Australia Is Supporting the Oppression of Tamils in Sri Lanka
In May 2009, Sri Lankan forces massacred 150,000 Eelam Tamils trapped in the island’s north. The slaughter was part of an ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing. But the Australian government has whitewashed those atrocities and helped equip Sri Lanka’s state security forces.
Sri Lankan military personnel take part in a training exercise on the eastern coast of Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, which has become a hub for Australia and other members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. (LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI / AFP via Getty Images)
In March of this year, Australia backed a UK-led resolution at the UN Human Rights Council that expressed “deep concern” at the “deteriorating situation” in Sri Lanka. The resolution noted the “accelerating militarization of civilian government functions [and] the erosion of the independence of the judiciary,” and the “increased marginalization” of Tamil and Muslim communities.
However, just one month later, the Australian government gave Sri Lanka’s police force five aerial surveillance drones. The drones were previously owned by the Operation Sovereign Borders Joint Agency Task Force, part of Australia’s military-led border security operation whose primary responsibility is to “deter and disrupt” asylum seekers trying to reach Australia.
Australia claims that the drones will be used to support “crime-fighting” activities. But past experience makes it perfectly clear that the Sri Lankan authorities are likely to use the drones for surveillance of Tamil refugees fleeing the island — and government officials in Canberra know it.
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