Posts Categorized: International

The Politics of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)

and PTA Reform by Alan Keenan, Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace & Justice, March 2022 Politics of PTA and PTA Reform Mar 2022 Keenan PDF Why does Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) matter? What do we know about how the current Sri Lankan government is using the PTA as a tool to maintain… Read more »

Sri Lanka at Critical Juncture

UN report urges progress on accountability, institutional and security sector reforms by Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, September 6, 2022 GENEVA (6 Sept 2022) – Sri Lanka’s new Government should embark on a national dialogue to advance human rights and reconciliation, a UN report urges today, calling for accountability and deeper institutional reforms… Read more »

HCHR: Situation of Human Rights in Sri Lanka

by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, September 6, 2022 A_HRC_51_5_AdvanceUneditedVersion-4 Advanced Unedited Edition A/HRC/51/5 Human Rights Council Fifty-first session 12 September–7 October Agenda item 2 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Summary Sri Lanka is experiencing… Read more »

The IMF’s Staff-Level Agreement with Sri Lanka

by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, September 5, 2022 What are the pre-requisites IMF laid down before the Sri Lankan government? How has India reacted to the agreement? The story so far: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on September 1 announced a staff-level agreement with Sri Lanka, months after the island nation’s economic crisis intensified… Read more »

A Desperate Smokescreen

Tamil Guardian editorial, London, August 28, 2022 As the 51st session of the UN Human Rights Council nears, Sri Lanka’s Sinhala leaders scramble to present the country as on the verge of a democratic breakthrough. Plans to reform Sri Lanka’s draconian counter-terrorism legislation, decriminalise same-sex relations, and delist select Tamil diaspora organisations have been met… Read more »

US Congress on Sri Lanka July 2022

by Reps. Danny Davis & Bill Johnson, Co-Chairs, Caucus on Religious & Ethnic Freedom in Sri Lanka 20220719 Johnson Davis letter to Sec Blinken *** by Senator Sherrod Brown JULY 20, 2022 BROWN STATEMENT FOLLOWING SRI LANKAN PARLIAMENT VOTE WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) issued the below statement after the Sri Lankan… Read more »

‘A Moment of Opportunity’

Fall of Sri Lankan president raises victims’ hopes by Hannah Ellis-Peterson in Colombo and Rubatheesan Sandran in Jaffna, The Guardian, UK, July 29, 2022 Rights groups say they have a dossier of evidence against Gotabaya Rajapaksa – and a renewed appetite to bring him to account Tamil women holding a protest in Jaffna soon after… Read more »

ITJP: Criminal Complaint against Sri Lankan ex-President in Singapore

by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, July 24, 2022 ITJP Press-release-final-24-July-2022 Johannesburg: Lawyers from the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) have submitted a criminal complaint to the Attorney General of Singapore requesting the immediate arrest of former Sri Lankan President, Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, for war crimes. The 63-page complaint argues… Read more »

Diaspora Groups Call for Singapore to Investigate ex-President

by People for Equity & Relief in Lanka, July 26, 2022 20220726 Joint Press_Release_Request_to_Investigate_Gotabaya_Rajapaksa Press Release: Global Coalition of Tamil and Human Rights Groups Urge Singapore’s Attorney General to Investigate Gotabaya Rajapaksa Washington D.C.; July 26, 2022 — Seventeen Tamil and human rights organizations from around the world issued a joint letter today, urging Singapore’s… Read more »

Request to Singapore to Investigate Gotabaya

by 17 NGOs, July 26, 2022 Request-to-Investigate-Gotabaya-July-26-2022_FINAL-1-1 People for Equality and Relief in Lanka Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research Australian Centre for International Justice Center for Justice and Accountability Centre de Protections des Droits du Peuple Tamoul Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America Global Rights Compliance Human Rights Watch International Commission of Jurists International… Read more »

Sri Lanka’s Former President Must be Investigated for War Crimes

by Meenaksha Ganguly, Washington Post, July 22, 2022 (also available at Sri Lanka’s former president must be investigated for war crimes | Human Rights Watch (hrw.org) COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — There was satisfaction, and even glee, among many Sri Lankans when Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the widely unpopular president, fled the country by military jet in the dead… Read more »

Sri Lanka’s Road Ahead is Hazardous

An exclusive interview with Ambassador K.P. Fabian by A. Jathindra, Centre for Strategic Studies – Trincomalee, July 4, 2022 Ambassador K.P. Fabian served in the Indian Foreign Service between 1964 and 2000, during which time he was posted to Madagascar, Austria, Iran, Sri Lanka, Canada, Finland, Qatar, and Italy. During his time in the diplomatic… Read more »

Unresolved National Question Impaired Sri Lanka’s Economic Progress

:Sambanthan by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, June 20, 2022 Senior Tamil leader points to the costs of war, and political solution being central to economic recovery. Addressing Sri Lanka’s Tamil national question is imperative for the island nation’s recovery from the crushing economic crisis it is facing, veteran Tamil leader R. Sampanthan said, contending… Read more »

All Talk & No Action on Repealing the PTA

by Kumarathasan Rasingam, Secretary, Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Org. June 23, 2022 [Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister GL Pieris told the UNHRC on June 13 that the PTA has been amended & there is a moratorium on arrests.1  There is no evidence of either action being taken. — Editor] The Prevention of Terrorism Act… Read more »

U.S. State Dept Letter Leaked by 2009 Hillary Clinton Emails re IMF

IMF Supported War Crimes and Genocide in Sri Lanka by Tamils for Biden, EINPresswire, June 9, 2022 The IMF and World Bank desired that the Tamils be “completely defeated,” regardless of “any collateral damage inflicted” by the Sri Lankan government. EINPresswire.com/ — The IMF and World Bank desired that the Tamils be “completely defeated,” regardless… Read more »

Sri Lanka is an Omen

To solve a global economic unwinding, the world must learn to focus on more than one crisis at a time. by Mark Malloch-Brown, Foreign Policy, Washington, DC,  May 25, 2022, 11:25 AM Many Western leaders are behaving as though there is one crisis in the world: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While some are waking up… Read more »

From ‘Donor Darling’ to Default

by Benjamin Parkin, Financial Times, London, May 26, 2022 The country has opened talks with the IMF over a $4bn bailout with observers waiting to see how China, one of the main creditors, will react It is 10am and the queue outside a petrol station in one suburb of Sri Lanka’s commercial capital Colombo is… Read more »

Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka – Session III

Berlin Session by Permanent People’s Tribunal, Berlin, May 20-22, 2022 Following the Sessions held in Dublin (14-16 January 2010) and Bremen (7-10 December 2013), the third Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka will take place under the aegis of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on 20-22 May 2022 in Berlin. As was the case with previous sessions, this third session was requested by… Read more »

13 Years Ago Today – A Massacre in Mullivaikkal

by Tamil Guardian, London, May 18, 2022 Photograph: A scene of devastation in Mullivaikkal pictured days after the Sri Lankan military had overrun the area. Marking 13 years since the Sri Lankan military onslaught that massacred tens of thousands of Tamils, we revisit the final days leading up to the 18th of May 2009 – a date remembered… Read more »

An Ignored Genocide

Of Tamils at Mullivaikkal in Sri Lanka by Thambu Kanagasabai  LLM London, Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, May 11, 2022 There cannot be any plausible reasons to deny the fact of a genocidal agenda initiated by the Sri Lankan Governments immediately after the independence in 1948 against the Tamils living in… Read more »