by Kithmina Hewage, ‘South Asian Voices,’ Stimson Center, Washington, January 5, 2018 The current coalition government of Sri Lanka was elected in 2015 with a mandate to implement broad political and economic reforms. Unfortunately the young government struggled to provide a uniting vision of reform to its coalition partners, which slowed the reform process considerably. Even though… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
HRW: Key Elements for HRC 37 Statements on Sri Lanka
by Human Rights Watch, January 15, 2018 HRW Sri Lanka HRC37 letter We write to seek your support in ensuring that the upcoming consideration of Sri Lanka’s progress towards implementation of its commitments under UN Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution 30/1 accurately and substantively reflects the situation within the country, including both progress to date… Read more »
UN High Commissioner’s Report on Sri Lanka 2018
by High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, January 25, 2018 OHCHR Report on Sri Lanka 25 Jan 2018 Human Rights Council Thirty-seventh session 26 February–23 March 2018 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 Promoting reconciliation,… Read more »
Rome Declaration
from ‘ICET,’ February 8, 2018 Rome Declaration in Italian & English – Rome_Declaration-english-italy-2018 Rome Declaration – 5 February 2018 1. The seven decades long genocide being committed by successive governments of Sri Lanka should be investigated by an international independent body outside the scope of Sri Lankan government-controlled judiciary. 2. Those tens of thousands who are still missing… Read more »
TG: Fault Line
‘Tamil Guardian’ editorial, London, February 12, 2017 Election results by ethnicity Feb 2018 PDF Sri Lanka’s unity government suffered an electoral blow at local government polls this weekend, just three years after its surprise victory. The Sinhala people renewed their support for the former war-time president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, who asked voters to use the polls as… Read more »
UN Committee Tells Sri Lanka to Transfer Military Run Schools
by ‘Colombo Gazette,’ February 8, 2018 A United Nations (UN) committee has urged Sri Lanka to ensure that all schools currently run by the military are transferred back under the Ministry of Education. The recommendation was made by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in its findings on Sri Lanka released today…. Read more »
Panel in Washington discusses Transitional Justice in Sri Lanka
by ‘Tamil Guardian,’ London, February 5, 2018 A panel event on mass atrocities discussed the lack of progress made by Sri Lanka in the realm of transitional justice, in Washington DC last week. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Ferencz International Justice Initiative and the National Endowment for Democracy held an event on promoting justice for… Read more »
ITJP: : What Vetting of Sri Lankan Diplomats?
by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka & International Truth & Justice Project, February 7, 2018 ITJP JDS press-release-7-feb-2018 vetting SL diplomats Johannesburg: The UK, the UN and the international community have an obligation to step up their screening and vetting of Sri Lankan public and security officals for alleged involvement in atrocities during and… Read more »
ITJP: Brig. Priyanka Fernando in London
by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka and International Truth & Justice Project, February 5, 2018 On Sri Lanka’s 70th Independence Day, 4 February 2018, Brigadier Fernando attracted attention by thrice making slitting throat gestures to a crowd of chanting Tamil protestors outside the High Commission in London. The video of him, in full military… Read more »
UNHRC Briefing Note
HRC_briefingnote_En The Human Rights Council (HRC or Council) is the only intergovernmental organisation responding to all human rights abuses across the globe by exposing violators and demanding change. Follow proceedings by webcast Feb. 26-March 23 at http://webtv.un.org Documents & other materials are at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session37/Pages/37RegularSession.aspx Current Membership of the Human Rights Council, 1 January – 31 December 2018… Read more »
UNHRC February/March Session & Sri Lanka
by Thambu Kanagasabai LLM [Lond], Former Lecturer in Law University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, February 5, 2018 The 37th UN Human Rights Council is scheduled to commence on 26th February 2018 and concludes on 23rd March. During this session, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is expected to present his written interim report on… Read more »
Caged Independence
by Thamil Ananthavinayagan, ‘Sri Lanka Guardian,’ Colombo, February 4, 2018 Introduction ( February 4, 2018, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The cherished Maya Angelou wrote once in her famous poem ‘Caged Bird’: [T]he caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for… Read more »
Inscribing the Victor’s Land
Nationalistic authorship in Sri Lanka’s post-war Northeast by Rachel Seoighe, ‘Conflict, Security & Development,’ Vol. 16, 2016, Issue 5 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14678802.2016.1219507?scroll=top&needAccess=true Abstract This article examines the nationalistic authorship of space in Sri Lanka’s post-conflict Northeast as part of the state’s nation-building strategy and as a continuation of a post-colonial process of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalistic revival. Exploring issues… Read more »
Nationalistic Authorship and Resistance in Northeastern Sri Lanka
by Rachel Seoighe, ‘Society and Culture in South Asia’ 2(1) 1–30, 2016 Nationalist Authorship Resistance in NE Sri Lanka 2016 Abstract Post-war Sri Lanka is defined by the logic of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism, glorification and expansion of the military, and the exponential growth of state-corporate economic projects. This article examines the performative politics of the state in mass… Read more »
Discourses of Victimization in Sri Lanka’s Civil War
Collective Memory, Legitimacy and Agency by Rachel Seoghe, ‘Social and Legal Studies,’ UK, January 8, 2016 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0964663915614097 Abstract This article explores the availability of discourses of victimhood to political actors who aim to justify violence and mass atrocity in the name of those victims. Arguing that the label of the ‘victim’ is equally available for… Read more »
Navy Officer in Charge of Dumping Dead Bodies at Sea Arrested
by Ramanan Weerasingham, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, Europe, January 31, 2018 Probing the abduction of Tamil youth in the capital city of Colombo and its suburbs during the height of the war, Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested yet another Navy intelligence officer charging him of being in-charge of dumping dead… Read more »
Rajinikanth’s Aimless and Empty Political Gamble
by M.K. Eelaventhan, January 17, 2018 Member of Parliament of Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam. Former Member of Parliament, Sri Lanka Rajiniikanth born in Karnataka State, India on December 12, 1950 and named as Sivaji Rao Gaekaward by his parents with Marathi as his mother tongue is a popular screen hero in Tamil Nadu with… Read more »
More on Yan Oya
Genocidal ‘development’ abetted by global partners seeks to wedge North-East by TamilNet, May 4, 2017 The occupying Colombo is trying to seize lands in the Tamil-speaking Kuchchave’li division of Trincomalee district in the Eastern Province to construct housing schemes for Sinhala settlers who have been moved out of their lands that were taken over by… Read more »
2007: A Proposal to Make Toppigala Victory Sustainable
Development of water resources in the Eastern province by G.T. Dharmasena, ‘The Island,’ Colombo, July 19, 2007 Former Director General of Irrigation and presently the Consultant to the United Nation’s Office for Project Services(UNOPS) At a moment the focus of all peace loving people of the country, irrespective of political divisions ,religions and races is… Read more »
Monks with Guns
Westerners think that Buddhism is about peace and non-violence. So how come Buddhist monks are in arms against Islam? by Michael Jerryson, ‘Aeon,’ London, Melbourne, New York, January 15, 2018 The recent violence in southern Thailand began on 4 January 2004, when Malay Muslim insurgents invaded a Thai Army depot in the southernmost province of… Read more »