Since May 2022, nearly 250 Sri Lankans who undertook a perilous and inhuman journey to Australia by illegal sea routes, were intercepted and repatriated. They were charged in accordance with local legislation and were produced before a magistrate.

Those who made the journey are victims of people smuggling networks who mislead many vulnerable groups and charge them almost all their savings for a journey that will bring them back to where they started.

Since 2013, following a wave of Sri Lanka’s who attempted to journey to prosperous ‘land down under’ , Australian and Sri Lankan Authorities have worked closely to counter the issue. According to Commander of the Joint Agency Task Force Operation Sovereign Borders, Rear Admiral Justin Jones, CSC, Royal Australian Navy it is believed that before Australia enacted Operations Sovereign Borders, over 1200 Sri Lankans may have perished at sea, making the dangerous journey.

Today, Australia characterised its relationship with Sri Lanka on countering people smuggling at sea, as the ‘Gold Standard’, pointing out that an awareness campaign which had been ongoing for years, termed “Zero Chance” of getting to Australia by boat has borne fruit. However, in an exclusive interview with The Daily Morning, Admiral Jones said that people smuggling was not likely to completely go away, and that both countries will continue to work closely on civil maritime security related matters.

Following are experts from the Interview:  

What is your assessment of the people smuggling situation in the Indian Ocean?

I think people smuggling continues to be a threat to all countries that view it as a civil – maritime security threat. That is a simple equation: 30 million asylum seekers and refugees in the world, amongst the 80 million displaced people across the world. So, I don’t think it is a problem that is necessarily going away.

Our job (JATF – Op. Sovereign Borders) is to encourage people who see refugee status or asylum seeker status (in Australia) through the legal pathways. Australia maintains its strict regime of not allowing people to enter the country via boats, without a valid visa. Which is why we try to emphasise, in visits like this to Sri Lanka, to ensure that people understand that there are legal pathways that people can use.

What has people smuggling from Sri Lanka to Australia over the last two years looked like? Has there been an increase?

No, since May of 2022, nine boats carrying around 250 persons were detected and intercepted. The people were detained and repatriated to Sri Lanka. The boats were destroyed. This year, we intercepted a boat with 41 persons, who were trying to get to New Zealand but were intercepted by us, and all were repatriated back to Sri Lanka.

How important is it for Australia to partner with Sri Lanka to counter such civil – maritime security, and what is your assessment of the ongoing relationship?

It is enormously important that we partner with Sri Lanka, just as we do with other countries in the region. We are in Sri Lanka today because of the critical relationship with the island that originated ten years ago with an endemic people smuggling problem. There is a reason we call our relationship with Sri Lanka the ‘Gold Standard’ in relationships. We do not use that term lightly, the relationship with Sri Lanka on this issue is very valuable for us.

And whitest the focus on that relationship is counter maritime people smuggling, the fact is that it can cross over across other civil maritime security threats, including Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, human trafficking and even marine pollution. So, maritime people smuggling, nor the other maritime civil security threats are not things any nation can solve alone. There is a need for Regional Corporation for good order at sea. So the more we can cooperate with like-minded partners, friends, I think the better for all of us.

How has the last decade of cooperation between both countries progressed? What are your views?

I think the proof can be drawn from the statistics and data, when at the height of the issue – arrivals in Australia around the middle of 2013, some 4000 people arrived each month after these long and dangerous sea voyages. As we know, in the years preceding September 2013, it is believed at least 1200 people lost their lives at sea making the journey.

Now, in 2023, we see nine boats and 250 people in the last year or so. So, those numbers are significantly different. As some have postulated, the boats have never stopped. The only period we did not see a boat arrive is during the years of the Pandemic (COVID-19), where obviously the access to make such journey’s possible had reduced. But the scale and level of arrival are entirely different now. I see that very much as progress. I don’t claim success as that would mean no boat arrives, and that we have completely eradicated the maritime people smuggling issue.

We are focused and motivated to save lives. And it is a government policy. We believe that we are deterring people from making these dangerous journeys where they not only put their lives at risk but also their wealth. These are people who are handing over their lives fortunes to smugglers based on a lie. It is a truly repugnant trade in my judgement.   

Does the Australian government follow up about those people who are repatriated? Do they keep an eye on their wellbeing?

There are means to do that. We do follow up. But by and large, once the (repatriated persons) are handed over to Sri Lanka, it becomes a sovereign matter. We keep an eye from afar about what happens afterwards.

Given your close relationship with the Sri Lanka Navy, police and other agencies, helping them with capacity building, are there gaps in capability and capacity that remain to be filled?

I don’t think cooperation and collaboration ever goes away. I think in a mature relationship it can cut both ways. It is not always Sri Lanka who learns from us, and is subject to capacity building. I think it’s actually a two way street in a partnership. There are always areas where we can help, collaborate, learn from and capacity build.

Your local counterparts from the Sri Lanka Navy, Coast Guards and Police have highlighted the importance for real-time or near real-time intelligence sharing. In terms of information sharing synergy, is there room for improvement between both countries?

I would never say there is no room for improvement. The information sharing goes both ways, and I am confident in saying that at present, it is as close to being seamless as we can. And, that is built over time. There is an enormous trust factor built. We have built that trust with Sri Lanka for over a decade. Many of the personalities we endgame with have been around for a long period. That kind of relationship building, comes over a long time, and doesn’t come lightly.

The recent incident where Sri Lanka dispatched a vessel and divers to aid in a search and recovery operation in your (Australian) search and rescue region, saw Sri Lanka and Australia working closely, do you think the coordination and trust built over the years contributed to such efforts?

I’d like to think so. Search and Rescue is not something under my preview. We do work very closely with both ours and your (Sri Lanka) RCC’s (Rescue Coordinating Center). Our Navies work very close together. We have no choice but to do so as we (Australia) has a massive search and rescue region. We have to work with countries in the region to respond to some situations because there is a chance there are no Australian assets in the vicinity.  

How do you gauge the success or effectiveness of Australia’s messaging the Campaign of ‘Zero Chance’? Do you think it has been an effective deterrent?

I do think so. We track and survey that campaign. Preventative campaigns in public policy are notoriously difficult to measure. Be it health or counter terrorism, public messaging campaigns are hard to measure.

However, the data that we collect suggest that the ‘Zero-Chance’ message is a well-recognised brand. It has had good reach and it has been a good deterrent. I take heart in the comments from one of the 41 passengers who was repatriated to Sri Lanka, and told Sri Lanka media that they were told ‘We are going to be taken to New Zealand. If we knew it was Australia, we would not have signed up because we know about ‘Zero Chance’.

There has been concern about the people smugglers having infiltrated local authorities, or that there is collusion between law enforcement, armed forces and the smugglers. How concerned are you about this matter?  

I am concerned about that in any country. I wouldn’t single out Sri Lanka. That is a concern for any country with a bureaucracy. I have heard about it, but until this recent arrest of one member, or a retired member of the armed forces, I had not seen any evidence to that effect.  

 What would you like to tell the people smugglers?

 To those who are thinking about coming to Australia using illegal sea passage, there are legal pathways, please use those. The Australian High Commission in Colombo can help you. Do not believe the lives of people smugglers. There is no pathway to Australia without a visa.

To the people smugglers, we will find you, detect and identify you, intercept and arrest you and you will face prosecution. We will disrupt you.