Sri Lanka on Tuesday acceded to the 'Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment'. The protocol will become effective on January 4th, 2018. Sri Lanka's decision to accede the protocol comes amid ongoing reports of torture committed by state security forces.
Unemployed graduates in Batticaloa marched in protest at the Sri Lankan government's failure to appoint the promised number of graduate teachers. Several graduates who passed a graduate scheme entrance exam set by the Eastern Provincial Council have not been given the promised employment, the protestors said. Five representatives from the protest met with the Government Agent and stressed the graduates' demand that all those who passed the criteria should be appointed by the end of the year.
Photograph: Yardstick Films Secret filming at the Scottish Police academy revealed deep ties between Scotland’s police force and Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force – a notorious paramilitary unit that has been accused of directly carrying out war crimes. Undercover footage provided by Yardstick films shows an interview with a manager of Police Scotland's international training unit, who said, "We know there are issues”. “We know the previous President was being taken for war crimes,” he added. “Yeah. The choices are we do nothing or we go in. UK government's position was we want to go in and do something."
The governor of Sri Lanka's Central Bank this warned that island's signficant debt was the achilles heel of the economy. "The underlying problem was that Sri Lanka allowed exports to come down as a share of gross domestic product and allow foreign commercial borrowing to go up," the governor, Indrajit Coomaraswamy was quoted by Economy Next as saying. “That was a suicidal set of policies - to allow exports to collapse and go on a foreign commercial borrowing binge.” "It created a 'big hole' in the economy which the new government is trying to fix, by improving export growth to get out of the...
A new coalition was formed today to rival the Tamil National Alliance, following months of criticism at its failure to fulfill its mandate and what has been described as the undemocratic rule of the TNA leader, R Sampanthan and TNA MP, M A Sumanthiran. The new coalition, the Tamil Liberation Alliance (TLA) comprises of Suresh Premachandran of the Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), the party of the former ITAK youth leader Sivakaran - Democratic Tamil Arasu Katchi, EROS and V Anandasangaree of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). Supporters however state that other...
The Sri Lankan government is undertaking another large-scale project for Sinhalisation of Mullaitivu, an Northern Provincial Council member for the district has said. The billion rupee irrigation scheme titled 'Hipul Oya' on the Mullaitivu border is another front to settle more Sinhalese families on the appropriated land of Tamils, NPC member T. Ravikaran told the council. The government is attempting to replicate the colonisation of Manalaaru, now known only as 'Weli Oya', which has been transformed into an entirely Sinhalese division in Mullaitivu, Mr Ravikaran said. Nothing has been done...
The Sri Lankan military held a Buddhist ceremony at its headquarters in Jaffna this week, as it laid the foundation for a new building to be constructed.
The UK government funded culture and education body, the British Council, concluded a program of teaching English to Sri Lankan troops stationed in the Vanni. “The aim of the course was to improve the speaking, writing, listening and reading capacity” of troops, declared an official Sri Lankan military website .
Sri Lanka's cabinet on Tuesday increased tax on foreign commercials, films and TV dramas. The move follows the proposal outlined in the 2018 budget by the finance ministry. According to new rules, a foreign film or TV drama will have to pay Rs 160,000 per slot, compared with Rs 90,000 previously. See here for more.
The British High Commission in Sri Lanka distanced itself from statements made by MP Lord Naseby in parliament, reports island.lk. Responding to a query made by the island.lk , the high commission said, “A point that has not been in dispute in all that has been written and said since Lord Naseby spoke is that many thousands of civilians died during the conflict. We continue to encourage the Sri Lankan Government to implement the commitments it gave and which are set out in UNHRC resolution 30/1 and reaffirmed in UNHRC resolution 34/1 , including the undertaking to establish truth-seeking...