—FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE— International Truth and Justice Project Exposes Horrific Human Rights Abuses in Sri Lanka January 7, 2016, 7:00 AM PST Contact: Anuradha Mittal, amittal /A_T/ oaklandinstitute /D_O_T/ org Oakland, CA—On the eve of the first anniversary of President Sirisena’s election in Sri Lanka, a new report by the International Truth and Justice Project… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Human Rights
Survivors of Torture & Sexual Violence 2015
Silenced ITJP Jan 2016 Press release: “Silenced: survivors of torture and sexual violence in 2015” 7th January 2016. Johannesburg: New evidence has emerged of on-going torture and sexual violence by the Sri Lankan security forces one year after a new government came to power promising a radical clean up. “Sadly Sri Lanka’s notorious ‘white vans’… Read more »
What If the Tamil Tigers Weren’t Labelled as ‘Terrorists’?
How labeling a group influences the standards of civilian protection in wartime is a pertinent question. by Ambika Kaushik, ‘The Diplomat,’ Tokyo, July 24, 2015 The elections in Sri Lanka next month come just ahead of a much-anticipated report on the alleged war crimes by prime ministerial candidate and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government during… Read more »
Sinhalisation of the North-East
http://www.sinhalisation.com/ About Since time immemorial the island of Sri Lanka has been largely divided into two linguistic regions, the Tamil North-East and the Sinhala south. The North-East region encompasses the districts of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Mannar, Batticaloa and the littoral areas of Trincomalee and Amparai. It is a contiguous region that has traditionally been inhabited by Tamil speakers. This… Read more »
CTC Calls on GoSL to Release Tamil Political Prisoners
CTC calls on the Sri Lankan government to uphold promise to release Tamil political prisoners The Canadian Tamil Congress (“CTC”) is deeply concerned that the Sri Lankan government has failed to uphold its promise to Tamil political prisoners that it would review their cases and ensure their release by December 15, 2015. CTC is dedicated… Read more »
Denying the Right to Return
Resettlement in Musali South and the Wilpattu Controversy Shahul H.Hasbullah, Kandy Forum 2015. 124pp. ISBN 978-955-7902-00-5 Priced:Rs.500.00Denying the Right to Return is an in-depth academic study on the history of Musali South and the issues and problems of the displaced and the returnees. This study explores the historical, socio- economic, political and geopolitical aspects of… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Tamil Political Prisoners
by Taylor Dibbert, ‘The Huffington Post,’ Los Angeles, December 13, 2015 Just days ago, a Tamil political prisoner being held in Jaffna Prison commenced a hunger strike. Similar hunger strikes have taken place this year, although this behavior doesn’t appear to have changed the government’s calculus in a significant way. This issue has been a… Read more »
Sri Lanka Talks Big on Human Rights Day
Ruki Fernando, a human rights activist, says that the government’s decision to sign the convention “indicates interest…nothing more.” Fernando also mentions that, on other occasions, the Sri Lankan government “has ratified treaties and then brought in enabling legislation.” Sri Lanka still hasn’t criminalized enforced disappearances.
TNA Statement on Penal Code Amendment Regarding Hate Speech
The Tamil National Alliance is deeply concerned about the proposed Penal Code (Amendment) Bill placed on the Order Paper of Parliament on 11 December 2015. The said Bill was placed on the Order Paper by the Minister of Justice. The Bill seeks to introduce a new provision (Section 291C) to the Penal Code, No. 11… Read more »
Appeal by the Families of the Disappeared
We, the Families of the Disappeared have been searching for our loved ones and calling for justice, for many years. Many Commissions were established by the previous government to carry out inquiries regarding the missing. However, our search continues without any answers. In 2013, former President Mahinda Rajapaksha established a Presidential Commission for the Investigate… Read more »
Sri Lanka vs Human Rights: Encouraging Signs, More To Be Done
As International Human Rights Day was commemorated last Thursday, a top UN official said that there were encouraging signs that Sri Lanka will deal with human rights concerns related to the war but the new government was not willing to go all the way. Christof Heyns, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or… Read more »
HRW: Awaiting Justice For Trinco Five
The bright white sandy beach in Sri Lankan’s northeastern town of Trincomalee is as beautiful as any urban seafront anywhere. It was midday in October, with the sun too high and hot for tourists and local residents alike. A young Sri Lankan raised in New Zealand told me she had braved the undertow for a… Read more »
HRW: Justice for a Sri Lankan Massacre
Justice also is needed for the 7 TRO staff abducted & killed in Welikande by paramilitaries with the help of the armed forces at the end of January 2006, 7 months before the ASF murders.
Genuine Move or Red Herring?
by JS Tissainayagam , ‘Asian Correspondent,’ London, November 28, 2015 SRI LANKA’S Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera met with civil society organisations (CSOs) on October 29 to discuss public consultations for setting up a transitional justice project to deal with the mass atrocities committed during the country’s civil war. Despite this seemingly democratic practice, questions remain as to… Read more »
UN Expert Group Urges Sri Lanka to Seize the Moment to Fulfil the Rights of the Families of the Disappeared
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/newsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16772&LangID=E COLOMBO / GENEVA (18 November 2015) – “Sri Lanka has the opportunity to once and for all meet the rights and legitimate expectations of thousands of families of disappeared,” a delegation of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances said today. “Families have waited too long – the time for action… Read more »
UN Working Group Finds Secret Torture Center in Trincomalee Naval Base
COLOMBO: The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UNWGEID), which has just concluded its visit to Sri Lanka, had discovered a “secret underground detention cum torture center” located in the Lankan naval base at Trincomalee in the Eastern Province. Giving details of the “successful discovery” at a press conference here on Wednesday, Ariel… Read more »
Clarifying Sri Lanka’s Transitional Justice Commitments
With the recent passage of yet another UN Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka — dealing broadly with human rights, accountability and reconciliation — now is an opportune time to clarify and explain how Sri Lanka’s new government has said it will approach transitional justice. The interpretation of the resolution remains a source of… Read more »
What’s the Deal With Sri Lanka’s Tamil Political Prisoners?
Due to October, hunger strikes in prisons across the country (with prisoners demanding amnesty), President Maithripala Sirisena had given assurances that he would take a decision on this matter by November 7. Some have suggested that this meant prisoners would be released, but the next steps had always been somewhat unclear. There were subsequent reports… Read more »
CPA: The Long Search for Sri Lanka’s ‘Disappeared’
by Centre for Policy Alternatives, Colombo, November 13, 2015 13 November, Colombo, Sri Lanka: A new visual story produced by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) looks into the issue of disappearances in Sri Lanka, featuring some haunting personal narratives from families of the disappeared. The Presidential Commission to Investigate into Complaints Regarding Missing Persons (the Commission)… Read more »
Colombia: Agreement on Disappearances Moving Forward
The Commission has stepped up to the plate. It created an inter-agency working group to assist in fulfilling its charge. It will review and compare existing data bases on the disappeared; seek ways to improve procedures for finding, identifying and exhuming remains; and coordinate its work with victims’ groups and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It will also hold four regional forums and one national forum to collect proposals from academics, victims, and human rights organizations that will help inform their recommendations to the negotiators. Such forums have proven invaluable in earlier efforts to engage civil society in developing and sharing their proposals in relation to the particular items of the peace agenda.