Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department consults the Foreign and Commonwealth Office when determining the veracity of claims of torture by asylum applicants from Sri Lanka; and if she will make a statement.

We recognise that there are credible reports of torture, ill-treatment and sexual violence perpetrated by the security forces in the aftermath of the
civil war. The Home Office's consultation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office varies from case to case. However, we are in regular discussions about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka more generally and the information provided is reflected in the Home Office’s published country information and guidance report(s) which are publicly available.

All asylum claims made by those from Sri Lanka continue to be carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with the 1951 Refugee Convention, the European Convention on Human Rights and against the background of the latest country information and relevant caselaw – including a Court of Appeal judgment from 18 June 2014 which found that not everyone, including all Tamils, are at risk on return to Sri Lanka.