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The refugee board accepted 85.2 per cent of Sri Lankans claiming refugee status in Canada during the first six months of 2010 — a rate that is on the high end among countries.
An analysis by CBC News of numbers released by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada showed 345 Sri Lankan claims were accepted in six months, while 50 were rejected. Another 705 claims from that period are waiting to be processed.
Only six countries had higher acceptance rates, with Eritrea at the top of the list with 93.8 per cent of claimants accepted. Afghanistan had only a slightly higher acceptance rate than Sri Lanka, at 85.5 per cent.
The board avoids speaking about individual cases, and would only say that acceptance rates indicate the claimants were able to prove that sending them back to their original country could get them killed.
Immigration lawyers and human rights advocates say most of the Sri Lankan claimants Canada processes are Tamil. They say the high number of claims accepted speaks to the dire situation in Sri Lanka, which was embroiled in a bitter civil war until May 2009.
“Most of the people who came during that period were found to meet the refugee definition,” said Sean Rehaag, a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School.
He said even though the armed conflict has ended in Sri Lanka, there are still credible allegations of human rights abuses against Tamils in the country. He said Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the U.S. Department of State have all confirmed these allegations.
“These people are asylum seekers, and they’re entitled to a fair hearing where the [Immigration and Refugee Board] will determine if they meet the refugee definition. And if they do, they will be provided with refugee protection in Canada.”
Canada’s high acceptance of Sri Lankans has held true for several years.
In 2009, the board approved slightly more than 91 per cent of Sri Lankan claimants, making that country’s acceptance rate the second highest. In 2008, Sri Lankans had the highest acceptance rate.
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