Read the full report here: CTF Interim Report on Missing Persons or on their website The Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms Releases its Interim Report by Consultation Task Force, Colombo, August 2016 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY of INTERIM REPORT The Office on Missing Persons Bill and Issues Concerning the Missing, the Disappeared and the Surrendered. This interim report… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Human Rights
GTF Welcomes the Passing of the Office of Missing Persons Bill
by Global Tamil Forum, August 13, 2016 The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) welcomes the passing of the Office of the Missing Persons Bill (OMP) in the Parliament on August 11 as this is an important first step towards achieving accountability, justice and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. We commend the leadership shown by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government… Read more »
Crucial OMP Bill Rushed through Parliament
OMP Act Aug 2016 [PDF] CPA: Summary of OMP Video of FM Mangala Samaraweera’s speech during debate on OMP bill [youtube] OMP-Bill-Statement-TabledinParliament-11August2016-s [PDF] Entire process takes less than two hours By Saman Indrajith, ‘The Island,’ Colombo, August 11, 2016 The Joint Opposition’s protest enabled the government to rush the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) Bill through parliament… Read more »
UN Committee on Racial Discrimination Assessment of Sri Lanka Report
The UN Committee on Racial Discrimination (CERD) will assess Sri Lanka’s report submitted in October 2015 on August 15-16 2016 in Geneva. CERD is a committee of 8 independent experts who assess progress of states parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The membership of the Committee can be seen… Read more »
Sangha and State
by Hannah Clare Durham, Bard College, USA, May 2015 Sangha and State An Examination of Sinhalese-Buddhist Nationalism Introduction While spending a semester studying in Sri Lanka, I became acutely aware of the post civil war issues that were being sorted out by the state. Daily newspapers displayed updates on new infrastructural developments and efforts to rebuild… Read more »
Amnesty: Summary of Human Rights Concerns during 1990
Amnesty Concerns 1990 Page 1 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SRI LANKA SUMMARY OF HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS DURING 1990 February 1991 SUMMARY AI INDEX: ASA 37/02/91 DISTR: SC/CO/PO This document summarizes Amnesty International’s concerns about continuing human rights violations in Sri Lanka during 1990. It describes reports of thousands of “disappearances” and extrajudicial executions by government forces in… Read more »
Sri Lanka: Sexual and Domestic Violence 2012
by Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa, January 25, 2012 Canada on Sexual and Domestic Violence in Sri Lanka
The Muttur Massacre
by Action Against Hunger, France, August 4, 2016 A decade after the killing of 17 Action Against Hunger staff in Sri Lanka, amid an increase in violence against aid workers, we demand greater protection for humanitarians On 4 August 2006 17 Action Against Hunger staff were murdered on our premises in Muttur, Sri Lanka. They were… Read more »
Sri Lankan Court Fails to Deliver Justice to the Tamils
WASHINGTON, Aug. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Six former Sri Lankan army corporals accused of murder and rape in the massacre of 24 Tamils including 13 children in 1996 in the town of Kumarapuram near Trincomalee were all acquitted on every charge on July 27 at a court in Anuradhapura. The ethnic Tamils were targeted for murder and mayhem by the all… Read more »
The Halfway Mark
by Sri Lanka Campaign, London, August 2, 2016 The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) met last month to discuss, among other things, Sri Lanka’s progress in implementing the process they agreed last September to build a lasting peace based upon justice. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Al-Hussein delivered an oral update… Read more »
Crafting a Coherent Sri Lankan Transitional Justice Process
by Prof. Ronald C. Slye, ‘Groundviews,’ Colombo, July 31, 2016 Text of speech made at the 17th Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lecture, 31st July 2016 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is one of the greatest honors of my professional life to be asked to deliver this lecture in honor of Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam. Neelan embodied all of… Read more »
Alternate Report to CERD
by National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL), Centre for Human Rights Development (CHRD), Minority Rights Group International (MRG), August 2016 ALTERNATIVE REPORT TO THE UN COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION (CERD) CERD_NGO_LKA_24606_E
HRW: 10 Years Since Aid Worker Massacre International Role Needed to Ensure Justice
by Human Rights Watch, July 31, 2016 (New York) – Sri Lankan authorities have not brought to justice those responsible for the execution-style slaying of 17 aid workers a decade ago this week, Human Right Watch said today. On August 4, 2006, gunmen murdered local staff members from the Paris-based Action Contre La Faim (Action Against… Read more »
Sri Lankan Soldiers Acquitted over Massacre of Tamils
by ‘Tamil Guardian,’ London, July 27, 2016 Six former Sri Lankan army corporals were acquitted by a Sri Lankan court today over the rape and massacre of 24 Tamil civilians in Kumarapuram in 1996. The Sri Lankan soldiers were standing on trial over the involvement in the killings, which took place in the village in southern… Read more »
On Rights and Justice
As it is, despite the best efforts of the CTF and subsidiary bodies, politically, the popular consultations appear to be an eyewash, designed to placate foreign governments and UN officials, and tick the box. by Taylor Dibbert, ‘The World Post,’ Los Angeles, July 28, 2016 Ruki Fernando is a human rights activist based in Colombo,… Read more »
ICRC: Report on the Needs of Families of the Missing Released
by International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva, July 26, 2016 https://www.icrc.org/en/document/sri-lanka-families-missing-persons Years that have passed since the armed conflict in Sri Lanka ended in 2009, did not bring solace to the families of over 16,000 persons who, according to the ICRC’s records, remain missing. Between October 2014 and November 2015, conducting an island-wide assessment,… Read more »
July 1983: Betrayal Of The Absolute Right To Justice
by Basil Fernando, ‘Groundviews,’ Colombo, July 25, 2016 It has been 33 years since Black July, 1983. These 33 years have been part of our lifetime. We have witnessed not only the horrendously criminal acts of July 1983, but also what happened by way of justice after those serious crimes. I would like to illustrate… Read more »
Remembering Black July
More than 3000 Tamils were killed within just 10 days, then 150,000 were rendered homeless and began a refugee flight that leaves more than 800,000 Tamils scattered all around the world today.
US Asst Secretaries of State Biswal & Malinowski Visit
US Officials Insist Sustainable Peace Must Include Peace Dividend by Dharsha Bastians, ‘Daily Financial Times,’ Colombo, July 15, 2016 Visiting State Department officials insisted that accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka continues to be a key focus for the US Government, but defended their apparent focus on economic growth and investment on a two-day visit… Read more »
Ample Space for Sri Lanka Testing its Commitments & Credibilities
By Thambu Kanagasabai LLM [Lond.], FCII, July 13, 2016 In the much expected 32nd session of Human Rights Council, the UN Human Rights High Commissioner delivered his oral statement evaluating the progress made by Sri Lanka regarding the implementation of various matters outlined in the Sri Lanka-US sponsored resolution passed on October 01, 2015. Nine… Read more »