24 civil society organizations & leaders of 9 of those

Cases

Relevant SG report

From Country

Country Geolocation

Latitude: 7.87305399999999

Longitude: 80.7717969999999

From Region

UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report

Type of rights defended

Was the victim a civil servant, member of the security forces or of the judiciary?: No

Reported trigger of reprisal: having issued a joint civil society memorandum to the Human Rights Council and the international community

Type of attempted engagement

Reprisal information: State-controlled Sri Lanka Rupavahini (TV) Corporation accused 24 civil society organizations of having issued a joint civil society memorandum to the Human Rights Council and the international community, while broadcasting the full names and images of the leaders of nine of those organizations and the names of affiliated civil society organizations. In the same bulletin, the Corporation allegedly also accused the mentioned organizations of having submitted false information to the international community to discredit the country, claimed that their memorandum would damage the peace and reconciliation prevailing in the country among various ethnic groups and regions and stated that it was common among NGOs to exaggerate information about the situation in Sri Lanka in order to receive funding.

Types of reprisals suffered

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

Follow up information provided in SG report 0: 5.My previous report also discussedthe case of 24 Sri Lankan civil society organizations that had reportedly been accused by the State-controlled Sri Lanka Rupavahini (TV) Corporation, in its English news bulletin, of having issued a joint civil society memorandum to the HRC(A/HRC/27/38, para.33). On 24 September 2014, the Government of Sri Lanka, in response to thejoint communication transmitted by mandate holders, stated that the Sri Lanka Rupavahihi Corporation was exercising its freedom of speech and expression within the set legal framework in Sri Lanka, however “unpalatable the contents of the newscast would have been to the said human rights defenders”. If the human rights defenders felt wronged by such newscast they could invoke a civil action for damages under the laws of Sri Lanka for defamation(A/HRC/28/85, case LKA 4/2014)