Tribunal >> R v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Sri Lanka) [2004] UKIAT 00056 (25 March 2004) URL: https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKIAT/2004/00056.html Cite as: [2004] UKIAT 56, [2004] UKIAT 00056 |
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APPEAL No. [2004] UKIAT 00056 R (Sri Lanka
)
Date of hearing: 8th March 2004
Date Determination notified: 25th March 2004
R |
APPELLANT |
and |
|
Secretary of State for the Home Department | RESPONDENT |
"43. On a more general level, Miss Bayati recognised that the cautious note sounded by the UNHCR was the same as it sounded, before the Tribunal decided in Jeyachandran [2002] UKIAT 01689 that it was only the exceptional case which would not be able to return in safety. The position was reviewed in Thiagarajah [2002] UKIAT 04917. The current problems have been considered in a number of cases and the consistent position has been that the recent developments do not warrant a change in that assessment. Miss Bayati recognised that we should refer to our own reported cases on these country conditions. The pessimism in Dr Good's report of August 2003 is consistent with the pessimistic line which he has taken in the past, an approach which was considered by the Tribunal in May 2003, in P (Sri Lanka
) [2003] UKIAT 00145. The current problems had not occurred by the time of his August report. That decision also considered the availability of medical treatment in relation to a case where the problems of the claimant were markedly more severe than here. He had been detained as a LTTE supporter and ill treated on a number of occasions. Nonetheless, the Tribunal concluded that he could be returned.
46. The position after the declaration of the state of emergency was considered in N (Sri Lanka
) [2003] UKIAT 00150 in which the Tribunal also dealt with body scarring. That was not seen as a bar to return. The October CIPU does not deal the current position politically, as between the President and the Prime Minister. Nonetheless, the essential features are that the ceasefire is still holding, the ban on the LTTE remains lifted, it engages in political activities outside its area of control, even if it has an unsavoury and violent undertone to some of what it does, as Dr Good suggests. There is nothing in any evidence which we have seen to suggest that the picture in the October 2003 CIPU Report or in the determinations to which we have referred, has significantly changed as regards the way returning asylum seekers are treated on arrival or in the way in which searches are carried out. There may be greater tension and a higher incidence of searches and roadblocks; there may be more arbitrary restrictions imposed on the free movement of goods and people as the UNHCR letter of 8th December 2003 to Sri and Co says may have happened. But that does not support the notion that there would be a real risk of treatment which beached Article 3. The assessment made in Jeyachandran and subsequent cases remains good. There is nothing to suggest that the Appellant is wanted in a relatively serious way. She was a low level supporter briefly detained, and released, who without further arrest later made her way to Colombo whence she departed through the series of checks at the main airport."
MR JUSTICE OUSELEY
PRESIDENT