Reflections on Self-Determination, Justice and Peace in Post-War Sri Lanka by Prof. K. Guruparan, Melbourne, Australia, June 12, 2017 Text of the Mamanithar Late Prof C.J. Eliezer AM Memorial Lecture delivered on 12 June 2016 at the Monash University, Clayton Campus, Melbourne I am deeply honoured by this invitation to deliver the Maamanithar Prof Christopher Jeyaratnam… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
What the Families of the Disappeared Want
by K. Guruparan tweet, June 12, 2017 Demands put forward by the reps of the families of the disappeared to Pres. Sirisena during his visit to Jaffna on June 11, 2017 1. Release a list of all those who surrendered or were detained by the Sri Lankan Armed forces during and after the war, and… Read more »
We Eelam Tamils Embrace the 150th Birthday Celebrations of Canada
By Eelaventhan Manickavasakar, June 6, 2017 Canada’s concept of unity and diversity has a special appeal to the Eelam Tamils. Sri Lanka should learn lessons from Canada for it to survive in dignity and self honour. – Canada is also a classic example of how a multi lingual, multi national, multi religious state can preserve… Read more »
BTF & USTPAC Press Release on the Campaign for the Missing, Marking 100 Days
BTF & USTPAC call for UNHRC intervention re intimidation at missing person protests_May302017 BTF and USTPAC call upon the UN Human Rights Council to, a) Request the High Commissioner or his high-level representatives to visit the protestors in Killinochchi to stop the intimidation of the people who are already traumatised… Read more »
How a Haiti Child Sex Ring was Whitewashed
UN PEACEKEEPERS: HOW A HAITI CHILD SEX RING WAS WHITEWASHED by Katy Daigle and Paisley Dodds, Associated Press in ‘The Washington Post,’ May 26, 2017 COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The general sat on a plastic lawn chair in the garden of his mother’s home, the scent of tropical blooms filling the air as he… Read more »
Facing Sri Lanka’s Ghosts
by Devon Haynie, ‘US News & World Report,’ May 18, 2017 With thousands still missing, Sri Lanka’s postwar progress comes to a halt. VAVUNIYA, Sri Lanka — At some point during its brutal 26 years, the Sri Lankan civil war brought terror or loss to virtually everyone in the country. For Kasipillai Jeyavanitha, a mother… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Transition to Nowhere
by International Crisis Group, Brussels, May 16, 2017 ICG Sri Lanka’s Transition to Nowhere Executive Summary Two years into President Maithripala Sirisena’s term, Sri Lanka’s fragile hopes for lasting peace and cooperation across party and ethnic lines are imperilled. Despite significant achievements in the coalition government’s first nine months, progress on most of its reform… Read more »
Submission to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
by Minority Rights Group International (MRG), the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) and Women Development Innovators (WDI), May 11, 2017 *** Sri Lanka: Issues of land and sea grabbing on minorities brought to UN In order to reflect the current situation of minorities in Sri Lanka, IMADR, Minority Rights Group International (MRG)… Read more »
UN Peacekeepers: Keeping the Peace or Preventing it?
The UN peacekeepers’ capacity to commit rape with impunity undermines prospects for sustainable peace around the world. by Nimmi Gowrinathan & Kate Cronin-Furman, Al Jazeera, May 2, 2017 In 2007, more than 100 Sri Lankan peacekeeping troops were sent back to their home country from Haiti in disgrace as a result of sexual abuse allegations,… Read more »
European Union, GSP+ and Sri Lanka
Promoting or Demoting Human Rights? by Kumarathasan Rasingam, May 7, 2017 The European Parliament in its session on 26th April, 2017 has voted in favour of Sri Lanka rejecting a motion tabled by 52 European Union members to deny the additional tariff concessions approximately 66% on several products including textiles and fisheries imported by European… Read more »
TNA Statement on CTA
Civil Society Joint Statement on CTA
Joint Civil Society Statement: Sri Lanka’s draft Counter Terrorism Act: a license for continued state oppression, intimidation and torture May 4, 2017 The Sri Lankan cabinet’s approval of the new Counter Terrorism Act (CTA) is further confirmation of the state’s unwillingness to meet its obligations on human rights, to its citizens and the international community…. Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Crumbling Credibility
By: Kumarathasan Rasingam, April 29, 2017 — The credibility of Sri Lanka in relation to the settlement of the 60 year old ethnic problem of Tamils can be judged from the fate of several pacts, agreements and undertakings which were made from 1956 to 2009 and the Sri Lankan Governments unwillingness to comply with the… Read more »
International Criminal Court & Sri Lanka
by Thanbu Kanagasabai, LLM, London, April 25, 2017 — There appears to be some confusion as to the scope of functions and jurisdiction of this court. ICC, and more particularly its jurisdiction over Sri Lanka’s alleged war crimes etc. ICC is an Inter Governmental Organization and an International Tribunal which sits in the city of… Read more »
Tunisia’s Truth-Telling
Tunisia’s Truth-Telling Renews a Revolution’s Promise, Painfully by Carlotta Gall, ‘The New York Times,’ April 23, 2017 TUNIS — Like many of his fellow torture victims, Sami Brahim, a former political prisoner, did not expect much when he testified at the opening of Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity Commission in November. But to his surprise, he… Read more »
The Damage Done by Former UNSG Ban Ki-moon
The damage done by the former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the Tamils in North-East Sri Lanka by Brian Senewiratne, MD, Brisbane, Australia, April 22, 2017 In the 70 year history of the United Nations, there has not been a Secretary General worse than Ban Ki-moon. The former head of the UN Office of Internal… Read more »
FHR: Provisional Comments on Sri Lanka’s Draft CTA
by Prof. Christof Heyns & Toby Fisher, Foundation for Human Rights, Institute for Internationa and Comparative Law in Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa, April 18, 2017 SRI_LANKAS_DRAFT_COUNTER_TERRORISM_ACT_-_PUBLICATION_DRAFT_-_18_APRIL_2017 CONCLUSION 35. Whilst the amendments made to the 2016 Draft are to be welcomed, the current PLFCTA contains a number of features that are inconsistent with the international human… Read more »
SACLS: CEDAW Report & Transitional Justice
by South Asian Centre for Legal Studies blog, Colombo, March 10, 2017 With the commemoration of international women’s day this week, we must remember that the transitional justice agenda, which was in many countries advanced by courageous and resilient women activists, must be situated within a broader human rights framework. The CEDAW report, also published… Read more »
CEDAW Report on Sri Lanka
by UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Geneva, March 3, 2017 CEDAW/C/LKA/CO/8 Concluding observations on the eighth periodic report of Sri Lanka http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CEDAW%2FC%2FLKA%2FCO%2F8&Lang=en The Committee considered the eighth report of Sri Lanka (CEDAW/C/LKA/8) at its 1484th and 1485th meetings, on 22 February 2017 (see CEDAW/C/SR.1484 and CEDAW/C/SR.1485). The Committee’s list of issues and… Read more »
GoSL Complicity in Paramilitary Factions’ HR Abuses
from Wikileaks, accessed April 20, 2017 https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/07COLOMBO728_a.html Date: 2007 May 18, 09:22 Classified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr., for reasons 1.4(b, d) 1. (S) SUMMARY: Allegations of government complicity in crimes committed by organized paramilitary groups have mounted in the last year. Paramilitaries such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)-breakaway Karuna group and… Read more »