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INFORMATION FOR (TAMIL) ASYLUM SEEKERS WHOSE CHANCES FOR BEING GRANTED ASYLUM HAVE BEEN TERMINATED WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN YOUR CHANCES FOR BEING GRANTED ASYLUM HAVE BEEN TERMINATED? After having requested asylum, your chances have been terminated only after you have gone through the entire legal procedure up to and including the judge's decision with regard to the appeal or if your lawyer did not lodge an objection or appeal before the official deadline for doing so. If your chances for asylum have been terminated, you can be deported, but the preparations for this will take some time, especially if you do not have a valid travel document (passport). You will first need to get a temporary travel document, a 'laissez passer'. In the past, you always needed to present yourself at the Sri Lankan Consulate in The Hague for this purpose. This procedure occurred under supervision of the police, who had you fill in and sign an application sometime in advance. We are currently receiving reports that this procedure can also be handled administratively, probably as a result of the underwriting agreement with Sri Lanka. This makes the deportation procedure less transparent. Formally speaking, you always have the right to consult your lawyer, and the police may not arrest you as long as you cooperate with them. In practice, however, you might be intimidated and not told of your rights in this regard. You should therefore always ask if VluchtelingenWerk or a Dutch friend would help you in presenting yourself. Deportation often takes place in great haste and sometime even with brute force, especially in the centres. There are three things that you can do in anticipation of your deportation: 1. See if there are still any legal options open for you (in practice, that will usually amount to applying for asylum a second time). 2. Prepare yourself for your return to Sri Lanka. 3. Choose to go into hiding. Recommendation: Do not wait around if your chances for being granted asylum have been terminated, but make sure you gather whatever information you can immediately. Elsewhere in this folder we tell you where you can turn for more information. 1. Submitting a second request for asylum In the past, you could submit an application to the local aliens registration office for a residence permit (VTV) on humanitarian grounds. The law was changed as of 1 July 1998. Applying for a residence permit (VTV) is now linked with a second request for asylum, and that has to take place at the registration centre (AC) in either Rijsbergen or Zevenaar. For this you will need the assistance of your lawyer or someone from legal aid who can make an appointment for you. A second request for asylum only makes sense if (1) you can present well-documented new facts about your escape, or (2) if there is a 'legal perspective' (i.e. a breakthrough in the administration of justice. If neither of these is the case, your asylum procedure will be definitively terminated within 24 hours and you can easily be deported. As an AC is a closed institution, you will not be able to leave there. Recommendations: At this moment, a second request for asylum is often inadvisable since there is no 'legal perspective'. This means that you should discuss your problems with your lawyer, VluchtelingenWerk [VVN] and/or your Dutch friends and ask for their advice and help. They can always contact us for consultation. It is often a good idea to get a second opinion from another lawyer, since many lawyers are apt to close a dossier once a judge has rejected the request. If you and the others decide that a second request for asylum will have no chance of success, you are left to choose between cooperating with your deportation or going into hiding. 2.Preparing for your return to Sri Lanka If you decide to cooperate with regard to your return to Sri Lanka, it can be to your advantage that you can make good arrangements with the police, VluchtelingenWerk [VVN] and your Dutch friends. This way, you avoid sudden arrest and you can ask VVN for support. If your chances for asylum have been terminated, you may be able to turn to the 'Return Office' (IOM: 070-3181520). Prior to you return, you can contact the Sri Lanka Werkgroep for the latest information about Sri Lanka and for 'monitoring' upon your return (if necessary, you can ask your lawyer or VluchtelingenWerk [VVN] to do this for you!). Recommendations: 1. In general, a voluntary return is inadvisable (at this moment), unless you come from Colombo and have a network of family and/or friends there. If you come from the north or the east, you will often be unable to reach the place you come from and will need to get a 'residence permit' in Colombo or Vavunya. These are temporary and will give you no protection against being randomly arrested (or worse). You will probably be doomed to live an illegal existence. In fact, you will have to choose between an illegal existence in Sri Lanka or elsewhere. 2. Always try to get as much information as possible about returning to Sri Lanka. As someone whose chances for asylum have been terminated, you can always be confronted with an involuntary return (deportation). In any case, you should get into contact with the Sri Lanka Werkgroep and/or Amnesty International for the latest information. 3. Going into hiding Essentially, you can do this in the Netherlands or in another country. In making your decision one way or the other, it is important that you have a network (family or friends) that you can rely on for the bare essentials. The scant possibilities that Dutch society offers are often conditional (based on a legal "perspective" which often does not exist!) Moreover, it is psychologically very taxing (due to the cultural difference and the fact that you are dependent on others). If you have no family or friends in the Netherlands, you can request an address list from the Platform. Recommendations: * Go into hiding as late as possible, because once you do, you will not have access to help anymore. That is to say, do it soon after the police call on you to apply for a 'laissez passer', at which point photos will be made. (This may be even earlier if you have a valid passport or if you have withdrawn yourself from under the authority of the aliens registration office, by not registering!) * Get into contact with an organisation that works for illegal aliens. Ask them for possible addresses for a place to live and work. * Maintain (monthly) contact with your lawyer, and always ask if a 'legal perspective' (i.e. a breakthrough in the courts) has occurred in the meantime. * It is impossible to give guarantees, but you can diminish the chances of your being caught by keeping the following tips in mind: - Do not go into hiding in an AZC. As long as you cannot leave there, you might as well sleep in a different room and avoid coming into common rooms (canteen, recreation room, etc.). - Go to a different town where no one knows you. Do not open your front door unless you know for sure that it is not the police (they are only allowed to enter your house if they have a search warrant!). - Never go into the street alone and do not break the law (e.g. by riding the public transport without a ticket), since you will have to identify yourself in that case. 4. If you have to defend for yourself You can try to get an emergency address at one of the organisations mentioned in the list you can apply for at the Platform(although without any guarantee of success, since the available space is limited!!) If you do not succeed in getting an emergency address, there are organisations for homeless people in every large city, including: * For shelter: The Salvation Army. * For medical help/advice/dentist: De Witte Jas De Wittenstraat 29, AMSTERDAM Tel: 020-6881140. * For consultation/advice/referrals: you can ask the Platform for the address list * For recent information about the [human rights] situation in Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka Werkgroep PO Box 3719, 1001 AM AMSTERDAM Tel: 020-4277599 Amnesty International Keizersgracht 620, 1017 ER AMSTERDAM Afd. Landenwerk, Tel: 020-6264436. * For recent legal information [legal perspective]: VluchtelingenWerk PO Box 2894, 1000 CW AMSTERDAM Helpdesk Unit Toelating, Tel. 020-3467250. 5. If you are arrested after all Since you can always still be caught, you must also prepare for a possible (involuntary) return to Sri Lanka. Contact the Sri Lanka Werkgroep in any case (see 2 above).Even then, you will still have some rights, e.g. the right to call your lawyer. Make sure that you always have an address book with you, containing your lawyer's telephone number and some small change to make the call. PLATFORM OF SOLIDARITY GROUPS TAMILS IN THE NETHERLANDS c/o H. Mulierlaan 11 7241 GA Lochem tel :0573-252516 The Platform is a national organisation of solidarity groups that was formed in connection with the 'bed, bath and bread centres' for Tamils No. 99/Info 03 February 1999
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