Posts Categorized: Human Rights

A Magic Wand

by Tisaranee Gunasekara, Colombo Telegraph, November 17, 2024 “Wishes come true, Not free.”  Stephen Sondheim – In to the Woods The Grimm version is known wider but the Turkish one cuts deeper. In both tales, the boy goes in search of fear and finds a crown. In the Grimm version, fear comes when a pail of cold… Read more »

AKD’s Resolve To Mend Ethnic Fault-lines Laudable

But Challenges Abound! by Mohamed Harees, Colombo Telegraph, November 12, 2024 Lukman Harees The largest lie of all—that the country depended on the elite rulers, benefits from their rule, and owes them silent loyalty entirely collapsed. The historic election of Anura Kumara Dissanayake as the President of Sri Lanka on September 21st was indeed the beginning of… Read more »

The Will to Freedom

An Inside View of Tamil Resistance by Adele Balasingham, London, October 6, 2001 Front Cover Maps Photos Introduction 1  New Horizons 2  Inside The Tigers’ Den 3  Turbulent Times in India 4  The Indo LTTE War 5  Hunted By The Indian Army 6  Premadasa – LTTE Talks 7  Living amid War in Jaffna 8  Tribulations in Vanni Post Script Annexure Abbreviations Back Cover… Read more »

SLCPJ: A New Era?

An Analysis of the Sri Lankan Elections and the Implications for Truth and Justice by Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice, London, October 27, 2024 The 2024 Sri Lankan presidential election marked a pivotal moment in the country’s political landscape and in geopolitics, with Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) / National People’s… Read more »

SLCPJ: Thirty Years of Failure

Sri Lanka’s Domestic Accountability and Human Rights Processes by Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace & Justice, London, December 2022 SLCPJ 2022-Dec-Failure-of-Domestic-Accountability-Mechanisms A brief overview of Sri Lanka’s history of domestic accountability and human rights processes, from 1989 to the present day. Introduction Whenever the possibility of an international investigation of human rights violations is raised,… Read more »

Washington’s Mixed Messages

Tamil Guardian editorial, October 12, 2024 It has been a week of mixed messaging from Washington on Sri Lanka. In Geneva on Wednesday, the United States as a leading member of the Core Group, successfully led a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on accountability for war crimes and called for an end to impunity… Read more »

HRW: UN Rights Council Should Extend Crucial Mandate

International Monitoring, Investigations Critical Amid Ongoing Violations, Impunity by Human Rights Watch, New York, October 2, 2024 (Geneva) – The United Nations Human Rights Council should adopt a resolution on Sri Lanka to enable continued UN monitoring, reporting, and evidence collection of rights violations for future prosecutions, Human Rights Watch said today. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who was elected on September 21, 2024,… Read more »

UNHRC: 57th Session

September 9, morning: 1st Meeting – 57th Regular Session of Human Rights Council | UN Web TV ITEM 1: Opening of session ITEM 2: Oral update by the High Commissioner for Human Rights ITEM 2: ID on report of Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar ITEM 2: ID on OHCHR report on Sri Lanka September 9, afternoon:2nd… Read more »

PEARL: Sri Lanka’s Atrocities Against Tamils in 2009 Constitute Genocide

by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka, Washington, DC Full report: Justice-for-Genocide-Sri-Lankas-Responsibility-for-Genocide-Against-the-Tamil-People-in-2009 For Immediate Release Comprehensive Legal Analysis Urges Genocide Recognition (Geneva, September 9, 2024)– The Sri Lankan government and military committed genocide against the Tamil people in 2009, People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) said in a legal briefing paper released today…. Read more »

WikiLeaks: EPDP Sold Jaffna Children

Girls To Prostitution Rings And Boys To Slavery  by Colombo Telegraph, September 13, 2013 “The children are sold into slavery, usually boys to work camps and girls to prostitution rings, through EPDP’s networks in India and Malaysia. Sunthararaj maintains that children are often smuggled out of the country with the help of a corrupt Customs and Immigration… Read more »

The Bitter Fight Over the Meaning of ‘Genocide’

Debates over how to describe conflicts in Gaza, Myanmar and elsewhere are channeling a controversy as old as the word itself. by Linda Kinstler, The New York Times, August 20, 2024 Linda Kinstler is a junior fellow at Harvard’s Society of Fellows and the author of “Come to This Court and Cry: How the Holocaust… Read more »

UNHCHR: Situation of Human Rights in Sri Lanka

Comprehensive report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights – Advance unedited version A/HRC/57/19 August 19, 2024 Summary In the present report, submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolution 51/1, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights provides a comprehensive analysis of the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, highlighting some concerning… Read more »

CPA: The Intersectional Trends of Land Conflicts in Sri Lanka

by Centre for Policy Analysis, Colombo, August 20, 2024 The-Intersectional-Trends-of-Land-Conflicts-in-Sri-Lanka.pdf (cpalanka.org) 15 years after the end of the Civil War, Sri Lanka continues to experience deep ethnic divisions and has failed to address the root causes of the conflict that halt moving to a post-conflict society. Unfortunately, the decades-long problem of land has continued in… Read more »

Thousands Still Living without Land Deeds in Mannar

by Tamil Guardian, London, August 7, 2024 The issues faced by the people in Mannar due to the occupation of land has left thousands feeling helpless, said Fr. S. Marcus, President of the Mannar Citizens Committee. “For the last five years, there has been much effort by various private companies to lay claim for a… Read more »

Presidential Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence 1983

by Presidential Truth Commission on Ethnic Violence (1981-1984), Vol.I (Report),  Colombo, dated September 2002, published April 24, 2003 Commission appointed July 23, 2001 by President Chandrika Kumaratunge Commissioners: Suppiah Sharvananda, Esq. (retired Chief Justice) Sathyaloka Sasita Sahabandu Esq., President’s Counsel Mohammed Mohammed Zuhair Esq., President’s Counsel             Part 1 For… Read more »

200 Years of Malaiyaha Tamil Labour in Sri Lanka

A brief history of 200 years of involuntary migration, imposed statelessness, exploitation and marginalization of Upcountry or Malaiyaha Tamil tea plantation workers. by SALAM & Maynmai, Jamhoor, India, June 6, 2024 View fullsize Tea Estate, Ceylon. Image: 1891 collection, V&A 200 years ago, the British empire brought Tamil plantation workers against their will from southern… Read more »

Sri Lanka’s Uncomfortable Relationship With Its Disappeared

Over three decades, more than 30 mass graves have been found, but answers to many questions remain elusive by Kris Thomas, New Lines Magazine, USA, April 29, 2024 Kris Thomas is a Colombo-based writer and journalist In 2018, when the second-largest mass grave was discovered in Mannar, a Tamil-dominated coastal town in Sri Lanka, investigators… Read more »

HRW: Authorities Target Religious Minorities

Renewed UN Resolution Needed to Counter Government’s Divisive Campaign by Human Rights Watch, New York, July 28, 2024 (New York) – Sri Lankan authorities are conducting a campaign to deny Hindus and other religious minorities access to places of worship and other property and redesignate locations as Buddhist sites, Human Rights Watch said today. Government agencies, including the… Read more »

HRW Briefing Note on Human Rights in Sri Lanka

by Human Rights Watch, New York, June 21, 2024 Introduction Resolution 46/1 was adopted by the Human Rights Council in 2021 and is due for renewal in September 2024. It mandates the OHCHR Sri Lanka Accountability Project, which gathers evidence of international crimes for use in future prosecutions, as well as ongoing reporting by OHCHR. Renewing the… Read more »