TO: Ambassador Devinda Subasinghe, Embassy of Sri Lanka FROM: Jim McDonald, Sri Lanka Country Specialist, Amnesty International USA RE: UN Human Rights Committee’s concluding observations DATE: February 24, 2004 On December 1 of last year, the U.N. Human Rights Committee issued its concluding observations (the “Observations”) on Sri Lanka’s fourth and fifth periodic reports under… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Human Rights
76 Tamil Political Prisoners
by Tamil Centre for Human Rights; Paris, February 24, 2004 TAMIL CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS – TCHR/CTDH CENTRE TAMOUL POUR LES DROITS DE L’HOMME (Established in 1990) http://www.tchr.netPress release Ref : B07F/PR/2004 24 February 2004 There are still 76 Tamil political prisoners and detainees Arrest and detention are legal in any judicial system. But when there… Read more »
Call to Increased Action for War-Affected Children
by UNICEF; originally published February 24, 2004 SECURITY COUNCIL: Plight of Children in Armed Conflict Reaches Watershed Stage [press release] [NEW YORK, 20 January 2004] – The battle to uphold the rights and well-being of children exposed to armed conflict “has reached a watershed moment,” the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on the issue told the Security Council today…. Read more »
War or Recognition of Realities on the Ground?
by Wakeley Paul; originally published February 5, 2004 WHAT’S NEXT ? WAR OR RECOGNITION OF REALITIES ON THE GROUND The question that confronts everyone, Tamils, Sinhalese and the international community is, how long are the Sinhalese parties in parliament intending to maintain the current stalemate? While nothing happens, who suffers more than the Sinhalese people? The… Read more »
Britain Puts UN Child Soldier Plan on Hold
by Reuters; London, February 1, 2004 UNITED NATIONS: Britain, angered that Northern Ireland appears on a UN list of countries where youths are recruited as soldiers in “armed conflicts,” has put on hold UN plans to crack down on the use of child warriors, diplomats said on Wednesday. Britain has asked Olara Otunnu, the UN special… Read more »
The Case for Direct Economic Assistance to the NorthEast
by Ana Pararajasingam; published January 18, 2004 [The writer is an Australian based Management Consultant, who, between March 2003 and June 2003 this year, was in Sri Lanka working with the LTTE’s Planning & Development Unit and the World Bank, UN agencies and the Asian Development Bank, to assess the needs of the war torn Northeast…. Read more »
‘Chasing Freedom’ on Court TV Monday
A COURT TV ORIGINAL MOVIE ‘CHASING FREEDOM’ STARRING JULIETTE LEWIS Monday, January 19, 2004 9:00 pm EST/PST Court TV Check your local cable listings for Court TV station Chasing Freedom will repeat on Jan. 24 at 9 pm, Jan. 27 at 10 pm and Feb. 22 at 10 pm Tune in to the premiere of… Read more »
Film on US Detention of Asylum Seekers
In New York Jan. 15 Invitation to Sneak Preview and Discussion New Film Shines a Light on U.S. Detention of Asylum Seekers You’re invited to a sneak preview of Chasing Freedom, a new Court TV movie inspired by a Lawyers Committee for Human Rights asylum case. Chasing Freedom stars Juliette Lewis as a corporate lawyer who takes on… Read more »
Aiding the Devil
by Saravanan Suresh Kumar, Bangalore; published January 3, 2004 By providing military aid to Sri Lanka, India is weakening further the current troubled peace process. We still seem to have not realized that the Sri Lankan problem is not one that can be solved militarily. We are creating new problems and not solving the existing one…. Read more »
Bloody Past – The ‘Disappeared’ Remain a Fundamental Issue
by Tamil Guardian editorial; originally published December 18, 2003 Bloody Past -The ‘disappeared’ remain a fundamental issue Though guns in Sri Lanka’s protracted ethnic conflict have been silent for over two years, the legacy of many bloody years remains. Last Wednesday the issue of ‘disappearances’ was highlighted yet again when a human rights organisation held a… Read more »
Status of Healthcare in the Vanni
by a Sangam member; originally published December 14, 2003 Many of my friends and colleagues have traveled to NorthEast of the island of Sri Lanka since the ceasefire agreement was signed between the LTTE and the government of Sri Lanka. There have been extensive reports of the destruction of 20 years of war, but none to… Read more »
What is a Refugee?
originally published December 10, 2003 IRC Brown Bag: How can we educate others about refugees? Tuesday, December 16th “A refugee? Someone who lives in a slum, maybe?” -Answer given by an American to the question “What is a refugee?” in Will They Ever Go Back?, an IRC-sponsored documentary How can we educate others about refugees?… Read more »
Celebrate Human Rights Day Dec. 10
originally published December 8, 2003 Events organized by Amnesty International around the US. Events at and around the UN in New York American Society for the Advancement of Science celebration in D.C. Rally in Palo Alto, CA for Human Rights Day *************************************************************** . Every individual has dignity. The principles of human rights were drawn up… Read more »
Part of 1996 Anti-Terror Law Overturned
By The Associated Press, December 4, 2003 Filed at 8:26 a.m. ET SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — In a potential blow to the Bush administration’s legal strategy in the war on terror, a federal appeals court overturned part of a sweeping law the government has increasingly used to arrest or prosecute suspected terrorists. The decision Wednesday… Read more »
To all Commonwealth Heads of State
by Suresh Rajasingham; published December 4, 2003 To all Commonwealth heads of state, There is lots of talk and news attention being paid to Mr. Kadirgamar’s challenge to Mr. Don McKinnon’s post of the Commonwealth secretary general. This is mostly due to Mr. McKinnon’s and the so-called white countries’ opposition to human rights abuses by… Read more »
Appeal to Commonwealth Governments
by Dr. Victor Rajakulendran; originally published December 1, 2003 An open appeal to the Heads of Governments of the Commonwealth member nations Honourable Presidents and Prime Ministers: Re: The candidacy of Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar of Sri Lanka for the Commonwealth top post I am writing this appeal when most of you are preparing to travel to… Read more »
Non-violent Peace Force in Sri Lanka
originally published November 29, 2003 http://www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org/english/srilanka/slpoutcome.asp In December 2002, 130 delegates from 47 nations chose Sri Lanka as the site of the first Nonviolent Peaceforce pilot project. The Nonviolent Peaceforce is recruiting, training, and sending 50 international civilians to help establish a foundation for sustainable peace in Sri Lanka between 2003 and 2005 The first… Read more »
For Family That Fled War
by Kari Haskell, The New York Times, November 29, 2003 THE NEEDIEST CASES For Family That Fled War, Safety, and Some Help, Too Zeenathul and Mohamed Zawril, back row, with their son, Ifraz, and daughters, Sahla, left, front row, and Sara. Mr. Zawril feared for the safety of his family because of war in their… Read more »
Indictment Against Sri Lanka
by Nadesan Satyendra from a 1993 booklet of the same name published in London by the Legal & Human Rights Division of the International Secretariat of the LTTE The island of Sri Lanka (known earlier as Ceylon) is 25,000 square miles in extent, situated about twenty miles from the southern extremity of the Indian sub continent…. Read more »
Observations of the UN HRC re Sri Lanka
originally published November 17, 2003 This report comes to us thanks to the Tamil Centre for Human Rights http://www.tchr.net. Note in particular reference to impunity, disappearances, torture, and the PTA. HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE(CPR/CO/79/LKA/Future) 79th session CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDER ARTICLE 40 OF THE COVENANT Concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee SRI… Read more »