
NESOHR's Second Meeting
The second meeting of NESOHR (Northeast Secretariat of Human Rights) took place in Killinochchi on Sunday August 1st 2004 at 10.00 AM. The main item on the agenda was to discuss the draft charter of NESOHR and make amendments.
Fr.M.X. Karunaratnam opened the meeting and welcomed everyone. He reported that since its formal opening a few weeks ago NESOHR has attracted a lot of interest from outside. United Nations representative also visited NESOHR to learn about its functioning. Fr. Karunaratnam said that the secretariat has received 13 complaints so far from all over NorthEast and it has succeeded in resolving five of these cases. Fr. Karunaratnam also said that Mr. Nadesan, the Head of Police Department, and Mr. Para, the Head of Judiciary of the LTTE, also met NESOHR separately to discuss how they could assist NESOHR. Mr. Nadesan has promised NESOHR access to their prisons to conduct inquiries. Also discussed in these meetings were possible workshops that could be held by NESOHR for the employees of the departments. Meeting was attended by, Fr. M.X. Karunaratnam, Mr S.P. Tamilchelvan, Head of the Political Wing of the LTTE, Mr. Puleedevan, Secretary General of the LTTE Peace Secretariat, Mr. Sivapalan, Attorney at law from Trincomalee, Dr. Sivapalan, Dean of Jaffna Medical Faculty, Miss. Arulanantham, Jaffna University Librarian, Parliamentarians, Mr. Joseph Pararajasingam, Mr Gajendran, Mr. A. Chandrnerhu former parliamentarian, Mr. Atchuthan, Head of Law School in Vanni, Ms. N. Malathy, Human Rights Activists (New Zealand), Ms Diedre McConnel, Tamil Centre for Human Rights (Paris), Mr Kirubaharan, Tamil Centre for Human Rights (Paris), Mr. Piratheep, Lawyer (Australia), and Mr. Ana Pararajasingam (Australia). The charter was then discussed at length and accepted. The executive committee of NESOHR is to be made up of, Chairperson who will also have executive powers, Vice Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer. The following people were elected unanimously for these posts. Charperson: Fr. Karunaratnam, Vice Chairperson: Mr. Sivapalan, Secretary: N. Malathy, and Treasurer: Gajendran. Ms. Diedre McConnel then gave a presentation on the Human Rights instruments of the United Nations.
01 August 2004
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