Tamils in the North & East of Sri Lanka by Kumarathasan Rasingam, October 20, 2020 When the United Nations was created after the World War II, one of its purposes was spelt out in Article 1 [2] of the UN Charter as: “To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principles of… Read more »
Crucial Time for Urgent Actions
By UNHRC, UN, international community & diaspora Tamils by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [London] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, October 19, 2020 It need not be detailed again to list the grievances of Tamils which commenced in 1948 and continue to pile up and accumulate with no redress in sight from the… Read more »
Assessment of FaceBook’s HR Impact in Sri Lanka
by Chloe Poynton, Article One, San Francisco, May 12, 2020 In 2018, Article One partnered with Facebook to conduct two country-level human rights impact assessments (HRIAs) in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Today, Facebook published the executive summaries of both reports, a step we applaud and hope to see more of. Understanding how online engagements can… Read more »
Black Tiger Day Remembrance – Part 3
by Sachi Sri Kantha, October 11, 2020 Part 2 Front Note by Sachi Sri Kantha I provide below, a balanced portrayal on the activities of the Black Tigers, described by Prof. Mario Ferrero, in 2006 in an article comparing “diverse instances of public-spirited suicide.” In approximately 1,150 words, salient points emphasized by Ferrero include, (1)… Read more »
When Will the EU, US, UK & UNHRC Take Action
To find the missing? By; Kumarathasan Rasingam, October 12, 2020 The mothers, fathers, relatives of the missing are on the streets for more than 1340 days on sit-in protest demanding to know the whereabouts of their loved ones. They are holding EU, US & UN Flags and the pictures of their loved ones who are… Read more »
Review: ‘Keenie Meenie: Britain’s Private Army’
by Tamil Guardian, London, October 7, 2020 Streaming on YouTube, October 8, 2020 at 2pm EST at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZokBJZyVqk Phil Miler’s explosive new documentary, “Keenie Meenie: Britain’s Private Army”, provides detailed insight into how a private British company went on to effectively set up one of Sri Lanka’s most notorious military units and sheds light on the United… Read more »
Human Rights Half Measures: Avoiding Accountability in Postwar Sri Lanka
by Kate Cronin-Furman, Cambridge University Press’ World Politics journal, Vol. 72, Issue 1, November 11, 2019 Abstract Why do repressive states create human rights institutions that cost them money and political capital but fail to silence international criticism? The academic literature assumes that states engaging in disingenuous human rights behavior are hoping to persuade (or… Read more »
Kamala Harris and the ‘Other 1 Percent’
Long before the Democratic vice-presidential candidate became a national figure, India played a role in American politics by Dinyar Patel, The Atlantic, New York, October 2020 In a few weeks, the United States might elect its first vice president of Indian heritage. Kamala Harris’s rise mirrors the fortunes of Indian Americans, a wildly successful community whose… Read more »
Universal Declaration of Human Rights & Sri Lanka
by Kumarathasan Rasingam, October 3, 2020 The Universal Declaration for Human Rights [UDHR] was adopted on 10th December 1948 by the United Nations at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. The UDHR contains thirty Articles. Articles 1 and 2 outline the philosophical claim of the UDHR and emphasise that human beings are born free in… Read more »
Nonviolent Action in Myanmar
Challenges and Lessons for Civil Society and Donors by La Ring; Khin Sandar Nyunt; Nist Pianchupat; Shaazka Beyerle, US Institute for Peace, Washington, September 18, 2020 Full report at https://www.usip.org/publications/2020/09/nonviolent-action-myanmar-challenges-and-lessons-civil-society-and-donors The National League for Democracy’s decisive victory in Myanmar’s 2015 elections inspired hopes of a full transition from military rule and an opening of civil… Read more »
Amnesty on Enforced Disappearances
by Amnesty International statement to US Congress’ Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing on Latin America, October 1, 2020 https://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/government-relations/advocacy/amnesty-lantos-statement-enforced-disappearances/ … Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka has one of the world’s highest number of enforced disappearances, with estimates ranging from 60,000 to 100,000 arising in connection with internal armed conflicts since the late 1980s. One emblematic… Read more »
Rajapaksa Shifts Up a Gear
Tamil Guardian editorial, London, September 28, 2020 Sri Lanka’s president has wasted little time in getting to work. Within weeks of his party sweeping parliamentary polls, Gotabaya Rajapaksa rapidly produced the long-promised 20th Amendment to Sri Lanka’s constitution, which seeks to further concentrate power into the executive presidency he occupies. As expected, there are few checks… Read more »
India-Sri Lanka Joint Statement on Virtual Bilateral Summit
by NarendraModi.in, September 26, 2020 1. Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Sri Lanka H.E. Mahinda Rajapaksa held a Virtual Summit today in which they discussed bilateral relations and regional & international issues of mutual concern. 2. Prime Minister Modi congratulated Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa on his assumption of office… Read more »
How ‘Jakarta’ Became the Codeword for US-Backed Mass Killing
by, Vincent Bevins, The New York Review of Books, May 18, 2020 Suspected communists under armed guard, Jakarta, Indonesia, December 1, 1965 In May 1962, a girl named Ing Giok Tan got on a rusty old boat in Jakarta, Indonesia. Her country, one of the largest in the world, had been pulled into the global… Read more »
U.K. Conservation Society Details Links to Colonialism and Slavery
The National Trust said a third of the properties it manages had direct links to colonialism or slavery. Some have a “hugely uncomfortable” history, it said. by Elian Peltier, The New York Times, September 22, 2020 LONDON — The country house of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, an ardent imperialist; an estate in northern England… Read more »
Remembering Thileepan’s Sacrifice 33 Years On
by Tamil Guardian, London, September 26, 2020 Today marks 33 years since the death of Lt Col Thileepan, a political wing leader of the LTTE who fasted to death, in a protest appealing to the Indian government to honour pledges made to the Tamil people. Thileepan began his fast on the September 15, 1987, with 100,000 people… Read more »
Amazing Mum
The ‘amazing’ mum who fled two civil wars and ended up running a Flintshire petrol station by Kelly Williams, Daily Post, UK, September 19, 2020 Shanty Yoganathan’s daughter Niz shared her mum’s incredible tale as she gets set to celebrate her 50th birthday A proud daughter has shared the extraordinary tale of how her mum… Read more »
PEARL Condemns Sri Lanka’s Latest Assault on Tamils’ Right to Remember
by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka, USA (Washington D.C.; September 24, 2020) — PEARL is deeply concerned by reports that a Sri Lankan court has banned commemorations of Lt. Col. Thileepan, who died while conducting a hunger strike for Tamil rights in 1987. PEARL condemns the arrest, pursuant to the ban, of those… Read more »
Transitional Justice at the UN Security Council
International Community Commits to Nuanced, Comprehensive Transitional Justice at UN Security Council Open Debate by International Center for Transitional Justice, New York, September 21, 2020 As the world continues to grapple with the deadly coronavirus pandemic and a global economic downturn, United Nations (UN) member states will convene this week for the annual General Assembly,… Read more »
A New Domestic Process in Sri Lanka
Will not bring reconciliation and justice Sri Lanka Campaign, London, Sep 25, 2020 At the 45th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) last week, the Government of Sri Lanka tried dismiss calls for greater international action on Sri Lanka, saying that it is committed to a domestic process to deliver reconciliation and justice. But how could… Read more »