Posts Categorized: International

Committee Against Torture Considers Report of Sri Lanka

by UN Committee Against Torture via UN Information Service, Geneva, November 16, 2016 The review may also be viewed at http://webtv.un.org/meetings- events/human-rights-treaty- bodies/committee-against- torture/59th-session/ Committee against Torture                                                                             CAT/16/27                                                                                                                      16 November 2016       COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE CONSIDERS REPORT OF SRI LANKA  … Read more »

200th Anniversary of the Establishment of the American Ceylon Mission

by US Mission to Sri Lanka & Maldives, Colombo, October 31, 2016 [As prepared] Rev. Dr. James Moos, Executive Minister, Co-Executive Global Ministries Rev. Dr. Deenabandhu Manchala,  Area Executive for Southern Asia, Global Ministries Rev Devasagayam Devanesan, Chairperson Rt. Rev Bishop Duleep De Chickera, Former Anglican Bishop of Colombo Rev Asiri P. Perera, President of the Methodist Conference in Sri… Read more »

Atrocities Prevention Experts Report Released

A major task was to identify ways to improve the ability of U.S., foreign, and international courts to prosecute atrocity crimes.  To this end, the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and State were tasked with developing proposals that would strengthen the U.S. Government’s ability to prosecute perpetrators of atrocities found in the United States, and permit… Read more »

Comparing Contentious Post-war Politics in Nepal and Sri Lanka

By Jonathan Goodhand and Oliver Walton, ‘East Asia Forum,’ Australia, October 27, 2016 Sri Lanka and Nepal may have turned their backs on protracted and bloody conflicts but the fault lines that fuelled these wars have not gone away. One key challenge now facing political elites is that of constitutional reform. But long-standing central-peripheral tensions threaten… Read more »

The ICC, Out of Africa

by Thierry Cruvellier, ‘The New York Times,’ November 6, 2016 In just a few weeks, Burundi, South Africa and Gambia have announced that they would withdraw from the International Criminal Court, a permanent tribunal investigating war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Since its creation in 1998, the I.C.C. has been hobbled by the refusal… Read more »

Fighting For Fish

by Meera Srinivasan, ‘Caravan,’ India, November 2, 2016 EARLY IN DECEMBER LAST YEAR, Kadiramalai Loganathan’s father succumbed to a long illness. The funeral exacted a heavy price, and to recoup it the fisherman had little choice but to quickly return to sea. On the night of 16 December, barely a week after his loss, Loganathan… Read more »

How Sri Lanka Demonstrates the Limits of the UN System

This is a classic example of pursuing an important issue in a forum that’s not equipped to handle it. by Taylor Dibbert, ‘The National Interest,’ Washington, DC, October 20, 2016 In recent years, the island nation of Sri Lanka has received considerable attention from the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council. Country-specific council resolutions were passed… Read more »

Why Just Counting the Dead in Syria Won’t Bring Them Justice

A full tally of the war’s horrific violence requires estimates, models, and sophisticated pattern analysis to understand who’s responsible and why. by Patrick Ball, ‘Foreign Policy,’ Washington, DC, October 19, 2016 Nearly 18,000 people died in Syrian government prisons between March 2011 and December 2015. My colleagues and I at the Human Rights Data Analysis Group(HRDAG)… Read more »

GTF welcomes the UN Special Rapporteur’s statement

Issued for immediate release  PRESS STATEMENT 22 October 2016, London   Global Tamil Forum welcomes the UN Special Rapporteur’s statement on minority rights and calling on Sri Lanka to act decisively to not to lose the momentous opportunity to bring lasting peace and reconciliation among all communities The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) welcomes the end-of-mission… Read more »

Statement of UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues

Statement of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Rita Izsák-Ndiaye, on the conclusion of her official visit to Sri Lanka, 10-20 October 2016 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20709&LangID=E by Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, 20 October 2016 In my capacity as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on minority issues, I conducted an official… Read more »

Why Some Wars Get More Attention Than Others

But when the world asks why America has forgotten Yemen and other conflicts like it, that has the situation backward. The truth is that inattention is the default, not the exception. Conflicts gain sustained American attention only when they provide a compelling story line that appeals to both the public and political actors, and for… Read more »

The President at the UN

  Political appointees of the President perceive political appointees of the PM as their enemies, and independent of any direct order or edict, block, manoeuvre and curry favour with scant regard for actual policy development, implementation or reform. This results in scenarios very far removed from the roseate picture of Sri Lanka painted at the… Read more »

Why International Law Still Matters

Sands allows his extraordinary book to revolve around a simple question: Do we need the crime of genocide? Does the category add anything to the power and effectiveness of crimes against humanity? “The term ‘genocide,’ with its focus on the group,” Sands writes, “tends to heighten a sense of ‘them’ and ‘us,’ burnishes feelings of… Read more »

Report of Working Group on Enforced Disappearances

Report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances on its mission to Sri Lanka 9 to 18 November 2015, Geneva, July 8, 2016 Report of WGEID on mission to Sri Lanka_A-HRC-33-51-Add.2 Introduction … 6. Enforced disappearances have been used in a massive and systematic way in Sri Lanka for many decades to suppress political dissent,… Read more »

WSJ: UNSG Urges Sri Lanka to Speed Up War Reconciliation

by Uditha Jayasinghe, ‘The Wall Street Journal,’ New York, September 2, 2016 Ban Ki-moon says victims of country’s lengthy civil war need justice COLOMBO, Sri Lanka—United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday said victims of Sri Lanka’s decadeslong war “cannot wait forever” for justice, and urged the country to speed up its reconciliation process as it seeks to… Read more »

CERD Concluding Remarks & Video

by UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, August 15-16, 2016 CERD_C_LKA_CO_10-17_24983_E-1 Videos of proceedings: August 15 – 2hrs 50 minutes http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/human-rights-treaty-bodies/committee-on-the-elimination-of-racial-discrimination/watch/consideration-of-sri-lanka-2468th-meeting-90th-session-of-committee-on-elimination-of-racial-discrimination-/5096765195001 August 16 – 3 hrs http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/human-rights-treaty-bodies/committee-on-the-elimination-of-racial-discrimination/watch/consideration-of-sri-lanka-contd-2469th-meeting-90th-session-of-committee-on-elimination-of-racial-discrimination-/5089683096001 Documents associated with the report at http://sangam.org/committee-racial-discrimination-assessment-sri-lanka-report/

UNSG: Sustaining Peace – Achieving the SDGs

by UN Secretary-General, Colombo, September 2, 2016 UN Secretary-General – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opfyKTCA_wM&feature=youtu.be Foreign Minister – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T32wo98qUCU https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2016-09-02/remarks-event-sri-lanka-sdg16-sustaining-peace-%E2%80%93-achieving 2 September 2016 Secretary-General’s remarks at event in Sri Lanka on SDG16: Sustaining Peace – Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals It is an honour to be here today to talk about the links between peace and sustainable development. This is my… Read more »