PT: Missing Accountability for War Crimes

by Pasumai Thaayagam, Chennai, July 2018 PT-MISSING ACCOUNTABILITY-SriLanka-VNR Delivered to UN High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), 09 to 18 July 2018, New York. SUMMARY The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has submitted the Report of Sri Lanka Voluntary National Review (VNR) on 18 June 2018. The report will be presented at the HLPF… Read more »

How China Got Sri Lanka to Cough Up a Port

by Maria Abi-Habib, ‘The New York Times,’ June 25, 2018 HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka — Every time Sri Lanka’s president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, turned to his Chinese allies for loans and assistance with an ambitious port project, the answer was yes. Yes, though feasibility studies said the port wouldn’t work. Yes, though other frequent lenders like India… Read more »

Sri Lankan Lawmakers Target Reporters in Times Investigation

by Maria Abi-Habib, ‘The New York Times,’ July 3, 2018 NEW DELHI — Angered by a New York Times investigation detailing how China seized ownership of a seaport in Sri Lanka, a group of Sri Lankan lawmakers denounced the newspaper on Monday, focusing their ire on two local journalists for the newspaper. On Monday night, the lawmakers,… Read more »

The Phenomenon of Disappearances in Sri Lanka

by M.C.M. Iqbal, Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong, July 2018 THE-PHENOMENON-OF-DISAPPEARANCES-IN-SRI-LANKA.pdf (humanrights.asia) 1.Introduction Since independence, emergency powers have been repeatedly invoked in Sri Lanka. Although the stated objective of imposing emergency rule is the maintenance of law and order, emergency powers have often enabled the police and the security forces to act with scant… Read more »

M.I.A. Documentary

by MATANGI / MAYA /M.I.A., July 19, 2018 Cinereach has released the trailer for the film today.  You can watch here. https://www.miadocumentary.com/ Drawn from a cache of personal video recordings from the past 22 years, director Steve Loveridge’s Sundance award winning MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A. is a startlingly personal profile of the critically acclaimed artist, chronicling her… Read more »

60 Anniversary of May 1958 Anti-Tamil Riots – Part 3

by Sachi Sri Kantha, July 8, 2018 Part 2 While Sinhalese polemicists like Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka and H.L.D. Mahindapala as well their Indian counterparts Dr. Subramanian Swamy and Narasimhan Ram pollute the Sri Lankan political literature by blaming Prabhakaran and LTTE as the descendants of the Aryan Nazis, Saumiyamoorthy Thondaman Sr. (with his stature as… Read more »

Political Confrontation will not Solve Humanitarian Issues

by Ananth Palakidnar, Ceylon Today, Colombo, July 15, 2018 Chairperson of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) Rev Fr. S.J. Emmanuel in a candid interview with Ceylon Today spelt out the shortcomings affecting the people in the North and East. He said as far as strengthening peace and reconciliation, apart from depending on politicians all right-thinking… Read more »

Progressive Hinduism and a New Movement Against Poverty

by Nooreen Reza, Kajal Magazine, New York, June 26, 2018 Fifty years ago this month, a movement for economic justice built upon racial solidarity was brought to a halt in the US national capital of Washington DC. That movement was the Poor People’s Campaign, created by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in December 1967. In… Read more »

Justification for a Referendum

For the Tamils of Sri Lanka by Thambu Kanagasabai, July 8, 2018 The current situation affecting the Sri Lanka’s Tamils fairly and justifiably need a referendum to decide their own fate to guarantee their existence in Sri Lanka, if they were to avoid their gradual extinction in a country where they being the original inhabitants… Read more »

What Chelvanayagam Envisaged

Prabakaran was determined to achieve by M.K. Eelaventhan, March 31, 2015 According to Rt. Rev. D.J. Ambalavanar, “Chelvanayagam died like Moses himself without reaching the promised land, but the vision he saw he leaves behind as the heritage and challenge of his people.” What Chelvanayagam Envisaged

The Office for Reparations

An empty shell? by South Asian Centre for Legal Studies, Colombo, July 4, 2018 A few days ago, the Office for Reparations Bill was gazetted. According to the Bill, the Office is expected to play a role in the formulation and implementation of reparations policies for violations of human rights and humanitarian law that have… Read more »

The Chronic and the Entrenched

Ethno-Religious Violence in Sri Lanka by Gehan Gunatilleke, International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo, 2018 http://ices.lk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/The-Chronic-and-the-Entrenched-Mr.-Gihan-Book-FINAL-WEB-PDF.pdf …This study set out to establish the hypothesis that ethno-religious violence in Sri Lanka is ‘entrenched’ within cultural, socio-political and state structures, and requires radical interventions to overcome. It first reflected on the nature of communal violence in Sri… Read more »

A Lingering Nightmare of the Past

and Perpetuation of Human Rights Abuses in a Post-Civil War Sri Lanka by DoYun Kim, Amnesty International USA Asia Advocacy and Government Relations Intern, ‘The Medium,’ July 5, 2018 On June 20, 2018, the House Foreign Affairs Global Human Rights Subcommittee hosted a hearing titled“Human Rights Concerns in Sri Lanka.” After the hearing, it is evident that… Read more »

Over 60,000 People Disappeared

Here Are the Families Trying to Find Them by Whitney Kimball, ‘Jezebel’ The Slot, New York, NY, July 1, 2018 If you pass a protest for “the Disappeared” today, it’s probably not referencing the migrant families separated by Trump’s zero-tolerance policy, but another massive population of people separated from their families whom we don’t hear… Read more »

Melancholic Mythologies: “Half Gods” and the “Mahabharata”

by Kalyan Nadiminti, ‘Los Angeles Review of Books,’ June 16, 2018 EARLY IN Half Gods, the debut story collection by Sri Lankan-American author Akil Kumarasamy, Muthu, a Sri Lankan refugee-patriarch, narrates the melancholic reality of surviving the Sri Lankan Civil War. As an exile, he engages in games of “word memory,” compulsively absorbing text as a… Read more »

Waiting for Herr Hitler?

by Jayadeva Uyangoda, ‘Colombo Telegraph,’ June 24, 2018 Is Sri Lanka ready for an elected dictator? This is the latest question to enter Sri Lanka’s current political debate. Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s preparations to contest the next presidential election in 2019 have already precipitated a potentially explosive controversy that can last for weeks and months. An admirer of… Read more »

The United States’ Role in Sri Lanka’s Peace Process: 2002-2006

by Jeffrey Lunstead, Asia Foundation, 2007 A Supplementary Study to the Sri Lanka Strategic Conflict Assessment 2005 Lunstead US Role in SL Peace Process 2002-2006 Contents Acknowledgements About the Author Executive Summary 1. Introduction 2. U.S. Interests and Engagement in Sri Lanka 3. Enhanced U.S. Engagement 3.1 Enhanced U.S. Interest 3.2 U.S. Relations with the… Read more »

Frustration of Tamils in Sri Lanka

Dying, deceptive good governance & the frustration of Tamils in Sri Lanka by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [Lond.], Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, June 21, 2018 The Tamils in Sri Lanka are being pushed back to square one yet again by the present government of good governance. The Tamil National Alliance openly… Read more »

Amnesty Statement on Human Rights Concerns in Sri Lanka

by Amnesty International USA, June 20, 2018 On June 20th, 2018, Amnesty International USA submitted a Congressional statement for the record in anticipation of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee Hearing on “Human Rights Concerns in Sri Lanka.” Please find a link below to the statement for the record: AIUSA-Statement-on-Human-Rights-Concerns-in-Sri-Lanka-Final-1.pdf Date: June 20, 2018 RE: House Foreign… Read more »