Visuvalingam Kirupaharan
Cases- Location of case in SG report
- 2014-034-001
- Relevant SG report
- Year of the report
- 2014
- From Country
- Country Geolocation
Latitude: 7.87305399999999
Longitude: 80.7717969999999
- Country Geolocation (linked Cases)
- Sri Lanka
- From Region
- UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report
- UN Special Procedures: Thematic
- Dates of prior UN action
- 27 March 2014
- Type of record
- Named individual
- Gender
- Male
- Was the victim a foreign national?
- No
- Was the victim a minor?
- No
- Individual's/organization's activity
General Secretary of the Tamil Centre for Human Rights
- Type of rights defended
- Unclear in SG Report
- Was the victim a civil servant, member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
- No
- Reported trigger of reprisal
participation in the twenty-fifth session of the Human Rights Council.
- Engagement with UN body
- UN Human Rights Council: UN Human Rights Council - General
- Dates of engagement
- 21 March 2014
- Type of attempted engagement
- Participation in meeting on UN premises
- Dates of mentioned reprisals
- 21 March 2014
- Reprisal information
Journalist, reportedly from the Sri Lankan newspaper Divaina, approached Mr. Kirupaharan, stating that he could not return to Sri Lanka and that he would face consequences if he did so. The journalist allegedly told Mr. Kirupaharan that photographs of him at the Council would be published in newspapers in Sri Lanka.
- Types of reprisals suffered
- Threats/Intimidations (incl. "fear of reprisal")
- Alleged/likely perpetrators
- Unclear
- Was the reprisal based on new legislation?
- No
- Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?
- No
- Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?
- No
- Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?
- No
- Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?
- No
- How many times has the case been followed up in subsequent SG reports?
- 1
- In which SG report was this case followed up on? 0
- 2015
- Follow up information provided in SG report 0
4.In my previous report reference wasmade to Visuvalingam Kirupaharan, General Secretary of the Tamil Centre for Human Rights, in relation to his participation in the twenty-fifth session of the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/27/38, para. 34). The Government, on 24 July 2014, sought clarifications from mandate holders who had brought the allegations of acts of intimidation against Mr. Kirupaharan to its attention, indicating that there was no connection between the alleged sequence of events and the authorities(A/HRC/27/72, case LKA 5/2014).Mandate holders in response transmitted clarifications and their observations on the case to the Government referring to the fact that “States are the primary duty bearers in protecting, defending and promoting human rights, and as such, should address violations of human rights committed by both State and non-State actors”(A/HRC/28/85, case LKA 12/2014). At the time of finalization of the present report,no response had been received from the Government.
- Followup Trends 0
- No substantive information provided by SG report
- Did the government respond? 0
- Yes
- Was this case followed up by a UN body? 0
- UN Special Procedures: Thematic