The Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Having before it the case of Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena, Mr. Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Mr. Selvarajah Kajendren, Mr. Senathirajah Jeyanandamoorthy, Mr. Sivanathan Kisshor, Mr. Thanmanpillai Kanagasabai, Mr. Kanagasabai Pathmanathan, Ms. Thangeswary Kathiraman, Mr. Packiyasealvam Ariyanethran and Mr. Chandrakanth Chandranehru, incumbent members of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, which has been the subject of a study and report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians following the Procedure for the treatment by the Inter-Parliamentary Union of communications concerning violations of the human rights of members of parliament,

Taking note of the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, which contains a detailed outline of the case (CL/180/12(b)-R.1),

Noting that with the exception of Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena, who is a member of the opposition United National Party (UNP), all the other members of parliament concerned belong to the Tamil National Alliance, and that they were the targets of death threats, attempts on their lives or attacks on their homes,

Considering the following evidence on file:

(a) Mr. Kisshor:

• on 29 October 2006, Mr. Kisshor's private residence was attacked with five hand-grenades at about 10 p.m.; Mr. Kisshor, his wife and children were at the residence at the time of the attack but were not hurt; one police officer providing security for the member of parliament was wounded; the residence is reportedly situated close to an Air Force camp and between two checkpoints, which, according to the authorities, are located around 75m from his house; at the time of the attack, four police officers were on duty at the front of the house and three at the rear; according to the authorities, all evidence recovered was forwarded to the competent authorities, and statements were taken from the police officers on duty; however, the officers on duty at the checkpoints had not seen the grenades being thrown; Mr. Kisshor suspected members of a rival Tamil political party (PLOTE) to be behind the attack, but no evidence was recovered even though a PLOTE camp was searched after the attack; the matter is pending before the Magistrates Court, Vavuniya (No. B/1319/2006) and investigations are continuing; Mr. Kisshor's security detail, which at the time of the attack comprised 17 police personnel, has been increased,

• received death threats over the telephone on 19 November 2006 between 8.00 and 8.30 p.m.; the person who spoke to each of them reportedly introduced himself as Gunanan of the Tamil Eela Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) Batticaloa Office and warned them that if they did not resign by 27 November 2006, they would all receive the "Maamanithar" (Great Human Being) award posthumously since they would all be killed; the caller reportedly stated that this was the order of their leader; the parliamentarians concerned raised the matter with the Speaker in a letter they addressed to him on 21 November 2006, requesting him to take the necessary steps to enable them to carry out their parliamentary duties in safety;

• in addition to the above-mentioned death threat, Mr. Jayanandamoorthy has reportedly received a steady stream of threats since his election and is being intimidated via telephone and fax by the Karuna group, a Tamil paramilitary group which, according to the source, works closely with Sri Lanka's military and intelligence services; moreover, shortly after his election, he reportedly escaped an attempt to kidnap him; his house was attacked on 21 July 2006 at 9.50 p.m., while he was at home with his wife and two children; police investigations revealed that two rocket-propelled grenades had been thrown into the premises; no one was hurt but the house was badly damaged; according to the source Mr. Jayanandamoorthy's house is located near the "Newbridge" military checkpoint, which the culprits must have passed; according to the authorities, there are only two police posts, located about 700 to 900m away from his house, but no military checkpoint; furthermore, there are many byroads to Mr. Jayanandamoorthy's residence which the attackers could have used; Mr. Jayanandamoorthy lodged a complaint with the army and the police; an investigation was instituted which, according to the authorities, is pending before the Magistrate's Court, Batticaloa (No. B/717/06) and the case was to be called again on 12 February 2007; moreover, on 8 August 2006, Mr. Jayanandamoorthy also lodged a complaint in Parliament and made a speech; according to the authorities, Mr. Jayanandamoorthy has a security detail of eight police officers,

• on 2 May 2006, two individuals entered Mr. Ponnambalam's private residence in Jaffna, and threatened a housemaid with a firearm while questioning her about Mr. Ponnambalam's whereabouts and that of members of his staff; the individuals then searched the premises and, before leaving, threatened to kill the housemaid if she informed the authorities of the incident; Mr. Ponnambalam, who is a member of TNA, informed the President of the Republic of the incident, which was not the first of its kind, and requested that it be investigated,

• at midnight on 13 May 2006, Sri Lankan Army (SLA) personnel reportedly entered the International Students Association of Tamileelam (ISATE) complex at Paremeshwara junction in Jaffna, where Mr. Kajendren's office is located, and set it on fire; the SLA personnel carrying out the attack were reportedly guarded by hundreds of other SLA personnel who had surrounded the office; when the army began to break down the main door of his office, three of Mr. Kajendren's assistants staying there at the time managed to escape through the back door; two of them, Ms. Manikavasagar Kones and Mr. Kirisnapillai Prathipan, later gave evidence before the Jaffna District Court; soldiers attached to the Thirunelvely army camp reportedly inquired about them from some students and said they would both be killed; Mr. Prathipan was indeed shot dead on 16 August 2006, reportedly by the army in revenge for giving evidence; the source therefore fears that the life of the second witness, Ms. Kones, is also in danger; however, according to the authorities, there is no record of any evidence being given by Ms. M. Kones and Mr. K. Prathipan in the "B" Report (192/06) of the Jaffna Magistrate's Court, before which the case is pending; furthermore, the Jaffna police received no report of the killing of Mr. Prathipan on 16 August 2006 and threats to the life of Ms. Kones;

• The May 2006 attack was reportedly the fifth attack on Mr. Kajendren's office; on 26 April 2006, the SLA not only set his office on fire but also beat four students who were there and badly injured one of Mr. Kajendren's assistants, Mr. Prathipan as it happened, who was admitted to hospital; moreover, the SLA told the students that they would not allow Mr. Kajendren to come back to Jaffna alive; the police have reportedly taken no action; according to the authorities, the Jaffna Police have received no complaints about the burning, by the SRLA, of Mr. Kajendren's office on 26 April 2006 and threats to his life by the SRLA;

• During the attack of 13 May 2006, property reportedly worth six and a half million rupees was destroyed, as were official records and documents; the high toll of destroyed property is due to the fact that the ISATE had closed its office in the face of the threats made against it and transferred all valuable property to Mr. Kajendren's office, hoping that his status as a member of parliament would afford him some protection; however, according to the authorities, the police are unable to give an exact estimate of the loss, but doubt the figure given by Mr. Kajendren;

• Dr. Jayawardena has long been subjected to death threats, more recently by the so-called Karuna group; in early December 2006, a Singhalese language website portrayed Dr. Jayawardena as a traitor to the Sinhala community who would soon be killed; more recently, the State-owned ITN television refused to broadcast Dr. Jayawardena's response to accusations by the Minister of Agriculture broadcast by ITN in which he had been depicted as a sympathizer of the LTTE; the authorities have provided Dr. Jayawardena with additional security but turned down his request for a back-up vehicle, stating that he faced no particular security threat; however, there are intelligence reports that he does face a particular security threat and which recommended that he be provided with adequate security, and yet additional security personnel cannot accompany Dr. Jayawardena when he travels; the matter was raised as a privilege issue in Parliament, and Dr. Jayawardena has lodged an application in the Court of Appeal under Article 140 of the Constitution, requesting it to direct the police authorities to provide him with the requested back-up vehicle and radio equipment; in July 2006, he filed a second application seeking redress against a government order and subsequent court action to have him evicted from his official residence,

Bearing in mind that Sri Lanka is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and is therefore bound to respect the right to life and to security guaranteed in Articles 6 and 9, respectively,

1. Is alarmed at the death threats and attacks perpetrated against these members of parliament, most of whom belong to the TNA or are perceived or portrayed as being sympathetic to the Tamil community;

2. Notes that, while investigations are pending in some cases, they have remained without result so far; insists that the number and magnitude of these threats and attacks require robust and diligent investigations, particularly since other TNA members have already been assassinated, and urges the authorities to conduct, in accordance with their duty, effective investigations into all complaints and reports of attacks and death threats targeting the parliamentarians concerned, and wishes to be kept informed in this respect;

3. Urges the authorities to provide all parliamentarians concerned with adequate protection forthwith; recalls nevertheless that protection measures are bound to fail in the long term if the judicial system fails in its duty to ensure the rule of law and respect for human rights;

4. Unequivocally affirms that impunity only encourages the repetition of crime and undermines the rule of law and respect for human rights, considers impunity to be all the more grave if the perpetrators are members of the security forces, whose duty it is to protect the life of others, and affirms therefore that any allegation of involvement of security forces in human rights violations must be investigated as a matter of priority since such behaviour, if unpunished, poses a grave threat to the exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental liberties and, hence, to democracy and peace;

5. Notes with deep concern that there is a clear pattern of grave harassment of members of parliament belonging to the TNA, which not only prevents them from carrying out their parliamentary mandate effectively, and thus deprives their electors of representation in parliament, but also puts their lives at constant risk;

6. Firmly believes that this should be a matter of deep concern to the parliamentary authorities, as Parliament can only fulfil its constitutional role to the extent that all its members are able to exercise their mandate without harassment and fear for their lives and security, and therefore calls on the Speaker to take action to ensure that the parliamentarians concerned can indeed freely exercise their parliamentary mandate;

7. Wishes (i) to receive clarification as to the kind of intelligence report required for Dr. Jayawardena to receive the security he has requested, given that both the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Directorate of Internal Intelligence (DII) concluded that he was under threat and should be provided with appropriate security, and (ii) to ascertain whether any action or decision has been taken by the Privileges Committee to which Dr. Jayawardena's security situation was referred over one year ago;

8. Hopes that, given the urgency of the matters under consideration, the Appeal Court will rule shortly on Dr. Jayawardena's applications under Article 140 of the Constitution, since without such a ruling this redress may become inoperative;

9. Requests the Secretary General to inform the authorities and the sources of information accordingly;

10. Requests the Committee to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session, to be held on the occasion of the 117th Assembly (October 2007).

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