An updated draft United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution on Sri Lanka was released this morning, showing some changes to the language of the text but still falling short on Tamil demands for an international accountability mechanism.
The updated draft resolution now calls on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to "collect" as well as "consolidate, analyse and preserve” evidence that could be used in future war crimes trials. However, it has failed to implement UN High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet's recommendations which call on member states to consider asset freezes and travel bans on Sri Lankan officials credibly accused of human rights abuses and to consider “steps towards the referral of the situation in Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC)."
Tamil News
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In their annual report, Freedom House has maintained that Sri Lanka is only “partly free” as they highlighted systemic discrimination against Tamils, violent threats from Sri Lanka’s security forces and Sinhala Buddhist extremists, forced Sinhalisation and land grabs, as well as a litany of further abuses.
Systemic discrimination
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The Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) staged a protest in Jaffna to stop the transfer of land documents related to the Northern Province to the Land Reforms Commission (LRC) office in Anuradhapura amidst police harassment.
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An updated draft United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution on Sri Lanka was released this morning, showing some changes to the language of the text but still falling short on Tamil demands for an international accountability mechanism.
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Sri Lankan soldiers took over the role of the medical staff who were conducting a nation-wide strike in late February, as militarisation of the North-East intensifies.
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The daughter of murdered Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge said that “Rajapaksa’s election has closed every door to human rights and accountability in Sri Lanka” in a piece for the Washington Post this week, as she called for the international community to ensure “murderous autocrats pay a price”.
“I hold Rajapaksa responsible,” wrote Ahimsa...
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Tamil families of the disappeared held a rally in Kilinochchi this week, calling on the international community to place sanctions on Sri Lankan officials accused of mass atrocities and for the state to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Protestors demonstrated on the roadside in the city,...
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A hunger strike has been launched in Batticaloa, in solidarity with a British Tamil woman who is protesting in London, as calls for Sri Lanka to be referred to the International Criminal Court continue to ramp up.
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Students at Jaffna University echoed demands for Sri Lankan to be referred to the International Criminal Court, as a rotating hunger strike being carried out by students entered its fifth day.
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Gareth Thomas, MP for Harrow West called on the UK government to "play a much bigger role" in holding Sri Lanka accountable for the human rights abuses they committed at the end of the armed conflict in 2009.
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Writing in Just Security, Dharsha Jegatheeswaran, Co-Director of the Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research, a human rights think-tank based in Jaffna, illustrates how the “Tamil families of the disappeared have shown, there is no hope for truth and justice domestically in Sri Lanka”.
“The only way to provide these families their long-overdue...
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Two people have been admitted to the Vavuniya hospital after being shot by the Sri Lankan Army in Omanthai. The incident took place at around 4am on Wednesday.According to the army, armed troops intercepted a vehicle carrying illegal timber from the forest area in Omanthai Semadu. They claim that the...
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Following a landmark judgement from Britain’s Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission last year, the Home Office now has 90 days to “reconsider” an application to de-proscribe the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom.
The Commission held a hearing on relief last month, ruling that a referral to Britain’s...
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Germany has granted Sri Lanka €1 million through the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), despite concerns of Sri Lanka’s human rights record.
According to a tweet from the Permanent Mission of Germany to the Office of the UN and to the other International Organisations, “Germany UN Vienna”, the funds are aimed to build capacity to prevent...
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Tamil residents of Iranaitivu staged a protest today morning in opposition to the Sri Lankan government’s decision to bury the victims of COVID-19 on the island. A letter has also been sent to the government urging them to reconsider their decision.
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File photo: Tamil villagers in 2018 protest against military occupation in Iranativu
The Sri Lankan government has designated Iranaitivu, the island reclaimed by Tamils in...
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‘Home to Bilo’, a campaign group dedicated to fighting for the release of the Tamil asylum-seeking Biloela family, has raised funds to erected three billboards urging Australia's Prime Minister to permit the family’s release from the immigration detention on Christmas Island.
The billboards to be placed in Sydney and...
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The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M.A. Sumanthiran emphasised the need for all Tamil political parties to work together at a joint discussion in Vavuniya last Friday.
The meeting involved Tamil politicians, Christian bishops and archbishops in the North-East and civil society organisations.
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The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) submitted a letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council on February 24, mirroring a letter from the Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF), expressing their disappointment with the UN Zero Draft of the Resolution on Sri Lanka for its failure to meet even "basic" demands held by Tamil Victims.
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The UK government remains concerned about the marginalisation of Tamils and Muslims in Sri Lanka, and about threats received by demonstrators during the Pottuvil to Polikandy march last month, a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Minister said. The remarks were submitted in response to written questions put forward by Scottish National Party Chief Whip Patrick Grady MP.
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Writing in Just Security, former Senior Lecturer in Law at University of Jaffna, Dr Kumaravadivel Guruparan, highlights the failure of the international community to hold Sri Lanka’s war criminals to accounts and calls for “an honest debate on the inherent limits of the human rights system in preventing ongoing violations and dealing with historical atrocities”.
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In light of previous futile domestic efforts to prosecute Sri Lankan war criminals, Andreas Schueller, Director of the International Crimes and Accountability Program at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) highlights the failure to prosecute Sri Lanka's war criminals under universal jurisdiction and highlights the need for a UN...
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Human Rights Watch has called on Germany to push for a strong and effective resolution on Sri Lanka during this UN Human Rights Council session, noting their concern that a concession resolution would be an “illusion”.
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Speaking to the Hindu, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Secretary, Jayanath Colombage pleaded for Indian support during the UN Human Rights Councils 46th session whilst also rejecting India calls for implementing the 13th amendment.
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Sri Lankan soldiers blocked Tamil locals from fishing in Kurunthoor kulam (lagoon) located in Kurunthoormalai, Mullaitivu, as militarisation of the North-East intensifies.
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The Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) expressed their disappointment with the draft resolution by the Core Group on Sri Lanka for failing to "even meet the basic expectations of the Tamil victims" in pursuing international accountability for war crimes committed by Sri Lanka.
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Vairamuthu Jayachandra, the captain of the ship MV Ahat, which was intercepted by the Indian navy and led to Colonel Kittu and nine other LTTE cadres committing suicide in 1993, passed away in Valvettithurai this week.
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Former Vanni MP and Attorney-at-Law Hunais Farook submitted a statement to Mannar Police over his participation in the Pottuvil to Polikandy (P2P) protest march.
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File photograph: Protest in Mannar calling for an end to forced cremations
Sri Lanka's Director General of Health Services, Asela Gunawardana, said that "it will take some time" to end the island's forced cremation policy.
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Writing in The Diplomat this week, Tamil Guardian features editor Thusiyan Nandakumar said the February coup in Myanmar “should serve as a wake-up call when it comes to Sri Lanka”.
World News
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Secretary-General of the UN António Guterres stressed the key role that the United Nationals plays in combating deteriorating human rights violations around the globe in his opening remarks at the 46th session of the UNHRC session in Geneva.
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The United Kingdom and Canada announced that they are imposing sanctions on individuals responsible for serious human rights violations against the people of Myanmar during the coup.
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced that three Myanmar military generals will face travel bans and their assets will be frozen under the UK's sanctions regime.
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Photo of ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda
The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday determined that it has jurisdiction over the territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict, opening the way for the chief prosecutor to inquire into allegations of Israeli war crimes.
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Myanmar’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been detained by the country’s military following a military coup in which the top army commander, Min Aung Hlaing, seized total control.
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Indian riot police attempted to clear farmers from one of the farmer protest sites in Ghazipur by cutting off water and electricity supplies.
The protesters defiantly refused to leave the site and were joined by thousands of protesters, forcing the police to back down.
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Three British Sikh men of Indian origin have been arrested by the UK police in connection with the murder of Rulda Singh, a member of the Hindu-supremacist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in India in 2009.
In a series of dawn raids, Gursharanvir Singh Wahiwala and his brother Amritivir Singh aged 37 and 40 respectively were arrested in Coventry and Piara Singh Gill, 38, was arrested in Wolverhampton.
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As Israel spearheads a massively successful vaccination drive against the coronavirus, reports reveal that the Palestinian population residing in the occupied West Bank and Hamas-ruled Gaza strip is deliberately being left out of the programme by the Israeli government.
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A group of United Nations human rights experts have accused US president Donald Trump of violating international law after he pardoned four Blackwater private security contractors who were serving prison sentences for killing 14 innocent Iraqi civilians, including two children, in Baghdad in 2007.
According to the US Justice...
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The city of Detroit announced last month that it is countersuing Black Lives Matter protestors after a group of organizers sued the local government in late August.
After protests across the USA and around the world over the killing of George Floyd police in May, activists in Detroit sued the local...
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A cross-party statement by British MPs and peers in the House of Lords has condemned the ‘brute force’ the Indian government has used in responding to ‘hundreds of thousands of peacefully protesting farmers’.
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British banks have come under pressure from human rights groups after it was reported that more than $60 million has been lent to a company part-owned and used by the Myanmar military, as it carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims.
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Trump supporters have stormed the Capitol to prevent Congress from confirming the victory of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Lawmakers have been rushed out of the building following the breach. It came as the representatives debated a move by Republicans to overturn November’s election results.
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The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has outlined “grave” concern over the government’s handling of people held in Australia’s immigration detention facilities, as it published a report looking into the immigration detention network last month.
The AHRC found that people were being detained for long periods of time – “orders of magnitude greater...
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In reflection of the Australia's grievous history with its Indigenous people, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the country's national anthem would be altered from January 1.
Australia will no longer be referred to as “young and free” in the anthem. Instead, people will sing “one and free,” in hopes it will create a “spirit of unity” among its inhabitants and acknowledge people who have lived in Australia tens of thousands of years before colonists.
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As the newly formed cabinet of Yemen arrived in the Southern City of Aden, an explosion killed at least 22 people and injured over 50.
Whilst the Prime Minister and his cabinet are reported to be okay, amongst those killed are aid workers and officials. Yemen’s information minister has accused Houthi rebels of being behind this “cowardly terrorist act”.
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Karima Baloch, 37-year-old Balochistan activist and refugee, has been found dead in Canada following her missing disappearance.
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The Sandinista National Liberation Front, Nicaragua’s ruling party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front, passed a law preventing opposition candidates from running in the 2021 presidential elections.
The new law has granted Nicaragua's president Daniel Ortega and his government the power to unilaterally declare citizens “terrorists” or coup-mongers, classify them as “traitors to the homeland,” inhibiting candidates from running in the election.
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The International Criminal Court (ICC) has refused to investigate allegations of genocide committed by China against the Uighur Muslim minority, rejecting complaints filed by two Uighur exile groups, the East Turkistan Government in Exile and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement.
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The US has imposed sanction on a key official in Turkey’s Presidency of Defence Industries, Turkey’s military procurement agency, following the procurement of S-400 defence missiles from Russia.
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The US has become the first country to recognise Morocco’s claims over West Sahara, in exchange, Morocco has become the Arab nation to establish diplomatic ties with Israel since August.
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Marking International Human Rights Day, the US and UK announced a new round of sanctions targeting 31 human rights violators from across the globe.
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More than 70 farmers from Zabarmari, a village in north-eastern Nigeria, after the Islamist militant group, known as Boko Haram, accused the farmers of betraying them.
On 28 November, 50 farmers were approached by Boko Haram militants and led to the nearby village of Koshebe. Presuming that they protected under the peace deal, they were slaughtered en masse in a building. When 20 more villagers went in search for these farmers they were also killed.
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Punjab Haryana border near AmbalaIndian farmers have maintained that they will intensify protests and hold a nationwide strike on Tuesday after negotiations with the Indian government broke down.
Farmers Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh are continuing to block key highways on the outskirts of New...
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Thousands of Rohingya are being shipped to a remote island by the Bangladesh government says refugees and humanitarian workers, despite government assurances that no one is being forced to leave.
More than 1,600 Rohingya refugees were sent to Bhasan Char, a flood prone island today, despite the government asserting that they were only moving the Rohingya who were willing to go as a measure to relieve overcrowing in camps. The camps have become home to over a million Rohingya as they...
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China is considering drafting a blacklist of “die-hard” supporters of Taiwan’s independence as Beijing may take legal steps against democratically-elected President Tsai Ing-wen.
Reuters reported that Taiwan condemned the plan after pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao first reported it this month. China’s Global Times tabloid...
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France’s interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, ordered an internal police investigation after officers were filmed throwing migrants out of tents while evacuating a protest camp in Paris on Tuesday.
The police were caught by journalists and activists shaking migrants inside tents until they tumbled out and resistors were abused by batons, according to the head of aid group Doctors Without Borders, Corinne Torre.
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At least 600 people have been killed in Mai Kadara massacre in Ethiopia, in the Tigray region, forcing tens of thousands to cross the Tekeze River and seek shelter in Sudan.
An estimated 30,000 refugees have decided to make this journey.
“It took twelve days to get here,” said one relieved looking refugee. “We had to...
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A barrage of rocket attacks in residential areas in Kabulon Saturday, killed at least eight and wounded more than 30 people, according to Afghan officials.
The interior ministry reported that over a dozen rockets were launched from a pickup truck inside the city which the regional Islamic State group confessed to organising.
The Islamic State group has been behind other attacks that have happened recently in Kabul., including two assaults on education institutions that killed...
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On the anniversary of the Nuremberg trials, UK Ambassador, Neil Bush, speaking at the OSCE Permanent Council, reiterated Britain’s aims of bringing to “impunity for the worst crimes”.
The Nuremberg trials were a series of trials held in the aftermath of the Second World War and in the wake of the Holocaust. Ambassador Bush notes that they were the “first of their...
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The United Nations has urged Egypt to release three members of an activist group arrested within days of each other as international pressure abounds.