Norwegian HR activist visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 August 2003, 14:35 GMT]
The Jaffna District Humanitarian Agencies Consortium (JDHAC) Friday told a visiting Norwegian human rights activist, Mr.Bernt Gelbrandsen, at the JDHCA office in Jaffna town, that the Sri Lankan government has failed to implement the terms of the ceasefire agreement signed by it with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam seventeen months ago last year, civil sources said.

The JDHAC representatives told Mr. Gelbrandsen that government security forces stationed in the Jaffna district are not showing any interest in safeguarding the humanitarian rights of civilians even after the MoU was signed, sources said.

”The Sri Lankan government troops still occupy lands and houses belonging to thousands of civilians in the name of high security zones, forcing the internally displaced to languish in refugee camps and welfare centres without an end to their suffering,” the JDHAC representatives told the visiting Norwegian activist, sources said.

Mr. Gelbrandsen earlier held discussions with the Jaffna regional co-ordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Mr.Ruwan Chandrasekara, at the HRC office and obtained information the HSZ issue and the assistance provided by the Sri Lanka security forces and the LTTE in safeguarding human rights in the Jaffna district, sources said.