Stranded Sri Lankans Leave Baku With Eleventh Hour Help From IOM

Midnight on a hot night in late summer at Baku’s gleaming airport. Dozens of migrants gathered, some pacing, some smoking nervously, other glancing at their phones.

When the group of people in IOM vests came into sight the mood relaxed. A buzz of happy conversation broke out, as the IOM staff handed out the vital pieces of paper - certificates of a negative test result for COVID-19 – together with masks and gloves that the 69 stranded Sri Lankans needed in order to board their flight home.

This group – mainly students and their family members - had been stranded in Azerbaijan since March due to border closures under the nationwide lockdown necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic.

Unable to work and not eligible for the government assistance afforded to nationals, unsure of when their universities and colleges would re-open, they decided to return home.

Back in Sri Lanka, their families were hard hit and could not provide support. “The economic situation in my country is also difficult and it is unlikely that soon my parents will be able to help me cover my tuition fees, living expenses, and accommodation in another country,” said one student, who asked to remain nameless.

The group was nominally led by Anuruddha Pathirathne, who ran a successful business in Azerbaijan, importing tea and spices from his homeland, until coronavirus ruined everything. “I cannot continue my business and until this time could not go back because borders are closed. Right now, the only way to leave the country is to fly Turkey, and we decided to take this chance”.  

But it turned out that returning home in the time of pandemic was fraught with challenges.  

Anuruddha revealed that after the migrants had spent the last of their money to purchase flight tickets, they found out that only passengers with a certificate of negative COVID-19 test, issued within 48 hours of departure would be allowed to board the flight.

“Most of the migrants are students of local universities and their family members. Since these people had to remain at home during quarantine regime for some months, and those who earned money could not go to work, most of their financial status were in a dire state. They could not cover the test at their own expense,” he said.

The only recourse was to contact their embassy in neighbouring Iran, and that was when IOM entered the picture.  The Embassy got in touch with the IOM office in Azerbaijan to see what could be done.

“The situation was worsened by the fact that Sri Lanka does not have an embassy in Azerbaijan to help them. It was necessary to conduct PCR (polymerise chain reaction) tests and sort out the immigration matters for Sri Lankans within a very short timeframe prior to the departure, since many had already purchased flight tickets, and without the certificates they would not have been allowed on board,” says Ilyas Nabiyev, IOM’s Project Coordinator.

After the appeal from the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Iran, IOM Azerbaijan made an agreement with one of the local designated clinics to conduct rapid PCR tests and get the results within hours.

The clock was ticking.

“We managed to collect all the migrants who applied to us the day before departure and helped them get PCR tests at a local clinic. Having received the results in the evening of the same day, we sped out to the airport where migrants, who had flight tickets that would take off in a few hours were waiting for us,” says Nabiyev.

Thanks to the well-coordinated work of IOM staff and impeccable cooperation with the Azerbaijan authorities who rapidly issued travel documents, all the stranded migrants returned home safely.

Now they are in a state quarantine facility for the mandatory 14-day quarantine period.

Anuruddha said that despite the fact that they have to stay in the facility for some time they are happy to be back and will soon reunite with their families.

“We feel at home again, happy to be with family and friends”, he said. But his plans are to go back as soon as he can. “I have lived in Azerbaijan for a long time and I love that country. My wife is in Azerbaijan and I will back soon.”

The assistance was delivered to the Sri-Lankan citizens as part of IOM’s regional project on humanitarian assistance to stranded/vulnerable migrants (foreign nationals) in the South Caucasian countries, funded by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM).