The Commissionerate of Rehabilitation and Welfare of Non-Resident Tamils, which handles matters concerning Sri Lankan Tamil refugees living in camps in the State, does not have information on refugees who are willing to return to their home country or those who have sought Indian citizenship.
This has been stated in a reply to a Chennai resident under the Right to Information Act.
On the issue of voluntary repatriation of the refugees to Sri Lanka, a government official says there is no scope for forcible repatriation of refugees. Even if conditions in the country of their origin have genuinely improved, repatriation can be done only with “their full and voluntary consent.” International law (especially the 1951 Refugee Convention), UNHCR [Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees] policy, and evolving case law firmly prohibit forced repatriation in situations where refugees may still face persecution or unsafe conditions, the official explains.
It is because of this reason that the Commissionerate does not collect the data. “Whenever the refugees want to go back , we are helping them to return immediately,” the official observes, adding that “no request for return is pending with us.”
As regards the citizenship issue, the Union government’s consistent stand has been that any foreigner can acquire citizenship can be acquired by registration under section 5 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 or by naturalisation under section 6 of the Act. However, an illegal migrant is not eligible to acquire citizenship by registration or naturalisation. However, an illegal migrant is not eligible to acquire citizenship by registration or naturalisation.
But, the major hurdle for the Sri Lankan refugees to apply for citizenship is that they have been brought under ‘illegal migrants’ as per the Act. The State government’s advisory committee recommended, in its interim report of September 2023, that the position needs to be reviewed and revoked as “admission of the Sri Lankan Tamils has been carried out with the concurrence” of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
The RTI Act reply stated that as on May 31, 2025, the number of refugees living in the camps was 57,118 belonging to 19,662 families. As per the data available with Q branch of the Police department, 32,745 refugees belonging 13,167 families were living outside the camps as on June 18, 2025.
Published – July 31, 2025 12:08 am IST
