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This paper examines the operations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Sri Lanka during the decade 1987 to 1997. After briefly dealing with the history of the UNHCR, so that the subsequent discussion is put in context, it looks at the first repatriation programme from south India, which began in December 1987, and assesses whether or not the process was voluntary and safe. That discussion is followed by an examination of the reasons why the UNHCR decided, in 1990, to work on behalf of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and returnees in Sri Lanka. Subsequently, the events that led to the 1992 repatriation programme from south India to Sri Lanka are presented, an assessment is made of the level of protection that the UNHCR eventually chose to provide returnees, and a possible explanation for why the organization chose to become involved in this endeavour is offered. This is then followed by an examination of the January 1994 Tripartite Agreement on the repatriation of Tamil asylum seekers from Switzerland, signed by the Swiss and Sri Lankan governments and the UNHCR. Finally, some critical comments are made about what has been discussed, and some hard questions asked about the UNHCR's future.
IN LATE-JULY 1983, ANTI-TAMIL RIOTS ERUPTED in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, and elsewhere in the country. The riots, which most analysts consider to have been a pogrom, marked a paradigm shift in the consciousness of the Sri Lankan Tamil community. Although tensions had been increasing between the Sinhalese majority community and the Tamil minority before that time, especially since the United National Party had come to power in 1977, many Tamils still believed, or at least hoped, that a peaceful solution to the 'problem' would eventually be found by the government. After `Black July', however, few Tamils remained sanguine about the prospects for peace. Due to its direct involvement in the organization of the riots, and because it had chosen not to quell the violence until after it had gone on for several days, the Sinhalese-dominated government of President Jayewardene had resoundingly dispelled the pretence that it was interested in maintaining Sri Lanka as a multiethnic state. From that point onward, there seemed to be only three options for most Sri Lankan...