by Ruki Fernando, The Morning, Colombo, September 20, 2022 “How many more years should we come to Geneva?” – Sandya Ekneligoda, wife of disappeared journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda, speaking at an informal consultation on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Resolution on Sri Lanka, in Geneva, Switzerland, 16 September 2022. Amongst the many international institutions… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
Ensuring Sri Lanka’s Compliance with UNHRC’ Resolutions
by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM London, Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, September 22, 2022 Eelam Tamils in Sri Lanka and Tamils all over the world are very deeply concerned in relation to Sri Lanka’s past human rights violations including war crimes and the very minimal steps taken by Sri Lanka so far… Read more »
Child’s Guide To Ranilnomics
Proposed Debt Restructuring Will Pose More Issues Than Answers By W A Wokewardema, Colombo Telegraph, September 26, 2022 Dr. W.A Wijewardena Aseni, whiz kid of economics, and her grandfather Sarath Mahatthaya, ex-official of the Finance Ministry, are continuing their conversation of the economics of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, tagged Ranilnomics. Previously, they discussed the ideological battle… Read more »
Photos of Menik Farm Detainees 2009
From the files of Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam. Ph.D. (Cornell) Do we know where all these detainees are? Can UNHCR confirm they were all released? Photo_FemaleYouthDetainees_MenikfarmMovie6 Photo_MaleYouth Detainees_Menikfarm_Movie7 Where are the pictures of all the other detainees? From Dr. Ethirveerasingam: These photos were sent to me by a UN Refugee official monitoring the Vavuniya camp. I think… Read more »
Without a Tamil Buy-in, Sri Lanka’s Quest for Change will Fail
by JS Tissainayagam, International Policy Digest, June 9, 2022 Tamils in Sri Lanka protesting economic mismanagement, abuse of power, and corruption are demanding structural change. One idea being floated around is changing the country’s constitution. However, the proposals being offered do little for structural change or stability because they disregard Tamil concerns. Tamils must put… Read more »
OCHA Multi-Dimensional Crisis Situation Report
by Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, New York, September 16, 2022 PDF report with map at Sri Lanka Multi-Dimensional Crisis Situation Report No. 5 This report is produced by the OCHA Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) on behalf of the ISCG. The updates below cover activities carried out between 09… Read more »
The Military Still Runs the Show
In Sri Lanka The international community has a part to play in ending its culture of impunity. by Viruben Nandakuman, Foreign Policy, Washington, DC, August 4, 2022 Viruben Nandakumar is an editor at the Tamil Guardian. In the early hours of Friday, July 22, hundreds of Sri Lankan soldiers marched through the country’s capital. They… Read more »
What do Imaginations of Haunted Landscapes Tell us about Everyday Politics?
by Erol Saglam, Takhayyul, University College London, Sept. 7, 2022 How should we then make sense of this two-dimensional engagement with the past, that is one denying the historicity of the societal violence and its destructive aftermath and the other reminiscing it discreetly and in transfigured ways? I could not help but ask whether, alongside… Read more »
A Poisoned Chalice
How international aid bolstered Sri Lankan despots by Viruben Nandakumar, Tamil Guardian, London, September 7, 2022 “I was born into a debt-free nation”, claimed Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe as he accepted yet another loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on behalf of the island. This will be the seventeenth time since independence that… Read more »
Letter to Core Group at UNHRC
by Tamil politicians and civil society, Sri Lanka, August 28, 2022 August 28, 2022 To: Foreign Ministers of the Sri Lanka Core-Group at the UN Human Rights Council Dear Foreign Ministers, Since you take the lead on Sri Lanka as members of the Sri Lanka Core-Group at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), we from… Read more »
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 »
The Root and the Hour
by Vajra Chandrasekera in his blog, September 4, 2022 The “Sinhala nation” does not exist, and yet the state is designed in its service, and all politics revolves around its fears and desires. This is how we got where we are. This is not the need of the hour, you might say: we were talking… 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 »
What’s in Store for the Ninth?
by Nillanthan Maha on his blog, August 6, 2022 [translated with Google with edits] General Sarath Fonseka had warned that people would take to the streets on the coming ninth day. It seems that the people did not accept what he said. There was an allegation that Sarath Fonseka was trying to “hijack” the protests…. 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 »
Black July
by Sanjana Hattotuwa, Groundviews, Colombo, August 17, 2013 Black July compressed from/derived from Remembering, to never again repeat: Launch of 30 Years Ago site The culmination of months of dedicated research, travel, challenging production work and curation, I am very pleased to launch 30 Years Ago. The project is an attempt to remember and probe Sri… 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 »