Persisting culture of surveillance and intimidation in the North-East by Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research, Jaffna, February 2025 Adayaalam A-Phantom-that-is-Real_-Persisting-Culture-or-Surveilance-and-Intimidation-in-the-NorthEast This report sheds light on the prevailing patterns of surveillance, intimidation, and arrests that activists, civil society members, and journalists face in the North-East of Sri Lanka, and is one of the recent studies exploring… Read more »
Monthly Archives: June 2025
MGR Remembered – Part 82
Tripartite charisma rivalry among MGR, Karunanidhi and Indira by Sachi Sri Kantha, June 19, 2025 Regarding the contents in Part 81, I received the thoughts R. Kannan on May 12th. These were as follows: “Thank you for Part 81—a meticulous compilation of the events of the 1980 general elections in Tamil Nadu, including the alliances… Read more »
Sri Lanka Core Group Statement June 2025
Sri Lanka Core Group statement for the Interactive Dialogue on the High Commissioner’s Annual Report. Delivered by the UK’s Human Rights Ambassador, Eleanor Sanders. From: UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Eleanor Sanders Published 17 June 2025 Delivered on: 17 June 2025 (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered) Thank you Mr… Read more »
Amnesty: HRC59 Statement on HCHR’s Report
IOR 40/9564/2025 17 June 2025 ITEM 2: INTERACTIVE DIALOGUE ON THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER HUMAN RIGHTS MUST POINT THE WAY OUT OF OUR CURRENT PERIL UN Human Rights Council Fifty-ninth regular session 16 June – 9 July 2025 High Commissioner, We thank you for your report and update raising alarm across a… Read more »
Oral statement of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
United Nations Human Rights Council 59th Regular Session Agenda Item 2 Oral statement of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) in the Interactive Dialogue on the High Commissioner’s Annual Report 17 June 2025 High Commissioner, The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) thanks you for your report and address today. We particularly share your concerns regarding… Read more »
New Sri Lanka Mass Grave Discovery Reopens Old Wounds for Tamils
by Jeevan Ravindran, AlJazeera, Doha June 16, 2025 So far, 19 bodies have been found. Thousands of Tamils were disappeared during the civil war that ended in 2009. A rusted gate behind which Sri Lankan excavators are digging the latest mass grave they have found from the country’s 26-year-long civil war, in Chemmani, Sri Lanka… Read more »
Adaptation of Archaeological Techniques in Forensic Mass Grave Exhumation: Chemmani
The experience of ‘Chemmani’ excavation in northern Sri Lanka by PR Ruwanpura, UCP Perera, HTK Wijeyaweera and N Chandrasiri, Ceylon Medical Journal, 2006 Sep;51(3):98-102 1251-1-4695-1-10-20091023 Abstract There have been several mass grave excavations in Sri Lanka during the period of 1995 to 1998. Excavation of mass graves in the Chemmani area of northern peninsula of… Read more »
Have You Read Zahid Rafiq?
by Ajaz Asaf, Mid-Day, Mumbai, June 9, 2025 The Srinagar native’s short story collection, The World With Its Mouth Open, stirs readers’ conscience while vividly depicting the lives of characters who appear broken in a world unhinged by a bloody past Security personnel stand guard outside Eidgah ground as people arrive to offer prayers at… Read more »
James T Rutnam (1905-1988), Part 2
Noted Bibliophile and a Valued Mentor by Sachi Sri Kantha, June 7, 2025 Part 1 Introduction My destiny to meet and interact with James T Rutnam came in the aftermath of the August 1977 anti-Tamil riots. Previously, I had written a little about the anti-Tamil riots that engulfed the island then, and my initial attempts… Read more »
Pew: Facts about Sri Lankans in the U.S.
by Carolyn Im, Pew Research Center, Washington, DC, May 1, 2025 (based on U.S. Census Bureau tabulations of the 2023 American Community Survey) [Note: based on those who reported their identity as Sri Lankan ONLY, so probably excludes who identified as Sri Lankan Tamil, etc. Hopefully, another demographer can tease out these numbers from the… Read more »
Letter re Repeal of PTA from Civil Society
Letter re PTA May 2025 English Letter re PTA May 2025 Tamil Letter re PTA May 2025 Sinhalese 29th May, 2025 Secretary, Ministry of Justice and National Integration, Colombo 10 Re: The Repeal of the PTA – Do not replace with a new terror law We, as concerned peoples of Sri Lanka, respond to the… Read more »
TG: Sri Lanka’s Genocide Blueprint
Tamil Guardian editorial, June 2, 2025 There was a marked shift in global politics last week as states around the world, including staunch allies of Israel, began to criticise its ongoing military offensive in Gaza. It comes as a senior United Nations humanitarian official repeatedly issued a stark reminder of the international community’s failure to… Read more »