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 »
Posts Categorized: Politics
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 »
Sangha and State
by Hannah Clare Durham, Bard College, USA, May 2015 Sangha and State An Examination of Sinhalese-Buddhist Nationalism Introduction While spending a semester studying in Sri Lanka, I became acutely aware of the post civil war issues that were being sorted out by the state. Daily newspapers displayed updates on new infrastructural developments and efforts to rebuild… Read more »
Sri Lankan Court Fails to Deliver Justice to the Tamils
WASHINGTON, Aug. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Six former Sri Lankan army corporals accused of murder and rape in the massacre of 24 Tamils including 13 children in 1996 in the town of Kumarapuram near Trincomalee were all acquitted on every charge on July 27 at a court in Anuradhapura. The ethnic Tamils were targeted for murder and mayhem by the all… Read more »
The Halfway Mark
by Sri Lanka Campaign, London, August 2, 2016 The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) met last month to discuss, among other things, Sri Lanka’s progress in implementing the process they agreed last September to build a lasting peace based upon justice. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Al-Hussein delivered an oral update… Read more »
On Rights and Justice
As it is, despite the best efforts of the CTF and subsidiary bodies, politically, the popular consultations appear to be an eyewash, designed to placate foreign governments and UN officials, and tick the box. by Taylor Dibbert, ‘The World Post,’ Los Angeles, July 28, 2016 Ruki Fernando is a human rights activist based in Colombo,… Read more »
Interview with CM Wigneswaran
by ‘Daily News,’ Colombo, July 28, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lfPZQ7iAKY https://youtu.be/4lfPZQ7iAKY
NPC: Press Release re University Incident
A Full-Fledged Commission to determine the frustrations of University Students must be appointed NPC press release incident re university students The recent fisticuffs among Jaffna University Students was an unfortunate incident. V/e welcome the appointment of a Committee of Inquiry in this regard by the University Authorities. But such incidents should not be viewed from… Read more »
What Options For Jaffna Economic Revival?
by Kumar David, ‘Colombo Telegraph,’ July 17, 2016 Industrial and agricultural development prospects seem bleak: What options for Jaffna economic revival? Sometimes countries rise phoenix like from the ashes of devastation and war; the best known are Germany and Japan after WW2. Others like post-crisis Central African basket-cases remain depressed basket-cases. The Northern Province, unlike the… Read more »
US Asst Secretaries of State Biswal & Malinowski Visit
US Officials Insist Sustainable Peace Must Include Peace Dividend by Dharsha Bastians, ‘Daily Financial Times,’ Colombo, July 15, 2016 Visiting State Department officials insisted that accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka continues to be a key focus for the US Government, but defended their apparent focus on economic growth and investment on a two-day visit… Read more »
Engaging Sinhalese Buddhist Majoritarianism
by Neil DeVotta, ‘The Review of Faith & International Affairs,’ Summer 2016 Engaging Sinhalese Buddhist Majoritarianism and Countering Religious Animus in Sri Lanka Recommendations for the Incoming U S Administration This essay, consequently, discusses the Sinhalese Buddhist-Muslim dynamic in the country as part of its focus on religion and public life in Sri Lanka. The… Read more »
Bipartisan Group of 24 Lawmakers Calls on Secretary Kerry
2010 letter to Sec. Clinton on Sri Lanka FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 27, 2016 CONTACT: Abraham White 202-308-8430 Bipartisan Group of 24 Lawmakers Calls on Secretary Kerry to Strengthen Peace and Human Rights in Sri Lanka for War Victims WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressmen Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Bill Johnson (R-OH) led… Read more »
Sri Lanka Must Stay the Course
‘The Hindu’ editorial, Chennai, July 2, 2016 The frequent human rights updates in Geneva provide an occasion for the world to discuss Sri Lanka’s post-war situation, especially the progress made in investigating the excesses during the last phase of the civil war that ended in 2009. Until last year, the country considered the process hostile… Read more »
Is Sri Lanka on the Path to Reconciliation?
by Al Jazeera, Qatar, July 3, 2016 Video at http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2016/07/sri-lanka-reconciliation-160703174125765.html President Sirisena is under pressure to fulfill his post-cvil war promises of accountability and justice. It’s been seven years since the civil war in Sri Lanka ended. The 30-year conflict fell largely along ethnic lines. President Maithripala Sirisena has said reconciliation is one of his top… Read more »
USTPAC Welcomes High Commissioner Zeid’s Call for Sustained International Engagement on Sri Lanka
WASHINGTON, June 30, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) member states responded yesterday in Geneva to High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein’s midterm report on the government of Sri Lanka’s implementation of Resolution 30/1. USTPAC welcomes High Commissioner Zeid’s report and statements from member states and other countries for more… Read more »
UNHCHR: Promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka
by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, June 28, 2016 Advance copy of UNHCHR oral report on Sri Lanka’s compliance with UNHRC Resolution 30/1 A_HRC_32_CRP_4_EN This oral update is presented pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1 on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka, which was adopted by consensus with the… Read more »