Tamil Cultural Genocide for Assimilation into Sinhala Buddhism by Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, February 11, 2025 Following the 2009 Mullivaikkal genocide of the Tamils, the Sri Lankan State capitalized on Eelam Tamils’ relatively weak position domestically to brazenly engage in cultural and heritage genocide—forcing the assimilation (“Sinhalization”) of the Tamils and Muslims into the… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Human Rights
Navigating the Complex Terrain of Accountability in Sri Lanka
by PKI Global Justice Journal, Faculty of Law, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada, Winter 2025 Table of Contents Malliha Wilson, Janakan Muthukumar, and Ashwini Vasanthakumar, Introduction: Navigating the Complex Terrain of Accountability in Sri Lanka Malliha Wilson, Enhancing Justice for Sub-National Groups: The Role of Universal Jurisdiction in Sri Lanka Maxwin Paul Rayen, The Politics of… Read more »
The Death of Francis Boyle
A Great Progressive International Law Scholar and Practitioner by Prof. Richard Falk in his blog, February 6, 2025 [Prefatory Note: The following post represents my reflections on the outstanding progressive international law expert of our time, and takes notes of both pardonable faults and eternal gratitude for a courageous life well spent. Francis Boyle: In Memoriam;… Read more »
Joint Letter: Press Freedom Protections in Sri Lanka
https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/01/12/joint-letter-press-freedom-protections-sri-lanka January 13, 2025 President Anura Kumara Dissanayake Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Re: Press Freedom Protections in Sri Lanka Dear President Dissanayake, Congratulations on your recent election as president of Sri Lanka. We, the undersigned 25 civil society organizations, are writing to respectfully urge your leadership to ensure that Sri Lanka upholds press freedom and… Read more »
The Quandary of the National Policy on Land
Reinventing The Wheel? by Austin Fernando, Colombo Telegraph, January 12, 2025 Last week, news appeared titled ‘Inter-linked mechanism mooted for lands.’ The Deputy Minister of Lands and Irrigation Dr. Susil Ranasinghe was quoted in it. Ranasinghe rightly lamented the absence of a proper land policy that creates disorganization of institutions involved in land use, i.e.,… Read more »
Tamil Survivors of Sri Lanka’s Brutal Civil War Live in Fear
— and disempowerment, 15 years on by Krishnan Francis, Associated Press, New York, May 31, 2024 MULLAITIVU, Sri Lanka (AP) — At the site of a bloody battlefield that marked the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war, Singaram Soosaimuthu fishes every day with his son, casting nets and reeling them in. It is a skill… Read more »
Dead or Alive?
Parents of children gone in Sri Lanka’s civil war have spent 15 years seeking answers By Krishnan Francis, Associated Press, May 18, 2024 MULLAITIVU, Sri Lanka (AP) — For 15 years, Rasalingam Thilakawathi has been trying to find out what happened to her daughter at the end of Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war. Or… Read more »
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 »
Sri Lanka’s Genocide Against Tamils
by Ottawa Tamil Association & Bramption Tamil Association, November 26, 2019? Sri LankasGenocideAgainstTamils_ Booklet
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 »