by Tamil Guardian, London, February, 24, 2015 Rejecting any domestic inquiry conducted by the Sri Lankan state, protesters questioned how those responsible for mass atrocities can conduct a credible, independent investigation.Thousands of Tamils protested in Jaffna this morning, calling on the UN Human Rights Council to release the report looking into mass atrocities committed… Read more »
Monthly Archives: February 2015
Amnesty International Report 2014/15
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Head of state and government: Mahinda Rajapaksa Unlawful detentions and torture by security forces were carried out with impunity as the authorities continued to rely on the Prevention of Terrorism Act to arrest and detain suspects without charge or trial. Human rights defenders and f amily members of people… Read more »
The Tangled Roots of English
Tracing a Mother Tongue A newly revised family tree of Indo-European languages supports the theory that the root language, proto-Indo-European, originated in the steppes of eastern Europe. The peoples of India, Iran and Europe speak a Babel of tongues, but most — English included — are descended from an ancient language known as proto-Indo-European…. Read more »
Children of Sri Lankan Refugees Born in India Uncertain about Future
More pictures KEEZHPUDHUPATTU, India – The election of a new president in Sri Lanka in January ushered in renewed hopes for the return of thousands of ethnic Tamils displaced by war – and uncertainty for their children born abroad during decades of bloody conflict. Many of the children are in their twenties now and have… Read more »
Sri Lanka Premier Starts With Fixing Civil War Ills
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Paintings at Temple Trees, this country’s White House, are still leaning against walls waiting to be hung, and the gated grounds are no longer teeming with guards and stewards who served the home’s previous occupant like supplicants at a royal court. But more than a month after taking over this iconic… Read more »
USTPAC: Justice and Accountability Must Be Realized in Sri Lanka
Dismay on delayed Report tempered by promises for stronger outcome- says USTPAC
Amnesty: Delay of Key UN Human Rights Report Must Not Herald Further Impunity
Sri Lanka: Delay of key UN human rights report must not herald further impunityThe decision by the UN Human Rights Council to delay, until September, the release of a key report into widespread human rights violations during the conflict in Sri Lanka must not allow the perpetrators of horrific crimes during the country’s armed conflict… Read more »
Amnesty: Promises of a New Beginning
AI Statement to UNHRC asa370022015en 16 February 2015 AI Index: ASA 37/002/2015 Sri Lanka: Promises of a new beginning – international cooperation is essential to ensure justice, accountability and an end to impunity Amnesty International written statement to the 28th session of the UN Human Rights Council (2 – 27 March 2015) Early in 2015… Read more »
NPC CM Wigneswaran Chennai Speech
Wigneswaran Kannabiran Memorial Lecture Nov 2014 Start watching at 1 hour 14 minutes. In Sri Lanka too our courts have amply demonstrated their little practical wisdom. When nearly three hundred and fifty thousand Tamils were incarcerated in open prison camps immediately after the end of the War, a public interest petition was filed claiming that… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s War Affected Women Call For Genuine Accountability Initiatives
133 war affected women and 20 organisations have today urged the new government to take immediate steps to address past violations and to initiate credible and independent investigations that lead to indictments and prosecutions of alleged perpetrators. We publish below the statement in full; We, as women impacted by war and ongoing post-war violence in… Read more »
Modalities for Truth and Justice
Exploring International and Domestic Modalities for Truth and Justice in Sri LankaThe ‘Declaration of Peace’ by the Government of Sri Lanka at the 67thIndependence Day Celebrations held on 4th February 2015 is a notable shift in its recognition of the past and the need for healing and unity. The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC)… Read more »
NPC’s Resolution on Genocide of Sri Lankan Tamils
by Colombo Telegraph, February 11, 2015 Northern Provincial Council yesterday (February 10, 2015) unanimously passed a resolution saying that genocide of the Tamil in Sri Lanka has been continuous since 1948, and that the UN must investigate it and submit a report at the March session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), and refer its findings… Read more »
NPC Resolution on Genocide
NPC Resolution on Tamil Genocide_v2 This resolution provides an overview of the evidence demonstrating successive Sri Lankan governments’ genocide against Tamils, and respectfully requests the ongoing United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) to investigate the claim of genocide and recommend appropriate investigations and prosecutions by the… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Duty on War Crimes
It was just one month ago that Sri Lanka surprised the world by electing opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena as president, rejecting the authoritarianism, corruption and dynastic politics of the administration of the incumbent, Mahinda Rajapaksa. President Sirisena has moved swiftly to usher in a new chapter of hope for Sri Lanka. So as not to… Read more »
President Sirisena’s 67-year Question and the 100-Day Plan
“We have failed in the essential task of nation building,”…
President Sirisena’s 67-year question speaks most of all to the deterioration in the areas of governance and of political relationships between the different communities after independence. The two (bad governance and poor inter-ethnic relationship) are interconnected and have fed on each other.
Statement of Sen. Leahy On A Return to Democracy
Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) On A Return to Democracy in Sri Lanka February 5, 2015 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, for hundreds of millions of people around the globe, including in countries whose governments are allies of the United States, democracy and human rights are aspirations that seem beyond reach. According to a recent… Read more »
Sri Lankan Leader Calls for Unity Amid Ethnic Divide
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka has failed to heal its deep ethnic divide since the end of the nation’s civil war five years ago, the president acknowledged Wednesday in a major speech calling for national reconciliation. President Maithripala Sirisena’s Independence Day speech was a sharp departure from those of his predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa, who… Read more »
An Institutional History of the LTTE
LKA-geschichte-ltte-e [PDF in English] or https://www.bfm.admin.ch/dam/data/bfm/internationales/herkunftslaender/asien-nahost/lka/LKA-geschichte-ltte-e.pdf Preface Episodes of armed violence are often followed by countering claims and divergent accounts of past experiences. The Sri Lankan civil war is no exception. After 26 years of military operations and the official defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009, controversies over the conflict and… Read more »
Is Terrorism an Existential Threat?
by Scott Stewart, ‘MarketWatch, The Wall Street Journal,’ February 5, 2015 President Barack Obama has said terrorism can’t upset the world order, and he is mostly correct. In an interview aired on CNN on Feb. 1, Fareed Zakaria asked U.S. President Barack Obama to respond to charges that he is downplaying the threat of terrorism to… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s New Government Hopes to Revisit Past on Its Own Terms
UNITED NATIONS — Sri Lanka’s new government, whichswept into power in January on a platform of national reconciliation, is lobbying to quash — or at least defer for a few months — a landmark United Nations inquiry into war crimes set to be released in March. That presents a delicate problem for United Nations officials… Read more »