T a special meeting recently the Ceylon Workers’ Congress decided to reject the recent agreement made between India and Ceylon on the status of workers of Indian origin in Ceylon. Most of these workers are employed on tea plantations in Ceylon. The agreement between the Indian and Ceylon governments on almost one million stateless immigrants of Indian origin provides that §25,000 will be granted Indian citizenship over a period of 15 years, 300,000 to be made Ceylonese citizens, and the fate of the remaining 150,000 is to be decided some time early in 1965 at a further meeting of
the Indian and Ceylonese Prime Mini-
sters. One of the reasons given by
the CWC for rejecting the agreement
is that it involves “denial of human
rights and is calculated to add to the
suffering and humiliation of these
stateless persons of Indian origin who
are today making a vital contribution
to the economy of this country.” The
trade unions are complaining that this
agreement does not provide for the
immediate granting of citizenship by
both countries to persons who are
stateless, but has spread the granting
of naturalisation over a number of
years, thereby leaving people state-
less for far longer than is necessary.
ALGERIA: