Swiss embassy First Secretary visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 16:04 GMT]
First Secretary of the Swiss Embassy in Sri Lanka, Fiona Corrigan, arrived Sunday on a two day visit to Jaffna to participate in events related to the projects of the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) in Jaffna peninsula, sources in Jaffna said. The delay by the Defence Ministry in handling the Ambassador’s request for permission to visit Jaffna was said to be reason why the Ambassador was unable to attend the events, the sources said. The First Secretary will be visiting the various projects the Swiss Development Corporation in the peninsula, and is expected to stay in Jaffna until Tuesday.

Ms. Corrigan visited Jaffna Secretariat where she met the Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh and the Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office, Monday.

The visiting Swiss envoy has requested Defence Ministry’s permission to visit Jaffna Prison where persons who had sought protection to their lives are placed in protective custody and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Rehabilitation Camp in Thellippazhai on Tuesday.

Ms. Corrigan during his visit to Jaffna Secretariat had also asked for detailed reports of the human rights violations like arrests, abductions, killings, forced disappearances and SLA restrictions besides the price lists of essential food items which had risen markedly, Secretariat officials said.

Jaffna HRC sources said that during the meeting with the HRC Coordinating Officer Ms.Corrigan was eager to learn first hand of the human rights violations of which the office had received complaints from the public.

A team from the Swiss Embassy in Sri Lanka visited Jaffna prior to Ms. Corrigan’s visit to supervise the projects of the SDC in Jaffna peninsula.