An explanation regarding the background and previous conditions for the methodology to be implemented regarding the amendments made to the list of persons named under the order 04(7) of the United Nations Directive No. 01 of 2012 mentioned in the Gazette Notification 2291/02 dated 2022-08-01, which has led to controversy in society in recent days, is given below.
Background
On 28th September 2001, the UN Security Council, operating under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, unanimously adopted UNSC Resolution 1373.
It has assigned a series of responsibilities aimed at combating terrorism to its member states. Accordingly, the Special Gazette No. 1758/19 dated 15 May 2012 has been issued by the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to deal primarily with the financing of terrorism under UN Directive No. 01 of 2012.
Process
In order to implement the above orders in Sri Lanka, the subject minister, who is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, has liaised with the Minister in charge of Defence and appointed the Secretary of the Ministry of Defence as the competent authority.
Accordingly, a committee consisting of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Attorney General’s Department, intelligence agencies, law enforcement agencies and the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, in accordance with the relevant orders of the competent authority, conducted a study on the activities of individuals and organizations involved in providing financial support to terrorism in the past few years and the listing or delisting is done based on evidence.
Accordingly, eight formal gazettes have been published from 2014 to 01.08.2022, the details of which are given below:
Gazette No. Issued date Number of persons Number of institutions
Named Removed Named Removed
1854/41 21/03/2014 424 – 16 –
1941/44 20/11/2015 155 269 08 8
1992/25 09/11/2016 86 69 08 –
2016/18 20/06/2018 100 – 08 –
2124/32 23/05/2019 125 – 11 –
2140/16 09/09/2019 188 – 11 –
2216/37 28/02/2021 577 – 18 –
2291/02 01/08/2022 316 316 15 6
The preliminary investigations related to Gazette 2291/02 published on 01.08.2022 was initiated in the month of March 2022 and accordingly, the terrorist or extremist organizations living in the country or outside the country and those connected to it and their related finances, assets, terrorist activities were investigated and the listing or delisting of these individuals or organizations were done based on whether or not they had direct or indirect links to extremist activities.
If an organization or a person listed in this manner wants to file any objection in this regard, it is possible to submit an application to the competent authority and make a written request to be removed from the list along with the reasons.
The relevant departments will then report the request to the competent authority after an extensive study of information. The competent authority is then responsible for making recommendations to the minister of external affairs as to whether the person or organization should be removed from the list.
The Minister’s decision is final and aggrieved parties have the ability to challenge the decision by filing a complaint with the High Court.
Further, any person or entity affected by freezing of existing money or funds, asset freezing order or other financial assets or economic resources or other related services has the scope to complain to the High Court.
The final decision of each of these measures will be published by the competent authority through a gazette. Accordingly, 316 individuals and 06 organizations have been removed from the list by Gazette No. 2291/2 dated 08.01.2022 after a formal and in-depth information study based on evidence under the UN Order No. 01 of 2012.
Also, 316 individuals and 15 organizations including 55 newly identified individuals and 03 organizations have been listed by the above gazette.
The delisted organizations
1. Global Tamil Forum (GTF)
2. Australian Tamil Congress (ATC)
3. Word Tamil Coordinating Committee (WTCC)
4. Tamil Eelam Peoples Association (TEPA)
5. British Tamil Forum (BTF)
6. Canadian Tamil Congress(CTC)
The listed organizations through the gazette
1. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
2. Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO)
3. Tamil Coordinating Committee (TCC)
4. World Tamil Movement (WTM)
5. Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE)
6. World Tamil Relief Fund (WTRF)
7. Headquarters Group (HQ Group)
8. National Council of Canadian Tamils (NCCT)
9. Tamil Youth Organization (TYO)
10. National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ)
11. Jamathe Millathe Ibrahim (JMI)
12. Willayath As Seylani (WAS)
13. Darul Adhar (DA)
14. Sri Lanka Islamic Student Movement (SLISM)
15. Save the Pearl
For more information log on to www.competentauthority.gov.lk
President’s Media Division
2022-08-17
The Presidential Media Division is fully responsible for socializing the views, actions, decisions and statements of His Excellency the President through the media. Electronic, print and new media will contribute to this through a credible and engaging approach.
The media department works as a source of information on the subject of the President’s vision and mission by maintaining good coordination with public and private media organizations and journalists.
National policies, plans and measures are explained to the people through the use of high quality media. Identify the fallacies and reveal the truth.
