Human Rights Sub Committee formed in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 February 2003, 16:36 GMT]
In a conference organized by the Jaffna regional office of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) held at the Jaffna office of the UNHCR, Sunday, representatives of UNHCR, UNICEF and HRC appointed a sub committee to ensure better human rights situation in the Jaffna peninsula, sources said.

The purpose of the conference was to find ways to avoid clashes similar to that had taken place at Nelliady last December when hundreds of civilian picketers were assaulted and sustained injuries.

The police was also blamed for the assault and also for not providing prompt medical treatment to the injured civilians. In that incident civilians picketed in front of the office of the para military Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) demanding them to vacate from the peninsula, sources said.

Mr.Ruwan Chandrasekara, Regional Co-ordinator of the HRC in Jaffna, Mr. K.Johnsen of UNHCR and Mr.S.Chilin of UNICEF in Jaffna attended the discussion. Representatives of Police for each division in Jaffna district also attended, sources said.

Representatives of UNICEF and UNHCR have also been included in the sub-committee, sources said.