Australian High Commission
Colombo
MEDIA RELEASE
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12 May 2011
SRI LANKA – AUSTRALIA COOPERATION AGAINST PEOPLE SMUGGLING: CONFISCATING THE PROFITS OF CRIME
In the wake of Australia’s 7 May announcement that asylum seekers arriving in Australian waters by boat will be transferred to Malaysia, Australia and Sri Lanka are working together to tighten law enforcement against people smugglers operating in Sri Lanka.
On 9 May, Sri Lanka’s Justice Minister, Hon Rauff Hakeem MP, opened a workshop focused on using the law to deter, prevent and prosecute people smuggling activities, including through the confiscation of the profits or proceeds of crime. The workshop, which was co-hosted by Sri Lanka and Australia, is the latest joint activity undertaken by Sri Lanka and Australia to combat people smuggling. It builds on a busy program of bilateral law enforcement collaboration on this theme.
This cooperation is underpinned by the Australia – Sri Lanka Memorandum of Understanding concerning the Legal Cooperation against the Smuggling of Migrants which was signed during the visit to Sri Lanka of Australia’s then Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, in 2009.
More than 30 Sri Lankan officials attended the workshop from government agencies including the Ministry of Justice, the Police Criminal Investigations Division and Terrorist Investigations Division, the Central Bank’s Financial Intelligence Unit, the Legal Draftsman’s Department, the judiciary and members of the Bar Association.