UNHCHR Zeid statement Six years ago, we were confronted with serious violations and loss of civilian life in the last months of Sri Lanka’s long civil war. This Council has been deeply engaged with the need for accountability, as a necessary step towards reconciliation in that country. On Wednesday I will release the report of… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Human Rights
FM’s Speech at UNHRC
Statement by Hon. Mangala Samaraweera, MP Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka General Debate of the 30th Session of the UN Human Rights Council Geneva, 14 September 2015 Mr. President High Commissioner for Human Rights Excellencies Distinguished delegates I would like to begin by thanking you, and the members of the Council for the… Read more »
Minimum Requirements for an Accountability Mechanism in Sri Lanka
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, September 2015 Minimum Requirements for an Accountability Mechanism Sri Lanka has a dismal record of achieving truth or justice through the various Commissions of Inquiry it has established in the past, with no accountability of any kind domestically for any past violations. The context of… Read more »
Sri Lanka Join the ICC
https://ciccglobaljustice.wordpress.com/2015/09/10/sri-lanka-give-all-victims-a-chance-for-justice/ Sri Lanka: Give all victims a chance for justice ⒸPeter Pawlowski/Flickr With its new leaders promising to put Sri Lanka on a path towards reform and reconciliation, justice for grave crimes must not be neglected. By joining the ICC, Sri Lanka can signal to its citizens and the international community that it is ready to… Read more »
AI: Time for Sri Lanka to Act on Justice
By Amnesty International, 8 September 2015, Index number: ASA 37/2420/2015 ASA3724202015ENGLISH The Sri Lanka government must act immediately to deliver on its commitment to accountability and to end impunity and protect human rights, including by ensuring the conclusion of prosecutions and bringing about legal and institutional reform, including criminalization of enforced disappearances, legal recognition of… Read more »
Amb. Stephen Rapp on Sri Lanka’s War Crimes Investigation
At the end of August, the United States announced that it would support Sri Lanka’s plan for investigating alleged war crimes that occurred during the final years of the country’s long-running civil war, which ended in 2009. This announcement signaled a shift in position for the State Department, which had long insisted on an international… Read more »
US Stand on Sri Lanka Perverts International Justice
AT the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva next week, the US is to sponsor a resolution on war crimes in Sri Lanka, in collaboration with the Colombo government. This is despite wide recognition that Sri Lankan leaders are implicated in these war crimes. The resolution is said to ask for a domestic… Read more »
Missing, Missing, Missing for 25 Years ….
(Officer in charge of the Vantharumoolai refugee camp, 1990) Many may not know that when September 5, 2015 dawns it will be 25 years of waiting for 158 families who ‘lost’ a member or two on that day in 1990 from the VANTHARUMOOLAI REFUGFEE CAMP at the Eastern University. They did not go missing as… Read more »
Promise of Justice
The visit by senior US officials, Nisha Biswal and Tom Malinowski this week, and the US’ endorsement of a domestic process of accountability into mass atrocities committed against the Tamil people during the end of the armed conflict in 2009 has been met with a sense of relief by the Sri Lankan government and was… Read more »
Sri Lankan Parliament Urged to Repeal Anti-terror Act
The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) has called upon newly-elected Members of Parliament to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), dubbed by human rights activists as draconian, in two months. ‘Dangerous laws’ In a statement, Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon, Executive Director (CaFFE), termed the PTA as more dangerous than emergency laws and said… Read more »
Tamil Women in Post-War Sri Lanka
A white paper by Nimmi Gowrinathan and Kate Cronin-Furman, City University of New York Colin Powell School, August 28, 2015 Tamil Women in Post-War Sri Lanka Nimmi Gowrinathan Kate Cronin-Furman ABSTRACT In this report we document the negative impacts of 6 years of militarization on Tamil women’s lives in Sri Lanka. Based on over fifty… Read more »
A Public Library in Sri Lanka Welcomes New Readers
by Julie McCarthy, National Public Radio, Washington, DC, August 19, 2015 Listen to the Story A Public Library in Sri Lnka Welcomes New Readers Jaffna Library 4:24 Rising two stories and capped by three domes, the Jaffna Public Library looks a bit like a stately wedding cake. Gleaming white under the Sri Lanka sun, the… Read more »
NPC: Resolution on the Need for an International Mechanism
NPC Resolution on Need for International Mechanism RESOLUTION ON THE NEED FOR AN INTERNATIONAL MECHANISM Acknowledging the long standing efforts of United States, India along with the international community in securing justice, rights, peace and security to this troubled Island Recognizing the efforts of the international community through the UNHRC process towards investigating and… Read more »
Finding Peace in Post-war Sri Lanka
Biswal in Colombo
“We fundamentally support efforts to create a credible domestic process for accountability and reconciliation,” Biswal noted…
The Assistant Secretary for Human Rights cautioned however that the Sri Lankan Government would be judged based on actions and not promises.
Both officials who also met with representatives of the Tamil National Alliance last morning acknowledged that the Government would have to build trust and confidence in the domestic process to investigate the alleged violations in war time, since domestic mechanisms had consistently failed or failed to take off.
“The failures of the past are very much on our minds,” Malinowski said, “which is why there is an emphasis on trust-building.”
Sirisena Visits Trincomalee Naval Base Amid Reports of Torture Sites
Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday has visited the Trincomalee naval base, which has been widely and credibly accused to have housed secret torture camps, where hundreds of Tamils have been brutally tortured and raped during and after the war. According to President’s media unit, President Sirisena has made an “inspection tour” to the… Read more »
MP Sampanthan’s Speech in Sampur
MP Sampanthan Speech Questions & Answers Pres. Sirisena Speech
A Still Unfinished War
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa & UK, July 2015 Full report [PDF] — Stop-Torture-Report Original [PDF] ‘The Diplomat’ commentary by Taylor Dibbert Executive Summary This report paints a disturbing picture of a multifaceted assault of terror still wreaked in 2015 on Tamil families by the security forces in the former conflict… Read more »
Joint Letter to UNHCHR re OISL Recommendations
Joint Letter to HC Zeid_August18 2015 August 18, 2015 Dear Sir, OHCHR INVESTIGATION ON SRI LANKA [OISL] We, the undersigned representatives of the Tamil Diaspora, in exile from the island of Sri Lanka[1] , and Tamils from all around the world, would like to express our gratitude to you and your office on the task… Read more »
Tainted Peace
by Freedom from Torture, UK, August 14, 2015 Full report [PDF] — Freedom from Torture Sri Lanka report All material on report — http://www.freedomfromtorture.org/features/8481 Torture has long been used in Sri Lanka to persecute minorities, crush dissent and stifle civil society. It is deeply entrenched in the fabric of the state and has persisted across the decades regardless… Read more »