Posts Categorized: International

Protecting or Facilitating?

A review of the humanitarian response to IDP detention in Sri Lanka, 2009 All too often however, humanitarian organisations were poorly equipped with the time, skills and attitudes to address a situation where the state was not representing the interests of the population. In these cases, supporting the vulnerable means contesting state agendas, even where… Read more »

Sri Lankan ‘War Criminals’ Deployed as UN Peacekeepers

by Mark Townsend, ‘The Guardian,’ Manchester, July 21, 2018 The UN has been sending alleged war criminals to act as peacekeepers in conflict zones, a confidential report claims. The document, seen by the Observer, and sent to the UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations last month, claims that senior Sri Lankan officers accused of war crimes have… Read more »

The United States’ Role in Sri Lanka’s Peace Process: 2002-2006

by Jeffrey Lunstead, Asia Foundation, 2007 A Supplementary Study to the Sri Lanka Strategic Conflict Assessment 2005 Lunstead US Role in SL Peace Process 2002-2006 Contents Acknowledgements About the Author Executive Summary 1. Introduction 2. U.S. Interests and Engagement in Sri Lanka 3. Enhanced U.S. Engagement 3.1 Enhanced U.S. Interest 3.2 U.S. Relations with the… Read more »

Amnesty Statement on Human Rights Concerns in Sri Lanka

by Amnesty International USA, June 20, 2018 On June 20th, 2018, Amnesty International USA submitted a Congressional statement for the record in anticipation of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee Hearing on “Human Rights Concerns in Sri Lanka.” Please find a link below to the statement for the record: AIUSA-Statement-on-Human-Rights-Concerns-in-Sri-Lanka-Final-1.pdf Date: June 20, 2018 RE: House Foreign… Read more »

MAP Submits Statement for House Hearing

US Congress Considers Human Rights in Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka Monitoring Accountability Panel Submitted a Statement WASHINTON, DC, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, June 20, 2018 /EINPresswire.com/ — Today, 20 June 2018, the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations of the US Committee on Foreign Affairs heard evidence on “Human… Read more »

Sri Lanka is an Open Door to the Indian Ocean

by Major Nicholas R. Nappi, US Marines, Proceeding Magazine of US Naval Institute, September 2017 U.S. maritime engagements with India can be best described as a security cooperation courtship that never gets past the first date. On the surface, this budding partnership looks promising. The U.S. and Indian militaries participate in executive steering groups (ESGs),… Read more »

UN & IC Need to Ensure Justice for Tamils

And their existence in Sri Lanka by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [Lond.] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Tamils have been inhabiting Sri Lanka for more than 2500 years with ‘Saivaism’ [Hinduism] also existing ‘Centuries before the arrival of Vijaya in BC 547” as stated by Paul Peiris in his book [Nagadipa and Buddhist… Read more »

Misery as Strategy

The Human Cost of Conflict by International Crisis Group, Brussels, May 31, 2018 In conflicts across the world, levels of displacement and hunger are increasing. The tactics used by leaders, governments and non-state armed groups have much to do with that misery. From Syria to Yemen, from South Sudan to Venezuela, war and political crisis… Read more »

How Long Can the GoSL Hoodwink the UN?

And the International Community? by Kumarathasan Rasingam, May 31, 2018 The Sri Lankan State runs on Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism, the Maha Sanga and the Buddhist Clergy. The Sri Lankan State has to obtain the blessings of these people to enact any laws regarding devolution of powers to the Tamils in the North and East of Sri… Read more »

Police, Indian Conglomerate in Spotlight

After protesters gunned down by Ana Pararajasingham, ‘Asia Times,’ Bangkok, May 28, 2018 On Tuesday, May 22, 13 protesters were killed by police in the south Indian city of Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, shocking the public. The protest, which was peaceful but persistent, was directed at Sterlite Copper, a company owned by UK-based Vedanta Ltd, founded… Read more »

HRW: Police Fatally Shoot Copper Plant Protesters

by Human Rights Watch, May 23, 2018 Investigate Alleged Use of Excessive Force Authorities in India’s Tamil Nadu state should conduct a prompt, impartial, and transparent investigation into the police shooting of protesters against a copper plant that left at least 12 dead and 80 injured, Human Rights Watch said today. Television news video footage shows two plainclothes… Read more »

Economic Push Needed

by T. Ramakrishnan, ‘The Hindu,’ May 28, 2018 India must help the development of Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern provinces The discourse on fundamental issues concerning Sri Lankan Tamils continues to revolve around political settlement, the two key components of which are greater devolution of powers to provinces and the merger of the Northern and… Read more »

The Insistence of Memory

by Kate Cronin-Furman, The Los Angeles Review of Books, May 16, 2018 BY THE TIME I got there, the bones were gone. But eight years out from the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War, everything else was still there, carpeting the beach where the final battle was fought. Suitcases half-buried in sand, battered metal… Read more »

An Ethnic Conflict & an Accord

by Press Trust of India on Shruti TV, May 10, 2018 Discussion of T. Ramakrishnan’s book ‘Or Inapprachinaiyum Or Oppandhamum,’ ‘An Ethnic Conflict and An Accord’ at Asian College of Journalism, Chennai.  With Prof. V Suryanarayan, & Chandrahasan. Moderated by Col. Hariharan. Most interesting is the Q & A starting at 1 hr. 12+ min…. Read more »

Is China a Colonial Power?

by James A. Millward, ‘The New York Times,’ May 4, 2018 Mr. Millward is a China scholar and historian of the Silk Road In a lesser-known novel, “Claudius Bombarnac,” Jules Verne describes the adventures of the titular foreign correspondent as he rides the “Grand Transasiatic Railway” from the “European frontier” to “the capital of the Celestial… Read more »

Hindutva Takes on Tamil Nationalism

by Ana Pararajasingham, ‘Asia Times,’ February 16, 2018 he south Indian state of Tamil Nadu has become a battleground for the proponents of Hindutva and the champions of Tamil nationalism. Hindutva is the rallying cry of the Bharathiya Janata Party and   Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS),a militant Hindu nationalist group that has for decades provided the… Read more »

ITJP: The Special Task Force

by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, South Africa, April 23, 2018 GATHERING EVIDENCE THE SPECIAL TASK FORCE This report on the Special Task Force (STF) is based primarily on the testimony of Sinhalese insiders who worked for the unit in the past and former Tamil paramilitaries.   “This work in the white vanning unit… Read more »

State Dept: 2017 Sri Lanka Human Rights Report

by US State Dept., Washington, DC, April 24, 2017 State Dept 2017 Human Rights Report Sri Lanka EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sri Lanka is a constitutional, multiparty republic with a freely elected government. In January 2015 voters elected President Maithripala Sirisena to a five-year term. The parliament shares power with the president. August 2015 parliamentary elections resulted… Read more »