Posts Categorized: Politics

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Holds Federation is Not Separation

Court dispels doubts By: Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [Lond.] FCII, August 27, 2017 Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka President: Tamil Canadian Elders for Human Rights Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Priyasath Dep delivered a politically historical judgement on August 4, dispelling the doubts and paranoia of  some Sinhalese extremist… Read more »

The Sri Lankan Supreme Court’s on the Proscription of the Federal Party

More than meets the eye? By Dr Asanga Welikala, ‘ConstitutionNet,’ Sweden, 29 August, 2017 The Sri Lankan Supreme Court has determined that the advocacy of federalism is not tantamount to the advocacy of secession. In doing so, it has for the first time recognised the Tamil minority as a ‘people’ entitled to the right to internal self-determination…. Read more »

HRW: Recurring Nightmare State Responsibility for “Disappearances” and Abductions in Sri Lanka

by Human Rights Watch, March 5, 2008 2008 statement on report and at https://www.hrw.org/news/2008/03/06/sri-lanka-disappearances-security-forces-national-crisis Summary (see below) Who Is Responsible? Who Is Being Targeted? Unpunished Crimes The Government’s Response International Response Key Recommendations Note on Methodology II. Background The armed conflict History of “disappearances” in Sri Lanka III. Legal Framework Sri Lanka’s obligations under international law Sri Lankan… Read more »

Amnesty: “Disappearances & Political Killings: Human Rights Crisis of the 1990s’

A MANUAL FOR ACTION by Amnesty International, London, September, 1993 Amnesty 1993 disappearance murder as techniques of counterinsurgency asa370131993en Sri Lanka: “Disappearance” and murder as techniques of counter-insurgency EXTERNAL (for general distribution) AI Index: ASA 37/13/93 Distr: SC/CO/CC No. of words: 4700 ————————- Amnesty International International Secretariat 1 Easton Street London WC1X 8DJ United Kingdom… Read more »

Amnesty: Sri Lanka Must Deliver on its Commitments SET OUT BY HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL RESOLUTION 30/1

Set Out by Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1 by Amnesty International, London, August 22, 2017 Index number: IOR 40/6975/2017 WRITTEN STATEMENT UN Human Rights Council Thirty-sixth session 11 – 29 September 2017 Human Rights Council resolution 30/1 sets out concrete steps to ensuring truth, justice, reparation and non-recurrence for human rights violations and abuses. Council resolution… Read more »

Voluntary, Safe and Sustainable Return

Support Needed for Sri Lankan Refugees by Mayuran Jeevarathnina, ‘Groundviews,’ Colombo, August 9, 2017 Editor’s Note: A version of this speech was delivered by the author at the UNHCR Annual Consultations with NGOs, held from June 14-16 at the  International Conference Centre in Geneva  “O our motherland, bid us a farewell We buried our smiles in… Read more »

Holding Sri Lanka to Account

A dream or a reality? By: Thambu Kanagasabai   LLM [Lond], Former Lecturer in Law University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s political and economic history from the day of independence in 1948 until 1956 was considered a role model for developing countries, even envied by the late Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kwan Yew.  Communal harmony… Read more »

Invoking Nuremberg in Colombo

The writer clearly has a distance to travel to understand what took place during & after the war in Sri Lanka.  Has she seen Channel 4’s ‘Killing Fields,’ read the OISL Report or the proceedings of the Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka, or talked to anyone who was in Mullavaikkal at the end of the… Read more »

SR Counter-Terrorism & Human Rights

Video of SR Emmerson’s media conference at end of his visit https://lk.one.un.org/news/full-statement-by-ben-emmerson-un-special-rapporteur-on-human-rights-and-counter-terrorism-at-the-conclusion-of-his-official-visit/ Human rights and counter-terrorism: UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism concludes visit to Sri Lanka Preliminary findings of the visit to Sri Lanka Colombo (14 July 2017) – The United Nations Special… Read more »

Sri Lanka’s Current Political Impasse

Some additional thoughts by Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda, ‘Groundviews,’ Colombo, July 4, 2017 Editors note: Read in conjunction with Sri Lanka’s deepening political crisis: Not losing an opportunity to lose another opportunity by the same author. Sri Lanka has entered another phase of political crisis. It is a three-fold crisis. The first is at the level of the… Read more »

Ex-Diplomat Carne Ross: the Case for Anarchism

How a high-flying diplomat and Middle East adviser lost his faith in western democracy – but put his trust in people power by Andrew Anthony, ‘The Guardian,’ UK, July 9, 2017 If you were to play a game of word association with the term “anarchism” what would be the likely responses? Perhaps the anarchy sign,… Read more »

Audacity of Hope in a Broken City

by Devin Jayasundera, ‘Echelon,’ Colombo, June 28, 2017 THE NORTHERN PROVINCE IS IN A STATE OF ECONOMIC ISOLATION. WHILE THE STATE IS IN A POLITICAL DREADLOCK, ORDINARY PEOPLE HAVE TAKEN CHARGE For the last three months, Kamalnath*, 26, has been arriving to work in Chunnakam two hours late, leaving two hours early and spending his free… Read more »

An Uphill Battle Ahead for India

to Sustain Strategic Ties With US by Constantino Xavier, ‘TheWire.in,’ July 3, 2017 The failure to address the clash between ‘Make in India’ and ‘America First’ policies, and any changes in the narrow business interests of the US in China could prove problematic for India. Contrasting with the optimism with which US President Donald Trump’s election… Read more »

Northern Provincial Council – A Boiling Pot

by Thambu Kanagasabai, Toronto, June 27, 2017 Northern Provincial Council is [NPC] a creation under the Indo-Ceylon Accord of 1987 and the 13th Amendment to the constitution, all of which are of Indian and Sri Lankan Government’s making without the backing  and endorsement of the large majority of Tamils and the leadership of the Liberation Tigers… Read more »

TNA – Is It Taking the Tamils for a Ride?

by Kumarathasan Rasingam, June 25, 2017 Tamil National Alliance [TNA], a loose group of four parties, Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi [ITAK] Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization [TELO], People’s Liberation of Tamil Eelam [PLOTE] and Eelam People’s Liberation Front [EPRLF] was formed in 2001 with the blessings of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam [LTTE} leadership.  TNA… Read more »

Netherlands-Funded CEPA Project Wages Political ‘Counter-Insurgency’

On Diaspora, elected NPC Colombo Establishment and its global backers are trying to isolate the Northern and Eastern provincial councils by intervening through Colombo-based authorities, ministries and departments coming under the Central Government. Certain NGOs operating in Colombo also operate in the same manner. There is also a hidden agenda of diverting ‘post-war development assistance’,… Read more »

HRW: Minister Threatens Defender of Minority Rights

by Human Rights Watch, New York, June 19, 2017 Investigate, Prosecute Attacks on Muslims, Christians (New York) – The Sri Lankan government should immediately repudiate statements by the country’s justice minister threatening to disbar a prominent lawyer for speaking out against attacks on religious minorities, Human Rights Watch said today. The incident highlights the government’s… Read more »

A Betrayal, Repugnant & Lethal

There was a prehistory to Black July, consisting of the teaching of contempt and the spreading of fear. It was that seeding which enabled Black July. Today we are living through the pre-history of an anti-Muslim riot. The demonising of all Muslims as fanatics hell-bent on taking over our land, our economy and our women… Read more »