On Friday 29 July the United High Commissioner for Human Rights came out forcefully about the situation of human rights in Sri Lanka. The immediate reason was that the decomposed body of Human Rights Defender Pattani Razeek (the managing trustee of the Community Trust Fund, a NGO based in Puttalam) was found 17 months after his abduction.
Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) called on the Sri Lankan government to conduct a swift investigation into the abduction and murder. “We hope that investigation and prosecution of this crime will now be expedited, and that there will be similar progress in resolving the many thousands of outstanding cases of disappearance in Sri Lanka,” she said. The UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances currently has 5,653 outstanding cases from Sri Lanka in its records. One of the most notable is the disappearance of Prageeth Eknaligoda, the journalist of the Lanka-e-News website who was known for his antigovernment news and cartoons went missing without a trace just days before the presidential election last year. “We strongly urge the Government of Sri Lanka to expedite investigations and provide information on Mr. Ekneligoda’s whereabouts and fate,” the UN spokesperson added.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 