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SRI LANKA: Another forced disappearance in Jaffna

September 19, 2006

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal

19 September 2006
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UA-310-2006: SRI LANKA: Another forced disappearance in Jaffna

SRI LANKA: Forced disappearance; violation of right to life; un-rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is deeply concerned by another forced disappearance in the ongoing conflict on the Jaffna peninsula, Sri Lanka. A Tamil ethnic, Mr. Irajeevan Sathiyavagaswaran (aged 32), a computer technician in a government department, has been missing since 11 September 2006 after being abducted by a group of armed men from his house in Sir Pon Ramanathan Veethy, Thirunelweli, Jaffna, Sri Lanka. The victim's family believes that the government's security forces are responsible for his disappearance. Despite the family's efforts, they have failed to locate the victim. Meanwhile, the local authorities have not shown any serious interest in this case. 

At around 12:15am on 11 September 2006, 15 men fully equipped with heavy weapons came to Mr. Irajeevan Sathiyavagaswaran's house at #171, Sir Pon Ramanathan Veethy, Thirunelweli, Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Irajeevan's family members got out of bed up upon hearing loud barking of their two dogs. The armed men then broke open the main door and forcefully entered the house. Irajeevan's family thought they were thieves and told them to take away all that they wanted and leave them unharmed. The gunmen wore black trousers and shirts while others wore shorts and T-shirts.

The police curfew was in effect at the time of the incident and electricity was only provided until 11:00pm.  This has been the situation in Jaffna since September 3. The family members had only two kerosene lamps but the gunmen had a very powerful torch with them. They could not identify the faces of the gunmen as the powerful torch was flashed in their faces. The gunmen then thoroughly checked the house while the family members were standing along the corridor.

After that, the gunmen came out of the rooms and threatened the family members at gun point. They told the family that they would wipe them all out if they shouted and began to question the adults one by one. According to the family, the gunmen spoke clumsy Tamil but fluent Sinhala. They then suddenly grabbed Irajeevan and dragged him away. Irajeevan's mother hugged him strongly and begged them not to take his son but the gunmen hit her on the head with a weapon and she fainted immediately, bleeding from her wound. Irajeevan's sister and wife were also injured while attempting to stop them.

According to the family, Irajeevan fell down as the gunman struck him on the chest with the gun. They then dragged him nearly 50 meters by his leg. Their vehicles were parked 45 meters away from the main gate along the roadside. The men broke the pad lock at the gate and dragged Irajeevan towards the vehicles. When his wife and family members rushed to the main gate, the gunmen threatened them and also said Irajeevan would be killed if they followed them. The gunmen then left the place with Irajeevan in a van and on two motorbikes. His present whereabouts are unknown. 

Irajeevan Rathika, the victim's wife and a programme officer of the World Food Programme (WFP), immediately lodged a complaint about her husband's abduction with the police at Kopy (Reference No. GCIB 281/ 44) and with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (Reference No. 06/HRC/J/MP/06) on September 11. However, all efforts to locate her husband were in vain. In the meantime, the local authorities have not taken any serious action to investigate the incident and locate the victim. She says that her husband is a good man and is not involved in any political groups or activities. 

Irajeevan's family suspects that he was abducted by the government security forces, as the incident took place while curfew was in effect. Irajeevan's house is fully secured by the sentry point of the government security forces. The family says that on the house's east side, a sentry point of the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) is located 75 meters away from the house and another sentry is posted in the south of the house at Parameshwara Junction. The two sentry points are only 100 meters apart. Beside this, from the house's west direction, another sentry point of the SLA is located around 250 meters away. The family insists that it is impossible for the gunmen's motorbikes and van to escape without being noticed by the SLA. Strangely, despite cries for help from the family for hours, the security forces posted nearby did not come to find out the cause of the commotion and had not even appeared by the next morning. 

ADDITIONAL COMMNETS:

In fact, this is yet another case of alleged forced disappearances in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. The AHRC has reported on September 14 regarding the alleged disappearance of three young men from their home by Navy officers (See further: UA-305-2006) and on August 30 regarding the disappearance of Fr. Thiruchchelvan Nihal Jim Brown (34) and Mr. Wenceslaus Vinces Vimalathas, who were last seen at a military checkpoint situated at the entrance to Allaipiddy in Jaffna peninsula, Sri Lanka (See further: UA-280-2006). The whereabouts of those people are unknown.

In recent months, the number of forced disappearances and extra-judicial killings is increasing since the ongoing conflict between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) intensified. Under the situation a police curfew is in effect in the Jaffna area. The official broadcasting cooperation of the Secretariat for Defence Headquarters at Palaly, Jaffna called "Jarl FM" announced that the curfew will be enforced very strictly. However, people allege that it is during this period that the white van abduction and extra judicial killings take place. In Sri Lanka a white van without a number plate is a symbol of terror and the disappearances that occurred in all parts of the country in the South during the last few years of the 1980s. During this time, armed men, travelling in white vans without number plates abducted thousands of people who were never seen again (Relevant report is available at: www.disappearances.org). Now such vans have reappeared and do so frequently in the Jaffna peninsular. The people in Jafna peninsula are terrified by those in the white vans that are called a "fifth force" by the people along with the police, army, navy and air force. A report from one family states "the fear of the white van in the day and especially in the night is killing everyone in the peninsular."

To see further details of those disappearances and crisis in Jaffna, please go to:

1. AHRC statement: SRI LANKA: White vans without number plates; the symbol of disappearances reappear: http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2006statements/729/ 
2. AHRC forwarded statement: SRI LANKA: The Wider Implications of the Human Rights and Humanitarian Crisis in Jaffna: http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2006statements/730/ 

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the relevant Sri Lankan authorities listed below and urge them to take immediate action to locate the victim and ensure his safe return to home. Please also demand the Sri Lankan government to take strong steps to stop forced disappearances and extra-judicial killings in Jaffna.

To support this appeal, please click:

Sample letter:

SRI LANKA: Another forced disappearance in Jaffna

Name of the victim: Mr. Irajeevan Sathiyavagaswaran; Tamil ethnic; date of birth: May 5, 1974; National Identity Card No. 741403706V; the computer technician by occupation
Address of the victim: 171, Sir Pon Ramanathan Veethy, Thirunelweli, Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Time and place of enforced disappearance: Around 12:15am on 11 September 2006 at the victim's house

I would like to express my deep concern about another forced disappearance in the ongoing conflict Jaffna peninsula, Sri Lanka.

According to the information I have received, a Tamil ethnic Mr. Irajeevan Sathiyavagaswaran (32) has been missing since 11 September 2006 after being abducted by around 15 armed men from his house in Sir Pon Ramanathan Veethy, Thirunelweli, Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Some gunmen wearing black trousers and shirts, others in shorts and T-shirts came in a van and on two motorbikes.

I am also informed that the government's security forces are suspected to be responsible for the victim's disappearance. There are some reasons to support this suspicion. First, the incident took place at midnight while police curfew was in effect. Second, the victim's house is fully secured by the sentry point of the government security forces and it was impossible for the gunmen's motorbikes and van to escape without being noticed by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA). A sentry point of the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) is located 75 meters away from the east side of the victim's house and another sentry is posted in the south of the house at Parameshwara Junction. The two sentry points are only 100 meters off each other. Beside this, another sentry point of the SLA is located around 250 meters away from the west side of the victim's house. The family said that despite cries for help from the family for hours, the security forces posting nearby did not come to the house to find out what the commotion was and had not even appeared by the next morning. 

Irajeevan Rathika, the victim's wife, immediately lodged a complaint about her husband's abduction with the police at Kopy (Reference No. GCIB 281/ 44) and with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (Reference No. 06/HRC/J/MP/06) on the same day. However, the local authorities have not shown any interest in the incident. According to the family and the local people, the victim is a good man and not involved in any political groups or activities. 

In fact, this is not the first case of forced disappearances from Jaffna area that I have learned about. I was previously informed about an alleged disappearance of three young men by Navy officers in Jaffna town on August 19 and of Fr. Thiruchchelvan Nihal Jim Brown and Mr. Wenceslaus Vinces Vimalathas at a Navy checkpoint situated at the entrance to Allaipiddy on August 20. Whereabouts of those people are unknown till date. It seems to me that the number of forced disappearances and extra-judicial killings is increasing in recent months, since the ongoing conflict between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) intensified. I am afraid that if the Sri Lankan government does not take strong action to stop such violence immediately, mass disappearances will occur again as they did in the late 1980s.

In light of the above, I strongly urge you to take immediate action to locate the whereabouts of the victim and ensure his safe return to his family. I also urge you to order prompt and thorough inquiries into this incident. If the security forces are proven to be responsible for his abduction, strict legal/disciplinary action must taken against those responsible. I further urge the Sri Lankan government to investigate all alleged disappearances and extra-judicial killings in the Jaffna peninsula and take strong action to stop such violence immediately.

Yours truly,


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SEND YOUR LETTER TO:

1. Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse
President
Socialist Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka
C/- Office of the President
Temple Trees
150, Galle Road
Colombo 3
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2472100 / +94 11 2446657
Email: secretary@presidentsoffice.lk

2. Mr. Ratnasiri Wickremanayake
Prime Minister
Temple Trees
Galle Road, Colombo 03
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 575317-8 or 370 737-8
Fax: +94 11 2 575454

3. Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa
Minister
Ministry of Defence, Public Security, Law and Order
15/5, Baladaksha Mawatha,
Colombo 03,
Sri Lanka.
Tel: 94-11 2 430860-9, 430878-9 or 435879 (for the secretary)
Fax: 94 11 2 446300 or 421529
E-mail: secdef@sltnet.lk

4. Mr. Mahinda Samarasinghe, MP
Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights
Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights
383,Bauddhaloka Mawatha
Colombo 07
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 390895, 384116

5. Mr. K. C. Kamalasabesan
Attorney General
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436421
Email: attorney@sri.lanka.net

6. Mr. Chandra Fernando
Inspector General of Police
New Secretariat
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440/327877
Email: chandralaw@police.lk

7. Secretary
Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka
No. 36, Kynsey Road
Colombo 8
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 694 925 / 673 806
Fax: +94 11 2 694 924 / 696 470
E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk


Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-310-2006
Countries :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.