Posts Categorized: Human Rights

Bremen Tribunal Prosecutor Contextualises the Bellinzona Court case

by ‘HumanRights.de,’ Bremen, Germany, February 23, 2018 Dr. Andy Higginbottom was the prosecutor for the Bremen session of the People’s Tribunal on Sri Lanka in 2013. Last week, he, together with two of the judges at the Bremen Tribunal, Dr. Denis Halliday and Dr. Maung Zarni responded to the Bellinzona case at our press conference… Read more »

HRW: Key Elements for HRC 37 Statements on Sri Lanka

by Human Rights Watch, January 15, 2018 HRW Sri Lanka HRC37 letter We write to seek your support in ensuring that the upcoming consideration of Sri Lanka’s progress towards implementation of its commitments under UN Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution 30/1 accurately and substantively reflects the situation within the country, including both progress to date… Read more »

UN High Commissioner’s Report on Sri Lanka 2018

by High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, January 25, 2018 OHCHR Report on Sri Lanka 25 Jan 2018 Human Rights Council Thirty-seventh session 26 February–23 March 2018 Agenda item 2 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Promoting reconciliation,… Read more »

Rome Declaration

from ‘ICET,’ February 8, 2018 Rome Declaration in Italian & English – Rome_Declaration-english-italy-2018 Rome Declaration – 5 February 2018 1. The seven decades long genocide being committed by successive governments of Sri Lanka should be investigated by an international independent body outside the scope of Sri Lankan government-controlled judiciary. 2. Those tens of thousands who are still missing… Read more »

PEARL: Remembering the Kumarapuram Massacre

by People for Relief and Equality in Lanka, Washington, DC, February 11, 2018 22 years ago today, in a small Tamil village in the North-East of Sri Lanka, a group of soldiers murdered 26 people, left 24 others injured, and gang-raped a 15-year-old girl. Twenty years after the Kumarapuram massacre, on July 27, 2016, an… Read more »

‘Very Fair to Say SL Army Committed Genocide’

— Former UN staffer by ‘The Economic Times,’ India, from Press Trust of India, January 27, 2018 The atrocities committed against Tamils during the 25-year civil war in Sri Lanka amounted to ethnic cleansing and even today a huge drive is underway to change the demography of the Tamil-dominated region, noted photographer and former UN… Read more »

Panel in Washington discusses Transitional Justice in Sri Lanka

by ‘Tamil Guardian,’ London, February 5, 2018 A panel event on mass atrocities discussed the lack of progress made by Sri Lanka in the realm of transitional justice, in Washington DC last week. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Ferencz International Justice Initiative and the National Endowment for Democracy held an event on promoting justice for… Read more »

ITJP: : What Vetting of Sri Lankan Diplomats?

by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka & International Truth & Justice Project, February 7, 2018 ITJP JDS press-release-7-feb-2018 vetting SL diplomats Johannesburg: The UK, the UN and the international community have an obligation to step up their screening and vetting of Sri Lankan public and security officals for alleged involvement in atrocities during and… Read more »

ITJP: Brig. Priyanka Fernando in London

by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka and International Truth & Justice Project, February 5, 2018 On Sri Lanka’s 70th Independence Day, 4 February 2018, Brigadier Fernando attracted attention by thrice making slitting throat gestures to a crowd of chanting Tamil protestors outside the High Commission in London. The video of him, in full military… Read more »

UNHRC February/March Session & Sri Lanka

by Thambu Kanagasabai  LLM [Lond], Former Lecturer in Law University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, February 5, 2018 The 37th UN Human Rights Council is scheduled to commence on 26th February 2018 and concludes on 23rd March. During this session, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is expected to present his written interim report on… Read more »

War, Denial and Nation-Building in Sri Lanka

After the End by Rachel Seoighe, Palgrave Studies in Compromise After Conflict, Palgrave MacMillan, Dec. 5, 2017 Abstract This book begins from a critical account of the final months of the Sri Lankan civil war, tracing themes of nationalism, discourse and conflict memory through this period of immense violence and into its aftermath. Using these… Read more »

Diaspora Joint Letter on Independence Day

Tamil Diaspora Joint Letter on Sri Lanka Independence Day 2018 February 3, 2018  Honorable Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein High Commissioner for Human Rights Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Palais des Nations CH-1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland  Dear High Commissioner,  Tamil Diaspora Organizations call for action on the eve of Sri Lanka’s… Read more »

Nationalistic Authorship and Resistance in Northeastern Sri Lanka

by Rachel Seoighe, ‘Society and Culture in South Asia’ 2(1) 1–30, 2016 Nationalist Authorship Resistance in NE Sri Lanka 2016 Abstract Post-war Sri Lanka is defined by the logic of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism, glorification and expansion of the military, and the exponential growth of state-corporate economic projects. This article examines the performative politics of the state in mass… Read more »

Navy Officer in Charge of Dumping Dead Bodies at Sea Arrested

by Ramanan Weerasingham, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, Europe, January  31, 2018 Probing the abduction of Tamil youth in the capital city of Colombo and its suburbs during the height of the war, Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested yet another Navy intelligence officer charging him of being in-charge of dumping dead… Read more »

HRW: Repeal Draconian Security Law

Failure to Meet Pledges on Accountability, Counterterrorism Reforms by Human Rights Watch, New York, January 29, 2018 HRW PTA report Jan 2018 The Sri Lankan government has failed to fulfill its pledges to abolish the abusive Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). For decades, the PTA has been used to arbitrarily detain suspects for months and… Read more »

HRW: One Step Forward, Two Back

Government Delays Implementing Rights Pledges to UN by Human Rights Watch, New York, January 18, 2018 (New York) – The Sri Lankan government stalled on its key pledges to provide justice for conflict-related violations and strengthen human rights protections, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2018. The government took some steps in 2017 to reduce… Read more »

More on Yan Oya

Genocidal ‘development’ abetted by global partners seeks to wedge North-East by TamilNet, May 4, 2017 The occupying Colombo is trying to seize lands in the Tamil-speaking Kuchchave’li division of Trincomalee district in the Eastern Province to construct housing schemes for Sinhala settlers who have been moved out of their lands that were taken over by… Read more »

2007: A Proposal to Make Toppigala Victory Sustainable

Development of water resources in the Eastern province by G.T. Dharmasena, ‘The Island,’ Colombo, July 19, 2007 Former Director General of Irrigation and presently the Consultant to the United Nation’s Office for Project Services(UNOPS) At a moment the focus of all peace loving people of the country, irrespective of political divisions ,religions and races is… Read more »