Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Sri Lanka March 22, 2017 HCHR report on Sri Lanka March 22 2017 and at http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/34/20 Webcast of today’s statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, plus the Interactive Dialogue with states & NGOs at http://webtv.un.org/topics-issues/member-states/watch/id-high-commissioner-report-on-sri-lanka-54th-meeting-34th-regular-session-human-rights-council-/5367403594001 Human Rights Council 34th Session Item 2: Oral presentation of the… Read more »
Oakland Institute Report: Justice Denied
JUSTICE DENIED: A REALITY CHECK ON RESETTLEMENT, DEMILITARIZATION, AND RECONCILIATION IN SRI LANKA by Oakland Institute, CA, USA, March 20, 2017 Oakland Press Release – Justice Denied Final Oakland Justice_Denied_Final Justice Denied exposes the many issues that continue to plague land release and resettlement in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan military continues to occupy large… Read more »
Statement on Sri Lanka by Amb. Steven Rapp
Statement on Sri Lanka by: Hon Mr Steven J Rapp, former US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes GENEVA, SWITZERLAND, March 21, 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mCxdEqle3o Transcript of an oral statement made by Hon Mr Steven J Rapp, former US Ambassador-at-Large and currently Distinguished Fellow at The Hague Institute for Global Justice, in conversation with Hon K Manikcka Vasagar,… Read more »
PEARL Report Examines Kumarapuram Massacre and Acquittals 20 Years Later
Impunity Reigns in Sri Lanka: PEARL Report Examines Kumarapuram Massacre and Acquittals 20 Years Later by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka, USA, March 20, 2017 PEARL’s new report, Impunity Reigns in Sri Lanka: The Kumarapuram Massacre and Acquittals, provides an in-depth analysis of the Kumarapuram massacre case and, more broadly, examines barriers to… Read more »
Statement by Former Members of the CTF
Statement by Former Members of the Consultation Task Force Colombo, March 15, 2017 CTF Eng_Statement_150317 15th March 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms (CTF) was mandated to ascertain the views of the public on the reconciliation mechanisms proposed by the Government of Sri Lanka and incorporated in the resolution co-sponsored… Read more »
Measures to Placate Sri Lanka’s Tamil Minority are Stalling
The ruling coalition includes chauvinist Sinhalese with scant interest in moving forward [reconciliation]? by ‘The Economist,’ March 16, 2017 “WE ARE like dogs in the street, while your men occupy our homes,” read one of the banners strung up by Tamil protesters, mostly women in saris and ragged children. They had been camping for more… Read more »
Sturgeon Says Scotland Could Hold Independence Vote
In ‘Autumn of 2018’ by Reuters, posted on ‘The New York Times,’ March 9, 2017 EDINBURGH — Scotland could hold an independence referendum in the autumn of 2018, just months before Britain is due to leave the European Union, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told the BBC, and a second poll in a month suggested… Read more »
The Power Thinker
Original, painstaking, sometimes frustrating and often dazzling. Foucault’s work on power matters now more than ever by Colin Koopman, ‘Aeon,’ March 15, 2017 Imagine you are asked to compose an ultra-short history of philosophy. Perhaps you’ve been challenged to squeeze the impossibly sprawling diversity of philosophy itself into just a few tweets. You could do… Read more »
ITJP Report on Joseph Camp, Vavuniya, Sri Lanka
ITJP_Joseph_camp_report_FINAL also available at http://www.itjpsl.com/reports/joseph-camp in English, Tamil & Sinhalese, with Portugese & Spanish press releases. This is a case study dealing with just one of Sri Lanka’s many known torture sites and is based on 46 detailed testimonies from survivors and a wealth of supporting documentation. The report documents horrifying physical and sexual abuse by the military and interrogation rooms equipped… Read more »
Five Army Top Brass Named as Running Torture and Rape Camp in Sri Lanka
by Athula Vithanage, ‘Journalists for a Democratic Society, Europe, March 16, 2017 An international rights watchdog has called upon the Sri Lankan government to investigate five top generals including its army commander in the aftermath of the war for allegedly running an army camp where “extremely brutal torture was routine”. In a damning report released… Read more »
OHCHR Report on Sri Lanka
Advance edited version February 10, 2017 Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Sri Lanka OHCHR Report on Sri Lanka 10 Feb 2017 http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/34/20 Summary The present report assesses the progress made in the implementation of Human Rights Council resolution 30/1, on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human… Read more »
Oral Statements at UNHRC
Videos are archived at: http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events March 14, 2017 Item 4 – GD Human Rights Situations Requiring the Council’s Attention Mr. President, Pasumai Thaayagam remains deeply concerned by the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. Operative paragraph 6 of Resolution 30/1 embodied a significant acknowledgment by this Council: accountability proceedings involving independent, international experts are imperative in… Read more »
Failing the Victims
An Expert Assessment of the Sri Lankan Government’s Transitional Justice Effort https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFwZAcItEfE&feature=youtu.be [discussion starts at ~4 minutes]
US State Dept. Human Rights Report 2016
Sri Lanka EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sri Lanka is a constitutional, multiparty republic with a freely elected government. In January 2015, voters elected President Maithripala Sirisena to a five-year term. The Parliament shares power with the president. August 2015 parliamentary elections resulted in a coalition government between the two major political parties. Both elections were free and… Read more »
ITJP: 2017 UPR Submission on Sri Lanka
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, March 2017 via UPR-info.org ITJP_UPR28_LKA_E_Main ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL TRUTH AND JUSTICE PROJECT (ITJP1) The ITJP was established in December 2013 in response to emerging evidence regarding war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sri Lanka both during the final phase of the civil war… Read more »
Report of the Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues
Report of the Special-Rapporteur on minority issues on her mission to Sri Lanka Feb 2017 Contents I. Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3 II. Minority rights: legal, political and institutional framework………………………………………………… 4 III. Overall challenges for minorities …………………………………………………………………………………….. 6 A. Governance and political participation ……………………………………………………………………… 6 B. Linguistic rights …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6… Read more »
China and Sri Lanka: Between a Dream and a Nightmare
Colombo is realizing the unintended strategic consequences of closer ties with Beijing by Jeff Smith, ‘The Diplomat,’ Tokyo, November 18, 2016 My previous article for The Diplomat examined Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte’s trip to Beijing and the security and economic implications of the deals he sealed with China to construct ports and artificial islands in the… Read more »
Buddhism, Politics and the Limits of Law
The Pyrrhic Constitutionalism of Sri Lanka www.cambridge.org/9781107152236 AUTHOR: Benjamin Schonthal, University of Otago, New Zealand DATE PUBLISHED: November 2016 ISBN: 9781107152236 LENGTH: 320 pages Read the introduction at https://www.academia.edu/30783214/_Introduction_Buddhism_Politics_and_the_Limits_of_Law_ It is widely assumed that a well-designed and well-implemented constitution can help ensure religious harmony in modern states. Yet how correct is this assumption? Drawing on groundbreaking research from… Read more »
Theravada Traditions
Buddhist Ritual Cultures in Contemporary Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka by John Clifford Holt, University of Hawai’i Press 408pp. March 2017 Cloth – Price: $68.00 ISBN: 978-0-8248-6780-5 Theravada Traditions offers a unique comparative approach to understanding Buddhism: it examines popular rituals of central importance in the predominantly Theravada Buddhist cultures of Laos, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia…. Read more »
Shortfalls in the Implementation of Sri Lanka’s Official Languages Policy
by Amalini de Sayrah, ‘Groundviews,’ Colombo, February 20, 2017 The Official Language Act of 1956 replaced English as the official language of then-Ceylon with Sinhala, failing to give recognition to the Tamil language. It was only three decades later, in the 1987 13th Amendment to Article 18 of the Constitution, that both Sinhala and Tamil… Read more »