Sri Lanka's prime minister is in Australia to sign deals on economic development and sport, but he's facing questions on more serious matters.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was asked to explain why some of his citizens, mostly Tamils, are continuing to seek asylum in Australia.
In response, he promised any who decide to return to Sri Lanka would not be prosecuted.
"Well they left Sri Lanka illegally. They are welcome to return to Sri Lanka and we won't take - we won't prosecute them. So they can come back to Sri Lanka and we will help them. But remember, they broke the law in coming to Australia, attempting to come to Australia."
In 2009, the Sri Lankan army finally declared victory over a Tamil separatist group known as the Tamil Tigers, considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.
Tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the bloody civil war.
The UN has accused both sides of gross human rights violations.
Mr Wikremesinghe was asked he would say to the hundreds of Sri Lankans still waiting in Australian detention centres for their refugee claims to be processed. "Come back! All is forgiven!"
But asked by a repeorter if it was safe for them to do so, said, "It is quite safe in Sri Lanka. We just started the missing persons office. It is quite safe for them to come back. And some of them have gone from areas in which the conflict never took place. All of them are not even Tamils."
But not everyone is convinced the prime minister can promise the asylum seekers will be safe at home.
Aran Mylvaganam, of the Tamil Refugee Council, works closely with Tamils in Melbourne waiting for their claims to be processed.
"It is definitely not safe for Tamils to go back. Just three weeks ago, United Nations special rapporteur on torture claimed that torture is still being used in Sri Lanka."
The Australian director of Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, says asylum seekers have good reason to be sceptical of the prime minister's promise.
"I think to convince Sri Lankans to return to Sri Lanka we need to see more than just sweet talk from the Sri Lankan prime minister. They want to see action from the government to know that this is a different Sri Lanka and that things have really changed. And I think you have to bear in mind the past track record of the previous government. the fact that people know that failed asylum were returned to Sri Lanka, they were picked up, they were detained by security forces, they were tortured, in some cases sexually. So people are going to need a lot of convincing, they want to see the perpetrators of those abuses brought to justice."
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