Shivajilingam_GenevaStatement_10March2014 SriLanka_NPC_Resolution_Jan2014_English Statement from Hon M.K.Shivajilingam, Member of Northern Provincial Council, Sri Lanka Presented to the UN Diplomats in Geneva, Switzerland on March 10, 2014 Your Excellencies, Honorable Members of the UN Human Rights Council, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am an elected Member of Northern Provincial Council in Sri Lanka, and I stand here today… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
Accountability in Focus
Dr. Singh… once again brought up the most critical issue that affects the Tamils of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province: the Army’s brazen occupation of vast areas of civilian land. Dr. Singh asked Mr.Rajapaksa to pare the Army presence in the North. No doubt, the mellow mood in the Sri Lankan ruling establishment comes from the realisation that slowly but steadily the UN Human Rights Council, and, by implication, the international community, is becoming tougher on the issue. In the long run, there is no escape from a credible investigation that establishes accountability. And the question of the political rights of Tamils remains to be addressed with a measure of seriousness and urgency.
Statement by TNA Leaders on Draft Resolution
TNA Response to the Draft Resolution_March 2014 TNA Response to the Draft Resolution_March 2014 The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has given careful consideration to the draft resolution on Sri Lanka proposed at the 25th sessions of the Human Rights Council by the United States of America, the UnitedKingdom, Montenegro, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and… Read more »
Primacy of Accountability
Last week’s opening of the UN Human Rights Council’s 25th session gave rise to strong and welcome calls from key member states for an international inquiry into Sri Lanka’s mass atrocities. That Sri Lanka is not going to investigate the horrific crimes for which its leaders are responsible and that accountability depends entirely on an… Read more »
Interactive Dialogue with SASG on Prevention of Genocide
http://webtv.un.org/watch/id-special-advisor-on-the-prevention-of-genocide-15th-meeting-25th-regular-session-of-human-rights/3316281947001 [See also Chapter 15 by France Libertes: Fondation Danielle Mitterrand ] 25th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council Geneva March 7, 2014 Item 3 – Interactive Dialogue with SASG on Prevention of Genocide Organization: Pasumai Thaayagam Thank you Madam Vice President. On the 65th anniversary of the “Convention on the prevention of Genocide” we are… Read more »
Bring Up the Bodies
by ‘The Economist,’ London, March 8, 2014 DELHI | From the print edition EVIDENCE of past atrocities keeps turning up in Sri Lanka. Last year 154 bodies were unearthed from a mass grave behind a hospital in Matale, in the centre of the island—victims, in all likelihood, of an uprising by Marxist rebels in the 1980s. In… Read more »
Let the U.N. Unmask the Criminals of Sri Lanka’s War
BRUSSELS — IN early 2009, as many as 40,000 civilians were killed in the final days of Sri Lanka’s civil war, having been herded into an area about the size of Central Park and subjected to relentless shelling. No one has been held accountable for these crimes, and even now the government in Colombo remains… Read more »
ICG: UNHRC Action Remains Crucial
by International Crisis Group, Brussels, February 28, 2014 This briefing note draws on Crisis Group’s extensive reporting on post-war political developments in Sri Lanka, as well as recent interviews with a range of Sri Lankan stakeholders. Read all our published reports on Sri Lanka. Overview The government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has failed to comply with two… Read more »
AIADMK Manifesto Says Party will Work for Referendum on Separate Eelam, Retrieval of Katchatheevu
CHENNAI: The AIADMK says if a government formed by the party and its allies comes to power at the Centre after the Lok Sabha elections, it will move the United Nations to render justice to the Sri Lankan Tamils by holding a referendum for the formation of a separate Eelam. “The party is determined to… Read more »
TNA Welcomes Pillay’s report
TNA welcomes Pillay’s report The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has welcomed the Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on promoting reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka to the 25th session of the Human Rights Council. The High Commissioner’s report contains a comprehensive and accurate depiction of the serious human rights issues… Read more »
Sri Lanka Denounces Push to Open War Inquiry
NEW DELHI — Sri Lanka’s government on Tuesday forcefully rejected a call for an international war crimes investigation into the country’s bloody civil war, adding to tensions with the United Nations’ human rights body. In its official response to a highly critical report released on Monday by the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, the government… Read more »
Tamil Nadu Government Decides to Release 7 in Rajiv Assassination Case
The Tamil Nadu Government, in a suo motu statement to the State Assembly on Wednesday said it has decided to release the 7 prisoners, now imprisoned to lifetime in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The decision comes as the Indian Supreme Court on Tuesday decided to commute the death sentence on Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan to… Read more »
USTPAC – International Probe a Must in Sri Lanka
by US Tamil Political Action Council, PR Newswire, February 11, 2014 WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2014 — /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — United States Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC) welcomes recent high level visits to Sri Lanka by Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Nisha Biswal and Ambassador-At-Large for Global Criminal Justice, Stephen Rapp, and their steadfast… Read more »
Briefing by UNSG Spokesman
Noon Briefing Acting Deputy Spokesperson: We’ve made it clear that there needs to be more done to get at the heart of what happened in Sri Lanka. You’ve seen what the Secretary-General’s reports on the situation have said and it’s clear that there continues to be a need for all the facts to be learned… Read more »
Break in Siege Is Little Relief to Syrian City
The agreement, announced by the Syrian government last week, called for a three-day cease-fire to allow women, children and older men to leave a rebel-held part of the city while food was distributed to those who remained inside.
But the cease-fire was shaky from the start. Some residents refused to leave, fearing their departure would prompt the killing of the remaining rebels. Pro-government Facebook pages also criticized the deal and began a campaign called “No to feeding the gunmen.”
March Madness: Is it USA Vs India?
In the case of Burma, India and America’s good cop, bad cop routine worked to ultimately undo the military junta.
But will India and America reenact the same play in Sri Lanka or are their objectives diverging? …
Tamil Nadu activists have chosen to protest against the American resolution because it does not include charges of Genocide. While that is reasonable request, protesting it misses the tree for the wood. Tamil Nadu’s immediate focus should be in getting Delhi to take a public position within the next few weeks. Letting Delhi wait until the voting time, is a strategic mistake by the Tamil Nadu brethren. Tamil Nadu activists should first mobilize towards getting Delhi to openly support an International Investigation mechanism. Without that, protesting the resolution for what it does not include is premature and above all not prudent. It only helps Delhi’s agenda of deflection.
Making Provincial Administration Work in the North
“The concept of devolution is used to mean the delegation of central government power without relinquishment of supremacy.” (Sri Lanka Law Reports (SLLR) 1987/2- page 327)
New Inquiry on Sri Lanka Points to Possible War Crimes
William Schabas, professor of international law at Middlesex University in London who is an authority on war crimes and was among the experts enlisted to examine the Australian inquiry’s evidence, said it was the first to focus on issues that are relevant to a criminal prosecution.
“What it demonstrates is there is clear evidence that a prosecutor can go on,” he said in an interview.
Holding Sri Lanka to Account
Washington is once again trying to put pressure on the government of Sri Lanka to commission a credible independent investigation of crimes and human rights abuses committed during the end of that country’s bloody civil war in 2009. It was a good move to send a senior American diplomat to the island nation last weekend… Read more »
US Asst Secretary Press Conference in Colombo
U.S. Department of State Nisha Desai Biswal Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Colombo, Sri Lanka February 2, 2014 Press Conference With Assistant Secretary Nisha Biswal in Colombo, Sri Lanka AMBASSADOR SISON: I am so pleased to be with you all this evening in order to introduce you to our new Assistant… Read more »