by International Truth and Justice Project, South Africa, April 8, 2020 ITJPSL.COM ITJPSL /A_T/ GMAIL /D_O_T/ COM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: YASMIN SOOKA English ITJP_COVID-19 press release (Merged) copy PRESS RELEASE: Sri Lanka’s Militarisation of COVID-19 Response Accompanying Infographic Johanesburg: The lack of civilian oversight over Sri Lanka’s militarised COVID-19 response raises some very serious human rights… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Human Rights
Justice for War Victims, Covid-19 & the Presidential Pardon
to a convicted criminal by Kumarathasan Rasingam – Secretary – The Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Org., April 9, 2020 President Gotabaya’s pardon of a convicted criminal to let him loose to prowl free on the streets is only a licence and encouragement for him and other similar minded criminals to embark on a… Read more »
AI: Religious Minorities Must Have Their Final Rites Respected
by Amnesty International, London, April 3, 2020 Sri Lanka’s authorities must respect the right of religious minorities to carry out the final rites of their relatives in accordance with their own traditions unless they can show that restrictions are needed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Amnesty International said today. Two of the early COVID-19-related… Read more »
HRCSL Deeply Concerned by Presidential Pardon Granted to Ex-soldier Convicted of Murder
by Daily FT, Colombo, April 2, 2020 HRCSL writes to President saying pardon sends negative message, reinforces allegations of impunity and lack of justice for victims of violations Says SC judgment in Mirusuvil case considered landmark judgment Granting Presidential pardon to convict of such a judgment sets very negative precedent Says HRCSL would have been… Read more »
Sinhalization of the North-East: Seruwila-Verugal
by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL), March 12, 2020 Sinhalization of the North-East: Seruwila – Verugal – People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (pearlaction.org) PEARL is launching the 3rd installment of its “Sinhalization of the North-East” series, this time focusing on Seruwila-Verugal. This series examines the scope and impact of the… Read more »
Pres. Gotabaya’s Twisted Accountability & Justice
By: Thambu Kanagasabai – LLM {London} Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and PRESIDENT, The Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Organization. President Gotabaya Rajapaksha’s pardon and release of former Army Sergeant Ratnayake who was sentenced to death in 2015 for the brutal murder of 8 Tamil civilians including children in December… Read more »
Justice in the Time of a Pandemic
by Ambika Satkunanathan, Groundviews, Colombo, March 29, 2020 ‘What physicians say about consumptive illness is applicable here: that at the beginning, such an illness is easy to cure but difficult to diagnose; but as time passes, not having been recognised or treated at the outset, it becomes easy to diagnose but difficult to cure.’ The… Read more »
Arbitrary Release of a Convicted Military Officer Calls for a Rethink
On international strategies on Sri Lanka by Global Tamil Forum, March 28, 2020 PRESS STATEMENT 28 March 2020, London Arbitrary release of a convicted military officer calls for a rethink on international strategies on Sri Lanka The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) strongly condemns Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa’s decision to pardon and release Sunil Ratnayake, an… Read more »
Pardoning of Convicted Soldier Further Proof of Necessity for Internationalized Justice
by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL), March 27, 2020 (Washington D.C., March 27, 2020) On 26 March 2020, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa pardoned former Sri Lankan army Staff Sergeant Sunil Rathnayake, who was convicted in 2015 of participating in the December 2000 massacre of eight Tamil civilians, including a five-year old… Read more »
TGTE: Sri Lanka Pardons a Soldier Sentenced to Death for Killing Tamil Civilians
by Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, New York, March 27, 2020 Sri Lanka is the first country to take advantage of Coronavirus crisis to persecute a community.” — Visivanathan Rudrakumaran NEW YORK, USA, March 27, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ — While the World Reels from the Coronavirus, Sri Lankan President Instead Focuses on Perpetuating Immunity for Int’l… Read more »
OHCHR Press Briefing Note on Sri Lanka
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Rupert Colville Location: Geneva Date: 27 March 2020 Subject: Sri Lanka We are troubled by reports that the convicted perpetrator of the Mirusuvil massacre, in Sri Lanka, has received a Presidential Pardon and was released from jail this week. Former Army sergeant Sunil Ratnayake was sentenced in 2015… Read more »
Sri Lankan Leader Frees Soldier Convicted in Civilian Deaths
by Associated Press in The New York Times, March 26, 2020 COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s president on Thursday freed a soldier who was sentenced to death for killing eight civilians during the country’s civil war. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office said he pardoned Sunil Ratnayake and ordered the justice ministry to release him. Ratnayake… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic
A military mindset by Thusiyan Nandakumar, The Polis Project, London, March 2020 This is part of a series of conversations interrogating militarization of medicine and public health and its adverse effects as various communities deal with COVID19. You can watch the video of this conversation with Dr Thusiyan Nandakumar on our Instagram handle In the… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Sixth Amendment
a Violation of UN Charter and Fundamental Human Rights by Thambu Kanagasabai, PRESIDENT, The Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Organization Late President JR Jayewardene of Sri Lanka after allowing and being complicit in the massacres of Tamils in the 1977, 1983 pogroms and justifying them as a normal reaction of Sinhalese to take revenge… Read more »
Biloela (பிலொ-ஈலா) Tamil Family Symbolizes Our Plight
by N. Malathy, March 16, 2020 We are ONE but We are Many From all the Lands on Earth We come We’ll share a dream and sing in one Voice I am, You are, WE are Australians A verse by a supporter of the Biloela family. Nades and Priya arrived by boats in Australia seeking… Read more »
ICRC 1995 Annual Report
by International Committee of the Red Cross, May 31, 1996 ICRC 1995 annual report for Sri Lanka
Statement by the President on the Situation in Sri Lanka and Detainee Photographs
by US President Barack Obama, Office of the Press Secretary, The White House, Washington, DC, May 13, 2009 For Immediate Release May 13, 2009 STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT ON THE SITUATION IN SRI LANKA AND DETAINEE PHOTOGRAPHS South Drive 4:12 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Sorry to keep you guys waiting. Good to see… Read more »
Tsunami Disaster & the People in the Northeast
of the island of Sri Lanka by Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, December 29, 2004 Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation Media Release Press Conference at Swiss TRO Headquarters, Geneva “Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation has grave concerns that our ability to respond in a timely manner is being hindered by excessive administrative, bureaucratic and control requirements ” Contact: Director, Disaster Management… Read more »
Banning of Silva is a Small Victory for Tamils
by Visvajit Sriramranjan, The Hofstra Chronicle, NY, February 25, 2020 Last week, Shavendra Silva, the chief of the Sri Lankan Army, was banned from entering the United States. Silva is a known war criminal who spearheaded the genocide of the Tamil people, an ethnic minority group native to southern India as well as northern and… Read more »
Report of the SR on Freedom of Religion to Sri Lanka
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session43/Pages/ListReports.aspx A/HRC/43/48/Add.2 Advance Unedited Version Distr.: General 28 February 2020 Original: English Human Rights Council Forty-third session 24 February–20 March 2020 Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Visit to Sri Lanka Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom… Read more »