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| Sunday, 7 April 2002 |
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Dr. Jayalath takes President before UN rights body Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees Minister Jayalath Jayawardene is proceeding with a plaint against President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to the UN Human Rights Committee. The plaint charges the President with making false accusations against Dr. Jayawardene while he was an Opposition parliamentarian and thereby exposing him and his family to political harassment and death threats. The Minister originally lodged a complaint with the Geneva based UN Committee in February 2000. He had complained that the President, in various speeches, had accused him of secret dealings with LTTE and being the link between the UNP and the LTTE. In his plaint, a copy of which was released to the media, Dr. Jayawardene states that "The President started making these allegations against me since 1998" and that the Government-controlled media gave "very wide publicity" to these allegations in order to "condition the public opinion against me." "Following her speech, several Government Ministers and MPs too tried to provoke extremist groups against me", the plaint further stated. Dr. Jayawardene had received many death threats and harassment. Dr. Jayawardene has sought redress under the Optional Protocol of the UN's International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) under which the UN Human Rights Committee is empowered to investigate human rights violations and require governments concerned to take action to redress the grievance. Dr. Jayawardene has argued that since the President's constitutional immunity from legal action blocks his recourse to the law within Sri Lanka, he has filed a plaint with the UN Committee. In a communication to the UN-HRC on Thursday, Dr. Jayawardene has asked the committee to proceed with his case |
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