Old wine in new bottles by Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace & Justice, London, Jul7 21, 2017 https://www.srilankacampaign.org/old-wine-new-bottles-sri-lankas-latest-counter-terrorism-proposals/ http://fhr.org.za/files/3914/9760/6825/FHR_ICLA_-_Review_of_the_PLFCTA_13_June_2017_FINAL.pdf Last Friday, the UN Special Rapporteur (SR) on Human Rights and Counter Terrorism, Ben Emmerson QC, issued a statement of findings upon the conclusion of his visit to Sri Lanka. You can read it in full here…. Read more »
Posts Categorized: Government
Voluntary, Safe and Sustainable Return
Support Needed for Sri Lankan Refugees by Mayuran Jeevarathnina, ‘Groundviews,’ Colombo, August 9, 2017 Editor’s Note: A version of this speech was delivered by the author at the UNHCR Annual Consultations with NGOs, held from June 14-16 at the International Conference Centre in Geneva “O our motherland, bid us a farewell We buried our smiles in… Read more »
Netherlands-Funded CEPA Project Wages Political ‘Counter-Insurgency’
On Diaspora, elected NPC Colombo Establishment and its global backers are trying to isolate the Northern and Eastern provincial councils by intervening through Colombo-based authorities, ministries and departments coming under the Central Government. Certain NGOs operating in Colombo also operate in the same manner. There is also a hidden agenda of diverting ‘post-war development assistance’,… Read more »
HRW: Minister Threatens Defender of Minority Rights
by Human Rights Watch, New York, June 19, 2017 Investigate, Prosecute Attacks on Muslims, Christians (New York) – The Sri Lankan government should immediately repudiate statements by the country’s justice minister threatening to disbar a prominent lawyer for speaking out against attacks on religious minorities, Human Rights Watch said today. The incident highlights the government’s… Read more »
Normalising the Abnormalcy
Reflections on Self-Determination, Justice and Peace in Post-War Sri Lanka by Prof. K. Guruparan, Melbourne, Australia, June 12, 2017 Text of the Mamanithar Late Prof C.J. Eliezer AM Memorial Lecture delivered on 12 June 2016 at the Monash University, Clayton Campus, Melbourne I am deeply honoured by this invitation to deliver the Maamanithar Prof Christopher Jeyaratnam… Read more »
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers
On her mission to Sri Lanka Put into general distribution on March 23, 2017 Available online at http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/35/31/Add.1 Report of the SR Independence Judges Lawyers Mar 2017 Website of the Special Rapporteur Prevention of Terrorism Act 70. At the time of writing, the Prevention of Terrorism Act had not yet been repealed, despite repeated calls for… Read more »
Submission to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
by Minority Rights Group International (MRG), the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) and Women Development Innovators (WDI), May 11, 2017 *** Sri Lanka: Issues of land and sea grabbing on minorities brought to UN In order to reflect the current situation of minorities in Sri Lanka, IMADR, Minority Rights Group International (MRG)… Read more »
Biting the Bullet
Demilitarizing Economic Relations in Post-War Sri Lanka by Law and Society Trust, Colombo, May 2017 Biting the Bullet 20170508 The Law & Society Trust (LST) is a not-for-profit organisation engaged in human rights documentation, legal research and advocacy in Sri Lanka. Our aim is to use rights-based strategies in research, documentation and advocacy in order… Read more »
FHR: Provisional Comments on Sri Lanka’s Draft CTA
by Prof. Christof Heyns & Toby Fisher, Foundation for Human Rights, Institute for Internationa and Comparative Law in Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa, April 18, 2017 SRI_LANKAS_DRAFT_COUNTER_TERRORISM_ACT_-_PUBLICATION_DRAFT_-_18_APRIL_2017 CONCLUSION 35. Whilst the amendments made to the 2016 Draft are to be welcomed, the current PLFCTA contains a number of features that are inconsistent with the international human… Read more »
SACLS: CEDAW Report & Transitional Justice
by South Asian Centre for Legal Studies blog, Colombo, March 10, 2017 With the commemoration of international women’s day this week, we must remember that the transitional justice agenda, which was in many countries advanced by courageous and resilient women activists, must be situated within a broader human rights framework. The CEDAW report, also published… Read more »
ICJ: Criminal Justice Reform Needed
by International Commission of Jurists, Switzerland, March 30, 2017 Sri Lanka: criminal justice reform needed to overcome challenges to accountability for human rights violations Sri Lanka’s criminal justice system must undergo serious reform in line with international human rights standards in order to provide justice for victims of human rights abuses, the ICJ said in… Read more »
Flip-flopping on Accountability – A Timeline
by ‘Groundviews.org,’ Colombo, March 27, 2017 Sri Lanka recently co-sponsored a resolution at the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council, allowing Sri Lanka two more years to implement the recommendations made in Resolution 30/1 of 2015. One of the most controversial topics has been the level of international participation in a judicial mechanism…. Read more »
Foreign Judges Can Hear Cases
by Sulochana Ramiah Mohan, ‘Ceylon Times, March 26, 2017 Attorney-at-Law and Co-Founder of South Asian Centre for Legal Studies Niran Anketell who has litigated human rights, constitutional law, and civil cases in Sri Lankan Courts for over seven years speaks to Ceylon Today on the government co sponsoring the United Nations Human Right Council’s resolution… Read more »
PEARL Report Examines Kumarapuram Massacre and Acquittals 20 Years Later
Impunity Reigns in Sri Lanka: PEARL Report Examines Kumarapuram Massacre and Acquittals 20 Years Later by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka, USA, March 20, 2017 PEARL’s new report, Impunity Reigns in Sri Lanka: The Kumarapuram Massacre and Acquittals, provides an in-depth analysis of the Kumarapuram massacre case and, more broadly, examines barriers to… Read more »
Statement by Former Members of the CTF
Statement by Former Members of the Consultation Task Force Colombo, March 15, 2017 CTF Eng_Statement_150317 15th March 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms (CTF) was mandated to ascertain the views of the public on the reconciliation mechanisms proposed by the Government of Sri Lanka and incorporated in the resolution co-sponsored… Read more »
Sturgeon Says Scotland Could Hold Independence Vote
In ‘Autumn of 2018’ by Reuters, posted on ‘The New York Times,’ March 9, 2017 EDINBURGH — Scotland could hold an independence referendum in the autumn of 2018, just months before Britain is due to leave the European Union, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told the BBC, and a second poll in a month suggested… Read more »
ITJP Report on Joseph Camp, Vavuniya, Sri Lanka
ITJP_Joseph_camp_report_FINAL also available at http://www.itjpsl.com/reports/joseph-camp in English, Tamil & Sinhalese, with Portugese & Spanish press releases. This is a case study dealing with just one of Sri Lanka’s many known torture sites and is based on 46 detailed testimonies from survivors and a wealth of supporting documentation. The report documents horrifying physical and sexual abuse by the military and interrogation rooms equipped… Read more »
Five Army Top Brass Named as Running Torture and Rape Camp in Sri Lanka
by Athula Vithanage, ‘Journalists for a Democratic Society, Europe, March 16, 2017 An international rights watchdog has called upon the Sri Lankan government to investigate five top generals including its army commander in the aftermath of the war for allegedly running an army camp where “extremely brutal torture was routine”. In a damning report released… Read more »
Report of the Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues
Report of the Special-Rapporteur on minority issues on her mission to Sri Lanka Feb 2017 Contents I. Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3 II. Minority rights: legal, political and institutional framework………………………………………………… 4 III. Overall challenges for minorities …………………………………………………………………………………….. 6 A. Governance and political participation ……………………………………………………………………… 6 B. Linguistic rights …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6… Read more »
Shortfalls in the Implementation of Sri Lanka’s Official Languages Policy
by Amalini de Sayrah, ‘Groundviews,’ Colombo, February 20, 2017 The Official Language Act of 1956 replaced English as the official language of then-Ceylon with Sinhala, failing to give recognition to the Tamil language. It was only three decades later, in the 1987 13th Amendment to Article 18 of the Constitution, that both Sinhala and Tamil… Read more »