March 23, 2021 webcast of vote A/HRC/46/L.1/Rev.1 Tabled March 16, 2021 Human Rights Council Forty-sixth session 22 February–23 March 2021 Agenda item 2 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Albania,* Australia,* Austria, Belgium,* Bulgaria, Canada,* Croatia,* Cyprus,*… Read more »
Sri Lanka Before It Became Predominantly Buddhist
by Nakkeran, Canada, March 9, 2021 Before Sri Lanka became predominantly Buddhist following the conversion of the 3rd. Century King Devanampiya Tissa (247 BC-207 BC), the island had an amazing assortment of religious cults, practices and faiths including animism, Jainism, Shaivism, Brahminism and Buddhism. There were many gods, goddesses and deities of local and Indian… Read more »
The Uyghur Genocide
An Examination of China’s Breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention by Dr. Azeem Ibrahim, Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy, Washington, DC, March 2021 Executive Summary 1. This report concludes that the People’s Republic of China (China) bears State responsibility for committing genocide against the Uyghurs in breach of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention… Read more »
When War Criminals Run the Government
Not Too Late for the International Community to Vet Sri Lankan Officials by Sondra Anton & Tyler Giannini, JustSecurity, March 16, 2021 (Editor’s Note: This is the latest in a series on the spotlight placed on allegations of war crimes and other abuses in Sri Lanka during the February 22 to March 23, 2021, session… Read more »
Why We Prosecute Wartime Misconduct
by Lt. Col. (ret.) Jay Morse, JustSecurity, March 10, 2021 In the early morning hours of March 11, 2012, U.S. Army infantryman Robert Bales walked off his outpost near the Afghan village of Belambai. Over the next five hours, Bales murdered 16 men, women, and children, and injured at least six others in the now-infamous Kandahar… Read more »
An Appraisal of Education & Sports in the NorthEast Province 1999
of Sri Lanka by Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam, Ph.D., May 1999 NEP Education Report__1999pdf PREFACE This report attempts to inform those who are in decision making positions the conditions of the violent conflict environment and the status of education in the NorthEast Province, and recommends actions that would stabilise and improve education and the life of the… Read more »
UNHRC Resolution – Improved, but Insufficient
for Accountability & Justice by Thambu Kanagasabai – LLM [London] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, March 14, 2021 Sri Lanka’s contemptuous stand regarding UNHRC Resolutions 30/1, 34/1 and 40/1 as rejected by it has come under discussion in the current 46th Session of the UNHRC which is expected to pass a… Read more »
Accountability in Transition to Nowhere
by Ambika Satkunanathan, Daily FT, Colombo, March 15, 2021 In Sri Lanka, historical acts of commission and omission by successive governments have led the Tamil population to believe there is little possibility they will be treated as equal citizens and included as full members of a multi-ethnic polity. Here, a poverty-stricken young mother in Jaffna… Read more »
ITJP: Death Toll in Sri Lanka’s 2009 War
by International Truth & Justice Project, South Africa, February, 2021 ITJP Death Toll in Sri Lanka‘s 2009 War NOT INCLUDING THE REPORTED DEATHS OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF SOLDIERS, LTTE CADRES AND CIVILIANS BEFORE 2009 Tamil https://itjpsl.com/assets/press/Tamil-translation-of-ITJP_death_toll-Amended.pdf Sinhala https://itjpsl.com/assets/press/Sinhala_translation_of_ITJP_death_toll.pdf
ITJP: Geneva Briefing Notes
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, February 2021 TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE WORK GENEVA BRIEFING NOTES With Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, the ITJP has jointly authored 6 BRIEFING NOTES to frame the discsussion on Sri Lanka for the March 2021 session of the UN Human Rights Council. They are in English and… Read more »
Why Does India Not Have a Geneva Game-Plan?
by Kumar David, Colombo Telegraph, March 10, 2021 Why is there uncertainty, even at this late stage, about the stand India will take on the UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka’s long ended civil war and overlapping allegations that the current regime harbours authoritarian ambitions? India’s silence is both curious and significant. There are three substantive players in the… Read more »
Endless War
by Anuradha Mittal, Oakland Institute, California, March 2021 Endless War Oakland Institute March 2021 *** The Destroyed Land, Life, and Identity of the Tamil People in Sri Lanka —FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE— March 7, 2021; 10:00PM PT Media Contact: Anuradha Mittal, amittal /A_T/ oaklandinstitute /D_O_T/ org” data-extlink=””>amittal /A_T/ oaklandinstitute /D_O_T/ org(link sends e-mail); +1 510-530-5126 As the 46th… Read more »
1985 Thimpu Talks
Sinhala-Tamil conflict and the India factor by S Sivanayagam, Tamil Information Centre, London, 2000 Thimpu Talks 1985 by Sivanayagam *** zfinal_Thimbu_080900_final (sangam.org)
Keep the Promise
by Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace & Justice, London, March 2021 The promise Following a landmark international investigation, in September 2015 the United Nations released a major report on serious human rights violations committed during the final stages of the civil war and the surrounding period (2002-2011). The document, known as the ‘OISL Report’ was clear in… Read more »
Upholding or Upending Accountability & Justice
byThambu Kanagasabai LLM [London] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, March 4, 2021. The 46th Session of UNHRC now in progress has generated heated comments and discussions in Sri Lanka and elsewhere among Tamils as well as the Council is readying to pass a final Resolution against Sri Lanka after five tiring… Read more »
A Bloodied Accord
After 16 days of bloody battle, IPKF finally captures LTTE stronghold Jaffna After 16 days of bloody battle, the Indians finally captured Jaffna, the stronghold of the Tigers. But the losses have been heavy and could mount further. A report on the conflict and its implications plus exclusive eyewitness account and action pictures from Jaffna…. Read more »
In the Tiger’s Den
‘Any one of our Tiger cubs can take on the IPKF in man-to-man combat and defeat them’ India Today’s Shyam Tekwani was the only photographer present in the combat zone at the height of the battle for Jaffna. Having been taken into Jaffna, skirting the advancing IPKF columns, by the LTTE, Tekwani was witness to… Read more »
There are Constraints
Our immediate stress is on relief, renovation, and rehabilitation: Lt Gen Depinder Singh The overall commander of the IPKF in Sri Lanka is Lt-General Depinder Singh, 58, Masterminding Operation Pawan between Madras and Palaly, the General has so far avoided the press. by S.H. Venkatramani, India Today, November 15, 1987 UPDATED: December 13, 2013 16:29… Read more »
Sowing the Seeds of Conflict
Letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, February 18, 2021 Letter to HCHR Sowing-the-Seeds-of-Conflict Feb 18 2021 Signed by Chair of the ‘Elders’ Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland Juan Manuel Santos, the Nobel Peace Prize winning former president of Colombia All the former UN Human Rights High Commissioners since the Human… Read more »
Dr. Manorani Saravanamuttu
A dossier by Sachi Sri Kantha, February 21, 2021 The dictionary defines a dossier as ‘set of documents, esp. record of information about a person or event.’ Here, I have compiled a brief dossier on Dr. Manorani Saravanamuttu, based on materials in my files and internet search. The prime reason being, as of now, there… Read more »