Front Line is gravely concerned following the killing of human rights defender Rev. Fr. M X Karunaratnam, Chairperson of the NorthEast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), in Vanni on 20 April 2008. NESoHR is a local, independent human rights monitoring body in the North East of Sri Lanka.

Further Information

Posted 20/05/2008 On 20 April 2008, at approximately 12:30pm, Rev. Fr. M X Karunaratnam was killed in a claymore anti-personel mine attack on Mallaavi-Vavunikku'lam Road in Vanni. Rev. Fr. M X Karunaratnam used the road regularly to get to his residential prayer and counselling centre in Vavunikku'lam. His vehicle was known publicly.

On this occasion he was on his way to a remembrance event for Mr Sivanesan, an MP for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), who was reportedly also killed in a claymore anti-personel mine attack on 6 March 2008. Rev. Fr. M X Karunaratnam's car had broken down and he was steering it whilst being towed. The car which was towing him was not targeted.

Some reports have claimed that the Deep Penetration Unit of the Sri Lankan army was responsible for these killings. Front Line is calling for an immediate, exhaustive, and impartial investigation into the killing of Rev. Fr. M X Karunaratnam.

In a recent report Rev. Fr. M X Karunaratnam called for a United Nations body to be established to monitor human rights violations in Sri Lanka. He added that Sri Lanka's human rights record was totally unacceptable and that there had been many adverse reports on human rights violations against Tamils.

Other members of the NESoHR have reportedly been targetted previously. Founder members and TNA MPs A. Chandra Nehru and Joseph Pararajasingam were killed in 2005. Another founding member of the NESoHR was forced to go into exile.

As Chairperson of the NESoHR, Rev. Fr. M X Karunaratnam worked on strengthening the human rights protection mechanisms in the North East of Sri Lanka. He also played a key role in providing psychological support to those in the North East who had been affected by the war and by the tsunami disaster in December 2004.

Front Line believes that Rev. Fr. Karunaratnam was targeted because of his legitimate work as a human rights defender, in particular for raising awareness of human rights violations against Tamil people in Sri Lanka. Front Line is concerned that this attack may represent an ongoing trend of targetting human rights defenders in Sri Lanka.