Delivered by the UK’s Human Rights Ambassador, Rita French, Geneva, June 19, 2024 Thank you Mr President, This statement is by the Sri Lanka Core Group comprising Canada, Malawi, Montenegro, North Macedonia, the United Kingdom and the United States. High Commissioner, Thank you for your recent report on accountability for enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Human Rights
TRG Calls for Action and Accountability Following UNHRC Report
on Sri Lanka’s Enforced Disappearances by Tamil Rights Group, Markham, Canada, June 25, 2024 Markham, Canada – Over fifteen years following the end of Sri Lanka’s Genocidal war against Eelam Tamils, families of the forcibly disappeared are still searching for answers about the whereabouts of their loved ones. The recent UN Human Rights Office report released on… Read more »
Israel and the Leahy Law
by Charles O. (Cob) Blaha, JustSecurity, June 10, 2024 [It has been something of a mystery why the US military has been able to cooperate with the Sri Lankan military despite the Sri Lankan’s war crimes and worse since the US supposedly has laws requiring rigorous vetting before such cooperation. The article perhaps has some… Read more »
Reflecting on Sri Lanka in the Shadow of Palestine
A Hierarchy of Grief and the Politics of Mourning by Tania Perera & Asha L. Abeyasekera, Polity.lk, Colombo, May 20, 2024 On 18 May, Sri Lanka marked the 15th anniversary of the end of war. In 2009, many Sinhala people in the South took to the streets to spontaneously celebrate what they imagined as a… Read more »
Tribunal: ‘Horrified’ by Plight of SL’s Plantation Workers
Their wages remain far below the living wage required in the context of Sri Lanka’s current costs of living, following hyperinflation during the crisis, a recent study found by Meera Srinivasan, The Hindu, Chennai, June 12, 2024 An international tribunal of former judges from the region said it was “horrified by the stark realities” of… Read more »
Like Sri Lanka Once Did, Israel has Turned ‘Safe Zones’ into Killing Fields
But there is one important difference between the two cases: The genocide in Gaza is not taking place in the dark. by Neve Gordon and Nicola Perugini, Al-Jazeera, Qatar, June 11, 2024 While our eyes were on Rafah’s “Block 2371” – the small area in south Gaza which the Israeli military designated as a “safe… Read more »
TG: Nowhere to Hide
Tamil Guardian editorial, London, June 9, 2024 Britain’s Metropolitan Police made a significant announcement this week; only the second of its kind. A man accused of committing war crimes in Sri Lanka was arrested in South London. Though this is just a single person being investigated it sends a powerful message to those in Colombo… Read more »
TG: International Criminal Court and Beyond
Tamil Guardian editorial, London, June 2, 2024 Recent weeks have seen several senior politicians from the two leading opposition parties in the UK, reiterate the importance of ensuring Sri Lanka is referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Keir Starmer, the man widely tipped to become Britain’s next prime minister, called on the ruling government… Read more »
Burning of the Jaffna Public Library
43rd anniversary remembrance by British Tamils Forum, London, June 1, 2024 June 1st evokes the scar of the Burning of Jaffna Public Library in 1981, the irreplaceable asset of Tamil people. This calculated arsenic destruction was one of the major cultural genocides against Tamil people masterminded by Sri Lankan state to destroy historic evidence of Tamil… Read more »
Second Arrest inn UK’s Sri Lanka War Crimes Investigation
Police appeal for information by uknip427 (UK News in Pictures, June 5, 2024 Counter Terrorism detectives investigating allegations of war crimes linked to the Sri Lankan civil war in the early 2000s are appealing for anyone who might have information that could assist their investigation to contact police. The appeal comes after a second UK-based… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields Cast a Long Shadow
Impunity for crimes committed during the civil war has fuelled post-war repression in Sri Lanka. by Al Jazeera, May 18, 2024 By Madura Rasaratnam and Ambihai Akilan Published On 18 May 202418 May 2024 Today we mark the 15th anniversary of the bloody end of Sri Lanka’s three-decades-long civil war. This anniversary comes around at a critical historical… Read more »
Recognising Genocide
by Tamil Guardian, London, May 25, 2024 Tamils across the world marked the 15th anniversary of the massacres at Mullivaikkal last week. Thousands gathered, en masse in public commemorations and in private ceremonies at homes, to pay tribute to those who were killed by the Sri Lankan state. As they did so, they were clear… Read more »
Amnesty: Fifteen Years After the End of War, Victims Still Await Justice at Mullivaikkal
by Amnesty International, London, May 18, 2024 Victims still await justice at Mullivaikkal, Sri Lanka (amnesty.org) Speaking at a commemoration marking the 15th anniversary of the end of Sri Lanka’s internal armed conflict on 18 May 2009, which culminated in the brutal Mullivaikkal offensive where countless civilian lives were lost, Agnès Callamard, Secretary General at Amnesty… Read more »
The Burden of War Widows
Gendered consequences of war and peace-building in Sri Lanka by Karen Brounéus, Erika Forsberg, Kristine Höglund, Kate Lonergan, Third World Quarterly, Pages 458-474, Received 26 Aug 2022, Accepted 16 Aug 2023, Published online: 09 Sep 2023 Burden of War Widows Third World Quarterly Sept 2023 Abstract Research shows that war affects various groups of survivors… Read more »
HRW: Crackdown Over Civil War Anniversary
UN Report Calls for International Prosecutions for Enforced Disappearances by Human Rights Watch, New York, May 23, 2024 (Geneva) – Sri Lankan authorities have threatened and detained Tamils commemorating those who died or went missing in the country’s civil war, Human Rights Watch said today. On May 17, 2024, the United Nations human rights office issued a report calling… 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, New York, 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…. Read more »
Legacy of Enforced Disappearances Haunts Sri Lanka
by Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, May 21, 2024 “I have been looking for my son since 2009. I am now 72 years old and I will leave this world soon. Maybe I will get to see my son again or at least find out where he is buried,” said Kamala*…. Read more »
15 Years Today – A Massacre in Mullivaikkal
by Tamil Guardian, London, May 18, 2024 To mark 15 years since the Sri Lankan military onslaught that massacred tens of thousands of Tamils, we revisit the final days leading up to the 18th of May 2009 – a date remembered around the world as ‘Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day’. After providing an initial death toll of 40,000, the UN… Read more »
Sri Lanka: Accountability Needed for Enforced Disappearances
Sri Lanka must ensure accountability for decades of enforced disappearances – UN report UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights press release, Geneva, May 17, 2024 GENEVA (17 May 2024) – Sri Lanka’s Government must take meaningful action to determine and disclose the fates and whereabouts of tens of thousands of people who… Read more »
OHCHR Report – Accountability for Enforced Disappearances in Sri Lanka
by Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, May 17, 2024 Full report, with summary in English, Tamil & Sinhalese – Accountability for Enforced Disappearances in Sri Lanka – OHCHR report | OHCHR OHCHR report re accountability for enforced disappearances May 2024 Summary: Unofficial document This report, issued pursuant to the United Nations… Read more »