Karunanidhi’s Script by Sachi Sri Kantha, March 29, 2018 Part 42 Movie Focus on Attention to the Handicapped Movies per se, when they originated silently, were primarily 100% visual treats. Nevertheless, when silent movies morphed into ‘Talkies’ with the incorporation of the sound element (with dialogues and songs), it became apparent that even visually-handicapped could… Read more »
Monthly Archives: March 2018
ATC, BTF & USTPAC Endorse UNHRC’s Call for Clear Timeline for Action on Sri Lanka’s Transitional Justice Commitments
2018-03-26 USTPAC_ATC_BTF Press Release UNHRC37 For immediate release: GENEVA, March 26, 2018: As the 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) ends in Geneva, the US Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC), British Tamils Forum (BTF), and Australian Tamil Congress (ATC) would like to thank Deputy High Commissioner Kate Gilmore for emphasizing the importance… Read more »
ICET Thanks HC for Urging States to Exercise Universal Jurisdiction
March 27, 2018 The International Council of Eelam Tamils (ICET) welcomes the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights for urging UN member states to exercise universal jurisdiction to foster accountability by Sri Lanka The UNHRC session started on February 26, 2018, with the High Commissioner delivering a scathing interim report on the intransigence of Sri… Read more »
US Statement on OHCHR Report on Sri Lanka
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/human-rights-council-37-joint-statement-on-sri-lanka by UK Mission to the UN, Geneva, March 21, 2018 This joint statement was delivered at the 37th Session of the Human Rights Council on behalf of Macedonia, Montenegro, the United States & the United Kingdom the during the UN High Commissioner’s report on Sri Lanka, held on 21 March 2018. This statement is on… Read more »
Deputy HC Statement on OHCHR Report on Sri Lanka
by Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore, March 21, 2018 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22875&LangID=E Moving now to our written update on progress in promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka (A/HRC/37/23) between March 2017 and January 2018. We welcome the Government’s constructive engagement with OHCHR and the human rights mechanisms, including its cooperation with visits of this… Read more »
SLCPJ: Updated Scorecard on GoSL’s progress
by Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace & Justice, London, March 7, 2018 A narrowing window: our updated scorecard on the government of Sri Lanka’s progress on justice and reconciliation Today we release an update to our ‘Keep the Promise’ campaign, monitoring the government’s pledges to bring about a meaningful process of justice and reconciliation. Those… Read more »
VR: Res. 30/1 Implementation Monitor #3
UNHRC Resolution 30/1 Implementation Monitor: Statistical & Analytical Review No. 3 by Verite Research, Colombo, February 26, 2018 This is Verité Research’s latest study on the Sri Lankan government’s commitments on reconciliation and accountability. The ongoing UNHRC Session began on 26 February 2018, and will include a discussion on Sri Lanka’s progress in this regard. This report… Read more »
Sri Lanka Bans Cluster Munitions
The transparency now required of Sri Lanka as a state party to these treaties could help to formally answer questions about past cluster munition and land mine use. ITJP Universal Jurisdiction Combatting Impunity in Sri Lanka March 15 2018 by Mary Wareham, Human Rights Watch, New York, March 14, 2018 Sri Lanka has become the 103rd country to join… Read more »
Anti-Muslim Riots Signal a New Social Fissure
by ‘The Economist,’ London, March 8, 2018 Sinhalese nationalists may be looking for an enemy COLOMBO: THE trigger was supposedly a road-rage incident, said to have involved members of Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority, near the popular tourist destination of Kandy. A lorry driver from the country’s biggest ethnic group, the Sinhalese, ended up dead. Angry… Read more »
King Elala (Elara) – Dutugemunu Conflict
A Review of Recent Thinking by Sachi Sri Kantha, March 3, 2018 In my previous commentary on King Elala, I had provided the thoughts of few 19th and 20th century chroniclers of Ceylon. Here I continue to review the recent thinking of Sri Lanka’s five contemporary historians (two Tamils and three Sinhalese, one among them… Read more »
Sri Lanka Imposes Emergency to Quell Communal Riots
by Times of India, March 6, 2018 HIGHLIGHTS Sri Lanka on Tuesday declared a nationwide state of emergency to quell anti-Muslim riots that have killed at least two people and damaged dozens of mosques and homes in the central district of Kandy. Here’s what led the Maithripala Sirisena government to take the extreme measure: *… Read more »
US Embassy Statement
by US Embassy, Colombo, March 6, 2018 March 6, 2018 – COLOMBO: Rule of law, human rights, and equality are essential for peaceful coexistence. It is important that the Government of Sri Lanka act quickly against perpetrators of sectarian violence, protect religious minorities and their places of worship, and conclude the State of Emergency swiftly, while… Read more »
Statement by Tamil Civil Society Condemning Violence against Muslim Community
Courtesy Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research, Jaffna, March 6, 2018 We strongly condemn the violence being unleashed against the Muslim people in Kandy this week and in Amparai earlier last week. Initial reports from Amparai and Kandy make clear that the police by inaction were complicit in the violence. We, as Tamil civil society organizations who work in… Read more »
It’s the Tamil Economy, Stupid
by J.T. Janani, Tamil Guardian, October 29 – November 12, 2008 [originally posted December 1, 2008 at http://www.sangam.org/2008/12/Tamil_Economy.php?uid=3174] A 2 part series looking at the economic drivers behind the Sri Lankan state’s genocide of the Tamils ‘The Economist’ of August 6th 2003 summarised the genocide of Black July 1983 thus: “Two weeks ago Tamils owned 80% of the… Read more »
The State of Jobs in Post-conflict Areas of Sri Lanka
by David Locke Newhouse & An Rudra Silwal, World Bank, Washington, DC, February 26, 2018 Policy Research working paper; no. WPS 8355 World Bank WPS8355 State of Jobs in Post Conflict Areas ABSTRACT Although Sri Lanka has made significant progress in social and economic development over the past decade, the Northern and Eastern provinces that… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Political Crisis a Threat to Reconciliation
Danger government will backtrack on commitments to Tamils after opposition SLPP sweeps most seats in local elections by Quintus Colombage & Niranjani Roland, ‘UCA News,’ Bangkok, March 1, 2018 In Sri Lanka is disturbing the economy and threatening the reconciliation processnearly a decade after the island nation ended a bloody 25-year civil war, political analysts said… Read more »
Why Civil Wars Are Lasting Longer
Although the norm of negotiation has not died, countervailing norms have emerged around non-negotiation with terrorists, militarily defeating terrorist organizations, and prioritizing stabilization over democratization, even if that means bolstering authoritarian rule. Across today’s battlefields—in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, the Philippines, South Sudan, and Yemen—external actors are… Read more »
ATC, BTF, USTPAC Welcome UN Human Rights Commissioner’s Report on Sri Lanka and Call for International Action
20180302 ATC_BTF_USTPAC_On_OHCHR Report GENEVA, March 2, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The United States Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC), the British Tamils Forum (BTF) and the Australian Tamil Congress (ATC) welcome the report by High Commissioner Zeid to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) as the current Council session commenced on the progress made by Sri Lanka in implementing the HRC resolutions it… Read more »
Annadurai, the Champion of the Eelam Tamil Liberation
by M.K. Eelaventhan, February 3, 2018 Critical estimate of Anna’s contribution to Tamil and the Tamils. Annadurai’s 50th Death Anniversary fell on February 3, 2018 Mr. C.N. Annadurai, the beloved disciple of Periyar, owes a lot to Periyar who shaped his multifarious career. If is not for Periyar, Annadurai may not have attained this unique position…. Read more »