Amnesty International, Forum Asia, Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group, and the International Commission of Jurists have released a joint statement calling for the release of human rights activists detained by the Sri Lankan government and urged the international community to “stand up for human rights in Sri Lanka.”

David Griffiths, Amnesty International’s deputy director for Asia Pacific, said,

“The Sri Lankan authorities need to release Fernando and Father Praveen, and end the ongoing state harassment of human rights defenders… How can the international community take Sri Lanka’s claims to respect rights seriously when rights defenders continue to face intimidation and criminal charges for demanding accountability and human rights protection?”

"I note that Ms. Sasitharan in referring in her statements to the council to quote unquote Tamil Eelam, has failed to adhere to agreed language of the United Nations, and is in violation of the constitution of she has pledged to uphold."

The South Asia Director of Human Rights Meenakshi Ganguly has called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to demand the release of detained human rights activists in Sri Lanka in a piece written earlier today.

Extracts from her piece entitled ‘Silencing Sri Lanka’s Rights Advocates’ have been reproduced below. See the full piece here.

“There’s a grim irony in the timing of the arrests that come just as a resolution on Sri Lanka’s failure to address accountability is under discussion and will be voted on soon at the ongoing United Nations Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva. In spite of council resolutions in 2012 and 2013, Sri Lanka has taken no meaningful steps towards ensuring justice for the victims of abuses during its civil war, and has instead launched an aggressive campaign against those Sri Lankans who advocate for accountability. Human rights defenders, activists, journalists, and civil society members who are critical of the government have regularly been threatened and harassed. Those who have an international profile, such as Fernando, face particular government hostility.”

In the aftermath of the Muttur massacre, French aid organisation Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger) has called on the UN Human Rights Council to protect aid workers, in a new campaign launched this week.

The organisation stated that,

“As the United Nations Human Rights Council is gathering for the 25th session until March 28th, ACF International calls to put an end to impunity in Sri Lanka. We ask for a strong resolution allowing an international and independent inquiry into the murder of 17 aid workers in Muttur in 2006.”