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 »
Posts Categorized: Human Rights
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 »
US Statement on OHCHR Report on Sri Lanka
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/human-rights-council-37-joint-statement-on-sri-lanka by UK Mission to the UN, Geneva, March 21, 2018 This joint statement was delivered at the 37th Session of the Human Rights Council on behalf of Macedonia, Montenegro, the United States & the United Kingdom the during the UN High Commissioner’s report on Sri Lanka, held on 21 March 2018. This statement is on… Read more »
Deputy HC Statement on OHCHR Report on Sri Lanka
by Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore, March 21, 2018 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22875&LangID=E Moving now to our written update on progress in promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka (A/HRC/37/23) between March 2017 and January 2018. We welcome the Government’s constructive engagement with OHCHR and the human rights mechanisms, including its cooperation with visits of this… Read more »
SLCPJ: Updated Scorecard on GoSL’s progress
by Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace & Justice, London, March 7, 2018 A narrowing window: our updated scorecard on the government of Sri Lanka’s progress on justice and reconciliation Today we release an update to our ‘Keep the Promise’ campaign, monitoring the government’s pledges to bring about a meaningful process of justice and reconciliation. Those… Read more »
VR: Res. 30/1 Implementation Monitor #3
UNHRC Resolution 30/1 Implementation Monitor: Statistical & Analytical Review No. 3 by Verite Research, Colombo, February 26, 2018 This is Verité Research’s latest study on the Sri Lankan government’s commitments on reconciliation and accountability. The ongoing UNHRC Session began on 26 February 2018, and will include a discussion on Sri Lanka’s progress in this regard. This report… Read more »
Sri Lanka Bans Cluster Munitions
The transparency now required of Sri Lanka as a state party to these treaties could help to formally answer questions about past cluster munition and land mine use. ITJP Universal Jurisdiction Combatting Impunity in Sri Lanka March 15 2018 by Mary Wareham, Human Rights Watch, New York, March 14, 2018 Sri Lanka has become the 103rd country to join… Read more »
Anti-Muslim Riots Signal a New Social Fissure
by ‘The Economist,’ London, March 8, 2018 Sinhalese nationalists may be looking for an enemy COLOMBO: THE trigger was supposedly a road-rage incident, said to have involved members of Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority, near the popular tourist destination of Kandy. A lorry driver from the country’s biggest ethnic group, the Sinhalese, ended up dead. Angry… Read more »