A Crisis of Governance and the Fluidity of Ethnic Identity by Pitasanna Shanmugathas, University of Windsor Faculty of Law, Canada, Jurist.org. April 25, 2025 Edited by: Alanah Vargas | JURIST Staff, US Mark Salter, a journalist, analyst, and writer with over 25 years of professional experience in democratization, governance, and post-conflict peacebuilding, speaks to JURIST’s Senior… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
Richard Armitage Obituary
Richard Armitage has notoriety among Tamils for arming one side – the Sri Lankan government – which fatally destabilized the 2002 ceasefire between the LTTE & the government. – ED Richard L. Armitage, 79, Dies; State Department Official in a Turbulent Era While serving as Colin Powell’s deputy during the Iraq war, he found himself… Read more »
Selective Justice is Not Justice
Tamil Guardian editorial, London, March 16, 2025 Selective justice is not justice Mar 16, 2025 The aftermath of former Sri Lankan president’s Ranil Wickremesinghe disastrous Al Jazeera interview continued to reverberate across the island this week, after Colombo announced the tabling of the Batalanda Commission Report in Parliament. For decades, the report, which details the use of… Read more »
Ranil Wickremesinghe is Sri Lanka
Malaravan, Tamil Guardian, London, March 13, 2025 The ‘Sly Fox’ who compares himself to the Buddha and who deflects when questioned on accountability, war crimes and corruption. The recent head-to-head interview on Al Jazeera with Mehdi Hassan has brought Ranil Wickremesinghe back into the spotlight. The former Sri Lankan president was described as ‘childish’ and ‘callous’… Read more »
What is the Batalanda Report?
by Tamil Guardian, London, March 11, 2025 Following a disastrous interview with Al Jazeera’s Mehdi Hasan by former Sri Lankan president Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Batalanda report and his role in facilitating torture has come into the spotlight. We take a look at the report and at Wickremesinghe’s alleged role. What is the Batalanda Report? Established… Read more »
Al Jazeera: Who is to Blame for Sri Lanka’s Crises?
by Head to Head, Al Jazeera, London, March 6, 2025 When Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country in 2022 – amidst mass protests and an economic crisis– parliament elected veteran politician and six-time Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. As President, Wickremesinghe negotiated the country’s biggest bail-out, but his critics say he is part of… Read more »
TNPF: Letter to Core Group on Sri Lanka
by Tamil National Peoples Front, March 5, 2025 Tamil National People’s Front (All Ceylon Tamil Congress) No: 43, 3rd Cross Street, Jaffna 05 March 2025 Heads of Missions in Geneva of the Core Group on Sri Lanka Your Excellencies, Regarding a new resolution on Sri Lanka at the 58th session of the UNHRC We refer… Read more »
UNHCHR: Oral Update on Progress in Reconciliation and Accountability in Sri Lanka
[followed by statements by the Core Group & Sri Lanka below] Presentation of the High Commissioner’s annual reports on Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras Oral update on the situation of human rights in Nicaragua Presentation of the OHCHR annual report on Cyprus Oral update on progress in reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka Statement by Maarit… Read more »
NESoHR Responds to HRW Report ‘Living in Fear’ 2005
by North East Secretariat for Human Rights, Kilinochchi, February 2005 [courtesy TamilNation.org] NESOHR Karadippokudu Junction Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka nesohr /A_T/ hotmail /D_O_T/ com Tel: 021 228 5986 Fax: 021 228 5986 Established 9 July, 2004 This response is dedicated to Mr. A. Chandra Nehru, a fearless defender of human rights. We would like right at the… Read more »
ITJP: Valvettithurai – Testimonies of a Massacre
by International Truth & Justice Project, South Africa, March 2025 ITJP_VVT-report_Digital_Final-March-2025 [Tamil & Sinhalese versions available] This report uses the voices of those who were there to tell the story of the Valvettithurai massacre in 1989, one of the worst atrocities committed by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka. From 1987-1990, India… Read more »
Holding the Government Accountable for its Election Promises
by Groundviews, Colombo, February 21, 2025 During their campaigns for the presidential and parliamentary elections, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and his National People’s Power (NPP) party made several promises to voters on a wide range of issues including abolition of the executive presidency, repealing the Online Safety Act (OSA) and the Prevention of Terrorism Act… Read more »
ITJP: Dossiers
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, ongoing ITJP dossiers Sisira Mendis ITJP The-case-against-Sisira-Mendis-final 2016 Major General (ret.) Jagath Dias ITJP_Jagath_Dias_dossier-final_210816_120919 2017 General (ret.) Jagath Jayasuriya Profile & Command Responsibility ITJP_JJ_fact_sheet_1_v8.1 Joseph Camp Role ITJP_JJ_fact_sheet_2_v5 Attacks on Hospitals 2009 ITJP_JJ_fact_sheet_3_v6 Executions & Disappearances ITJP_JJ_fact_sheet_4_v4 Conflict Timeline & Map ITJP_JJ_fact_sheet_5_v5 August 2017 Major General… Read more »
TG: Sri Lanka’s Budget: Funding Occupation
Tamil Guardian editorial, February 22, 2025 Sri Lanka’s new president unveiled a much awaited budget this week, his first since taking up office. The self-proclaimed Marxist leader pledged spending that largely aligned with conditions set out in a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout. But, as commentators have pointed out, the budget demonstrates several… Read more »
Discovery of Skeletal Remains in Chemmani Reignites Fears of Mass Graves in Jaffna
The discovery of human skeletal remains near Chemmani, Jaffna, has once again raised fears and painful memories among Tamil residents by Tamil Guardian, London, February 17, 2025 The discovery of human skeletal remains near Chemmani, Jaffna, has once again raised fears and painful memories among Tamil residents, recalling the Chemmani mass graves that were uncovered… Read more »
Impediments to Agricultural Livelihoods among Ethnic Minority Farmers in Post-War Sri Lanka
Displacement and degradation Sinhalese (Buddhist) farming households have more viable agricultural livelihoods than Tamil (Hindu) or Moor (Muslim) households. While all of the Tamil and Moor household in our sample reside in communities that were directly affected by the war, only a small subset of Sinhalese communities are within the former conflict zone. Notably, Sinhalese… Read more »
Peasants, Paddy and Ethnic Space in Sri Lanka’s Post-War Frontier
Marginal placeholders by Bart Klem & Thiruni Kelegama, The Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol.47, Issue 2, 2020 ABSTRACT This study explores the political significance of peasant identities, rice cultivation and land struggles in the context of civil war. It comprises two agrarian settlements in Sri Lanka’s former war zone: a state-sponsored Sinhala settlement colony (Weli… Read more »
ITJP: Gamini Silva Dossier
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, February 17, 2025 Gamini-Silva-Public-Dossier_final ITJP Dossiers Gamini Silva [Full legal name: Palliyaguruge Sarath Gamini Silva (a.k.a. Gamini de Silva)] Date of Birth: September 3, 1953 Career: • Member of the National Police Commission (May 2023 – April 2024);1 [Retired from police force in December 2013];2… Read more »
ITJP: Swiss Legal Claim for Tamil Sent Back to Torture in Sri Lanka
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, February 18, 2025 ITJP 18-February-2025-Swiss-case-press-release Geneva: Swiss Lawyers have filed a compensation case for a Tamil man rejected for asylum in Switzerland, who went back to Sri Lanka only to be tortured and sexually violated again in 2022. The case filed by Emma Lidén and… Read more »
ITJP: 60+ Sanctions Submissions for Human Rights and Economic Crimes
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, December 5, 2024 ITJP_Sanctions_60_Submissions_for_Sri_Lankan_Human_Rights_and_Economic_Crimes_English Press Release: 60+ Sanctions Submissions for Human Rights and Economic Crimes in Sri Lanka and multiple universal jurisdiction cases. Johannesburg: The International Truth and Justice Project has submitted more than 60 sanctions and visa ban requests against Sri Lankan public and… Read more »
Himal: Yasmin Sooka on Truth and Reconciliation in Sri Lanka
State of Southasia #18 Himal, Colombo, February 16, 2025 A conversation on the failed attempts at accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka and hopes from the country’s new political dispensation for movement towards transitional justice. The Editors In December, the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP), an international non-government organisation working to promote justice and… Read more »