Population figures
Total country population
21,949,268
Forcibly displaced population
Refugees (under UNHCR's mandate):
271
Asylum-seekers:
165
IDPs (of concern to UNHCR):
4,806
Other people in need of international protection:
0
Other
Statelessness persons
0
Host community
0
Others of concern to UNHCR
0
Country context
Sri Lanka occupies the island just off the southeastern coast of India, bordered by the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar to the northwest and the Indian Ocean to the south and east. Refugees and asylum-seekers are few in the country. They reside within urban and semi-urban communities rather than in camps, accessing housing and services under prevailing residency regulations.
The state has not acceded to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and no national asylum law or formal status-determination procedure exists. Individuals expressing a fear of return are identified under general immigration regulations and referred to UNHCR’s regional office for protection assessment and decision-making. In the absence of domestic legislation, procedural safeguards—including non-refoulement and exemption from penalties for irregular entry—derive from customary international refugee and human rights law.
...Legal advancements specific to forced displacement have focused on internal return and reintegration following the end of protracted conflict. A series of framework agreements since the late 2000s facilitated voluntary return of Sri Lankan refugees from neighbouring countries under regional understanding, while domestic policy directives have enabled former internally displaced persons (IDPs) to reestablish residence in their places of origin under civil-law provisions. These measures, though administrative, have supported durable solutions without creating a distinct legal category for IDPs. Most internally displaced Sri Lankans have returned to their original locales, though some remain in collective centres or host-community settings pending permanent settlement.
Statelessness is not addressed through any domestic status-determination procedure. Sri Lanka has not ratified the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons or the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, and persons without nationality are managed under ordinary immigration law without tailored documentation guarantees or appeal rights.
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