By Athula Vithanage, Journalists for a Democratic Sri Lanka, Europe, March 22, 2019 UN WebTV Thousands of acres of land occupied by the military in northern Sri Lanka will not be released to their rightful owners despite ongoing protests. Scores of war displaced Tamil families have been protesting for more than two years by the… Read more »
Six Major Tamil Diaspora Organisations Call for Accelerated Implementation
Six Major Tamil Diaspora Organisations Call for Accelerated Implementation of the UNHRC Resolution on Sri Lanka https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/six-major-tamil-diaspora-organisations-call-for-accelerated-implementation-of-the-unhrc-resolution-on-sri-lanka-300816975.html GENEVA, March 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — The Australian Tamil Congress (ATC), the British Tamils Forum (BTF), the Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC), the Irish Tamils Forum (ITF), the New Zealand Tamil Society (NZTS), and the US Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC)… Read more »
HRDAG: Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Conflict Mortality Study
Reality and risk: A refutation of S. Rendón’s analysis of the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s conflict mortality study by Daniel Manrique-Vallier and Patrick Ball, ‘Research and Politics,’ January-March 2019 Abstract We refute S. Rendón’s recent criticism of the 2003 Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) conflict mortality study. We first show that his most… Read more »
From Sachi’s Files – Chapter 7
A Ban on showing the ‘Avvaiyar’ Tamil Movie – 40 Years Ago by Sachi Sri Kantha, March 12, 2019 While digging through my old diary entries, I came across a news item that mentioned about a public ban on showing the Avvaiyar Tamil movie of 1953 in Colombo. For historical record, I provide a scan… Read more »
Muslims in Post-War Sri Lanka
An Opportunity Lost for Conflict Transformation by A.R.M. Imtiyaz, S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole, Amjad Mohamed Saleem, V. Ameerdeen, Journal of Arts & Humanities, Maryland, USA, 2015 Abstract This paper examines the post-war Sri Lankan conditions among Sri Lanka Muslims, also known as Moors. The article will attempt to argue that state concessions to Muslim political… Read more »
Why has Sri Lanka’s Transitional Justice Process Failed to Deliver?
by Yasmin Sooka & Frances Harrison, London School of Economics Long Read blog, February 6, 2019 After persistent allegations of mass atrocities committed during the long running civil war, a new Sri Lankan Government in 2015 pledged to the international community that it would establish an ambitious reform and transitional justice programme. Four years later,… Read more »
Using Technology to Support Transitional Justice in Sri Lanka
by Public Interest Advocacy Centre, Sydney, Australia, February 19, 2019 “Information Overload: How Technology Can Help Convert Raw Data into Rich Information for Transitional Justice Processes” written by PIAC staff members Daniela Gavshon and Erol Gorur, was recently published in of the International Journal of Transitional Justice. The article draws on their experience working on PIAC’s… Read more »
Passing of Varathakumar
Head of Tamil Information Centre, London, passed March 13, 2019 at home. http://www.thamilnaatham.media TIC 2011 – National Security Laws in Sri Lanka TIC 2008 – TIC Mourns Fr. Karunaratnam TIC 2007 – Abduction of Sinhalese Journalists TIC 2006 – Tamils of Sri Lanka: The Quest for Human Dignity TIC 2006 – The UN Human Rights… Read more »
Structural Genocide Continues in Sri Lanka
by Association Bharathi CCFT – Centre Culturel Franco Tamoul, Maurepas, France, in partnership with Tamils’ Heritage Forum Sri Lanka, date not given Download PDF Content 1. Background 2. State aided colonization in East 3. Targeting the North 4. Mahaweli Project 4.1Mahaweli Authority 4.2 Mahaweli Authority Act No. 23 of 1979- provisions relating to land 4.3 Mahaweli ‘L’… Read more »
OHCHR Report on Sri Lanka 2019
by Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, February 8, 2019 OHCHR Report on Sri Lanka 8 Feb 2019 Human Rights Council Fortieth session 25 February–22 March 2019 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… Read more »
SR Emmerson’s Report Annex to Visit to Sri Lanka
by Ben Emmerson, Special Rapporteur on human rights while countering terrorism, March 2019 Human Rights Council Fortieth session 25 February–22 March 2019 Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Visit to Sri Lanka Report of the Special Rapporteur on the… Read more »
Sinhalization Of The North East: Pulmoaddai
by People for Equality & Relief in Lanka, March 11, 2019 Pulmoaddai is a majority Tamil-speaking, Muslim town in the Trincomalee District. The town, part of the Kuchchaveli Divisional Secretariat, is located on the border to the Mullaithivu District, occupying the strategically important region which links the traditional Tamil homeland’s northern and eastern regions. The… Read more »
The Vanni – Civilian Land under Military Occupation
Displacement, Resettlement, Protests by Society of Threatened Peoples (STP) & National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO), February 2018 STP sri-lanka-vanni-e-lang https://www.tamilguardian.com/sites/default/files/File/180301%20STP%20Report_Vanni_SriLanka_low.pdf https://www.gfbv.ch/wp-content/uploads/sri-lanka-vanni-e-lang.pdf https://www.gfbv.de/fileadmin/redaktion/UN-statements/2018/Sri-Lanka_HRC_Statement_February_2018_EingereichtvonGfbVSchweiz.pdf Oct. 28, 2018
A Plea for Helping Tamil Women in Sri Lanka in Their Search for Justice
On International Women’s Day by Usha Sriskandarajah, March 10, 2019 As the world marks International Women’s Day, my thoughts are with Tamil women back in the homeland. Tamil women and girls in the island of Sri Lanka once known as Ceylon have been fighting against oppression, against marginalization, against violence, against the relentless persecution of… Read more »
The Need for Accountability in Sri Lanka’s Criminal Justice System
A Glance at Seven Emblematic Cases by Centre for Policy Analysis, Colombo, March 1, 2019 This report examines seven emblematic cases to evaluate the levels of accountability in the prosecution of cases of human rights violations within Sri Lanka’s criminal justice system. The report is structured in three parts. First, it establishes several recurrent trends… Read more »
West Point: The Taming of the Tigers
An MWI Contemporary Battlefield Assessment of the Counterinsurgency in Sri Lanka by Lionel Beehner, Liam Collins, Steven Ferenzi, Mike Jackson, Modern War Institute at West Point, New York, USA, April 2017 https://mwi.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/The-Taming-of-the-Tigers.pdf Executive Summary This report examines one of the few militarily successful counterinsurgencies of the modern era: The 1983–2009 war against the Tamil Tigers in… Read more »
Push Back: Sri Lanka’s Dance with Global Governance
by Judith Large, Zed Books, 2016 Paper ISBN: 9781783606542 After decades of conflict, the Sri Lankan government in 2009 proclaimed the decisive defeat of the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Elam. Since then, the state has proved resistant to attempts by the UN and other international bodies to promote postwar reconciliation. In this incisive new work, Judith… Read more »
Norway in Sri Lanka
by John Stephen Moolakkattu, ‘Cooperation & Conflict,’ Nordic International Studies Assoc. December 1, 2005 Peace_Facilitation_by_Small_States__Norway_in_Sri_Lanka ABSTRACT It is now four years since Norway formally embarked on the difficult task of facilitating negotiations in the protracted ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. With an international record in peace-making and development assistance, Norway entered the fray with unmatched… Read more »
Strawmanning Terror
Attempting to justify the Counter Terrorism Act By Mass Movement for Social Justice, ‘Daily FT,’ Colombo, February 27, 2019 The current President and Government were elected in 2015 on the promise of repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Since enactment in 1979, the PTA has been widely condemned for creating a draconian system featuring… Read more »
Master Plan for Economic Development in the Northern province Launched
by The Sunday Times, Colombo, February 22, 2019 The ‘Framework for an Economic Development Master Plan’ aiming to be a tool to create a ‘blueprint’ for long-term growth and development of the Northern Province was launched today at the Finance Ministry. Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, addressing a gathering at the launch said during the last four… Read more »