The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) is greatly concerned with the arrest and detention of Balendra Jeyakumari, active campaigner against enforced disappearances in the northern Kilinochi district of Sri Lanka yesterday. AFAD also calls on probation officials who are holding her daughter to ensure her safety.

Based on media reports initially gathered, Ms.Jeyakumari was arrested after being held in her house for hours on the grounds of hiding a criminal hunted by the police. Her case is said to be covered in the country’s tough anti-terrorism law. However, her background as active campaigner in the search for disappeared relatives especially her missing 15 year-old son gives us reason to doubt the authenticity of the police case against her. Ms. Jeyakumari and her daughter, based on media accounts, have been in the forefront of protests demanding truth from government on the details of their relatives who disappeared during and immediately after the war. In fact, during the visit of British Prime Minister David Cameron in the North of Sri Lanka last year, she and her daughter were prominently captured in media reports as part of those leaders mobilizing the relatives.

Further, government has much reason to silence Ms. Jeyakumari because her 15 year-old son, who was said to be conscripted as Tamil soldier disappeared after she surrendered her to the military after the war. Yet, a government book on rehabilitation of rebel soldiers shows a picture of her son but authorities denied her his son’s whereabouts. Many other families of disappeared victims in the former war zone have been reported silenced after being arrested for false charges.

AFAD also believes that the arrest of Ms. Jeyakumari is meant to intimidate and weaken the campaign of active members of families of the disappeared to search for truth and justice for their missing loved ones. To recall, in early December of 2012, two elderly mothers of the disappeared who joined AFAD’s solidarity event in Colombo were also arrested together with a staff of a human rights NGO. The police was not happy that a video criticizing President Rajapaksa for reneging on his promise to help the families of the disappeared in their search for truth and justice and they wanted the video surrendered. The arrest was averted with the timely intervention of human rights activists present in the activity.

As the international community celebrates women’s human rights, AFAD reminds the military and justice officials responsible for the handling of the case against Ms. Jeyakumari that they have an obligation to ensure that she and her daughter are protected from possible sexual assaults while in custody. Finally, AFAD calls on the Rajapaksa government to stop intimidating human rights defenders especially families of the disappeared and confront the issue of disappearance through a thorough investigation and by instituting legal mechanisms to resolve the problem.

Signed and authenticated by:

MUGIYANTO
Chairperson

MARY AILEEN D. BACALSO
Secretary-General