Jaffna NGOs threatened to withhold monthly reports

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 April 2007, 10:38 GMT]
Consortium of non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Jaffna, announced Saturday that they will no longer make public the monthly reports to the media as they have been receivng death threats from unknown persons not to publish the reports, civil society sources in Jaffna said. The NGOs monthly reports, regularly released to the media, describe details of human rights violations including killings and abductions, the impact on escalating prices of goods due to shortage and other matters affecting residents' daily life in Jaffna district.

The reports, however, will be made available to the diplomatic community in Colombo monthly, sources said.

The NGO consortium has a membership of more than 47 Jaffna-district-based organizations including several women's NGOs, according to civil society sources.

Informed sources said, the SLA Intelligence Wing and collaborating Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) cadres are behind the death threats issued to the adminstrative officials of the NGO consortium.