by Thanbu Kanagasabai, LLM, London, April 25, 2017 — There appears to be some confusion as to the scope of functions and jurisdiction of this court. ICC, and more particularly its jurisdiction over Sri Lanka’s alleged war crimes etc. ICC is an Inter Governmental Organization and an International Tribunal which sits in the city of… Read more »
Monthly Archives: April 2017
Government, Private Sector and Diaspora are Failing to Revive Northern Economy
by Jekhan Aruliah, ‘Lanka Business Online,’ April 18, 2017 More than seven years since the end in 2009 of the decades long Sri Lanka civil war, job creation initiatives in the North remain mainly focused around agriculture and traditional industries. For some this may be the easiest “Do something!” option, for others perhaps it is… Read more »
Competitiveness in Sri Lanka
by World Bank, Washington, DC, June 2016 World Bank Sri-Lanka-Competitiveness-20-FINAL INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION PROGRAM DOCUMENT FOR A PROPOSED CREDIT IN THE AMOUNT OF US$ 100 MILLION TO DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA FOR THE COMPETITIVENESS, TRANSPARENCY AND FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY DEVELOPMENT POLICY FINANCING Introduction 1. This program document describes the Development Policy Financing (DPF) operation to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka as a stand‐alone single tranche operation … Read more »
Workers in Post-Civil War Jaffna
A Snapshot of Working Conditions, Opportunities and Inequalities in Northern Sri Lanka by Solidarity Center, Washington, DC, June 2016 AFL CIO SRI-LANKA.Workers-in-Postwar-Jaffna.8.16 …The bulk of the workers in Jaffna are in low-paid jobs with minimal labor standards, social protection and security of tenure, which are not conducive to decent work, per the ILO1 or to… Read more »
Trade in South Asia: A Disconnected Region
CSIS interactive map of transportation projects, “Reconnecting Asia” – https://reconnectingasia.csis.org/map/ including rehabilitation of the Talaimannar Railroad spur, etc. 2012 UNCTAD paper on the “Political Economy of Regional Integration in South Asia” – http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/ecidc2013misc1_bp5.pdf Graphic by World Bank, accessed April 24, 2017 at http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/infographic/2016/05/24/the-potential-of-intra-regional-trade-for-south-asia
New Silk Road or New Great Game?
India Developing New Sri Lanka Port to Combat China by Forbes, April 22, 2017 As regional powers like China, Russia, Japan, and India vie for political and economic position throughout the eastern realms of Eurasia, many of the less powerful countries caught in the middle are employing what could be called a ‘multi-vector strategy’ as… Read more »
Tunisia’s Truth-Telling
Tunisia’s Truth-Telling Renews a Revolution’s Promise, Painfully by Carlotta Gall, ‘The New York Times,’ April 23, 2017 TUNIS — Like many of his fellow torture victims, Sami Brahim, a former political prisoner, did not expect much when he testified at the opening of Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity Commission in November. But to his surprise, he… Read more »
The Damage Done by Former UNSG Ban Ki-moon
The damage done by the former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the Tamils in North-East Sri Lanka by Brian Senewiratne, MD, Brisbane, Australia, April 22, 2017 In the 70 year history of the United Nations, there has not been a Secretary General worse than Ban Ki-moon. The former head of the UN Office of Internal… Read more »
FHR: Provisional Comments on Sri Lanka’s Draft CTA
by Prof. Christof Heyns & Toby Fisher, Foundation for Human Rights, Institute for Internationa and Comparative Law in Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa, April 18, 2017 SRI_LANKAS_DRAFT_COUNTER_TERRORISM_ACT_-_PUBLICATION_DRAFT_-_18_APRIL_2017 CONCLUSION 35. Whilst the amendments made to the 2016 Draft are to be welcomed, the current PLFCTA contains a number of features that are inconsistent with the international human… Read more »
SACLS: CEDAW Report & Transitional Justice
by South Asian Centre for Legal Studies blog, Colombo, March 10, 2017 With the commemoration of international women’s day this week, we must remember that the transitional justice agenda, which was in many countries advanced by courageous and resilient women activists, must be situated within a broader human rights framework. The CEDAW report, also published… Read more »
CEDAW Report on Sri Lanka
by UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Geneva, March 3, 2017 CEDAW/C/LKA/CO/8 Concluding observations on the eighth periodic report of Sri Lanka http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CEDAW%2FC%2FLKA%2FCO%2F8&Lang=en The Committee considered the eighth report of Sri Lanka (CEDAW/C/LKA/8) at its 1484th and 1485th meetings, on 22 February 2017 (see CEDAW/C/SR.1484 and CEDAW/C/SR.1485). The Committee’s list of issues and… Read more »
GoSL Complicity in Paramilitary Factions’ HR Abuses
from Wikileaks, accessed April 20, 2017 https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/07COLOMBO728_a.html Date: 2007 May 18, 09:22 Classified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr., for reasons 1.4(b, d) 1. (S) SUMMARY: Allegations of government complicity in crimes committed by organized paramilitary groups have mounted in the last year. Paramilitaries such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)-breakaway Karuna group and… Read more »
‘The Tamil Nadu factor’
Demanding justice for genocide in Sri Lanka by Ana Pararajasingham, ‘Open Democracy,’ April 13, 2017 From politicians to protestors, the people of Tamil Nadu are making waves in Indian politics, rallying around the need for justice for the war crimes committed against Sri Lanka’s Tamils. Protests began in Tamil Nadu in January 2017 against the… Read more »
The Economic Importance of the North-East of Sri Lanka
by Kamalika Pieris, ‘The Island,’ Colombo, May 3, 2016 Several valuable economic resources of Sri Lanka are found only in the Northern, Northwestern and Eastern Provinces. However, Article 25 of the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Right says ‘nothing in the present Covenant shall be interpreted as impairing the inherent right… Read more »
2009: Sri Lankan Government uses Chemical Weapons in Vanni
by War Without Witness, April 8, 2009 WWWReport_SriLankaUseChemicalBombs_08thApril2009 For Immediate Release | 08th April 2009 Sri Lankan Government uses Chemical Weapons in Vanni (Northern part of Sri Lanka) Warfront Initial results of Independent investigations conducted by “War Without Witness” confirms that Sri Lankan Government uses Chemical Weapons in Vanni (Northern Part of Sri Lanka) war… Read more »
2010: Prageeth Missing Due to ‘Chemical Weapon Probe’
Prageeth Ekneligoda is missing since 24 January, 2010 by BBC Sinhala, Colombo, January 28, 2011 The main reason for the disappearance of a journalist is an investigation he carried out on the alleged use of chemical weapons by Sri Lanka forces, says his wife. Sandhya Ekneligoda, the wife of the disappeared political columnist and cartoonist… Read more »
Is There a Future for the Tamils?
by M.K. Eelaventhan, April 4, 2017 Is there a future for the Tamils? It is a difficult and problematical question to answer. This question is not a question of today. This has been haunting the Tamils for a long period. Poet Bharathi was vexed over somebody saying that Tamil will gradually die. He added by… Read more »
For Sri Lanka, US Security Cooperation is Not the Cure
by Taylor Dibbert, ‘War on the Rocks,’ Washington, DC, April 3, 2017 Sri Lanka is a complicated country. In a recent article, Nilanthi Samaranayake notes that Sri Lanka’s foreign policy has been evolving since the unexpected ascension of President Maithripala Sirisena in January 2015. Unfortunately, the trends that Samaranayake has succinctly captured — especially a… Read more »
What Just Happened in Geneva (2.0)?
by Sri Lanka Campaign for Justice and Peace, London, March 31, 2017 Last week, members of the UN Human Rights Council adopted another resolution on Sri Lanka – Resolution 34/1 – renewing the government’s pledges to deliver a meaningful process of justice and reconciliation. In this post, we briefly explain how and why the resolution… Read more »
Gunaratne’s Road To Nandikadal
by Charles Ponnuthurai Sarvan, ‘Colombo Telegraph,’ January 17, 2017 Book Review – Major General Kamal Gunaratne, Road to Nandikadal: True story of defeating Tamil Tigers, Colombo, 2016. Epigraph: Those who have power in the present, control the story of the past; and those who control the past, shape the future. ~ (Adapted from Orwell’s dystopian novel,… Read more »