Human Rights Watch reacted with sorrow to Thursday morning's murder of Neelan Tiruchelvam, one of Sri Lanka's leading human rights advocates.
The international monitoring group condemned Tiruchelvam's murder as a deplorable violation of humanitarian law, and called on the Sri Lankan government to launch an immediate investigation into his death.
Tiruchelvam was a member of parliament for the Tamil United Liberation Front party (TULF) and the head of the Colombo-based International Centre for Ethnic Studies. The institute he led is dedicated to the study of ethnic conflict and the promotion of human rights and peace.
"Neelan was a life-long campaigner for human rights and a tireless advocate for a peaceful resolution to the bloody conflict in Sri Lanka," said Jeannine Guthrie, NGO Liaison for the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch, "he was a wise and valued colleague and he will certainly be missed."
Although no organization has yet taken responsibility for the suicide bombing that killed Tiruchelvam, involvement by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is suspected. The group has been linked to the killings of several TULF members in the past ten years as well as other violent attacks on civilians. Human Rights Watch also reminded the Sri Lankan authorities of the need to respect human rights procedures in the course of its investigation and to refrain from arbitrary detentions of Tamil civilians as the investigation proceeds.
