American women at war by Nimmi Gowrinathan, Los Angeles Review of Books, April 2, 2021 IN ONE OF CHINUA ACHEBE’s lesser-known short stories, “Girls at War,” an elder government official, Mr. Nwankwo, is shocked when he’s stopped at a checkpoint by Gladys, a young Nigerian woman holding an AK-47. “He simply could not sneer at the girls… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
Arrest Of Jaffna Mayor Manivannan
Attorney At Law by C.V. Wigneswaran, Colombo Telegraph, April 10, 2021 – C.V. Wigneswaran The arrest of Mayor Viswalingam Manivannan gives food for thought. Few days ago a “B” Report is said to have been filed in the Chief Magistrate’s Court against me. I still do not know what the contents of the B report are. An arrest… Read more »
Mayor of Jaffna Released on Bail
After arrest by Sri Lanka’s TID by TamilGuardian, London, April 9, 2021 UPDATED 1730 GMT The Mayor of Jaffna, Viswalingam Manivannan, who was arrested by Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) at around 2.30am on Friday morning, was released on bail. Manivannan, was issued bail at the Jaffna Magistrates Court on Friday evening after paying a Rs. 2… Read more »
USTAG: Celebrating Bishop Rayappu
by US Tamil Action Group, April 3, 2021 Press release Bishop Rayappu Joseph FINAL For immediate release USTAG and Tamil Americans Commemorate Life of Bishop Rayappu Joseph While Tamils all over the world mourn the passing of the former Catholic Bishop of Mannar, Sri Lanka, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, Tamils in the homeland… Read more »
US State Dept. 2020 Human Rights Report on Sri Lanka
by US Department of State, Washington, DC, March 30, 2021 SRI-LANKA-2020-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ANNOUNCEMENT: The Department of State will release an addendum to this report in mid 2021 that expands the subsection on Women in Section 6 to include a broader range of issues related to reproductive rights. Sri Lanka is a constitutional, multiparty democratic republic… Read more »
When a Kidnap Marred George H.W. Bush’s Only India Visit
Rebel Tamil outfit Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front abducted an American couple from their Jaffna residence in May 1984. by T. Ramakrishnan, The Hindu, Chennai, December 1, 2018 The only visit of former U.S. President George H.W. Bush to India in May 1984 was marked by the episode of abduction of an American couple by… Read more »
1949 Speech by S. J. V. Chelvanayakam
Remembering ‘Thanthai’ SJV Chelvanayagam ( Born: March 31, 1898, Ipoh, Malaysia. Died: April 26, 1977, Jaffna, Sri Lanka) on his 123rd birth Anniversary, March 31, 2021: I. T. A. K. Headquarters, Colombo 18-12-49. Speech delivered on December 18, 1949 at the Inaugural business meeting of Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) by S. J. V. Chelvanayakam… Read more »
TIC: UNHRC Resolution
TIC PRESS RELEASE 25 March 2021 Resolution of the UN Human Rights Council – March 2021 The Tamil Information Centre (TIC) welcomes the Resolution on Sri Lanka adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on 23 March 2021 at its 46th Session, titled “Promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka” (A/HRC46/L.1/Rev.1)…. Read more »
Strategies for the Renaissance of Irrigation Glory
by Nimal Wijesinghe, Daily News, Colombo, February 27, 2021 There is an awakening in the field of irrigation development in the country. The ancient kings treated rainwater as a highly precious national asset and constructed small, medium and large-scale tanks and anicuts for collecting and storing every drop of rainwater for irrigational, agricultural and drinking… Read more »
UNHRC Resolution 46/1
A welcome move for the United Nations, Security Council and International Community to uphold accountability and rein in Sri Lanka. by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [London] Former Lecturer in Law; University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, March 31, 2021 At the 46th Session of UNHRC, the final Resolution on Sri Lanka was passed with 22 members voting… Read more »
UNHRC Outlines Sri Lanka Abuses, But Demurs on Action
by Kate Cronin-Furman, JustSecurity.org, New York, March 26, 2021 (Editor’s Note: This is the latest in a series on the spotlight placed on allegations of war crimes and other abuses in Sri Lanka during the February 22 to March 23, 2021, session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The series includes voices from former… Read more »
UNHRC Resolution 46/1
March 23, 2021 webcast of vote A/HRC/46/L.1/Rev.1 Tabled March 16, 2021 Human Rights Council Forty-sixth session 22 February–23 March 2021 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 Albania,* Australia,* Austria, Belgium,* Bulgaria, Canada,* Croatia,* Cyprus,*… Read more »
The Uyghur Genocide
An Examination of China’s Breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention by Dr. Azeem Ibrahim, Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy, Washington, DC, March 2021 Executive Summary 1. This report concludes that the People’s Republic of China (China) bears State responsibility for committing genocide against the Uyghurs in breach of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention… Read more »
When War Criminals Run the Government
Not Too Late for the International Community to Vet Sri Lankan Officials by Sondra Anton & Tyler Giannini, JustSecurity, March 16, 2021 (Editor’s Note: This is the latest in a series on the spotlight placed on allegations of war crimes and other abuses in Sri Lanka during the February 22 to March 23, 2021, session… Read more »
UNHRC Resolution – Improved, but Insufficient
for Accountability & Justice by Thambu Kanagasabai – LLM [London] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, March 14, 2021 Sri Lanka’s contemptuous stand regarding UNHRC Resolutions 30/1, 34/1 and 40/1 as rejected by it has come under discussion in the current 46th Session of the UNHRC which is expected to pass a… Read more »
Accountability in Transition to Nowhere
by Ambika Satkunanathan, Daily FT, Colombo, March 15, 2021 In Sri Lanka, historical acts of commission and omission by successive governments have led the Tamil population to believe there is little possibility they will be treated as equal citizens and included as full members of a multi-ethnic polity. Here, a poverty-stricken young mother in Jaffna… Read more »
ITJP: Geneva Briefing Notes
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, February 2021 TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE WORK GENEVA BRIEFING NOTES With Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, the ITJP has jointly authored 6 BRIEFING NOTES to frame the discsussion on Sri Lanka for the March 2021 session of the UN Human Rights Council. They are in English and… Read more »
Why Does India Not Have a Geneva Game-Plan?
by Kumar David, Colombo Telegraph, March 10, 2021 Why is there uncertainty, even at this late stage, about the stand India will take on the UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka’s long ended civil war and overlapping allegations that the current regime harbours authoritarian ambitions? India’s silence is both curious and significant. There are three substantive players in the… Read more »
Endless War
by Anuradha Mittal, Oakland Institute, California, March 2021 Endless War Oakland Institute March 2021 *** The Destroyed Land, Life, and Identity of the Tamil People in Sri Lanka —FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE— March 7, 2021; 10:00PM PT Media Contact: Anuradha Mittal, amittal /A_T/ oaklandinstitute /D_O_T/ org” data-extlink=””>amittal /A_T/ oaklandinstitute /D_O_T/ org(link sends e-mail); +1 510-530-5126 As the 46th… Read more »
1985 Thimpu Talks
Sinhala-Tamil conflict and the India factor by S Sivanayagam, Tamil Information Centre, London, 2000 Thimpu Talks 1985 by Sivanayagam *** zfinal_Thimbu_080900_final (sangam.org)