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/
Posts Categorized: Politics
Concerns of the Tamil Community in Relation to the Transitional Justice Process
Letter handed over to the UN Secretary General at a meeting of civil society representatives on 02, September 2016 in Colombo Civil Society Letter to UNSG Sept 2 2016 About the signatory organisations: Home for Human Rights (HHR): HHR has close to 40 years of institutional history in documenting and litigating human rights in North-East Sri… Read more »
Constitutitonal Reform Process
by Law and Society Trust, Colombo, date unknown
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 »
Colombian Negotiators Announce a Final Peace Accord
by Jenny Bouvier, ‘Colombia Calls,’ Washington, DC, August 24, 2016 The suitcase has been ready and there have been several false alarms, but last night it was confirmed that tonight will be the night. A final peace agreement, pending a few items, has been reached in Havana. The negotiating teams are expected to spend the… Read more »
America Shouldn’t Rush to Support Sri Lanka’s Military
by Taylor Dibbert, ‘The National Interest,’ August 18, 2016 Colombo needs to shape up before it gets rewarded by Washington. The United States is poised to deepen ties with Sri Lanka’s military. Such an initiative would likely include increased military cooperation between the two countries, training programs and possibly an uptick in military assistance heading… Read more »
Asia Foundation: Sri Lanka Strategic Assessment 2016
by Asia Foundation, San Francisco, March 2016 Asia Foundation Sri Lanka Strategic Assessment 2016 Sri Lanka underwent a major political transition in 2015 with the election of President Maithripala Sirisena and the establishment of a new coalition government between the United Front for Good Governance (UNFGG) and one faction of the United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance… Read more »
INFORM – Human Rights Situation in Sri Lanka
by INFORM Human Rights Documentation Centre, Colombo, August 18, 2016 Full report at http://www.forum-asia.org/?p=21357 Human Rights Situation in Sri Lanka August 17, 2015 – August 17, 2016 Introduction The January 2015 presidential elections didn’t just defeat Mahinda Rajapakse. It was an electoral rejection of Rajapakse politics and way of ruling by Sri Lankan people, ending also… Read more »
Enforced Disappearances in Sri Lanka
by M.C.M. Iqbal, ‘Groundviews,’ May 19, 2016 (This is an abridged version of a presentation made at a meeting at the University of London on 25th April, 2016. The full version can be read here) Enforced disappearance of persons remains one of the widely known human rights violations in Sri Lanka. The machinery that had… Read more »
Ambassador Atul Keshap’s Remarks
by Embassy of the US to Sri Lanka & the Maldives, August 15, 2016 Video of Ambassador’s speech posted by Embassy [YouTube] Video of MP Sampanthan speech by LankaSri [YouTube] Video of Sampanthan’s meeting with Amb. Keshap by LankaSri [YouTube] Video of America’s 40 member medical team Jaffna visit by LankaSri[YouTube] Sinhala Translation Tamil Translation Thank… Read more »
From Ilankaiththurai to Lanka Patuna
by ‘Tamil Guardian,’ London,’ August 16, 2016 The newly-built Buddhist temple at Ilankaithurai – re-named Lanka Patuna by the government. A bridge is being constructed to improve access to the site for the increasing number of Sinhala visitors. Tamil Guardian co-editor and PEARL Advocacy Director Mario Arulthas travelled to Trincomalee last month to report on… Read more »
Impunity Reigns In Sri Lanka’s August 14, 2006 Bombing Of Schoolgirls
by Anjali Manivannan, ‘Forbes,’ New York, August 14, 2016 Anjali Manivannan is Legal Researcher and Advocacy Coordinator for People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL). On August 14, 2006, the Sri Lanka Air Force bombed the Senchcholai Girls Orphanage, killing 61 Tamil children and three instructors and injuring more than 60–150 others. Ten years after… Read more »
US Foreign Assistance to Sri Lanka
Partnership Opportunities with USAID – https://www.usaid.gov/sri-lanka/partnership-opportunities —————————————– http://beta.foreignassistance.gov/, accessed August 17, 2016 ————– US AID Sri Lanka https://www.usaid.gov/sri-lanka , accessed August 17, 2016 It is possible to search the database for which organizations in Sri Lanka were given how much money on the website above. 2016 partial year … Read more »
Report Sought On Ex-Tiger Injection Scandal
by ‘The Sunday Leader,’ August 14, 2016 A report has been sought from the Prisons Department on claims that rehabilitated LTTE cadres were injected with a cancerous poison. The issue had been raised in Parliament as well last week with the Tamil National Alliance calling for an investigation. It was alleged that the injection had… Read more »
The Never-Dying Political Ills of Sri Lanka
By: Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [London], Former Lecturer in Law, August 8, 2016 [ 1 ] COMMUNALISM AND MAJORITY HEGEMONY One can hardly deny the fact of various political ills plaguing and denting Sri Lanka’s image since 1956. A nation labelled as peaceful and prosperous until 1956 shed this image from then on to become as a… Read more »
Human Rights Up Front & Sri Lanka
http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/general-assembly/agenda-items/promotion-of-human-rights/watch/human-rights-up-front/5077276050001 Overview [PDF] Detailed discussion, including origin in the Petrie Report on UN failures in Sri Lanka [PDF] by Gerritt Kurtz, ‘With Courage and Coherence: The Human Rights up Front Initiative by the United Nations,’ Policy Paper, Global Public Policy Institute, July 2015 Introduction During its final offensive, in 2009, the Sri Lankan army closed in on… Read more »
GTF Welcomes the Passing of the Office of Missing Persons Bill
by Global Tamil Forum, August 13, 2016 The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) welcomes the passing of the Office of the Missing Persons Bill (OMP) in the Parliament on August 11 as this is an important first step towards achieving accountability, justice and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. We commend the leadership shown by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government… Read more »
Crucial OMP Bill Rushed through Parliament
OMP Act Aug 2016 [PDF] CPA: Summary of OMP Video of FM Mangala Samaraweera’s speech during debate on OMP bill [youtube] OMP-Bill-Statement-TabledinParliament-11August2016-s [PDF] Entire process takes less than two hours By Saman Indrajith, ‘The Island,’ Colombo, August 11, 2016 The Joint Opposition’s protest enabled the government to rush the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) Bill through parliament… Read more »
Devolution the Only Solution
by Taylor Dibbert, ‘The Wire,’ New Delhi, August 11, 2016 C.V. Wigneswaran, chief minister of the Northern Province and member of the Tamil National Alliance, says adopting federalism is the only way to assure transitional justice and provide a long-lasting solution to ethnic conflict. C.V. Wigneswaran thinks India should get involved in educating the Sinhalese polity…. Read more »
UN Committee on Racial Discrimination Assessment of Sri Lanka Report
The UN Committee on Racial Discrimination (CERD) will assess Sri Lanka’s report submitted in October 2015 on August 15-16 2016 in Geneva. CERD is a committee of 8 independent experts who assess progress of states parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The membership of the Committee can be seen… Read more »