(MENAFN- Colombo Gazette)
International human rights groups have extended support to Sri Lankan human rights lawyer Ambika Satkunanathan after the Foreign Ministry issued a statement critical of her.
The eight human rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said that the Sri Lankan Government's statement issued after Satkunanathan spoke before the European Parliament about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, amounts to harassment and intimidation.
“The Government statement clearly constitutes an act of harassment and intimidation. We condemn the Sri Lankan government's tactics to intimidate human rights defenders, and express our full solidarity with Ms. Satkunanathan, a well-known, respected, and courageous human rights defender. Targeting her for providing accurate testimony about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka to the European Parliament is completely unacceptable, and sends a chilling message to all Sri Lankan civil society, especially those in the north and east, who are already operating under considerable duress under the current administration,” the joint statement issued by the eight human rights groups said.
Amnesty International, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), FIDH, Front Line Defenders, Human Rights Watch, International Commission of Jurists, International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) and World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) signed the joint statement.
“Sri Lanka's international partners, including the European Union, should publicly condemn the Sri Lankan government's statement and express solidarity with Ms. Satkunanathan, who has been targeted for her international engagement, and increase their efforts to engage with Sri Lankan civil society at large,” the joint statement said.
The human rights groups said that the Foreign Ministry's statement contains numerous false claims in an attempt to disparage and delegitimize a distinguished human rights advocate, placing her at risk of physical danger in retribution for her brave work.
“The government's claim that her testimony was“reminiscent of LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] propaganda that once stoked hatred among communities,” and that“such allegations need to be refuted in the interest of social harmony” is particularly insidious and dangerous,” the international human rights groups said.
They said the government's statement mirrors its repeated practice of falsely equating human rights defenders and human rights advocacy with those pursuing“terrorism.” The statement's language aligns these baseless allegations with vague and frequently abused provisions under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), exposing Ms. Satkunanathan to a heightened risk of threats, attacks, and persecution.
Ms. Satkunanathan was a commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka before that body's independence was compromised under the current administration and led the first national study on Sri Lanka's prisons. Prior to that, she was for many years a legal consultant to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She is the author of an important recent report on abuses committed during the so-called“war on drugs.” (Colombo Gazette)
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