SEVERAL ECOSOC NGOs CONDEMN THE ASSASSINATION OF
JOSEPH PARARAJASINGHAM, M. P.
(This is a joint statement supported by the following NGOs who have consultative status at the United Nations ECOSOC: Interfaith International - Switzerland, International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism – IMADR-Japan, International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples – LIDLIP - Switzerland, Liberation- United Kingdom, International Educational Development IED – USA, International Association of Democratic Lawyers – IADL, Switzerland - Raymond Merat, Permanent Representative of the IADL to the UN – 01 February 2006).
We are filled with shock and dismay at the murder of well-known human rights defender Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham MP, during Christmas Eve Mass in St MaryŐs Cathedral, Batticaloa, in the early hours of Christmas Day 2005. We categorically and unequivocally condemn this brutal assassination.
Mr Pararajasingham and his wife had just received Holy Communion from the Bishop when gunmen shot him dead. Eight other people were wounded, including his wife Sugunam, who was critically injured.
Mr Pararajasingham, aged 71, a senior Parliamentarian who had massive popular support and was dearly loved by many, was a superb communicator, dedicated to the cause of peace and justice, fearless in pursuit of these noble goals, despite facing many threats. He was committed to a peaceful negotiated solution to the islandŐs longstanding conflict, and did everything possible within his role, to further durable peace.
Deeply concerned about impunity, Mr Pararajasingham tirelessly documented and brought details of the armed forces human rights violations and contraventions of humanitarian law, to Parliament, in his capacity as Member of Parliament for Batticaloa District. He refused to keep silent about the massacres carried out by the government armed forces in the East of the island. It was his home ground.
Given the lack of redress for victims, the interminable delays of court cases and the intransigence of a judicial system which has an inherent bias against Tamils, he felt it appropriate to raise awareness of Sri LankaŐs violations in international human rights fora. He was an Executive Member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Mr Pararajasingham accompanied several international dignitaries on visits to the NorthEast of the island.
Articulate in English Mr Pararajasingham was clearly a challenge to those who seek to cover the truth and pull the wool over the eyes of the international community.
St MaryŐs Cathedral is in a Sri Lanka army High Security zone and police were outside. So-called unknown gunmen collaborate closely with the Sri Lanka armed forces, operating in many places in the East, despite the fact that this is a serious violation of article 1.8 of the Ceasefire Agreement, wherein it is stated that the paramilitaries must be disarmed and relocated to areas outside the NorthEast.
As ECOSOC accredited NGOs we have consistently brought before the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, and other international human rights fora our deep concerns about the arbitrary arrests, torture and rape, disappearances and extra-judicial killings of Tamils by Sri Lanka armed forces.
The eminent lawyer and Human Rights Defender who also brought these urgent concerns to international human rights fora, Mr Kumar Ponnambalam, was assassinated allegedly by members of the Presidential Security Division, at the wheel of his car, in Colombo on January 5th 2000 in broad daylight. Former parliamentarian Chandra Neru and journalists Mylvaganam Nirmalarajan, Aiyathurai Nadesan and Dharmaretnam Sivaram were all senior persons who could communicate effectively to the world outside Sri Lanka, what is happening there. These courageous people and many others were killed in the same style.
None of these killings have been properly investigated yet nor have the culprits been brought to justice by the government of Sri Lanka. The killing of Human rights defenders continues with impunity in Sri Lanka.
We urge other international organisations committed to the protection of inalienable, indivisible and universal human rights, to condemn the assassination Mr Joseph Pararajasingham MP and to urge the Sri Lankan government to hold an immediate independent inquiry into this assassination to bring the culprits to justice.
(1) Interfaith International, Switzerland,
(2) International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism – IMADR, Japan
(3) International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples – LIDLIP, Switzerland
(4) Liberation- United Kingdom
(5) International Educational Development IED, USA,
(6) International Association of Democratic Lawyers – IADL, Switzerland (Raymond Merat, Permanent Representative of the IADL to the UN)