Australia and Sri Lanka sign MOU

Australia and Sri Lanka sign MOU on legal co-operation to stem human smuggling
2009-11-09 19:08:15

Sri Lanka and Australia today signed a Memorandum of Understanding on legal co-operation between the countries to curb human smuggling rackets where Lankans have been trying to illegally enter Australia.

The agreement was reached by the visiting Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and his Sri Lankan counterpart Rohitha Bogollagama in Colombo where they discussed the issue.

“We want to prevent criminal syndicates smuggling people”, Mr Smith said, however added that they remain committed to UN and other conventions on granting asylum to persons.

“That would be taken up case by case”, he said referring to issues of asylum. The two countries have agreed on sharing information, prosecuting persons involved in human smuggling and taking action to prevent human smuggling, Mr. Bogollagama said.

Mr. Smith said they believe it was not a challenge for the two countries and needed regional co-operation including the support of Indonesia where some of the Lankan illegal immigrants have been detained.

The visiting minister, who is accompanied by Australia's newly appointed special representative to Sri Lanka, John McCarthy, met with President Mahinda Rajapaksa. (AD)