in Cambodia’s ‘Nuremberg’ moment Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea are the two most senior living leaders of regime that presided over deaths of at least 1.7 million in Cambodia by Hannah Ellis-Petersen, South-east Asia correspondent, ‘The Guardian,’ London, November 16, 2018 About two million people died during Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime. Two of its senior leaders… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Human Rights
Amnesty: Don’t Impede Ongoing Investigations
by Amnesty International, November 19, 2018 Responding to the transfer of Nishantha Silva, Officer-in-Charge at the Criminal Investigations Department and key investigator in high-profile human rights cases, Amnesty International’s South Asia Researcher, Thyagi Ruwanpathirana, said: “We are concerned about the seeming interference by the authorities with investigations into key allegations of human rights violations including… Read more »
MAP: A Threat to Reconciliation & Accountability
by Andrew Ianuzzi, Richard J. Rogers & Heather Ryan, Justiceinfo.net, November 7, 2018 On October 26, former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was appointed as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. For the Monitoring and Accountability Panel, this political come-back risks undermining the limited progress made in transitional justice in the aftermath of a civil war that ended… Read more »
Halfway Isn’t Good Enough on Human Rights
Myanmar and Sri Lanka were praised for minimal progress. Now it’s all falling apart. by Kate Cronin-Furman, ‘Foreign Policy,’ Washington, DC, November 5, 2018 Thousands of Sri Lankans poured into the streets on Oct. 30 to demand that President Maithripala Sirisena obey the country’s constitution. The protests came after Sirisena shockingly announced that he was… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Homegrown Crisis
The constitutional chaos is rooted in domestic politics, not geopolitical machinations. by Taylor Dibbert, ‘Foreign Policy,’ Washington, DC, November 5, 2018 Sri Lanka is a country in crisis. The coalition government has fallen apart. President Maithripala Sirisena has dismissed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with Mahinda Rajapaksa. Sirisena also suspended Parliament until Nov. 16…. Read more »
Cushioning Approach to Sri Lanka
For its genocidal human rights violations by Thambu Kanagasabai , LLM [Lond.] Former Lecturer in Law – University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, October 22, 2018 Sri Lanka’s dismal record of human rights violations, abuses, encouraged by an institutionalized culture of impunity, commenced its journey in 1956 and is continuing undeterred and unpunished through local and/or international… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Tamils are at Imminent Risk after Rajapaksa’s Return
Following the former president’s return to power, international community needs to take urgent action to protect Tamils by Mario Arulthas, AlJazeera, Qatar, October 29, 2018 On October 26, Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and replaced him with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. This sudden challenge to Sri Lanka’s regime blindsided some political observers and members… Read more »
HRW: Political Turmoil Puts Rights At Risk
Failure to Address Past Abuses Underlies Crisis by Human Rights Watch, New York, October 27, 2018 (New York) – Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena’s decision on October 26, 2018, to appoint former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as prime minister has raised fears about a return to past abusive practices in the country, Human Rights Watch said today. The… Read more »
Amnesty: GoSL Cannot Afford to Fail the Office on Missing Persons
Sri Lanka: The government cannot afford to fail the Office on Missing Persons by Biraj Patnaik, South Asia Director, Amnesty International, 21 October 2018 https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/10/sri-lanka-the-government-cannot-afford-to-fail-the-office-on-missing-persons/ Amid the furore around the Joint Opposition’s political mobilisation last month, a key event was overlooked. The Office on Missing Persons (OMP), a key body, empowered to search for and trace… Read more »
ITJP: UN Repatriates Sri Lankan Peacekeeper for His Role in 2009 War
by International Truth & Justice Project, South Africa, October 20, 2018 ITJP UN repatriates Sri Lankan peacekeeper for his role in 2009 war …During the final phase of Sri Lanka’s civil war in 2009 Amunupure was second in command of the 11th Sri Lanka Light Infantry which operated under the 58th Division. A UN Investigation… Read more »
Enforced & Involuntary Disappearances in Sri Lanka
by Kumarathasan Rasingam, October 14, 2018 Tamil families of disappeared have been engaged in continuous and indefinite protests in five locations in the North and East for about 550 days. Mothers, wives, sons, daughters and relatives are on the streets in day and night in the hot sun, dust and rain demanding to know the whereabouts… Read more »
Mollycoddling Sri Lanka Doesn’t Work
by Taylor Dibbert, ‘Financial Times,’ Colombo, October 18, 2018 Mark Field, Britain’s Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, recently penned a terrible op-ed in The Daily Mirror. The piece coincided with a visit to the country. “First, it is important to recognise the positives,” Field writes. He… Read more »
Tamil Women’s Day
Honoring Strength & Resistance in the Face of Oppression by PEARL, Washington, DC, October 10, 2018 PEARL_Press_Release_Women_s_Day_2018 On Tamil Women’s Day, PEARL remembers the women who participated in the Tamil struggle for rights and self-determination, and honors the ongoing fight against oppression. October 10, 1987 marked the death of 2nd Lt. Malathy, the first LTTE… Read more »
The Failed Promise of Reconciliation in Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan governments have proven unwilling to acknowledge, let alone address, the root cause of conflict on the island. by Mario Arulthas, ‘The Diplomat,’ Tokyo, October 11, 2018 In the run-up to his recent address at the UN General Assembly, Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena struck a defiant note, blatantly rejecting commitments made to the… Read more »
TG: Veering Backwards
‘Tamil Guardian’ editorial, September 28, 2018 At the end of the UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) 39th session, there can be no more illusions as to whether Sri Lanka will deliver for the Tamils. Although the government queued up its customary showpiece to coincide with this session – this time a revamped counter terrorism bill – all evidence points to… Read more »
Transitional Justice Efforts in Sri Lanka Fall Short
by Meenakshi Ganguly, ‘Daily Financial Times,’ Colombo, September 20, 2018 The three-decade long civil war ended with a decisive Government victory against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009. Families of victims of enforced disappearances, frustrated by numerous Government commissions that provided no answers to the fate of their loved ones, have been… Read more »
Daunting Challenges Facing New UN High Commissioner
For Human Rights By: Thambu Kanagasabai, September 23, 2018 The unanimous approval of 66 year old MICHELLE BACHELET by the United Nations to take charge of the Human Rights Council from September 01, 2018 confirms her unquestionable eligibility and credentials to run this prestigious office which was set up in 1993 to uphold and protect… Read more »
MAP Calls For Independent Evidence-Gathering Mechanism
For Sri Lanka by Colombo Telegraph, September 30, 2018 Sri Lanka Monitoring and Accountability Panel (MAP) called for the UN Human Rights Council to set up an independent evidence-gathering mechanism for Sri Lanka with a similar mandate to those on Syria and now Myanmar. The organization made this request in light of the Sri Lankan government’s continued… Read more »
Trial of Guatemala Intelligence Chief for Genocide
Guatemala’s Former Intelligence Chief Acquitted of Human Rights Violations By Reuters, Sept. 27, 2018 GUATEMALA CITY — A Guatemala City court ruled on Wednesday that the crime of genocide had been perpetrated during the darkest hours of the country’s long civil war, but acquitted a former military intelligence chief of the killings. The verdict was the latest… Read more »
ITJP: Sri Lanka & Cluster Munitions
President of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Sri Lanka, Must Come Clean on Past Use by International Truth & Justice Project – Sri Lanka, South Africa, September 28, 2018 ITJP cluster-munition-press-release 28 Sept 2018