Colombo, United Nations: Navi Pillay, a South African of Indian origin, who is currently the UN High Commissioner for human rights, has warned that there should be no reprisals against human rights defenders in Sri Lanka in the aftermath of a resolution calling upon Colombo to investigate abuses during the civil war that ended in 2009 with the defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels.
Mr Ruper Colville, spokesperson for Ms Pillay, highlighted threats and intimidation in his statement made on Friday.
“During this Human Rights Council session, there has been an unprecedented and totally unacceptable level of threats, harassment and intimidation directed at Sri Lankan activists who had travelled to Geneva to engage in the debate, including by members of the 71-member official Sri Lankan government delegation,” Mr Colville told a news briefing in Geneva, according to information received here.
Mr Colville said intimidation and harassment of Sri Lankan civil society activists have also been reported in other locations around Geneva. In addition, the Sri Lankan ambassador in Geneva received an anonymous threatening letter which is being followed up by the police and UN security.
At the same time, newspapers, news websites and TV and radio stations in Sri Lanka have been running, since January, a “continuous campaign of vilification”,including naming and, in many cases, showing images of activists, describing them as an ‘NGO gang’ and repeatedly accusing them of treason, mercenary activities and association with terrorism.
“Some of these reports have contained barely veiled incitement and threats of retaliation,” Mr Colville said. “At least two comments posted by readers of articles of this type have called for burning down of the houses of the civil society activists named in the articles, and at least one such comment called openly for them to be killed.”
“She is calling on the Government to ensure the protection of human rights defenders, to publicly disassociate itself from such statements, and to clearly uphold the right of Sri Lankan citizens to freely engage in international debate of this kind,” Mr Colville said.
Last year, a three-member UN panel of experts on accountability issues during the civil war found there were credible reports that both Government forces and the LTTE committed war crimes during the final months of the conflict.
The 47-member Human Rights Council, on which New Delhi is currently a member, is responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe and for addressing human rights violations.
The resolution was sponsored by the US and supported among other nations by India. (UNI)