SRI LANKA: UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW PLEDGES MUST BE FULLY IMPLEMENTED by Amnesty International, 20 December 2017, Index number: ASA 37/7630/2017 Eight years after the end of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka, the island nation’s human rights record was scrutinized again at the recently held Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in Geneva, Switzerland on 15th November… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Human Rights
Amnesty: Petition on SL Disappeared
Provide Accountability for the Disappeared in Sri Lanka by Amnesty International, December 15, 2017 https://act.amnestyusa.org/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1839&ea.campaign.id=75621 Up to 100,000 people have been made to “disappear” in Sri Lanka over the past 35 years. The Sri Lankan government must implement its promises to provide truth and justice to the relatives of the disappeared. Text of Petition: Message… Read more »
Sri Lanka Must Urgently End Arbitrary Detention
Sri Lanka must urgently implement reforms to end arbitrary detention, UN rights experts sayCOLOMBO / GENEVA (15 December 2017) – The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has identified significant challenges to the enjoyment of the right to personal liberty in Sri Lanka, resulting in arbitrary detention across the country. The experts recognize positive initiatives, including… Read more »
British Police Are Training Riot-Cops Linked to War Crimes
Undercover Footage Shows British Police Are Training Riot-Cops Linked to War Crimes in Sri Lanka Foreign aid money is being spent on a paramilitary style unit notorious for its brutality and linked to extra-judicial killings. by Phil Miller, ‘Vice UK,’ December 7, 2017 A still from the footage provided by Yardstick films shows the STF… Read more »
Recent Pieces by N. Malathy
December 14, 2017 1. This website, TamilTigerwomen.com is the byproduct of the project to record women’s history in the LTTE. A translation of some of their writing. The project itself is not complete yet. 2. Peopling an Island – the case of Sri Lanka (appeared in the telesur site, April 2017) 3. Rape: Sri Lanka’s Weapon of Genocide (appeared in… Read more »
Shadow Prison(s) in Tamil Nadu
by N. Malathy, ‘Economic & Political Weekly,’ Mumbai, April 1, 2017 EPW-Shadow Prisons by N. Malathy April 2017 These Tamil Eelam refugees are categorised into three types—non-camp refugees, open camp refugees, and “special camp” refugees. Non-camp refugees are people with sufficient resources to live on their own in rented places. They have received little attention… Read more »
Burying History
by Sanjana Hattotuwa,’ ‘The Island, Colombo, November 18, 2017 Over four years ago, I wrote an article on mass graves in Sri Lanka that could be seen using Google Earth imagery, serving as a solitary, virtual witness to what happened on the ground. The article focused in and around Nandikadal – the sliver of land… Read more »
BTF and USTPAC Commemorate International Human Rights Day
by British Tamils Forum & US Tamil Political Action Council, December 10, 2017 For immediate release BTF and USTPAC Commemorate International Human Rights Day – 2017 On this day in 1948 the United Nations adopted a universal set of human rights values that apply to all of us. The British Tamils Forum (BTF) and the… Read more »
A Hollow Attempt to Re-write History and Deny Justice
Lord Naseby’s ‘revelations’ by Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace & Justice, London, December 5, 2017 In October, a member of the House of Lords took to their feet in Parliament to argue that the UK Government, and other members of the international community, should abandon their long-standing and hard-fought push for accountability in Sri Lanka. Over half… Read more »
Selective Memory
Erasure & memorialisation in Sri Lanka’s North by Centre for Policy Analysis, Colombo, November 23, 2017 Viewable on picture rich Sway at https://sway.com/tErHAnhIQWtGz43d Prehistory; the kings of old and all the tanks, temples and kingdoms to their name; Dutch, Portuguese, British colonization; the struggles for freedom; Independence; the achievements of the first Presidents and Prime Ministers… Read more »
Dozens of Men Say Sri Lankan Forces Raped and Tortured Them
by Paisley Dodd, Associated Press, NY, November 9, 2017 (published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, NY Post, The Guardian and many others.) Video on report at https://www.apnews.com/ced017bd441f46ba838aaedf6ff5dbe2 LONDON (AP) — One of the men tortured in Sri Lanka said he was held for 21 days in a small dank room where he was… Read more »
PEARL Condemns Ongoing Torture & Sexual Violence in Sri Lanka
Urges U.S. Government to Re-Consider its Partnership with Sri Lanka (Washington DC, November 9, 2017) People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) condemns the Sri Lankan government for the torture of over 60 Tamils who have now sought refuge in Europe. The International Truth and Justice Project has gathered testimonies from these Tamil men,… Read more »
Joint Press Release on Peacekeeping Conference in Canada
by 10 Tamil diaspora organization, November 8, 2017 The video of the press conference is uploaded to Youtube and may be viewed here: https://youtu.be/qBNm2MBIsv4 Demanding accountability for international crimes committed by Sri Lankan Armed Forces attending 2017 UN Peacekeeping Defense Ministerial Conference in Vancouver PRESS RELEASE peacekeeping conference – Ottawa, ON – Nov 8 2017 For Immediate Release November… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Military Aren’t Ready to be Peacekeepers
Given Sri Lanka’s history in Haiti, its treatment of Tamils on the island, and its history of impunity, its soldiers should not be allowed to wear the blue helmet, writes Liberal MP Gary Anandasangaree. By Gary Anandasangaree, ‘The Star,’ Toronto, Nov. 3, 2017 The recent appointment of Robert Mugabe as the World Health Organization (WHO)… Read more »
Brazil Cannot be a Safe Haven for War Crimes Suspects
by Juana Kweitel and Sylvia Helena Steiner, Nexo Journal, Sao Paulo, Brazil, October 24, 2017 (translated from the original Portugese by Google Translate) Sri Lanka’s ambassador is suspected of having participated in the deaths of more than 70,000 people in his country. Itamaraty, however, gave him diplomatic immunity and did not publicly pronounce on denunciations… Read more »
Ilankai Tamil Sangam USA Announces Lifetime Service Awards to Medical Team who Served the Civilians in the Last Phase of Civil War in Sri Lanka
Ilankai Tamil Sangam USA recognizes the medical profession team comprising doctors, nurses, technicians, ambulance drivers and other volunteers who have gone above and beyond in their service to the internally displaced and war-affected people during the final phases of the civil war in Sri Lanka. During the times of war and great distress, they heroically… Read more »
Sri Lanka Must Step Up Progress on Transitional Justice, UN Expert Finds
by Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, October 23, 2017 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22274&LangID=E GENEVA / COLOMBO (23 October 2017) – The Government of Sri Lanka has not made sufficient progress in fulfilling its commitments on transitional justice and related reform processes, a UN human rights expert has concluded after an official visit to the country…. Read more »
HRW: Submission to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child
Concerning Sri Lanka by Human Rights Watch, New York, October 19, 2017 77th Working Group This submission relates to Articles 28 and 38 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and focuses on the protection of students, teachers, and schools during armed conflict. In its 2010 Concluding Observations under the Optional Protocol on… Read more »
Joint Civil Society Submission to the UN UPR
by Joint Civil Society, posted on Centre for Policy Analysis, March 2017 Final-Sri-Lanka-JCS-UPR-submission-March-2017 Introduction …The years 2012-2014 witnessed continued authoritarianism, weakening of the rule of law, shrinking of space for human rights and dissent and the exacerbation of the culture of impunity. With the regime change of January 2015 and the formation of a government… Read more »
The Militarisation of Mullaitivu District
Normalising the Abnormal by Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research (ACPR) and People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL), October 4, 2017 Clicking on each pin will open up more information about the structure in question. Locations of structures were determined based on six months of desk research and field research, and only pins that were… Read more »