by Asian Tribune, Malaysia, July 26, 2004 Reliving the Welikade Prison massacres of 25 & 27 July 1983, is ‘horror revisited’ said M. Nithyanandan (54 yrs), a former Lecturer of the University of Jaffna and at present Head of the news and events divison of Deepam Television – a Tamil Language TV channel based in… Read more »
P. Sathiyaseelan Recalls Eelam Liberation Struggle
Posted in Tamil Diplomat, London, December 31, 2014 – February 25, 2017 Ponnadurai Sathiyaseelan formed the Tamil Manavar Peravai, or Tamil Students League/Union/Federation/Organization in 1970 in reaction to PM Bandaranaike’s ‘standardization’ of university entrance to which priviledged Sinhalese students over Tamil students. In November 1970 this movement held a protest in the North which drew… Read more »
ITJP: Sri Lanka’s Militarisation of COVID-19 Response
by International Truth and Justice Project, South Africa, April 8, 2020 ITJPSL.COM ITJPSL /A_T/ GMAIL /D_O_T/ COM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: YASMIN SOOKA English ITJP_COVID-19 press release (Merged) copy PRESS RELEASE: Sri Lanka’s Militarisation of COVID-19 Response Accompanying Infographic Johanesburg: The lack of civilian oversight over Sri Lanka’s militarised COVID-19 response raises some very serious human rights… Read more »
Dr. Siva Chinnatamby: 20 years after her Death
by Sachi Sri Kantha, April 8, 2020 Twenty years have passed since the death of Dr. Siva Chinnatamby (1923-2000), an eminent Eelam Tamil woman physician. For her times, she was one of the rare women bio-medical scientists from Ceylon who received international recognition for her contributions to women’s health. Recently, while net surfing, I came… Read more »
Justice for War Victims, Covid-19 & the Presidential Pardon
to a convicted criminal by Kumarathasan Rasingam – Secretary – The Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Org., April 9, 2020 President Gotabaya’s pardon of a convicted criminal to let him loose to prowl free on the streets is only a licence and encouragement for him and other similar minded criminals to embark on a… Read more »
Militarised Troika Intervenes in Civil Affairs of North-East
by TamilNet, March 31, 2020 Occupying Colombo is introducing a military-controlled troika to each of the eight districts in the North and East to determine who is permitted to venture out during the lockdown, now imposed as a curfew to control the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, informed civil sources in Mannaar told TamilNet on Tuesday…. Read more »
AI: Religious Minorities Must Have Their Final Rites Respected
by Amnesty International, London, April 3, 2020 Sri Lanka’s authorities must respect the right of religious minorities to carry out the final rites of their relatives in accordance with their own traditions unless they can show that restrictions are needed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Amnesty International said today. Two of the early COVID-19-related… Read more »
HRCSL Deeply Concerned by Presidential Pardon Granted to Ex-soldier Convicted of Murder
by Daily FT, Colombo, April 2, 2020 HRCSL writes to President saying pardon sends negative message, reinforces allegations of impunity and lack of justice for victims of violations Says SC judgment in Mirusuvil case considered landmark judgment Granting Presidential pardon to convict of such a judgment sets very negative precedent Says HRCSL would have been… Read more »
Tamil Militancy in Sri Lanka and the Role of Religion
by Iselin Frydenlund, pre-publication version for Oxford Research Encyclopedias, UK, September 26, 2018 Tamil Militancy in Sri Lanka and the Role of Religion …Fundamentally, the conflict in Sri Lanka is about failed nation-building in the postcolonial state, demographic politics, access to resources, and political influence, and it follows ethnic and linguistic lines. Religion—that is, Buddhism—has… Read more »
Sinhalization of the North-East: Seruwila-Verugal
by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL), March 12, 2020 Sinhalization of the North-East: Seruwila – Verugal – People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (pearlaction.org) PEARL is launching the 3rd installment of its “Sinhalization of the North-East” series, this time focusing on Seruwila-Verugal. This series examines the scope and impact of the… Read more »
Pres. Gotabaya’s Twisted Accountability & Justice
By: Thambu Kanagasabai – LLM {London} Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and PRESIDENT, The Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Organization. President Gotabaya Rajapaksha’s pardon and release of former Army Sergeant Ratnayake who was sentenced to death in 2015 for the brutal murder of 8 Tamil civilians including children in December… Read more »
Justice in the Time of a Pandemic
by Ambika Satkunanathan, Groundviews, Colombo, March 29, 2020 ‘What physicians say about consumptive illness is applicable here: that at the beginning, such an illness is easy to cure but difficult to diagnose; but as time passes, not having been recognised or treated at the outset, it becomes easy to diagnose but difficult to cure.’ The… Read more »
Arbitrary Release of a Convicted Military Officer Calls for a Rethink
On international strategies on Sri Lanka by Global Tamil Forum, March 28, 2020 PRESS STATEMENT 28 March 2020, London Arbitrary release of a convicted military officer calls for a rethink on international strategies on Sri Lanka The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) strongly condemns Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa’s decision to pardon and release Sunil Ratnayake, an… Read more »
Pardoning of Convicted Soldier Further Proof of Necessity for Internationalized Justice
by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL), March 27, 2020 (Washington D.C., March 27, 2020) On 26 March 2020, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa pardoned former Sri Lankan army Staff Sergeant Sunil Rathnayake, who was convicted in 2015 of participating in the December 2000 massacre of eight Tamil civilians, including a five-year old… Read more »
TGTE: Sri Lanka Pardons a Soldier Sentenced to Death for Killing Tamil Civilians
by Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, New York, March 27, 2020 Sri Lanka is the first country to take advantage of Coronavirus crisis to persecute a community.” — Visivanathan Rudrakumaran NEW YORK, USA, March 27, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ — While the World Reels from the Coronavirus, Sri Lankan President Instead Focuses on Perpetuating Immunity for Int’l… Read more »
OHCHR Press Briefing Note on Sri Lanka
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Rupert Colville Location: Geneva Date: 27 March 2020 Subject: Sri Lanka We are troubled by reports that the convicted perpetrator of the Mirusuvil massacre, in Sri Lanka, has received a Presidential Pardon and was released from jail this week. Former Army sergeant Sunil Ratnayake was sentenced in 2015… Read more »
Sri Lankan Leader Frees Soldier Convicted in Civilian Deaths
by Associated Press in The New York Times, March 26, 2020 COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s president on Thursday freed a soldier who was sentenced to death for killing eight civilians during the country’s civil war. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office said he pardoned Sunil Ratnayake and ordered the justice ministry to release him. Ratnayake… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic
A military mindset by Thusiyan Nandakumar, The Polis Project, London, March 2020 This is part of a series of conversations interrogating militarization of medicine and public health and its adverse effects as various communities deal with COVID19. You can watch the video of this conversation with Dr Thusiyan Nandakumar on our Instagram handle In the… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Sixth Amendment
a Violation of UN Charter and Fundamental Human Rights by Thambu Kanagasabai, PRESIDENT, The Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Organization Late President JR Jayewardene of Sri Lanka after allowing and being complicit in the massacres of Tamils in the 1977, 1983 pogroms and justifying them as a normal reaction of Sinhalese to take revenge… Read more »
OEF: Bay of Bengal Study
Notes development disparity between North-East and South by TamilNet, March 19, 2020 https://stableseas.org/publications/stable-seas-bay-bengal-maritime-security All the successive regimes in Colombo have focused on improving the economy of the Sinhala South after the onslaught on Eezham Tamils in 2009. The Sri Lankan State, which deploys ‘development’ coupled with geopolitics to sustain the protracted genocide against the nation… Read more »