by Ambika Satkunanathan, Groundviews, Colombo, March 29, 2020 ‘What physicians say about consumptive illness is applicable here: that at the beginning, such an illness is easy to cure but difficult to diagnose; but as time passes, not having been recognised or treated at the outset, it becomes easy to diagnose but difficult to cure.’ The… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
OHCHR Press Briefing Note on Sri Lanka
Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Rupert Colville Location: Geneva Date: 27 March 2020 Subject: Sri Lanka We are troubled by reports that the convicted perpetrator of the Mirusuvil massacre, in Sri Lanka, has received a Presidential Pardon and was released from jail this week. Former Army sergeant Sunil Ratnayake was sentenced in 2015… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic
A military mindset by Thusiyan Nandakumar, The Polis Project, London, March 2020 This is part of a series of conversations interrogating militarization of medicine and public health and its adverse effects as various communities deal with COVID19. You can watch the video of this conversation with Dr Thusiyan Nandakumar on our Instagram handle In the… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Sixth Amendment
a Violation of UN Charter and Fundamental Human Rights by Thambu Kanagasabai, PRESIDENT, The Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Organization Late President JR Jayewardene of Sri Lanka after allowing and being complicit in the massacres of Tamils in the 1977, 1983 pogroms and justifying them as a normal reaction of Sinhalese to take revenge… Read more »
The Securitization of Fear in Post-Tsunami Sri Lanka
[This article is very relevant to the current crisis. – Ed] The production of crises, including the fear and xenophobia they instill, remains a pressing concern because they legitimate grounds for exceptional interventions (Agamben 1998; Mountz 2004). States produce crisis and fear to obtain consent for securitization measures. Probing the ways in which fear is… Read more »
Islam, Politics and Violence in Eastern Sri Lanka
by Bart Klem, Journal of Asian Studies, August 16, 2011 Islam Politics and Violence in Eastern Sri Lanka Abstract This article bridges Sri Lankan studies and the academic debate on the relation between contemporary Islam and politics. It constitutes a case study of the Muslim community in Akkaraipattu on Sri Lanka’s war-ridden east coast. Over… Read more »
A Qualitative Analysis on Historicizing Nationalist Discourse
of the Origins of the Communities of Sri Lanka among the Contemporary Sinhalese by Jeyaseelan Gnanaseelan, University of Vavuniya, Melbourne Australia Nov 29-30, 2017, 19 (11) Part XIV A_Qualitative_Analysis_on_Historicizing Abstract— In the post-war reconciliation context, the Sri Lankans need to develop constructive discourse on political harmony, cohesion and co-habitation to make a positive impact on… Read more »
The Sri Lankan Peace Process at a Crossroads
Lessons, Opportunities and Ideas for Principled Negotiations and Conflict Transformation by Tyrol Ferdinands, Kumar Rupesinghe, Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Jayadeva Uyangoda, Norbert Ropers, January 2004 The_Sri_Lankan_Peace_Process_at_a_Crossroads__Lessons_Opportunities_and_Ideas_for_Principled_Negotiations_and_Conflict_Transformation Executive Summary and Recommendations The Sri Lankan peace process is at a crossroads. Seven months after it withdrew from the talks, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) presented their proposal… Read more »
The Politics of Sinhala Nationalism
by David Rampton, Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 2011, 49:2, 245-273 Deeper_hegemony_the_politics_of_Sinhala nationalism Rampton Abstract Through a case study of Sinhala nationalism and its impact on ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, this article explores the idea that the study of ethno-national conflict management as well as the wider field of nationalism studies tend to render nationalism… Read more »
Report of the SR on Freedom of Religion to Sri Lanka
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session43/Pages/ListReports.aspx A/HRC/43/48/Add.2 Advance Unedited Version Distr.: General 28 February 2020 Original: English Human Rights Council Forty-third session 24 February–20 March 2020 Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Visit to Sri Lanka Report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom… Read more »
HRW: UN Rights Council Should Uphold Sri Lanka Commitments
Weak Response from Country Core Group Ignores Victims’ Plight by John Fisher, Human Rights Watch, March 3, 2020 https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/03/un-rights-council-should-uphold-sri-lanka-commitments During his presidential campaign and after his election, Gotabaya Rajapaksa left little doubt that Sri Lanka would not enforce its commitments on justice and accountability agreed to at the United Nations Human Rights Council. So the foreign minister’s announcement… Read more »
ICJ: Justice & Accountability for Crimes under International Law in Sri Lanka
by International Commission of Jurists, Geneva, February 28, 2020 At the UN Human Rights Council, the ICJ today urged renewed international action to ensure justice and accountability for crimes under international law in Sri Lanka. The statement, delivered during a discussion of updates and reports from the High Commissioner for Human Rights, read as follows:… Read more »
Joint Statement by the Core Group on Sri Lanka
by Canada, Germany, North Macedonia, Montenegro & UK, Geneva, February 27, 2020 http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/human-rights-council/watch/item2-general-debate-contd-11th-meeting-43rd-regular-session-human-rights-council/6136566318001 https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/un-human-rights-council-43-item-2-joint-statement-by-the-core-group-on-sri-lanka UN Human Rights Council 43: Item 2 Joint Statement by the Core Group on Sri Lanka International Ambassador for Human Rights, Rita French delivers joint statement by the Core Group on Sri Lanka Thank you Madam President This statement is on… Read more »
UNHCHR: Promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka
by Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, February 18, 2020 https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session43/Pages/ListReports.aspx Oral updates and introduction to country reports of the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner UN Human Rights Council, February 27, 2020 http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/human-rights-council/watch/hcsg-country-reports-10th-meeting-43rd-regular-session-human-rights-council-/6136487778001 I move to our update on Sri Lanka, HRC/43/19, assessing the progress made in implementing Human Rights Council resolution… Read more »
SLC: Keep the Promise
by Sri Lanka Campaign, London, February, 2020 The promise Following a landmark international investigation, in September 2015 the United Nations released a major report on serious human rights violations committed during the final stages of the civil war and the surrounding period (2002-2011). The document, known as the ‘OISL Report’[1] was clear in its view that many… Read more »
Elect Young & Committed Leaders to the Tamil Cause
Ripe time for Tamil voters by Kumarathasan Rasingam, Secretary, Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Org., February 18, 2020 It is election year for Sri Lanka. A general election has to be held before August 5th 2020 for a new Government to rule the polarized and divided country of majority Sinhalese and minorities with Tamils… Read more »
U.S. Bars Sri Lankan Army Chief Accused of War Crimes
The sanctions are the first international action against Sri Lanka stemming from its brutal civil war. Several members of the new government are also accused of wartime abuses. by Maria Abi-Habib and Dharisha Bastians, The New York Times, February 15, 2020 NEW DELHI — The United States has imposed an entry bar on Sri Lanka’s army chief,… Read more »
Public Designation, Due to Gross Violations of Human Rights, of Shavendra Silva
of Sri Lanka Under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act by Michael R. Pompeo, US Secretary of State, Washington, DC, February 14, 2020 Press Statement https://www.state.gov/public-designation-due-to-gross-violations-of-human-rights-of-shavendra-silva-of-sri-lanka-under-section-7031c-of-the-department-of-state-foreign-operations-and-related-programs-appropriations-a/ The Department of State has designated Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, current Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and Acting Chief of… Read more »
High Time UNHRC acts Decisively and Effectively on Sri Lanka
by Thambu Kanagasabai LLM [Lond.] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, February 8, 2020 In the UN Human Rights Council’s March 2020 Sessions, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights will be presenting an update on Sri Lanka’s progress on Sri Lanka’s progress in implementing its 30-01-2015 Resolution which had more than… Read more »
Erasing Tamil Eelam: De/Re Territorialisation in the Global War on Terror
by Ajay Parasram, pre-peer reviewed draft published in ‘Geopolitics,’ 17/4, 2012 Erasing_Tamil_Eelam_De_Re_Territorialisa This paper considers the Sri Lanka/Tamil Eelam conflict with attention to how its dramatic end can be explained through postcolonial territorial politics. I argue discourses of postcolonial nationalism and global terrorism aligned along domestic, regional, and international political levels to enable a military… Read more »