The United Nations on Wednesday raised concern for the safety of Rohingya Muslim asylum seekers in Sri Lanka after Buddhist monks and hard-line nationalists forced them to flee a UN shelter in the capital Colombo.
The refugees, who were detained in April along with two suspected Indian human traffickers in a boat off Sri Lanka’s coast, are now in a camp in southern Sri Lanka to ensure their security after the incident in the capital.
In Tuesday’s incident, the Sri Lankan monks and nationalists stoned the shelter, prompting its 31 Rohingya occupants — mainly women and children — to flee for their own safety, witnesses said. No injuries were reported.
In a statement, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said the incident was alarming, saying the refugees had been victims of violence and persecution in Myanmar, from which some 422,000 Rohingya have fled to nearby Bangladesh over the past month.
