Posts Categorized: Human Rights

CPA: Certificates of Absence

by Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo, September 2015 CPA Certificates-of-Absence-FINAL ——————————– Sri Lanka to issue certificates of absence for missing persons by LankaBusinessOnline, June 8, 2016 The Cabinet of Ministers approved draft legislation enabling the issuance of Certificates of Absence enabling family of missing to address practical issues relating to their disappearance. The draft legislation which… Read more »

From Ilankaiththurai to Lanka Patuna

by ‘Tamil Guardian,’ London,’ August 16, 2016 The newly-built Buddhist temple at Ilankaithurai – re-named Lanka Patuna by the government. A bridge is being constructed to improve access to the site for the increasing number of Sinhala visitors. Tamil Guardian co-editor and PEARL Advocacy Director Mario Arulthas travelled to Trincomalee last month to report on… Read more »

Impunity Reigns In Sri Lanka’s August 14, 2006 Bombing Of Schoolgirls

by Anjali Manivannan, ‘Forbes,’ New York,  August 14, 2016 Anjali Manivannan is Legal Researcher and Advocacy Coordinator for People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL). On August 14, 2006, the Sri Lanka Air Force bombed the Senchcholai Girls Orphanage, killing 61 Tamil children and three instructors and injuring more than 60–150 others. Ten years after… Read more »

CHR June: What is Happening with the PTA Detainees

by Centre for Human Rights and Research Sri Lanka, Rajagiriya, Colombo, June 13, 2016 Centre for Human Rights and Research (CHR) Sri Lanka has unveiled its comprehensive report on the Prevention of Terrorism act (PTA) ‘What is happening with the detainees now? The forgotten political prisoners under the Yahapalanaya. In the report CHR puts the… Read more »

Justice and Accountability for War Related Sexual Violence in Sri Lanka

by Chulani Kodikara, ‘OpenDemocracy.net,’ USA, August 15, 2016 As the testimonies of survivors of sexual violence in Sri Lanka’s long war enter the public domain and the government designs transitional justice mechanisms, is an end to impunity in sight? The Sri Lankan government is currently designing transitional justice mechanisms to address human rights abuses connected to… Read more »

Report Sought On Ex-Tiger Injection Scandal

by ‘The Sunday Leader,’ August 14, 2016 A report has been sought from the Prisons Department on claims that rehabilitated LTTE cadres were injected with a cancerous poison. The issue had been raised in Parliament as well last week with the Tamil National Alliance calling for an investigation. It was alleged that the injection had… Read more »

Human Rights Up Front & Sri Lanka

http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/general-assembly/agenda-items/promotion-of-human-rights/watch/human-rights-up-front/5077276050001 Overview [PDF] Detailed discussion, including origin in the Petrie Report on UN failures in Sri Lanka [PDF] by Gerritt Kurtz, ‘With Courage and Coherence: The Human Rights up Front Initiative by the United Nations,’ Policy Paper, Global Public Policy Institute, July 2015 Introduction During its final offensive, in 2009, the Sri Lankan army closed in on… Read more »

Consultation Task Force Releases Interim Report

Read the full report here: CTF Interim Report on Missing Persons or on their website The Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms Releases its Interim Report by Consultation Task Force, Colombo, August 2016 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY of INTERIM REPORT The Office on Missing Persons Bill and Issues Concerning the Missing, the Disappeared and the Surrendered. This interim report… Read more »

GTF Welcomes the Passing of the Office of Missing Persons Bill

by Global Tamil Forum, August 13, 2016 The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) welcomes the passing of the Office of the Missing Persons Bill (OMP) in the Parliament on August 11 as this is an important first step towards achieving accountability, justice and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. We commend the leadership shown by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government… Read more »

Crucial OMP Bill Rushed through Parliament

OMP Act Aug 2016 [PDF] CPA: Summary of OMP Video of FM Mangala Samaraweera’s speech during debate on OMP bill [youtube] OMP-Bill-Statement-TabledinParliament-11August2016-s [PDF] Entire process takes less than two hours By Saman Indrajith, ‘The Island,’ Colombo, August 11, 2016 The Joint Opposition’s protest enabled the government to rush the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) Bill through parliament… Read more »

UN Committee on Racial Discrimination Assessment of Sri Lanka Report

The UN Committee on Racial Discrimination (CERD) will assess Sri Lanka’s report submitted in October 2015 on August 15-16 2016 in Geneva.  CERD is a committee of 8 independent experts who assess progress of states parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.  The membership of the Committee can be seen… Read more »

Sangha and State

by Hannah Clare Durham, Bard College, USA, May 2015 Sangha and State An Examination of Sinhalese-Buddhist Nationalism Introduction While spending a semester studying in Sri Lanka, I became acutely aware of the post civil war issues that were being sorted out by the state. Daily newspapers displayed updates on new infrastructural developments and efforts to rebuild… Read more »

Amnesty: Summary of Human Rights Concerns during 1990

Amnesty Concerns 1990 Page 1 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SRI LANKA SUMMARY OF HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS DURING 1990 February 1991 SUMMARY AI INDEX: ASA 37/02/91 DISTR: SC/CO/PO This document summarizes Amnesty International’s concerns about continuing human rights violations in Sri Lanka during 1990. It describes reports of thousands of “disappearances” and extrajudicial executions by government forces in… Read more »

The Muttur Massacre

by Action Against Hunger, France, August 4, 2016 A decade after the killing of 17 Action Against Hunger staff in Sri Lanka, amid an increase in violence against aid workers, we demand greater protection for humanitarians On 4 August 2006 17 Action Against Hunger staff were murdered on our premises in Muttur, Sri Lanka. They were… Read more »

Sri Lankan Court Fails to Deliver Justice to the Tamils

WASHINGTON, Aug. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Six former Sri Lankan army corporals accused of murder and rape in the massacre of 24 Tamils including 13 children in 1996 in the town of Kumarapuram near Trincomalee were all acquitted on every charge on July 27 at a court in Anuradhapura.  The ethnic Tamils were targeted for murder and mayhem by the all… Read more »

The Halfway Mark

by Sri Lanka Campaign, London, August 2, 2016 The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) met last month to discuss, among other things, Sri Lanka’s progress in implementing the process they agreed last September to build a lasting peace based upon justice. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Al-Hussein delivered an oral update… Read more »

Crafting a Coherent Sri Lankan Transitional Justice Process

by Prof. Ronald C. Slye, ‘Groundviews,’ Colombo, July 31, 2016 Text of speech made at the 17th Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lecture, 31st July 2016 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.  It is one of the greatest honors of my professional life to be asked to deliver this lecture in honor of Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam.  Neelan embodied all of… Read more »

Alternate Report to CERD

by National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL), Centre for Human Rights Development (CHRD), Minority Rights Group International (MRG), August 2016 ALTERNATIVE REPORT TO THE UN COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION (CERD) CERD_NGO_LKA_24606_E