CCPR/C/115/D/2258/2013
extended the time limit for the authors’ departure until further notice, in accordance to the
Committee’s request.
Factual background
2.1
The authors are twin brothers, ethnic Tamils and of Christian faith. They claim that
their father was a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) until he got
married, that he was a “border guard” and that he called himself “Karthik”. They were born
in Jaffna. When they were 3 years old, their family fled to Puthukkudiyiruppu, in the Vanni
area, due to the civil war. They grew up and went to primary and lower secondary school
there until 2007, when they had to stop attending the school because of the war. Their
father worked as a welder, but in 2009 he was abducted by persons who displayed the
LTTE logo. Their father’s fate and whereabouts since that time remain unknown.
Afterwards, the military forces moved closer to their village and they, together with their
mother and sister, fled to Mullivaikal. However, on an unspecified day, the military forces
attacked Mullivaikal with artillery and also from the air, which forced them to flee again.
While they were fleeing, they lost contact with their mother and sister. The authors claimed
that they were unable to make contact with their mother and sister again.
2.2
The authors claim that they were taken by the military to the Ramanathan camp, in
the city of Vavuniya. The camp was run by the military, and nobody could enter or leave it
without military authorization. They were accused of having fought for LTTE. Jenarthan
was interrogated three or four times, and Jenirthan once, about their connections with LTTE
and their father’s whereabouts. They further claim that, when Jenarthan denied any
connection with LTTE, members of the army hit and threatened him. The authors also
claim that they were afraid to tell military staff about the kidnapping of their father by
LTTE. After two months, their mother’s brother found them. He went to the camp twice.
The second time, he managed to take the authors out of the camp by paying bribes, and
brought them to Colombo. He also arranged for them to leave Sri Lanka.
2.3
After traveling through Thailand and another country, on 11 October 2009 the
authors arrived in Denmark without valid travel documents. They claim that they were 16
years old at that time. On 12 October 2009, the police interviewed them. On 20 and 22
October 2009, respectively, Jenarthan and Jenirthan filed applications for asylum before the
Danish Immigration Service. They claimed that they feared being persecuted and accused
of being LTTE members as a result of their Tamil ethnicity, their father’s past membership
in that organization, his disappearance and the events they had experienced in their country.
They also claimed that this risk was aggravated by the fact that they had left Sri Lanka
illegally. They further claimed that, prior to their departure from Sri Lanka, they had never
met their grandparents or most of their relatives, since their parents’ families disapproved
of their marriage; that they had lost contact with their mother’s brother; and that they
presumed their mother and sister had died during the war.
2.4
On 25 May 2010, the Danish Immigration Service decided that the authors were
sufficiently mature to have their applications for asylum examined. On 28 May 2010, the
Immigration Service rejected the applications. It stated that there was no information based
on which to presume that the disappearance of the authors’ father was linked to the
activities of LTTE, that the authors had declared that they were not members of LTTE, that
they were not personally in contact with members of LTTE and that they had had no
problems with the authorities in relation with their father’s previous membership with
LTTE. According to reports on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, persons who did
not support or were not high -profile members of LTTE were in general not persecuted by
the authorities. It further noted that the war in Sri Lanka had ended and LTTE had been
defeated; and that the fact that they had parents and that their village had been exposed to
disturbances or bombings could not lead to the conclusion that they were in need of
international protection. The authors appealed the decision to the Refugee Appeals Board.
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