by International Truth and Justice Project, Johannesburg, South Africa, January 17, 2024 ITJP Gotabaya-Rajapaksas-war-time-role-Jan-2024_Final_26.01.2024_compressed This report alleges that former Sri Lankan President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa had command and superior responsibility for multiple violations of international humanitarian law and international criminal law amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the final phase of the… Read more »
Posts Categorized: International
ITJP: SLG Should Acknowlege Past Truth Commissions Before Establishing a New Body
by International Truth & Justice Project Sri Lanka, February 19, 2024 This press release presents a list of 36 past Commissions of Inquiry commissioned by the Sri Lankan Government – a third of which never even published their reports. Additionally, very few are even displayed on any government website, despite being for the large part… Read more »
JVP’s Unmistakable Turn
by A. Jathindra, Groundviews, Colombo, February 14, 2024 Amid the buzz surrounding the presidential race this year, the visit of the JVP-led National People’s Party (NPP) to India has raised much attention. As Sri Lanka plunged into a historic economic crisis, its political stability deteriorated. People’s hopes in terms of mainstream political parties have plummeted…. Read more »
HRW: Under Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka is Going Fast – In Reverse
Administration Has Moved to Stifle Criticism with a Raft of New, Repressive Laws by Meenakshi Ganguly, Human Rights Watch, February 14, 2024 Published in:Scroll.in Sri Lanka is still reeling from an economic crisis largely caused by misgovernance and lack of accountability. Public protests in 2022 forced the president and the prime minister, brothers Gotabaya and Mahinda Rajapaksa, to step down…. Read more »
The Birthrate Blues
by Joseph Charnie, Inter-Press Service, February 2, 2024 PORTLAND, USA, Jan 22 2024 (IPS) – Increasing numbers of countries are experiencing a spreading demographic condition, below replacement fertility, with many governments bemoaning the birthrate blues. Without compensating international migration, a fertility rate below the replacement level, which in most instances is approximately 2.1 births per woman, leads to population… Read more »
EU Resolution on Sri Lanka
European Parliament Joint motion for a resolution on Sri Lanka (Doc.: B5-0490/2003, B5-0492/2003, B5-0495/2003, B5-0498/2003, B5-0505/2003, B5-0510/2003 – Debate: 20.11.2003 – Vote: 20.11.2003) Vote MEPs adopted a joint resolution acknowledging the bold steps taken by the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) to create the conditions in which negotiations… Read more »
Dragon in the Maldives
Red alert for India’s regional leadership The Maldives case is a vivid example that Beijing is not going to stop its power play in India’s neighboring countries. China’s aim is crystal clear: to question India’s bid for regional leadership. By A. Jathindra, South Asia Monitor, New Delhi, February 8, 2024 The Maldives, a small country,… Read more »
HRW: New Transitional Justice Process Lacks Credibility
UN Human Rights Council Engagement Remains Vital to Ensure Justice for Atrocity Crimes by Human Rights Watch, New York, January 29, 2022 (Geneva) – The Sri Lankan government’s proposed law to create another body to investigate wartime abuses replicates previous failed efforts, ignores the needs of victims, and falls far short of meeting Sri Lanka’s international legal… Read more »
US Senate Res. 493 & House Res. 926
by US Congress, December 12, 2024 Resolutions are identical. Co-sponsored by Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) & James Risch (R-ID) and Representatives Bill Johnson (R-OH) & Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) BILLS -118 senate res. 493 is 118th CONGRESS 1st Session S. RES. 493 Expressing the sense of the Senate in support of the peaceful, democratic, and… Read more »
The Sri Lankan Civil War: Notes for UPSC Exam
by Byju’s Exam Prep, accessed January 22, 2024 UPSC is the arm of the Indian civil service which administers the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) exam. The war in Sri Lanka between the separatist Tamil forces and the government was a heavy one with a death toll of over 150000 from both sides including civilians. Starting… Read more »
President in the North, Governor in the East
by A. Nillanthan, January 13, 2024 [Translated from the original Tamil by Google Translate with improvements by the Sangam editor.] At the same time as the President visited the North to celebrate the New Year, his Governor in the East staged a huge cultural festival. The President met various people in the North: entrepreneurs, university… Read more »
How Ideology Shapes Indian Politics
by Nicholas Haas & Rajeshwari Majumdar, Hindustani Times, December 25, 2023 The lack of attention to political ideology contrasts strongly with the recent ubiquity of ideological debates in Indian politics In the 2014 general elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) notched a historic victory, becoming the first party to win an outright majority in the… Read more »
Why Stand-up Comedy has had a Slow Start in Tamil Nadu
This could be because satire is already deeply ingrained in the State’s popular culture. by Siddarth Muralidharan, Saatvika Radhakrishna, Frontline of The Hindu, Chennai, November 16, 2023 In May 2019, the BBC published an article titled “Nesamani: Who is he and why is the world praying for him?” The reason the #PrayForNesamani hashtag had become… Read more »
Rep. Don Davis’ Speech in Congress
by Rep. Don Davis (D-NC), US Congress, Washington, DC, December 12, 2023 Standing with the Eelam Tamil community in their struggle against oppression and injustice. We must find a permanent solution based on their right to self-determination that ensures stability and peace in the Indo-Pacific. pic.twitter.com/x2boQ4cek4 — Congressman Don Davis (@RepDonDavis) December 12, 2023 … Read more »
Echoes of Mullivaikal in Gaza
by Satya Sagar, Substack, December 6, 2023 The daily death and destruction in Gaza has evoked painful memories for Tamils everywhere of a similar carnage half a world away in Mullivaikal, the coastal village that became the scene of mass slaughter at the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war in 2009. The parallels between the… Read more »
The Broken Global Order Needs Mending
Who will take the lead? by Satya Sivaraman, TGTE Parliament joint session, December 1, 2023 TGTE Parliament’s Joint Session – YouTube Theme: New Mechanisms and Norms for International Peace and Justice Watching the horrific violence against civilian populations by the Israeli Defence Forces in Gaza the memories of many Tamils around the world must have… Read more »
TGTE to Launch a Movement for New Norms for Peace & Justice
by EIN Presswire, October 26, 2023 Such a global campaign for peace and justice has become more urgent today due to the threat of the Israel-Palestine conflict spreading throughout Middle-East We need to keep evolving and creating other systems to create solutions to conflict.” — former ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo NEW YORK, UNITED STATES,… Read more »
Palestine Israel War: Whose Side are the Tamils On?
by A. Nillanthan, October 21, 2023 In the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the armed struggle of the Tamil people began to gain momentum, Tamil movements like EROS, EPRLF, PLOT etc. received military training in Palestine. Those who received such training were called “PLO Rainies” in the homeland. Some of them – Suresh Premachandran,… Read more »
Congress Wants to Hold Sri Lanka’s Feet to the Fire on Human Rights
by Anusha Rathi & Jack Detsch, Foreign Policy, Washington, DC, September 21, 2023 Congress is calling on the Biden administration to formally hold Sri Lanka responsible for its human rights abuses and violation of international humanitarian law, including decades of torture, military abuse, and other “horrific crimes” carried out against the country’s minority Tamil population…. Read more »
Purse-seiners, Trawlers, and the Epic Fight over Fishing in Tamil Nadu
A ban on purse-seine fishing in Tamil Nadu has threatened thousands of fishers’ livelihoods – and they are refusing to give up without a fight by Jeff Joseph, Himal magazine, Colombo, September 7, 2023 “There were young people with degrees taking to purse seines because of the pay,” Karthi P said. “It was easy work.”… Read more »