Sri Lanka: Minority rights defender threatened during 25th Session of the Human Rights Council
Event- Country
- Sri Lanka
- Initial Date
- Mar 21, 2014
- Event Description
Visuvalingam Kirupaharan, General Secretary of the Tamil Centre for Human Rights, was reportedly threatened during the twenty-fifth session of the Human Rights Council. On 21 March 2014, Mr. Kirupaharan participated in a side event on human rights in Sri Lanka, organized by the International Buddhist Foundation. After the event, a journalist, reportedly from the Sri Lankan newspaper Divaina, approached Mr. Kirupaharan, stating that he could not return to Sri Lanka and that he would face consequences if he did so. The journalist allegedly told Mr. Kirupaharan that photographs of him at the Council would be published in newspapers in Sri Lanka. At the time of finalization of this report, no reply had been received from the Government to a joint communication sent on 27 March 2014 by three special procedures mandate holders.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Reprisal as Result of Communication
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Not active
- Event Location
Latitude: 7.034517155654432
Longitude: 79.95941521404092
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 21 March 2014, Mr Visuvalingam Kirupaharan, General Secretary of the Tamil Centre for Human Rights, was threatened during the twenty-fifth session of the Human Rights Council. Mr. Kirupaharan participated in a side event on human rights in Sri Lanka. After the event, a journalist, reportedly from the Sri Lankan newspaper Divaina, approached Mr. Kirupaharan, stating that he could not return to Sri Lanka and that he would face consequences if he did so. The journalist allegedly told Mr. Kirupaharan that photographs of him at the Council would be published in newspapers in Sri Lanka.