By Bharatha Mallawarachi | AP in ‘The Washington Post,’ April 29, 2016 COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Hundreds of journalists and media rights activists protested on Friday to demand Sri Lanka’s new government start a fresh investigation into the abduction and killing of a prominent ethnic Tamil journalist 11 years ago, during the country’s civil war.Those demonstrating in front of… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Human Rights
The Return of the White Van
by Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice, London, April 28, 2016 The Tamil Guardian today reported two “white van abductions”; incidents in which unidentified persons driving a “Dolphin” van snatched individuals off the streets. This follows three similar incidents in recent weeks: former LTTE commander, Kanathippillai Sivamoorthy (also known as Nagulan), was reportedly abducted in Jaffna… Read more »
PEARL: Release Sivakaran and Other Tamils Held under the PTA
Sri Lanka must immediately release Sivakaran and Other Tamils held under the PTA by People of Equality and Relief in Lanka, USA, Posted on April 27, 2016 Recent spate of arrests and abductions raise further doubt about Sri Lanka’s reform efforts (Washington, DC; April 27, 2016) PEARL is deeply concerned by Sri Lanka’s latest arrest… Read more »
The Inconvenient Truth about Sri Lanka’s North and East
by Taylor Dibbert, ‘Huffington Post,’ Los Angeles, April 25, 2016 People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) has recently published a timely report. The document is based upon field research that was conducted in January 2016 and will be of interest to anyone trying to make sense of the new government’s performance since Maithripala… Read more »
Questions of Haste, Urgency and Consultations in Transitional Justice
by Niran Anketell, ‘Groundviews,’ Colombo, April 20, 2016 On a recent visit to the United States, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera made a revealing series of comments in response to a question at a forum organized by the United States Institute of Peace. When asked about the government’s timeline to introduce what the government calls “reconciliation… Read more »
New Report Raises Concern Sri Lanka’s Window for Reconciliation is Closing
(Washington, DC; April 20, 2016) A new report by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) provides details of ongoing militarization and harassment amongst the Tamil population of the North-East of Sri Lanka, over one year after the change in presidency and seven months after the election of the United National Party-led national government…. Read more »
Repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)
by Asian Commission for Human Rights, Hong Kong, date unknown There is no longer any reason for the Prevention of Terrorism Act in Sri Lanka; on the contrary, there are many compelling reasons as to why it should immediately be repealed. It was the existence of the LTTE and its ruthless violence that the government… Read more »
Syria: War Crimes and the Pursuit of Justice
AS DELIVERED April 14, 2016 Remarks by Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, at an Informal Meeting on “Syria: War Crimes and the Pursuit of Justice,” April 14, 2016 Thank you all for your powerful presentations. Thank you, Ambassador al-Thani, for organizing this event and thanks to all of the… Read more »
Capturing the Secret Documents
In hundreds of witness interviews, the CIJA found consistent patterns in interrogation practices across all branches of the security agencies. People were detained following the Crisis Cell’s policy. Besides identifying “new targets,” the results of these interrogations were shared among the agencies. Detainees were routinely kept in inhumane conditions for months or years without entering the judicial system…
Hamada’s account of atrocities at Hospital 601 was later corroborated by approximately fifty-five thousand photographs, smuggled out of Syria by a military-police officer known by the name Caesar, an alias. Before the war, Caesar and his colleagues had documented crime scenes and traffic accidents involving military personnel in Damascus. He uploaded pictures to government computers, then printed them and stapled them to official death reports. Beginning in 2011, however, the bodies were those of detainees, collected each day from security branches and delivered to military hospitals…
Between Caesar’s photographs and the CIJA’s case, Stephen Rapp told me, “when the day of justice arrives, we’ll have much better evidence than we’ve had anywhere since Nuremberg.”…
Last year, when Assad was asked about the Caesar photographs during an interview with Foreign Affairs, he said, “Who said this is done by the government, not by the rebels? Who said this is a Syrian victim, not someone else?”
US Report on Human Rights Practices 2015
http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm?year=2015&dlid=252975 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sri Lanka is a constitutional, multiparty republic with a freely elected government. Rejecting the re-election bid of Mahinda Rajapaksa, in January voters elected President Maithripala Sirisena to a five-year term. Parliament, elected in August, shares constitutional power with the president. The EU Election Observation Mission characterized the August parliamentary elections as the… Read more »
Sampur: Documentary Trailer
Thousands of individuals from across Sri Lanka have been displaced for years, some multiple times. For over a decade, the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) has documented issues related to displacement and returns, advocating reform and litigating on unjust and arbitrary practices. Two cases CPA has followed closely for years, supporting litigation and advocating land… Read more »
Political Prisoners and Sri Lanka’s Sincerity Crisis
That said, members of the international community who are greatly concerned with the provision of technical assistance and capacity-related matters may be missing a crucial point that precedes any thorough discussion regarding capacity: the coalition government’s sincerity. Is Colombo actually serious about fulfilling all of the promises it’s made? Are President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe really prepared to connect words with actions and stand up to Sinhala nationalism?
Disappearances in Sri Lanka & Role of Civil Society
Twelve challenges Primarily based on my personal experiences and considering the present context, I would like to share twelve challenges facing civil society in terms of addressing disappearances. Recognizing and addressing a deeply personal tragedy which has become immensely political and has legal dimensions. This will involve a holistic approach, including emotional, financial and legal… Read more »
No Foreign Judges?
President Maithripala Sirisena has recently said at a gathering of judicial officers that he won’t accept foreign judges in any investigation into human rights violations here. Stating that he has his faith in local judges and judicial administrators he has stressed the need to ensure judicial independence. President Sirisena may have his faith in the… Read more »
Accountability and a Political Solution
In a recent article, Ram Manikkalingam – a member of the Sri Lankan President’s Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) – argues that Sri Lanka must not prioritize accountability for mass atrocity crimes until a new constitution addressing Tamil autonomy is formulated, and that international human rights advocates must stop giving precedence to war… Read more »
Of Rape, Killings, Impunity and our Collective Amnesia
The passion and commitment of local women’s rights activists and others, although largely unsung, is awe-inspiring and we have the deepest respect for their work. However, this is not a struggle that they alone can accomplish. The state of violence against women and children in Sri Lanka, is our collective reality. The only way by which we can achieve any significant success in this regard, is if we also realise the collective responsibility – the government, the criminal justice system and society as a whole.
So, the question here should not be, if or not we should protest, but rather, that we recognize that protests are an integral part of the process, but, that it cannot achieve much on its own.
CPA: Infographic on Transitional Justice
Download as a PDF here or high-resolution JPG here.
Missing Persons & Beginning of Consultations
Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms under the Prime Minister’s Office has a website with an English questionnaire that is open until mid-April, 2016 for collecting opinons on transitional justice mechanisms at http://www.scrm.gov.lk/#!consultations/cjg9 ——– Meeting Held in Trinco to Discuss Missing Person Issue by Colombo Gazette, March 15, 2015 The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) and the… Read more »
Frt: Statement on UNHCHR Annual Report
Statement on High Commissioner’s Annual Report Remarks on Sri Lanka Ann Hannah, International Advocate and Researcher at Freedom from Torture, said: “We welcome today’s statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that “the voices of victims must be heard, free from surveillance and intimidation” if the transitional justice and reconciliation process in Sri… Read more »
Sampanthan Speech on Disappearances & Indefinite Detention of Political Prisoners
PLAN OF ACTION REGARDING VICTIMS OF ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES AND PERSONS HELD IN CUSTODY FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME Sampanthan speech-8.3.2016 enforced disappearances indefinite detention The former Government’s commitment to the ascertainment of the truth, it may be said, was highly questionable. The new Government needs to address this issue more purposefully so as to bring… Read more »