T Kumar memorial booklet – Kumar Mama Booklet Document For Kumar, who died on Martin Luther King Day, the struggle of one person, race, gender, caste or nation could never be viewed in isolation. He believed that a problem for one person or group, was a problem for all human beings. Kumar staked his entire professional… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Human Rights
HRW: Rohingya Genocide Case Moves to Judgment
World Court Concludes Hearings in Gambia’s Landmark Action Against Myanmar by David Esposito & Shayna Bauchner, Human Rights Watch, New York, January 29, 2026 On January 29, the three-week hearings on the merits of Gambia’s genocide case against Myanmar before the International Court of Justice came to a close. The case, filed in 2019, alleges that Myanmar’s… Read more »
ITJP & GSF: Justice & Reparations Needs of Exiled Tamil Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence
Opening a Conversation by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka & Global Survivors Fund, London, January 2026 GRS_Sri_Lanka_January2026 Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION 7 2. THE CONSULTATION PROCESS 9 2.1. Design 9 2.2. Phase 1: Preparatory phase 9 2.3. Phase 2: Implementation phase 10 3. FINDINGS 15 3.1. The impact of CRSV on victims,… Read more »
OSLAP: Preserving Evidence
Advancing Accountability for Sri Lanka by OHCHR’s Sri Lanka Accountability Project, September 1, 2025 250919-infographic-oslap-s-repository-for sri lanka evidence A Snapshot of OHCHR Sri Lanka Accountability Project’s Repository Understanding OSLap’s Repository What it is • OSLap’s repository contains over 112,000 materials documenting human rights violations, abuses, and serious crimes committed in Sri Lanka over the past… Read more »
HRW: UN Finds Systemic Sexual Violence During Civil War
Impunity Prevails for Abuses Against Women, Men; Survivors Suffer for Years by Human Rights Watch, New York, January 14, 2026 (Geneva) – A new United Nations report about sexual violence related to Sri Lanka’s civil war is another step forward in the struggle for accountability for crimes under international law that were committed in Sri Lanka, Human Rights Watch… Read more »
Amnesty: OHCHR Report Must Spur Government Action
On accountability for conflict-related sexual violence by Amnesty International, London, January 13, 2026 Responding to a new report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on accountability for conflict-related sexual violence committed in the context of Sri Lanka’s internal armed conflict, Smriti Singh, Amnesty International’s South Asia Director, said: “This important report… Read more »
OHCHR Brief on Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sri Lanka
by Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, January 13, 2026 Entire report: OHCHR CRSV brief English January 2026 and 2026-crsv-brief-english.pdf Executive Summary OHCHR brief on sexual violence in Sri Lanka Executive Summary January 2026 “We Lost Everything – Even Hope For Justice” OHCHR Brief on Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sri Lanka… Read more »
The Façade of Accountability
Disappearances in Sri Lanka by Wasana Punyasena, Boston College Third World Law Journal, Vol.3, Issue 1, January 2003 The Facade of Accountability Disappearances in Sri Lanka Punyasena 2003 Abstract: The current ceasefire between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam marks a watershed moment for the government to finally implement effective… Read more »
Paranagama Commission Report 2015
by Paranagama Commission, August 2015 Paranagama Commission report Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Complaints of Abductions and Disappearances 2015 Acknowledgements In presenting this Report of our Commission to His Excellency the President I, as Chairman, wish to place on record my grateful thanks to all those who played a part in making this Report possible…. Read more »
BTF: Militarisation and Buddhisisation Continue in the Tamil Homeland
Exposing the Futility of Domestic Accountability in Sri Lanka by British Tamils Forum, London, January 4, 2026 BTF Militarisation and Buddhisisation Jan 2026 The British Tamils Forum (BTF) strongly denounces the Sinhala Buddhist hegemony for the illegal erection of the Tissa Vihara on privately owned land belonging to the Tamil people. Amid the systematic destruction… Read more »
‘Terrorism’ Versus Civil Liberties
The NPP’s clear betrayal of campaign promises by Kishali Pinto-Jayawardene, Sunday Times, Colombo, December 28, 2025 President Anura Kumara Dissaayake’s determination to ‘repeal and replace’ Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) with a law that balances security concerns and civil liberties for ‘rights focused governance’ was explained in great detail when interviewed by Newsweek… Read more »
Can a Corporation Be Complicit in War Crimes?
Sweden Is Trying to Find Out by M. Gessen, Opinion Columnist, The New York Times, Dec. 30, 2025 At the end of the 1990s, a Swedish company called Lundin Oil started drilling in a war-torn region of what was then Sudan. To secure the drilling sites, the company contracted with the Sudanese government. Over the… Read more »
HRW: Sri Lanka Struggles in Aftermath of Devastating Cyclone
Longstanding Discrimination Against Marginalized Communities Worsens Catastrophe by Meenakshi Ganguly, Deputy Asia Director, Human Rights Watch, New York, December 11, 2025 Sri Lanka is suffering a series of floods and landslides brought upon by Cyclone Ditwah this past November. Climate experts believethe intensity of seasonal storms, which also recently devastated Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia, are likely… Read more »
The Great Flood
by B. Skanthakumar, Polity, Colombo, December 5, 2025 Cyclone Ditwah ripped through Sri Lanka between 27 and 29 November. The toll is devastating. Seven days later, the official count is 486 deaths and 341 missing. To which should be added five navy and one air-force officer killed in rescue operations; and an electricity board technician… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Bloody Past is Re-emerging from the Soil
A blue schoolbag in a mass grave by Helen Regan, Kumanan Kanapathipillai, Kunal Sehga, Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Atlanta, GA, USA, November 29, 2025 https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/05/world/video/sri-lanka-mass-grave-hanako-montgomery-digvid . . EDITOR’S NOTE: This article contains images and descriptions that some readers may find distsurbing. Two human skeletons lie entangled on the rough earth – the arms of one wrapped… Read more »
Essential Jaffna Tamil
by N. Malathy, November 12, 2025 Sociological study of Jaffna Tamils is not extensive. We have not had a well-known academic among us in this area. Karthikesu Sivathamby’s books (“யாழ்ப்பாண சமூகத்தை விளங்கிக் கொள்ளல்,” கார்த்திகேசு சிவதம்பி, 1990; “Sri Lankan Tamil Society and Politics”, Karthikesu Sivathamby, 1995) about us are the best I have seen. All are… Read more »
‘Uprooted — Voices of Tamil Dispossession and Resilience’
MEDIA RELEASE Uprooted — Voices of Tamil Dispossession and Resilience MP4 video of Mr. Ana Pararajasingham on his book — fa06ec34-bcfd-4e5c-8597-290df08410c0 Published in late September and now available on Amazon, Uprooted explores the displacement of Sri Lanka’s Tamil people through the voices of those who lived it — thirty-four individuals across the globe who, while… Read more »
War Crimes Indictment Reveals a Hard Road to Justice for Syria
Prosecutors say a Syrian security official accused of torture hid in plain sight in Europe for years, protected by Israeli and Austrian intelligence agents. By Carlotta Gall and Saad Alnassife, The New York Times, Nov.12, 2025, updated Nov. 14, 2025 Our reporters traveled all over Europe, including to Vienna, to interview survivors of torture who will… Read more »
UNHRC 2025 Resolution on Sri Lanka
UK Core Group Statement to introduce Item 2 Resolution on Sri Lanka. Delivered by the UK’s Permanent Representative to the WTO and UN, Kumar Iyer. From: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Kumar Iyer CMG Delivered on: 6 October 2025 (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered) Thank you, Mr. President. I have the honour to… Read more »
ABC: More than 200 Skeletons Uncovered in Mass Grave
In Sri Lanka, exposing its haunting history by Nicholene Canisius, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, October 4, 2025 Saaratha Iruthayanathar was six years old when she last saw her father leaving to get groceries, during the Sri Lankan civil war. To this day, she still does not know whether he is dead or alive. While travelling by… Read more »