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World Council of Churches
NEWS RELEASE
WCC Demands Release of Sri Lankan Ecumenical Official
For immediate release
2009 APRIL 22
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 mediawcc-coe.org
The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia has urged the government of Sri Lanka to immediately release from detention Shanta Fernando, an ecumenical official who has been under arrest for nearly a month.
In a 21 April letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Kobia expressed “deep concern” as “no specific reason for the arrest or detention of Mr Fernando has been given so far”. “Widely recognized as an Asian ecumenical leader with integrity and a strong commitment to justice and peace,” Fernando “remains a victim of unlawful arrest and detention”.
Fernando, who is the executive secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission of the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka (NCCSL), was taken into custody by the Terrorism Investigation Department of the Sri Lankan police at Colombo International Airport on 27 March 2009.
In his letter, Kobia stressed that “the actions surrounding the arrest and detention of Mr Fernando did not follow the procedures prescribed by law. As the reasons for his arrest have not been provided, there is thereby a violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Sri Lankan Constitution,” as well as of international human rights law.
See full text of the letter below.
Read also a news story by ACT International:
www.act-intl.org/news.php?uid=681
National Christian Council of Sri Lanka:
WCC member churches in Sri Lanka:
www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/asia/sri-lanka.html
Additional information:
Juan Michel
+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
Letter of concern regarding
the arrest and detention of Mr Shanta Fernando
His Excellency
Mahinda Rajapaksa
President of Sri Lanka
Geneva, 21 April 2009
Your Excellency,
On behalf of the World Council of Churches I would like to express our deep concern regarding the arrest and detention of Mr Shanta Fernando, executive secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission of the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka (NCCSL). According to the information we received from our member council, the NCC Sri Lanka, Mr Shanta Fernando was taken into custody by the Terrorism Investigation Department of the Sri Lankan police at the Colombo International Airport on 27 March 2009 on his way to India. No specific reason for the arrest or detention of Mr Fernando has been given so far.
I understand that the leaders of the Christian churches in Sri Lanka, in a letter dated 28 March 2009, conveyed their readiness to cooperate with Sri Lankan authorities in any processes of investigation and urged your intervention to release Mr Fernando. Nonetheless, he remains a victim of unlawful arrest and detention.
I personally know Mr Fernando, as he was one of the main coordinators of the programmes organized by the NCC Sri Lanka when I visited Sri Lanka in October 2008 along with the international team that accompanied me. As a senior executive staff of the NCC Sri Lanka, Mr Fernando has been an associate of the WCC’s programme Decade to Overcome Violence (DOV), which aims to ensure peace and reconciliation in conflict and violence affected societies. Mr Fernando, who had earlier served with our sister international ecumenical organization, the Asian Alliance of YMCAs in Hong Kong, has been widely recognized as an Asian ecumenical leader with integrity and a strong commitment to justice and peace. Our member constituencies in Sri Lanka, member churches and the National Christian Council, have consistently stood for a peaceful resolution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict including a political solution based on equality, justice and the dignity for all Sri Lankans.
Your Excellency, we are concerned that the actions surrounding the arrest and detention of Mr Fernando did not follow the procedures prescribed by law. As the reasons for his arrest have not been provided, there is thereby a violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Sri Lankan Constitution. Moreover this constitutes a violation of international human rights law, and, in particular, of Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Sri Lanka is a state party.
On behalf of the World Council of Churches and its member constituencies all over the world, I urge Your Excellency’s intervention and without any further delay release Mr Shanta Fernando from detention.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this urgent matter,
Yours truly,
Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia
WCC general secretary
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