of the Missing and Disappeared But the provisions in the OMP Act make the body nowhere near what was expected in that Resolution. This reminds the writer of the concluding remark in the Final Report of the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) invited by the previous Government to oversee the proceedings of the… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Human Rights
ITJP: Video Testimony of Families of Disappeared
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, May 21, 2018
Tamils to Remember the Dead in Mullivaikkal
by Meera Srinivasan, ‘The Hindu,’ Chennai, May 17, 2018 Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran urges them to unite on the ‘tragic’ Remembrance Day Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran has called upon Tamils to set aside their differences and participate in the ‘Remembrance Day’ event, remembering those who were killed in Sri Lanka’s civil… Read more »
AI: Release Lists of the Forcibly Disappeared
by Amnesty International, London, May 18, 208 On the ninth anniversary of the end of the war, Amnesty International calls on the government of Sri Lanka to provide information to the families of the disappeared, with detailed lists and information of persons who surrendered to the armed forces in the final phase of the war…. Read more »
The Insistence of Memory
by Kate Cronin-Furman, The Los Angeles Review of Books, May 16, 2018 BY THE TIME I got there, the bones were gone. But eight years out from the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War, everything else was still there, carpeting the beach where the final battle was fought. Suitcases half-buried in sand, battered metal… Read more »
The Rohingya Crisis and the Meaning of Genocide
Despite evidence of systematic violence against the Rohingya, countries remain reluctant to classify the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar’s Rakhine State as genocide. Interview by Camilla Siazon, Kate Cronin-Furman, Interviewee, Council on Foreign Relations, New York, May 8, 2018 Human rights groups and UN leaders have condemned the violence against Myanmar’s Rohingya ethnic minority as bearing the “hallmarks of… Read more »
New ITJP Website Lists 280 Names of Enforced Disappearance in Sri Lanka
All in one day by International Truth and Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, May 15, 2018 ITJP Press-release-Disappearance-15-May-2018-english Johannesburg: Sri Lanka’s Office of Missing Persons is duty bound to question war-time military leaders over hundreds of cases of enforced disappearance that took place on the final day of the civil war in 2009 if… Read more »
280 Lankan Tamils, including 29 Children, Disappeared in One Day
The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) website has listed 280 names of enforced disappearances of people in Sri Lanka which included at least 29 children, a release from the ITJP said. by Press Trust of India in ‘Indian Express,’ Mumbai, May 16, 2018 About 280 Tamils, including 29 children, who had surrendered before the… Read more »
SL’s OMP Urged to Probe Star Generals
by Athula Vithanage, ‘Jounalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, Europe, May 15, 2018 Sri Lanka has been urged to probe two of its highly decorated commanders for the inauguration of the much delayed Office of the Missing Persons (OMP). The OMP that plans to “address the suffering” of a multitude of disappeared commenced meeting victims on… Read more »
NYT: At Least 29 Children Disappeared in Sri Lanka
Rights Group: At Least 29 Children Disappeared in Sri Lanka by The Associated Press in ‘The New York Times,’ May 15, 2018 COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — At least 29 children disappeared in the custody of Sri Lanka’s military after surrendering with their ethnic rebel parents at the end of the island nation’s civil war, a human rights… Read more »
PEARL: ‘Delayed or Denied?
Sri Lanka’s Failing Transitional Justice Process by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka, Washington, DC, May 14, 2018 PEARL’s new report, “Delayed or Denied? Sri Lanka’s Failing Transitional Justice Process”documents Sri Lanka’s failure to fulfill its transitional justice commitments and the complacency with which its intransigence has been received by members of the international community…. Read more »
Reckoning and Reform Loom for Sri Lanka
Pressure mounts to account for past actions in nation where even truth and reconciliation commission is lacking by Kingsley Karunaratne, ‘UCA News,’ May 10, 2018 Though the political turmoil in Sri Lanka has subsided the government has been weakened by a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, raised by a faction from his own… Read more »
Sri Lanka: Abduction Island
by Al Jazeera, May 10, 2018 Once a weapon of war, abductions are still happening in Sri Lanka. Is there justice for the nation’s disappeared? Video at https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/101east/2018/05/sri-lanka-abduction-island-180510041107399.html Sri Lanka has used abductions as a way to instill fear since the days of civil war. In the last three decades, 60,000 people have gone missing. Many… Read more »
1991: The Mothers Who Won’t Disappear
by Steve Coll, ‘The Washington Post,’ March 3, 1991 COLOMBO, SRI LANKA — The letter arrived by regular post in the afternoon. A mailman carried it up the walkway of a posh bungalow lined with palms and splashed with tropical light. The letter was handwritten in English, addressed to Manorani Saravanamuttu, a medical doctor and a child… Read more »
Can the Application of Universal Jurisdiction Foster Accountability in Sri Lanka?
A closer look at an important question by Ana Pararajasingham, ‘The Diplomat,’ May 3, 2018 At the 37th session of the Human Rights Council, which met in Geneva in February and March 2018, the High Commissioner for United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein urged member states to explore other avenues to foster… Read more »
ITJP: The Special Task Force
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, April 23, 2018 GATHERING EVIDENCE THE SPECIAL TASK FORCE This report on the Special Task Force (STF) is based primarily on the testimony of Sinhalese insiders who worked for the unit in the past and former Tamil paramilitaries. “This work in the white vanning unit… Read more »
Island of Impunity
‘Tamil Guardian’ editorial, London, April 24, 2018 A stinging new report from the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) has underscored the urgent need to clamp down on impunity in Sri Lanka. There is now abundant evidence that troops from the Special Task Force (STF), a foreign trained paramilitary unit, have committed atrocities, complete with… Read more »
State Dept: 2017 Sri Lanka Human Rights Report
by US State Dept., Washington, DC, April 24, 2017 State Dept 2017 Human Rights Report Sri Lanka EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sri Lanka is a constitutional, multiparty republic with a freely elected government. In January 2015 voters elected President Maithripala Sirisena to a five-year term. The parliament shares power with the president. August 2015 parliamentary elections resulted… Read more »
ATC, BTF & USTPAC Endorse UNHRC’s Call for Clear Timeline for Action on Sri Lanka’s Transitional Justice Commitments
2018-03-26 USTPAC_ATC_BTF Press Release UNHRC37 For immediate release: GENEVA, March 26, 2018: As the 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) ends in Geneva, the US Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC), British Tamils Forum (BTF), and Australian Tamil Congress (ATC) would like to thank Deputy High Commissioner Kate Gilmore for emphasizing the importance… Read more »
ICET Thanks HC for Urging States to Exercise Universal Jurisdiction
March 27, 2018 The International Council of Eelam Tamils (ICET) welcomes the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights for urging UN member states to exercise universal jurisdiction to foster accountability by Sri Lanka The UNHRC session started on February 26, 2018, with the High Commissioner delivering a scathing interim report on the intransigence of Sri… Read more »