According to the official government records, there are more than 58,000 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees residing at 108 camps across Tamil Nadu. Some have been there as early as 1983. Unofficial records indicate there are over 100,000 refugees from Sri Lanka now residing in Tamil Nadu. Children who were born there do not have any citizenship, neither in India nor in Sri Lanka.
All refugee camps are registered. They get free education, healthcare, rations, and a modest allowance but they have limited access to jobs and cannot get official documents. The Indian government has a ban on NGOs to prevent any international help from reaching them. India has not signed the international convention for refugees, and the plight of the Sri Lankan refugees in India is not brought to the scrutiny of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
No other major human rights organization has taken note of the suffering of the Tamils languishing in the "special camps" in India. With an ongoing pandemic (and their lack of access to basic health care), and recent development, let's call upon the Indian government to focus on 30 yeard old refugees' struggle in Tamil Nadu.
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