VISION

AUDIO

In Sri Lanka, there is a quiet desperation

Pushing some to make dangerous boat journeys headed towards Australia

GAYA: We were desperate to leave this place. We were determined to leave.

GAYA - We experienced a hurricane, heavy rains.

JAYA – We thought we would all die.

With lies of safe passage, people smugglers are profiting

SMUGGLER - Even today I can make money by sending people

So why is the number of Sri Lankans risking their lives at sea on the rise again?

ROB: So in the last probably 18 months, they've picked up about 19 vessels.

And can Australia’s latest attempts to stop the boats actually work?

ROB: there's zero chance of these guys traveling to Australia and getting to Australia.

TITLE: Adrift in Australian

Waters

Darren Mara, Colin Cosier,

Micah McGown

It’s early morning in the east coast fishing village of

Valaichchenai

UPSOT: 

Gayathri: What is your name?

Rivishana: I am Rivishana

Single mum Gayathri has already got her daughter up for an English lesson

UPSOT: 

Gayathri: Where do you live? Rivi: I live in Valaichchenai

It’s meant to prepare her for a life far from here

Far from Sri Lanka’s problems.. And as far away as New

Zealand

GAYA - I know there are issues everywhere. You can’t avoid it. But how to face the challenges is key. I wanted to bring her up to face challenges. She is much more precious than my own life.

SOON AFTER RIVISHANA WAS BORN, LIFE TOOK A

DISTRASTROUS TURN FOR GAYATHRI

HER HUSBAND LEFT, AND SHE HAD NO INCOME OTHER

THAN A FEW DOLLARS A DAY FROM SELLING BACKYARD EGGS

GAYA - There is no chance for life here. In our country even the educated are unemployed.

Last year, things got even tougher when Sri Lanka collapsed both economically and politically

The country erupted in protest

After defaulting on its debts, the rupee plummeted and inflation skyrocketed

Chronic shortages of fuel and food left the country in disarray 

The president fled as angry demonstrators stormed his residence

Despite talk of revolution far away in Colombo, it made little difference for people like Gayathri 

GAYA We were badly affected by the economic crisis.  We can only eat with what we can afford. To live, we must eat. The future of the children growing up here is questionable

GAYATHRI COULDN’T AFFORD TO BUY CLOTHES FOR RIVISHANA

BUT SHE WAS DETERMINED TO SUPPORT HER

DAUGHTER’S EDUCATION, EVEN THOUGH PENCILS HAD BECAME LUXURY ITEMS.

GAYA: I teach them how precious pencils and erasers are before they use them. "Don't sharpen it unnecessarily." 

GAYATHRI Existence has become an issue. So, I decided that it was enough. Instead of dying in this dump, we’ll take our chances and go. If we die in the process, so be it.

SHE HEARD RUMOURS THAT NEW ZEALAND WAS MORE ACCEPTING OF ASYLUM SEEKERS THAN AUSTRALIA – even if they arrived by boat.

GAYA  I was made aware that we had to go past

Australia. But we were not planning to enter Australian territorial waters. 

VO: so through a friend, she found a people smuggler, who made reassuring promises

GAYA   “Big boat, a special place for children, “it’s a safe boat.” He said he knew the route, and had taken people from Indonesia to Australia. “We can go to New Zealand this way. “There won’t be any icebergs near New Zealand "at this time of the year.” Therefore, “we can reach there safely.”

SEEING NO FUTURE FOR HERSELF AND HER DAUGHTER

IN SRI LANKA GAYATHRI SOLD HER HOME TO A RELATIVE AND PAID THE SMUGGLER $7000 

It took six months before the boat was ready to depart

GAYA So, we purchased a large suitcase. They said that we needed warm clothes, going to New Zealand.

Sweater, jacket and the like. We spent a lot of money on them alone. They wanted us to buy any medication that we needed. Anything that the child required, including extra food items. They would provide three meals and water.

Gayathri says the smugglers arranged for a trawler to wait for its human cargo offshore

WHEN THE DAY ARRIVED  - THEY were told to go to a nearby beach  

GAYA - Around 11:30... they got us into three tiny boats in groups. They took us to the boat we were to travel in. I started to throw up in the tiny boat itself.  Though she was not sick, I was concerned that I had put my child into this dreadful situation.

AS SHE BOARDED THE LARGER VESSELL, SHE DIDN’T KNOW THIS JOURNEY WOULD BRING HER CLOSE TO DEATH AND LAND HER IN JAIL...

Boat journeys like Gayathri’s have been one of the most contested political issues in Australia for more than twenty years 

STRAP: 2001

JOHN HOWARD: “But we will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come.”

During the early two-thousands, people who arrived by boat were detained in camps in PNG and Nauru while their asylum claims were processed  

This so-called “Pacific Solution” was heavily criticized by human rights groups and dropped in 2007

But then the number of people getting on boats rose dramatically… one in five from Sri Lanka

After deaths at sea and reaching a political boiling point

STRAP: 2013

KEVIN RUDD: The rules have changed. If you come by boat you will never permanently live in Australia.

The next year, the military-led Operation Sovereign Borders launched, stopping every boat at sea. 

Australia had become a fortress and reported boat numbers plummeted… until last year

LOCATION TITLE: Valaichchenai

(Eastern Sri Lanka)

THE ECONOMIC CRISIS HAS RESULTED IN A DRAMATIC

INCREASE IN BOATS ONCE AGAIN HEADING FOR AUSTRALIA

ROB We are here to tell you and help you to say that to stop people from getting on boats going to Australia. 

The Australian Federal Police are at the port here AT 

Valaichchenai – its RENOWNED FOR MARITIME PEOPLE SMUGGLING

SUPER: Det. Supt. Rob Wilson,

Australian Federal Police

DARREN So what's an Aussie cop doing in Sri Lanka?

ROB So Australian federal police have been here since 2009. So basically we sort of investigate international transnational crime offenses.

Darren: Working with Sri Lankan police

Rob: Working with the Sri Lankan police. So we're working on narcotics related matters, terrorism and particularly people smuggling, right? 

VO: They’re handing out pamphlets warning against taking boats to Australia.

The campaign is called “Zero Chance”

COP - He is talking about Sri Lankans leaving for Australia. Do not go to Australia. There is no chance under the law. Do not pay money. Poor guys. He is saying don't go to Australia. There is zero chance under the law, all right? 

MAN: We understand.

COP: Right?

MAN: Got it.

COP: An Australian police officer has come here. He is asking Sri Lankans not to go to Australia. Under their law, there is no chance at all. He is saying that, all right? Do not give money to rogues. Sri Lankan people are being taken for a ride.

MAN: They get caught there. We know that.

COP: yes

ROB It's multi-layered what we do. So the pamphlet's one thing. So what we've got speaking to our Sri Lankan police cohort colleagues and they said they really need something in Tamil and in the areas. So that's just one part of a very broad strategic communications that we do.

VO: But when speaking with the fisherman here at the port, it seems the pamphlet’s message is not new. 

Fisherman: Of course I knew. Government mentioned the law. Going to Australia is banned. Those who are keen to go will go no matter who tries to prevent them.  They go because they crave money and then they die.

NO MATTER WHAT THE REASON IS FOR LEAVING,

BOARDING A BOAT IS INHERENTLY RISKY

AND ROB SAYS HIS MAIN FOCUS IS TO SAVE LIVES...

ROB I've been here since May, 2020, seeing the Sri Lankan nation, the economic and political upheaval that they've gone through you can understand why people would want a better life. All we can do is try to promote that they shouldn't do it and if they did do it, the risk of life, they'll lose their money. There'll be scams.

DARREN We've seen some pretty horrific images recently of bodies washing up on shores in Europe because of failed people smuggling ventures. How do you reflect on that given your mission here?

ROB So since 2009 when that first cohort of wave of people smuggling happened between 2009 and 2013, 1,200 people died at sea.  Being human, being police officers, our main goal is to protect life. There's always

probably going to be someone who may still decide to take the risk and try to travel to another country for the betterment of their future.

VO: Rob shows me a boat that attempted to leave from here but didn’t make it

DARREN So how many boats like this do the Sri Lankan Navy pick up? How many get through?

ROB So in the last probably 18 months, they've picked up about 19 vessels and since that time there's been seven vessels that got to Australia, international waters off Australia.

DARREN And is that an increase in numbers or a decrease?

ROB That was an increased number from the previous time. Until 18 months ago it was fairly quiet, one or two here and there. But in the last 18 months that's been a sharp rise again, mostly because of the push factors from Sri Lanka

DARREN how are people smugglers convincing people to get on boats?

ROB So what these smugglers will say is that this vessel is going to Canada or going to New Zealand 

DARREN knowing full well they'll be intercepted in Australia. So it's just all a lie the whole time? 

ROB Full well. The people, the captains on the boat and the people smugglers know full well they're never going to get to New Zealand or Canada or any other country, 

Rob says the AFP has trained around 500 Sri Lankan officers across police, immigration and navy

That includes in some core skills – like how to seize and search a boat

ROB Hey guys. So you're coming onto a ship, that's the captain over there. Alright, so it could be people smuggling, could be drugs, could be whatever. So your call

ROB we taught them very quickly how they should do search a vessel and they enter the vessel, how they should speak to people and now how to search more importantly for an evidentiary perspective is what they do with the items once they find them. 

ROB these guys are the frontline 

THE AIM OF THE TRAINING IS TO HONE TECHNIQUES ON INFORMATION AND EVIDENCE GATHERING SO PEOPLE SMUGGLING CASES CAN BE SUCCESSFULLY PROSECUTED.

ROB So invariably police work comes down to the fundamentals in itself we're seeing where maybe some cases have fallen down with trying to improve those areas to ensure that doesn't happen in the future.

UPSOT: Heroin

ROB: well done guys (clapping)

LOCATION TITLE: Western Sri

Lanka

Both the Australians and the Sri Lankans say they’re investing heavily in trying to stop the people smuggling boats. But I want to know whether it’s actually making a difference.

VO: We’ve secured an interview with a man who knows the other side of the law. 

A man who would only speak with us on the condition of anonymity. 

DARREN So when did you first become involved in maritime people smuggling?

SMUGGLER - I actually started with the desire for earn money. I am an electrician by trade. I worked as a fisherman for some time. 

He says his job was organising smuggling operations but claims he hasn’t done this since 2015.

He says he sent six boats to Australia, and that two were caught in Sri Lanka.

DARREN - Australian authorities make campaign ads in Sinhala and also in Tamil, warning people not to come? Do those ads work? 

SMUGGLER - Let’s say... The seat you are sitting on is hot and uncomfortable... but the seat here, is not hot and burning. 

SMUGGLER - If there is a lot of fire, they will go and sit here if possible. That's what people face in this country. No need to labour the point. But if people can't survive, how can they remain here?

This man says he’s spent time in jail – and we’ve cited documents to support that. 

He says he’s just one cog in a bigger smuggling network which many call a mafia

SMUGGLER - such people can bend the law and aren't afraid of the law. This is not a special category of people. The media are only questioning the Underworld and the Mafia. Why not the politicians? 

DARREN - Are they part of this system?

SMUGGLER - Since the start of all this no cases have been filed against them… and they have not been brought to justice.

DARREN - authorities like the police and Navy involved in this?

SMUGGLER - When you ask me that, wouldn't you think that when hundreds of people are involved in a number of places, won't the Police, the Navy and the CID be aware of all that? 

DARREN So, is this your theory or do you know that from your own experience? 

SMUGGLER - I know this.

DARREN - And it’s still happening today?

SMUGGLER - That's the case not only for this activity but for all forms of corruption in this country.

SMUGGLER - There's one law for little people and another for the higher ups. 

VO: Despite deaths at sea, and the poor and vulnerable losing everything to scams, he seems convinced of his own rationale for being a smuggler

SMUGGLER - my aim is to earn money … And if there is a dire need for these people to leave, isn't it because of... the political and economic problems in this country?  long as the authorities rule this country corruptly, there will always be people ready to seek asylum in any country, including yours.

But the push factors the smuggler speaks of go beyond corruption and economics

The 35 year Civil war between the Tamils and Sinhalese majority ended in 2009 and saw more than 100,000 people killed and thousands more disappeared. 

Though there were allegations of war crimes by both sides – a UN panel says at least 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final months of fighting

There was an exodus at the end of the war, with more than 7000 Sri Lankan asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat by 2012 – most of them Tamil 

People like the PARENTS OF THE so-called Biloela family

WHO ARRIVED SEPERATELY ON BOATS IN 2012 AND

2013 AND EVENTUALLY MARRIED AND HAD CHILDERN

IN AUSTRALIA

In 2018 the WHOLE FAMILY became the public face of the predicament of Tamil asylum seekers stuck in protection limbo in Australia

SBS WORLD NEWS UPSOT: “A small Queensland community is fighting to keep an asylum seeker family in Australia after they were removed from their home in a border force raid.  

They were eventually granted permanent visas, but many others remain in limbo 

AND FEAR BEING SENT BACK TO SRI LANKA

WHERE HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS CLAIM MANY TAMILS STILL FACE PERSECUTION AND INTIMIDATION AT THE HANDS OF SECURITY services

Back in Valaichchenai, it’s early Sunday morning

Some in the Tamil community have gathered for mass 

Including Gayathri and her uncle, Jeyachanthiran , who is a leader in the local parish 

Upsot :Church service begins with song

He’s also a vocal advocate for Tamils in the area

JAYA:  Arresting or questioning Tamils for no reason was common during the civil war. They took us from our homes, beat us, kicked us, tortured us, or even shot us. Post war, with a civil administration, they are unable to do that. If they want to do anything like that, they have to do it without anyone else knowing.  

Still feeling like a second class citizen as a Tamil – and then hit during the economic crisis – Jayachanthiran decided to seek a better life

He boarded the boat alongside Gayathri

And is still haunted by the dangers they faced at sea 

JAYA: A lot of things happened on the ocean. Wind was blowing strongly. It began to rain. There were 41 people. There was vomitting, it was difficult to cope. It was scary 

GAYATHRI - On the third day, the engine was having some trouble. They said that the engine had overheated.

JAYA - Next, they did not feed us as they had promised.

GAYA by the sixth day, everyone realised that they lied to us. There were quarrels and problems.

JAYA - We suffered without water too.  many people were fainting

GAYA –I would save our water for my little girl. She struggled. She was traumatised. She kept asking when we would reach New Zealand. I was deeply saddened. She was not born to experience all these horrendous things. I wondered at that time whether I had shifted the burdens of my life onto my child.

JAYA – One day there was something like a typhoon. For a whole day our boat was battered heavily.

GAYA – Lots of rain and heavy wind. I was not sure we would survive. I was pleading with God.

That was when the passengers realized the boat’s communications device wasn’t working – and had probably never worked

Unable to call for help, with food and water almost depleted, the engine developed a leak 

GAYA – The oil leak was beyond their control. 

We all panicked because we wouldn’t even have been able to send distress signals to the neighbouring countries we were passing. 

A few people including me told them to stop the boat wherever they could. They said the only place they could stop was Christmas Island.

21 DAYS AFTER SETTING OFF FROM SRI LANKA -  Jayachandran and Gayathri say the captain turned the boat towards Christmas Island

Limping towards the Australian territory, they were intercepted by an Australian navy vessel and eventually transferred onboard

Darren So what happened when you were stopped by the Australians? 

JAYA –What took place afterwards was more difficult. It was more difficult than being in the boat.

JAYA - During that time they did not allow us to shower. Children and young adults started to stand up, crying and asking for food. "Give us food". It had come to that.

GAYA –They wanted to treat us like prisoners. That was very clear.

Jayachandran says on the second day aboard the navy ship, interpreters and immigration authorities began questioning them one by one

JAYA –Each inquiry lasted about half to three quarters of an hour per person. …They were gathering information. 

GAYA –This is what we requested. “We didn’t come to your country seeking asylum. "If your country can’t accept us, "ask the New Zealand government on our behalf." 

They rejected us but didn't tell us anything. We were not aware of anything. 

Human rights advocates say Australia does not carry out fully fledged asylum seeker processing at sea

But rather a watered down screening process in which almost all protection claims have been refused

Jayachandran says they were pushed through a process not designed to recognize their plight

DARREN: Do you feel like you had a fair and proper opportunity to raise a protection claim?

JAYA –No. They took us from the ship around midnight or 12.30. They took into Christmas Island. When we saw the airport we realised they were going to do something. We thought it most likely that they were going to send us back to Sri Lanka.  They got us to sign that we consented. Some people said they would not sign. They said no, you have to. They forced us. We never had the opportunity to meet anyone or to express our view at all.

Both Gayathri and Jayachandran say they were put on a flight straight back to Sri Lanka 

When they landed, they were detained and questioned  by Sri Lanka’s Police Criminal Investigation Department, known as the C-I-D

THEY SAY THIS WAS TERRIFYING FOR THEM AS THE CID has PREVIOUSLY faced accusations of human rights abuses against Tamils including kidnapping and torture dating back to the civil war.

After 24 hours in jail they were released on bail

JAYA – For people like me who had travelled using irregular means, you can imagine the trouble they could make. That is why we are afraid. they can use that to harass or penalise us. So this is another form of discrimination or oppression.

GFX ON-SCREEN STATEMENT

In a statement, Australian Border Force said “Australia does not return individuals to situations where they face persecution.”

ABF also denied allegations of mistreatment of anyone intercepted at sea

It said “people are held lawfully and appropriately cared for in secure and safe conditions.”

LOCATION TITLE: Trincomalee

(Eastern Sri Lanka)

This Australian-funded office is being donated to the

CID's anti-smuggling unit 

NATSOT: applause

Rob says the relationship with the CID goes back over a decade

Rob: So I guess the nature of the thing is the team work here and also stay here for the night. 

Rob: This is a bit better from your previous

accommodation

ROB times in the police force and Sri Lankan government are very difficult. So we've assisted in relation to creating offices, giving them equipment, chairs, desks, basic stuff

But I want to know how Rob feels about giving support to a police department that many Tamils still fear

DARREN: How much of a concern are some of the human rights allegations against the CID for the AFP?

ROB: Human rights allegations are very much a concern.  I haven't seen any sort of issues here, but there's a long history that goes back through the war

ROB: By not working with the Sri Lankan police, from my perspective is that you're not protecting the Sri Lankan community …So by us working with Sri Lankan Police, we are trying to give them the best skills to be able to serve their community. We also try to do it in the best way possible. So this is the best way to police in your community and that's in accordance of human rights and all the rest of it. So what could we do? We could not be involved at all and there'd be no change. 

DARREN: So we know that some boats do get through Sri Lankan waters. What role does corruption play in that?

ROB: I know that The Sri Lankan and police have arrested certain people from different agencies. They're not too distant past and so they're looking into it. But yeah, it's always an issue.

ROB: So there are things that we look at, again, teaching people the strength of police best practice, showing that leading by example. I think how part of the Australian

Federal police is what we do and try to minimize the chances of corruption.

After being sent back to Sri Lanka, life for

Jeyachanthiran, Gayathri and her daughter has only become harder 

And soon they will face trial on charges of illegal migration 

GAYA – We will have to pay 50,000 rupees in court fees. The case could take up to five years. They have impounded my passport. My economic situation is worse. I was able to manage with what we had. Now I have nothing.

The only consolation …the fact their interception at sea was also a rescue

JAYA – We thought we would all die.

DARREN What are your thoughts now on the people you paid to get on that boat? Everything they do is deception. Nothing happened as they had initially said.

GAYA –People smugglers tell all kinds of lies. I understand that now. He had cheated us, and it was all planned. “Don’t go” is what I would say. 

DARREN What will have to change in Sri Lanka to stop people wanting to flee?

GAYA –We want a government that truly works for the people.  Maybe we can't stop people smugglers. But we can share stories like mine to warn other people.

ON-SCREEN STATEMENT 

The CID Anti-Smuggling Unit acknowledges corruption is a problem but insists efforts have been made to stamp it out within its ranks

It says a lack of trust between security services and Tamils remains an issue.

END