Arrest & Disappearance Of Tamil Campaigners Shows Need For Strong UNHRC Resolution
The recent arrest of the Tamil disappearances campaigner Ms. Jeyakumari and her 13 year old daughter highlights the serious need for a strong and quick resolution intervention by the UNHRC, as stated by the British Tamils Forum on 14 March 2014.
In an effort to call on the United Nations Human Rights Council Member states to take some decisive action, the forum stated;
"The actions of the Sri Lankan state are all the more brazen given their timing. Sri Lanka is currently coming under intense scrutiny at the 25th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, and yet these arrests show it no longer has any concern over its international image and, more worryingly, indicate that Sri Lanka does not expect the international community to take any concrete action to arrest its ongoing persecution of Tamils."
"The detention of these two women is further evidence, if any were needed, that Sri Lanka has no intention of relenting in this persecution, let alone of investigating its past abuses."
You can read the full statement made by the BTF by clicking here.
It had been reported in the Tamil Guardian on 13 March 2014, that the day before soldiers had entered the home of Balendran Jeyakumari’s and arrested both her and her 13 year old daughter. Both are believed to be being held at an undisclosed location.
The Tamil Guardian made the following report on 13 March 2014.
"Local residents told the Uthayan newspaper late this evening they had seen Ms. Jeyakumari and her daughter being arrested and taken away by police.
TNPF leader, Gajen Ponnambalam, who was able to speak briefly to Ms. Jeyakumari soon after the raid began, said she was being threatened for taking part in protests by families of the disappeared. Ms. Jeyakumari’s son is one of the missing.
Ms. Jeyakumari, and her young daughter, Vipoosika, gained prominence during British Prime Minister Cameron’s visit to Jaffna in November, with Vipoosika’s desperate pleas for the return of her missing brother gaining widespread coverage.
Ms. Jeyakumari had said that when troops entered the house, they asked specifically for her daughter, Mr Ponnambalam told Tamil Guardian."
You can read the full article in the Tamil Guardian by clicking here.
During Mr Cameron's visit to Sri Lanka in November 2013, the following video was taken and widely published through You Tube.
For further information on this and other related matters please contact Shivani Jegarajah at Mansfield Chambers.