Jaffna Peninsula case

Concerning P.T. vs Denmark for violation of article 7 of CCPR.

The author used to live in a village of the Jaffna peninsula in the northern part of Sri Lanka. His two brothers were killed by the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) and the military. The author participated in meetings and demonstrations supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The author was working in his cousin’s tailor shop and, during the conflict between LTTE and the Sri Lankan Army, they provided clothes and food free of charge to some LTTE members. A few weeks later, the author’s cousin was shot by whom the author suspects were EPDP members. Following this incident, fearing harassment by EPDP, the author fled to Denmark and applied for asylum. The author’s application was rejected by the Danish authorities. Thus a complaint was sent to CCPR.

The Committee notes that the author remained in Sri Lanka from 2007, when his cousin was murdered, until 2012, and that he did not indicate that he had any kind of political activity while abroad or that he could be perceived as having a link, even tenuous, with LTTE, that would go beyond the contact that any retailer had with LTTE members in the Jaffna Peninsula during the civil war. Thus the committee decided that the removal of the author to Sri Lanka, would not violate his rights under CCPR.

20. July 2021

CCPR 2272/2013
  • Decision: 5. June 2015
  • Comm: Human Rights