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Despite strong lobbying by the Tamil Centre for Human Rights, the Committee rejected its application for consultative status, which would have given the LTTE a political platform inside the United Nations. The 19-member UN Committee on Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) has refused to grant NGO status to the Tamil Centre because of its links to "terrorist activities" in what was described as a major diplomatic defeat for the LTTE. The United States, Turkey, India and Sudan expressed strong reservations about the Paris-based Tamil Centre which was described as a "front organisation" for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). "It was a major diplomatic defeat for the LTTE," a Sri Lankan delegate said. The Sri Lankan Government has not only accused the Centre of being a "well known front for the LTTE" but also charged the group with printing literature promoting the division of Sri Lanka, a member state whose territorial integrity is protected by the UN charter. Speaking before the UN Committee, a representative of the Tamil Centre admitted that the Centre had raised funds to produce material on human rights but did not give money to any group. The Centre also denied that it had distributed any propaganda literature produced by the LTTE. Several delegates said the responses were not sufficient to allay their concerns. The activities of the Centre seemed inconsistent with the principles of the UN charter and the ground rules laid for NGOs. "As such, they could not support the application of an NGO connected with violence and terrorist groups," the UN said in a press release. Last month at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, the Sri Lankan delegate said that the Tamil Centre had distributed a flyer critical of the late Neelan Tiruchelvam, who was himself the head of a UN recognized NGO, the Centre for Ethnic Studies in Sri Lanka. The flyer said that "Neelan's contribution and participation in promoting the devolution package, sadly had placed him in a vulnerable position."
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