|
Murder of rights activist Maheswary Velautham
brought to the attention of UN Human Rights Council's UPR Session
The Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the
United Nations Office at Geneva
19th May 2008
Statement by H.E. Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka Ambassador and Permanent Representative
of Sri Lanka at the adoption of the report of Sri Lanka on Monday 19th
May 2008 following its Universal Periodic Review
"Thank you Mr. President, Madam Deputy High Commissioner, distinguished
members of the troika, Excellencies, distinguished delegates,
Before I invite the Legal Director of the Sri Lankan Peace Secretariat
to read out the statement that would have been made by our Minister
of Disaster Management and Human Rights had he been here. I shall take
a minute of two to bring you up to date on the situation in Sri Lanka
as it pertains to human rights and the conflict.
Mr. President, the 13th of May was not only the day on which Sri Lanka
came up for the Universal Periodic Review, it will be remembered by
members of the Sri Lanka delegation as the day on which one of our best
know human rights activists was murdered by the Tiger terrorists.
Ms. Maheswary Velautham, an ethnic Tamil, feminist, an NGO activist
and a human rights lawyer, was shot dead while she paid a call on her
mother who was gravely afflicted with cancer. That terrible crime encapsulates
in a way the challenges that Sri Lanka faces and the circumstances in
which we strive to protect and uphold human rights.
A few days ago, between the 13th on which we presented ourselves for
this peer review and today when our report comes up for adoption, a
terrorist suicide bomber also exploded a bomb in Colombo killing nine
and wounding 70. The overwhelming number of casualties were unarmed
civilians.
The third and final update that I want to present to you is of a far
more positive nature.
A former child conscript of the Tigers at age 14, a child soldier
at age 15, Mr. Chandrakanthan, better known by his nom de geurre "Pillaiyan"
was sworn in as the Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council
having won the highest number of votes at the recently concluded elections
in the newly liberated East. This is the latest information we have
to present to you since we know from the questions that the Council
is keenly interested in the conflict and the prospects for conflict
transformation in Sri Lanka. Having presented that brief update, I shall
now call upon Ms. Shirani Goonetilleke the Legal Director of the Peace
Secretariat of Sri Lanka to place before you the statement by the Hon.
Minister from Disaster Management and Human Rights Mr. Mahinda Samarasinghe.
Thank you."
|
