Cclp Worldwide Public Statement On The Violence And Repression Affecting Education In Sri Lanka

PR Log (Press Release) – Aug 17, 2009 – The Global Civil Organization CCLP Worldwide, the custodian of EDUCATION CHARTER INTERNATIONAL, observes with great concern, the widely reported cases of harassment, violence, and forced detention and in some cases, extra judicial killings of Sri Lankan students by government security forces.

It is widely believed that the present student’s unrest with clashes between student union bodies in precipitated in part by the current economic and political crisis that Sri Lanka is grappling with.

A recent Sri Lankan daily in the Right Wing Island in its editorial entitled "Liberate Universities!" said, "The North will be cleared of terrorism within days," "And after the war is over in that part of the country, the government will have to go all out to liberate the seats
of higher learning plagued by a different kind of terrorism."

CCLP Worldwide is concerned that the above statement forcefully points to a road map of a pre-meditated action of the Sri Lankan government to suppress students’ protests and silence the voices of the opposition in Sri Lanka.

We call on all student umbrella bodies (International Students for Social Equality (ISSE), the Inter University Students Federation (IUSF), the Pravada Kavaya (Thesis Circle) and indeed all other student groups, to dismantle all covert and open relationships with extremist organizations, renounce thuggery in their daily operations and end the unwholesome rivalry that is affecting peace on their campuses.

CCLP Worldwide anxious for the return of peace in Sri Lanka and an atmosphere conducive for smooth academic work in all institutions of learning in Sri Lanka makes the following requests;

1.      For the Sri Lankan government to immediately release all political prisoners including students in its custody and all charges leveled against them to be dropped.

2.      The immediate withdrawal of Sri Lankan police and other security forces that have forcefully taken over all institutions of learning,

3.      The Sri Lankan government to allow freedom of speech and the observance of all United Nations protocol on human rights and the right to life.

4.      That with the government declared defeat of the Tamil Tigers and the end of the decades long war of attrition, now is the time to rebuild, heal all wounds and guarantee the full democratic rights of the Sri Lankan people.

5.      CCLP Worldwide calls on all student groups to eschew violence and imbibe the spirit of tolerance in their relations with fellow students with diverse ideological beliefs.

6.      We call on the Sri Lankan government to do all within its powers to ensure that full academic activity resumes in all institutions of learning in the country.