The Colombo government has issued a new map of Mullaiththeevu district on September 25, when SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa attended a ‘special’ District Development Council (DDC) meeting of Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts in Ki’linochchi…
Almost all of the 11,789 people belonging to 3,536 families in the ‘Weli Oya’ division are Sinhala settlers.
Posts Categorized: Human Rights
Wikileaks: US, Norway Planned To Arm-Twist SL
Hattrem summarized the Norwegian view of the challenges to finding out about war crimes: that in all likelihood only 2-3 army officers knew about any given illegal action, that orders were given verbally, that government officials will not give evidence, and that the Tamils are afraid to give evidence. Strommen suggested that although Williamson cannot use information given by the ICRC directly, that information may be used as a cross-check against information gathered from other sources. Stangeland said that the Norwegian government was shocked by the extent to which, in the last stages of the conflict, the Sri Lankan army and government (a) said that its actions were proportionate, which turned out to be false, and (b) violated every guaranteed civilian “safe zone” that was supposedly put into place.
‘Death toll in LTTE war HIGHER than Srebrenica, Syria’
The war against the LTTE, waged by the Mahinda Rajapakse government, may have restored peace in Sri Lanka. But thousands of Tamils paid the price for the so-called victory with their lives, journalist Frances Harrison tells Vicky Nanjappa.
Interview with Frances Harrison on Palaka’ni
Former BBC Correspondent to Sri Lanka, and the author of ‘Still Counting The Dead’, Frances Harrison, interviewed by Palaka’ni, TamilNet.
Creating Historical Fiction on Mu’l’livaaykkaal
Julian Vigo: I got involved because I was working on child trafficking projects in Haiti and was approached by two different members of the UN who asked me to make a report about what they witnessed in Sri Lanka that resembled much of what they were seeing in Haiti.
ICG: Action Plan, But No Action
In the six months since the Human Rights Council’s March 2012 resolution on “Promoting Reconciliation and Accountability in Sri Lanka”, the government of Sri Lanka has taken no meaningful steps to implement the resolution’s core requirements or otherwise address the country’s culture of impunity and deepening crisis of the rule of law. The publication of a “national action plan” to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) does nothing the change this…
USTPAC Applauds U.S. Lawmakers’ Letter-Writing Campaign to Secretary Clinton
“We respectfully urge you and your colleagues to purposefully and dynamically engage with the government of Sri Lanka in advancing reconciliation and accountability and a return to peaceful stability.”
Amnesty – No Real Will to Account
Amnesty — No Real Will to Account Shortcomings in Sri Lanka’s Action Plan August 2012 (PDF)
The Dialectics of a Genocide
The Fourth Eelam War IV ended in May 2009 and marked the decimation of the Tamil Tigers. By the end, this genocidal massacre claimed between 40,000 and 100,000 civilian lives. In June this year, I had the opportunity to interview TamilNet.com’s chief correspondent in the Vanni, Lokeesan who stayed on in Mullivaaikkal until a few… Read more »
Amnesty Human Rights Scholarship for Student Projects
Dear Colleague, Amnesty International USA is pleased to announce that continuation of the Patrick Stewart Human Rights Scholarship in 2005. Below my signature you will find a promotional blurb that I encourage you to email to student activists or post to your lists. Thank you for your assistance in promoting this exciting opportunity! Happy holidays,… Read more »
Human Rights Advocates Program at Columbia University
22 December 2004 Dear friends and colleagues: I am delighted to announce that the application for the 2005 session of the annual Human Rights Advocates Program at Columbia University is now available. I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to disseminate this information and application to human rights advocates based in developing… Read more »
Revisiting Rwanda’s Horrors
With an Ex-National Security Adviser By JOHN DARNTON, The New York Times, December 20, 2004 It was “shameful,” he added, that his administration refused to employ the term “genocide” for a period of six weeks. “It was based on the belief that if you used the word, then you’re required to take action,” he said…. Read more »
Human Rights Watch and Tamil Children
by S. Makenthiran, B.A., FCCA, Canada, December 19, 2004 There have been some reports by interested parties about the so-called seminar held on December 12, by Human Rights Watch in Toronto. It is made to appear that those who spoke out at the Seminar were Tamil Tigers. It was nothing like that. Many of us… Read more »
Child Soldiers and Sunny Beaches
by Ravi Gowribalan, December 16, 2004 Many Tamils once believed that the Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) play an important role in helping the people in the war-affected areas of Tamil Eelam. During the ceasefire, we have seen a dramatic upsurge in the number of international NGOs in Tamil areas and their interest in Tamil affairs… Read more »
A Rigged Dialogue with Civil Society
by Charlemagne, The Economist, London, October 2004 Does any of this sound familiar from the NGOs that comment and try to influence ‘ethnic’ affairs in Sri Lanka? — Editor How independent are the civil-society organisations beloved by the European Commission? THE European Commission knows it has an image problem. To try to fix things, it… Read more »
‘In the Name of the Buddha’ in New York Dec. 5
The controversial film is at another film festival in New York City – the South Asian International Film Festival and is sponsored by India Abroad and Salaam Theater. It will be showing at Chelsea Clearview Cinema at 12:00 noon on Sunday, December 5. For more information check http://www.saiff.org/program/program_day5.asp [The Sangam is most gratified that India Abroad, a New York… Read more »
Asylum Seekers Allowed to Sue Private Firms
for Human Rights Abuses by M. Chooki, News-India Times, New York, November 26, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/655.html A [US] federal judge ruled that asylum-seekers, who suffered beatings, unsanitary conditions and humiliation at the Elizabeth detention center in New Jersey in the mid-1990s may go ahead with a lawsuit alleging human rights violations against the private company that… Read more »
Plantation Tamils – The Oppressed People of Sri Lanka
By S. Makenthiran, B.A., FCCA, November 21, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/653.html Immigration in the nineteenth century In Sri Lanka live one of the most oppressed communities in the world. They are the plantation Tamils living in the central hill country. This unfortunate community has been treated like sub-humans by the successive Sinhalese governments that have been in… Read more »
A Set of Killings in the East
To The Editor, Sangam.org — The TamilNet news website of 18th November reported two killings in the East within a space of 14 hours. The first was the killing of a political worker of the LTTE at 9.45 PM on Wednesday by gunmen suspected to be paramilitary operatives working with the Sri Lanka military intelligence… Read more »
A Victory, But Little Is Gained
by DARYL G. PRESS and BENJAMIN VALENTINO, The New York Times op-ed, November 17, 2004 Does any of this sound familiar to Sangam readers? sangam.org/articles/view2/644.html Hanover, N.H. — The textbook urban assault on Falluja reflected well on the dedication, training and equipment of the American military. Unfortunately, it has not brought the United States appreciably… Read more »