The Sri Lanka Red Cross today strongly condemned the murder of two of its volunteer aid workers by unidentified gunmen and called on the government to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation.
“The Sri Lanka Red Cross Society vehemently condemns the brutal killing of two volunteers by an unknown party after they were abducted on 1 June 2007,” SLRC Chairman Jagath Abeysinghe said in a statement.
“The Sri Lanka Red Cross society, as a partner in the International Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, demands justice, calls on the Sri Lanka authorities to carry out an immediate and comprehensive investigation into these brutal killings and demands that those responsible be brought to justice,” he said.
The government said today that President Mahinda Rajapakse had directed a special police team to investigate the murders of S. Shanmungaligam, 32, and K. Chandramohan, 27, both from the minority Tamil community, whose bodies were found on 2 June with gunshot wounds in Kiriella near the central town of Ratnapura.
The two aid workers were at the main railway station in Colombo on the evening of 1 June when their identities were checked by men who claimed to be plainclothes police, who then took them away “for questioning”.
They were part of a group of six SLRC volunteers who had come from the eastern town of Batticaloa for a training programme related to tsunami relief work last week and were on their way home when they were accosted and the two employees driven away in a van.
Four other colleagues who had been with them had immediately lodged a complaint with the police. A spokesman for the SLRC said there was no indication why the two men were singled out from the group.
Describing the killings as a “dastardly act”, Abeysinghe said both the Inspector General of Police and the Ministry of Defence had been informed of the abduction soon after it had taken place.
He said the murders would have a serious impact on the organization’s activities, depending as it does on volunteer workers to deliver many of its emergency and recovery programmes in the war-torn areas of the north and east.
“Major impact”
“This act will have major impact on the volunteers of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society as well as on the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement which is the largest humanitarian organization in the world, whose mission is to alleviate human suffering,” Abeysinghe said. “We believe that this act will jeopardize the commitment of our volunteers and have a major impact on our accessibility in terms of delivering humanitarian assistance to the vulnerable.”
The Red Cross said it would be suspending all its recovery activities in the restive Batticaloa District till the funerals of the slain workers are held on 6 June, but would carry out emergency work if a crisis arose.
The killings come 10 months after the murders of 17 Sri Lankan Tamil employees of Action contre la Faim in the eastern town of Muttur. Their deaths are being investigated by a special presidential commission whose work is overseen by an international group of eminent persons.
Last week, a group of 14 bilateral aid donors, including the USA, the European Union, Japan and the UN, made a strong appeal to the government for increased security for staff of agencies delivering humanitarian aid to people affected by the recent surge in fighting between government troops and Tamil Tiger separatists in the north and east.
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“The Sri Lanka Red Cross Society vehemently condemns the brutal killing of two volunteers by an unknown party after they were abducted on 1 June 2007,” SLRC Chairman Jagath Abeysinghe said in a statement.
“The Sri Lanka Red Cross society, as a partner in the International Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, demands justice, calls on the Sri Lanka authorities to carry out an immediate and comprehensive investigation into these brutal killings and demands that those responsible be brought to justice,” he said.
The government said today that President Mahinda Rajapakse had directed a special police team to investigate the murders of S. Shanmungaligam, 32, and K. Chandramohan, 27, both from the minority Tamil community, whose bodies were found on 2 June with gunshot wounds in Kiriella near the central town of Ratnapura.
The two aid workers were at the main railway station in Colombo on the evening of 1 June when their identities were checked by men who claimed to be plainclothes police, who then took them away “for questioning”.
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They were part of a group of six SLRC volunteers who had come from the eastern town of Batticaloa for a training programme related to tsunami relief work last week and were on their way home when they were accosted and the two employees driven away in a van.
Four other colleagues who had been with them had immediately lodged a complaint with the police. A spokesman for the SLRC said there was no indication why the two men were singled out from the group.
Describing the killings as a “dastardly act”, Abeysinghe said both the Inspector General of Police and the Ministry of Defence had been informed of the abduction soon after it had taken place.
He said the murders would have a serious impact on the organization’s activities, depending as it does on volunteer workers to deliver many of its emergency and recovery programmes in the war-torn areas of the north and east.
“Major impact”
“This act will have major impact on the volunteers of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society as well as on the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement which is the largest humanitarian organization in the world, whose mission is to alleviate human suffering,” Abeysinghe said. “We believe that this act will jeopardize the commitment of our volunteers and have a major impact on our accessibility in terms of delivering humanitarian assistance to the vulnerable.”
 We believe that this act will jeopardize the commitment of our volunteers and have a major impact on our accessibility in terms of delivering humanitarian assistance to the vulnerable. |
The killings come 10 months after the murders of 17 Sri Lankan Tamil employees of Action contre la Faim in the eastern town of Muttur. Their deaths are being investigated by a special presidential commission whose work is overseen by an international group of eminent persons.
Last week, a group of 14 bilateral aid donors, including the USA, the European Union, Japan and the UN, made a strong appeal to the government for increased security for staff of agencies delivering humanitarian aid to people affected by the recent surge in fighting between government troops and Tamil Tiger separatists in the north and east.
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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