In a 13 May 1997 e-mail to the DIRB, the executive director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka in Colombo commented that "generally all clergy are treated with respect in Sri Lanka. If they are suspected of having committed any offences punishable under ER or PTA they will have to face consequences which would apply to any citizen irrespective of the religion they profess."

The following information was provided in an 14 May 1997 telephone interview with a senior priest of the Jaffna Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church who is based in Colombo. The views expressed in this Response are his own.

The Catholic Church has had no difficulties with either the LTTE or the authorities following the Bishop of Jaffna's statements of April 1996 and April 1997. The Church is respected by both sides and its priests are generally not harassed or mistreated by either the LTTE or the authorities. One exception was the 1996 arrest and detention of two Catholic Tamil priests who were travelling to the North with large sums of money. These two priests were eventually released.

For information on the arrest of these two Catholic Tamil priests, please consult Response to Information Request LKA27001.E of 12 June 1997, which is available at Regional Documentation Centres. This Response also discusses arbitrary arrests or detentions in Jaffna of Roman Catholic priests generally, and more specifically of Catholic Tamil priests, by either the security forces or the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), following the April 1996 statement by the Bishop of Jaffna.
Please find attached a copy of the 30 April 1996 Agence France Presse (AFP) report in which the LTTE quoted several of the Bishop of Jaffna's comments relating to the conflict and the Tamil struggle for self-determination. The DIRB was unable to obtain a copy of Bishop Sauvundaranayagam's April 1997 statement to the Colombo

Sunday Observer.

For information on the current situation and whereabouts of the Bishop of Jaffna, please consult Response to Information Request LKA27000.E of 11 June 1996, which is available at Regional Documentation Centres.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Executive Director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka and development advisor with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Colombo. 13 May 1997. E-mail sent to the DIRB.

Senior priest, Jaffna Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, Colombo. 14 May 1997. Telephone interview.

Attachment

Agence France Presse (AFP). 30 April 1996. "Catholic Church Makes About Turn over Sri Lanka War." (NEXIS)

Additional Sources Consulted

Amnesty International Report 1996. 1996.

Asian Survey [Berkeley, Calif.]. Monthly. September 1996-March 1997.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1996. 1997.

DIRB Indexed Media Review [Ottawa]. Weekly. September 1996-present.

_____. "Sri Lanka" country file. September 1996-present.

_____. "Sri Lanka: Amnesty International" country file. September 1996-present.

Eglises d'Asie [Paris]. Fortnightly. November 1995-present.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports. (WNC)

Human Rights Watch World Report 1997. 1996.

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge]. Monthly. September 1996-February 1997.
The Refugee Council, London. February 1997.

Protection Denied: Sri Lankan Tamils, the Home Office and the Forgotten Civil War.

Sri Lanka Information Monitor: Situation Report [Colombo]. Monthly. November 1996-April 1997.

The Sri Lanka Monitor [London]. Monthly. October 1996-March 1997.

Tamil Information [London]. Infrequent reports. January-February 1996-June-September 1996.

Tamil Times [Surrey]. Monthly. November 1996-May 1997.
UNHCR-Geneva. March 1997.

Background Paper on Refugees and Asylum Seekers from Sri Lanka.

On-line/Database searches:

SHARENet.

NEXIS

World Wide Web.