by Brad Adams, Groundviews.org, Colombo, April 23, 2016 January 2015 saw a momentous change in Sri Lanka. After nearly 10 years of increasingly authoritarian rule, a new government promising change was voted into office. The new government immediately set about righting many of the wrongs of the previous Rajapaksa government, including an openness toward independent… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
Amb. Power Remarks
Ambassador Samantha Power U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations U.S. Mission to the United Nations New York City April 28, 2016 AS DELIVERED There were two reasons that I flew down from New York at the crack of dawn this morning to join you. The first is that I fell in love with Sri… Read more »
PEARL: Release Sivakaran and Other Tamils Held under the PTA
Sri Lanka must immediately release Sivakaran and Other Tamils held under the PTA by People of Equality and Relief in Lanka, USA, Posted on April 27, 2016 Recent spate of arrests and abductions raise further doubt about Sri Lanka’s reform efforts (Washington, DC; April 27, 2016) PEARL is deeply concerned by Sri Lanka’s latest arrest… Read more »
China, India Tussle for Influence as Sri Lanka Seeks Investment
by Gauri Bhatia, CNBC, New York, April 25, 2016 Situated almost in the middle of the Indian Ocean, there is no escaping Sri Lanka’s centrality. The country lies just a few nautical miles away from the super-busy east-west shipping route, through which an estimated 60,000 ships pass every year, carrying two-thirds of the world’s oil… Read more »
The Inconvenient Truth about Sri Lanka’s North and East
by Taylor Dibbert, ‘Huffington Post,’ Los Angeles, April 25, 2016 People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) has recently published a timely report. The document is based upon field research that was conducted in January 2016 and will be of interest to anyone trying to make sense of the new government’s performance since Maithripala… Read more »
Questions of Haste, Urgency and Consultations in Transitional Justice
by Niran Anketell, ‘Groundviews,’ Colombo, April 20, 2016 On a recent visit to the United States, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera made a revealing series of comments in response to a question at a forum organized by the United States Institute of Peace. When asked about the government’s timeline to introduce what the government calls “reconciliation… Read more »
New Report Raises Concern Sri Lanka’s Window for Reconciliation is Closing
(Washington, DC; April 20, 2016) A new report by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) provides details of ongoing militarization and harassment amongst the Tamil population of the North-East of Sri Lanka, over one year after the change in presidency and seven months after the election of the United National Party-led national government…. Read more »
Will Sri Lanka Follow The Example Of Nepal?
by Veluppillai Thangavelu, ‘Colombo Telegraph,’ April 18, 2016 Veluppillai Thangavelu The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has consistently called for power sharing arrangements in a merged Northern and Eastern Provinces based on a Federal structure in a manner acceptable to the Tamil Speaking Muslim people. In all the elections held since May, 2009 voters have given a clear mandate… Read more »
Syria: War Crimes and the Pursuit of Justice
AS DELIVERED April 14, 2016 Remarks by Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, at an Informal Meeting on “Syria: War Crimes and the Pursuit of Justice,” April 14, 2016 Thank you all for your powerful presentations. Thank you, Ambassador al-Thani, for organizing this event and thanks to all of the… Read more »
Capturing the Secret Documents
In hundreds of witness interviews, the CIJA found consistent patterns in interrogation practices across all branches of the security agencies. People were detained following the Crisis Cell’s policy. Besides identifying “new targets,” the results of these interrogations were shared among the agencies. Detainees were routinely kept in inhumane conditions for months or years without entering the judicial system…
Hamada’s account of atrocities at Hospital 601 was later corroborated by approximately fifty-five thousand photographs, smuggled out of Syria by a military-police officer known by the name Caesar, an alias. Before the war, Caesar and his colleagues had documented crime scenes and traffic accidents involving military personnel in Damascus. He uploaded pictures to government computers, then printed them and stapled them to official death reports. Beginning in 2011, however, the bodies were those of detainees, collected each day from security branches and delivered to military hospitals…
Between Caesar’s photographs and the CIJA’s case, Stephen Rapp told me, “when the day of justice arrives, we’ll have much better evidence than we’ve had anywhere since Nuremberg.”…
Last year, when Assad was asked about the Caesar photographs during an interview with Foreign Affairs, he said, “Who said this is done by the government, not by the rebels? Who said this is a Syrian victim, not someone else?”
The American Hug
Fundamental military alignments with US, taking place without open debate, may foreclose India’s options.
Land Occupation in the Northern Province
Land is a key issue for reconciliation in Sri Lanka. Reparations including the restitution of land, if implemented in the correct manner, can contribute to long-term peace building efforts and prevent further marginalisation of people who were affected by the war. With promises by the government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) to initiate reforms including with… Read more »
Getting US Messaging Right
Getting US Messaging about Sri Lanka’s ‘Democratic Transition’ Right by Taylor Dibbert, ‘The Diplomat,’ Tokyo, March 31, 2016 Nisha Biswal, the U.S. State Department’s assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, spoke at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, on Monday. Her prepared remarks were… Read more »
U.S. Policies and Priorities for 2016
Sri Lanka, which is rebalancing its own foreign and economic policy as it emerges from its self-imposed isolation, will benefit from its strategic location as a maritime gateway to some of the largest markets in Asia.
Muslim Perspectives 2007
Muslim Perspectives on SL Conflict East West Center 2007 The Sri Lankan ethnic conflict is often regarded as a two-way contest between the Sinhala majority and the Tamil minority, ignoring the interests and concerns of the island’s 8 percent Muslim (or “Moorish”) minority. One-third of Sri Lanka’s Muslims are concentrated in towns and districts located… Read more »
Sampur: Documentary Trailer
Thousands of individuals from across Sri Lanka have been displaced for years, some multiple times. For over a decade, the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) has documented issues related to displacement and returns, advocating reform and litigating on unjust and arbitrary practices. Two cases CPA has followed closely for years, supporting litigation and advocating land… Read more »
Political Prisoners and Sri Lanka’s Sincerity Crisis
That said, members of the international community who are greatly concerned with the provision of technical assistance and capacity-related matters may be missing a crucial point that precedes any thorough discussion regarding capacity: the coalition government’s sincerity. Is Colombo actually serious about fulfilling all of the promises it’s made? Are President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe really prepared to connect words with actions and stand up to Sinhala nationalism?
Rising from the Embers
by Tomasz Augustyniak, ‘Quartz India,’ March 28, 2016 On Friday evenings, vans and tuk-tuks usually form long queues before Jaffna’s only shopping mall. There’s a hint of exquisite perfume in the air. Mothers in kurtas mind their colourfully attired children. Single young men sporting oversized wrist watches zip around on motorcycles. Though rare, one can… Read more »
Sampanthan Speech on Disappearances & Indefinite Detention of Political Prisoners
PLAN OF ACTION REGARDING VICTIMS OF ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES AND PERSONS HELD IN CUSTODY FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME Sampanthan speech-8.3.2016 enforced disappearances indefinite detention The former Government’s commitment to the ascertainment of the truth, it may be said, was highly questionable. The new Government needs to address this issue more purposefully so as to bring… Read more »
Leaderless Tamils and Floundering Causes
Tamils who once ruled the entire country, but later ruled in the name of Jaffna Kingdom lost their rule after the entry of foreign Kingdoms. The 1948 independence opened the route to the loss of language rights; land ownership rights, employment rights. The first blow fell on the plantation Tamils, depriving them of their citizenship… Read more »