UN report urges Sri Lanka to deal with impunity to avoid the 'recurrence of human rights violations'
The Sri Lankan government’s inability to “deal comprehensively with impunity and to reform institutions may cause the recurrence of human rights violations” the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in its report on Sri Lanka's efforts towards implementing Resolution 30/1, which called for accountability and transitional justice through a hybrid mechanism.
The report raises concerns over the “signs indicating a possible reversal of past commitments by the Government which would setback the promotion of reconciliation, accountability and human rights, reduce civic space and erode important institutional safeguards.”
Tamil News
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Sri Lankan police have repeatedly targeted the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) over its initiatives to provide financial assistance to deprived communities in Mullaitivu.
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The home of a student suspended for offences of 'ragging' other students was vandalised and his belongings were trashed by four men, last week.
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A protest was staged by students, teachers and staff at Jaffna College of Technology in relation to a sword-wielding incident and called for the necessary precautions to secure their safety to be taken. The demonstration took place yesterday morning (Feb 18) and condemned the actions of the mob whilst demanding that appropriate sanctions be taken against them.
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A protest was staged to condemn the ragging offences that took place against students and sexual harassment that was conducted via mobile phones, last Tuesday (Feb 11).
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Amnesty International (AI) voiced their solidarity with the families of the disappeared who marched in Colombo on Friday (Feb 14) and insisted the government “must deliver justice, truth and reparation to the families of the forcibly disappeared.”
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The Australian Tamil Congress (ATC) welcomed the travel ban imposed Sri Lanka’s army chief, Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva and his family, in a statement released yesterday.
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Current Sri Lankan prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa will lead a newly formed coalition between the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), ahead of Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections next month.
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Sri Lankan police arrested a former LTTE cadre and two others in Vavuniya, for allegedly carrying out illegal excavations last week.
The three persons were arrested Kanakarayankulam, Vavuniya with Sri Lankan police claiming they were illegal carrying out excavations to look for items that were left buried...
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Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapaksa met with two US Congressmen and the US Ambassador to the island on Saturday, where they reportedly discussed “counterterrorism” and the relationship between the two governments.
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Senior Buddhist monks from Sri Lanka’s leading Sinhala Buddhist chapters have joined the chorus of outrage at US travel sanctions imposed on the head of the army, over his involvement in mass atrocities.
The Malwatte and Asgiriya chapters of Siyam Nikaya Chapters reportedly “expressed their displeasure” after the United States announced Shavendra Silva and his family would not...
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The Sri Lankan government has reportedly decided to withdraw from a United National Human Rights Council resolution that mandated an accountability mechanism for the prosecution of mass atrocities, just weeks before it was due to be discussed in Geneva.
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Sri Lanka army commander, Major General Darshana Hettiarachchi, was brought out of retirement and reappointed as the Rehabilitation Commissioner General on Friday.
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Surveillance and harassment against the families of the disappeared and activists have intensified since the election of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in November 2019, says Human Rights Watch.
Speaking to HRW, activists working across the North and East of Sri Lanka said that government surveillance and intimidation has risen.
One activist told HRW that prior to a victims’ meeting, “every one of the mothers got at least six telephone calls from different intelligence agencies...
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Sri Lanka’s embassy in Washington DC has reportedly called on its Sri Lankan diaspora in the United States to mobilise and lobby against a travel ban imposed on the head of its army Shavendra Silva, over his involvement in war crimes.
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A parliamentarian in Sri Lanka’s opposition has called for legislators on both sides of the aisle to join together and boycott the United States until a travel ban imposed on the head of Sri Lanka’s army is lifted.
UNF Parliamentarian S M Marikkar said that he would refrain from travelling to the United States until the ban on Shavendra Silva, who led Sri Lanka’s 58 Division which committed extrajudicial killings and shelled Tamil civilians, was lifted.
He went on to call on “...
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The Sri Lankan government criticised a United States imposed travel sanction on the head of its army over reports of his involvement in war crimes and extrajudicial killings of Tamils more than a decade ago.
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The leader of Sri Lanka’s opposition has vowed to “stand by” the head of the army, after he was banned from travelling to the United States over his involvement in mass atrocities over a decade ago, when tens of thousands of Tamils were killed in a Sri Lankan military offensive.
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The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) welcomed the decision to impose a travel ban against Shavendra Silva and his family into entering the US.
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People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) welcomes the travel ban imposed on Sri Lankan army chief, Shavendra Silva and his family by the US government.
"This sends an important message to those who committed war crimes with impunity, not only in Sri Lanka, but around the world, that the US will not tolerate their presence. This is a small, but significant, step. The designation crucially validates Tamil victims and survivors of atrocity crimes to...
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The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) expressed their sympathies following the death of Mrs Manoharan – the mother of Manoharan Ragihar – who was one of the students of the ‘Trinco 5’.
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Sri Lanka's government "takes strong objection' to the travel ban imposed on army chief, Shavendra Silva.
"There were no substantiated or proven allegations of human rights violations against him," the Sri Lankan government claimed in a press release.
"It is disappointing that a foreign government should question the prerogative of the democratically elected President to call upon persons with proven expertise to hold key positions on national security related matters," the...
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The United States (US) Ambassador to Sri Lanka has been summoned to Sri Lanka's Foreign Minstry over the US travel ban on Sri Lankan army chief, Shavendra Silva, Adaderana reports.
The Ambassador, Alaina Teplitz, has been called on to meet with Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena on February 16 to discuss the travel ban.
Shavendra Silva was barred from entering the USA “due to credible...
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The current speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament, Karu Jayasuriya has admitted that corruption is “entrenched” in Sri Lanka, stating that both major political parties are guilty.
Speaker Jayasuriya tweeted last month that “Sri Lanka’s corruption is so entrenched that both sides governed SL are implicated by report after report”.
“Forensic report on bonds and ETF, and Sri Lankan Airlines employee fixed in UK courts for $ 2 m are mere recent examples,” he added.
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Families of the disappeared have responded to the offensive statement offered by Sri Lankan Minister, Wimal Weerawansa, by continuing protests, which have now exceeded 1100 days, and by demanding to know what happened to their relatives who were handed to the military.
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The EU said that ‘several concerns remain’ regarding the human rights and good governance situation in Sri Lanka in their GSP+ assessment of the country.
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The US State Department has announced the head of Sri Lanka’s army Shavendra Silva has been barred from entering the USA “due to credible information of his involvement, through command responsibility, in gross violations of human rights”.
A statement released by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Silva and his immediate family are now “are ineligible for entry into the United States”.
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As a group of Tamil students set out to clear a former playground in Vavuniya last month they found themselves unexpectedly halted from doing so, by Sri Lankan forestry department officials.
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A Pillaiyar statue located on the street of Chenkalady border in Batticaloa has been vandalised and tossed on the side by unknown individuals.
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Batticaloa’s mayor Thiyagarajah Saravanapavan met with British High Commissioner Sarah Hulton on Tuesday (11th Feb 2020), where he revealed that the government has relinquished the powers of the local council and abandoned the development of their city.
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Excavation work at a hospital in Mullaitivu has uncovered bullets and the bodies of at least two people, after skeletal remains and mines were found on Wednesday.
Deminers with protective equipment carried out excavation work at the site, under the supervision of Kilinochchi district hospital medico-legal officer Dr...
World News
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A document leaked to Deutsche Welle (DW) exposes how China is using high-tech surveillance to track every Uighur Muslim in Xinjiang.
The newly leaked document reveals that Uighurs are being tracked by their identity, religion, locations and their habits. It also lists hundreds of detainees and the reasons for their detention.
“Having a beard”, “wife wearing a face veil” and “having too many children” are some of the reasons why Uighur Muslims are being detained in Xinjiang.
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Labour MP, Debbie Abrahams, was denied entry into India yesterday, without any reason being given.
The MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, who is also the Chair of the All-Party-Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Kashmir, was told that her e-visa was invalid and was flown out to Dubai.
Immigration officials at Delhi airport told the British MP that her e-visa, which was issued in October 2019 and was valid until October 2020, has been rejected.
She said she was “treated like...
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Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and 27 other non-government organisations have called upon the Government of Myanmar to lift the restrictions on the internet in eight townships in Rakhine State and one in Chin State.
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The former chief executive officer of the debt riddled SriLankan Airlines and his wife have been arrested, after a corruption scandal involving the French aerospace company Airbus revealed the couple may have accepted millions of dollars in bribes.
The arrests come after Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) found alleged corruption in dealings between Airbus and Sri Lankan Airlines date back to between July 2011 and June 2015. SFO found that Airbus had paid $2 million to Priyanka...
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Sudan’s Sovereign Council and government have announced that they will be fully operating with the International Criminal Court (ICC), who will charge former Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir with charges of genocide for his role in the Darfur.
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For the first time, the UN has released a list of over 100 companies involved in the violation of Palestinian rights and illegal occupation of the West Bank.
The New York Times, notes that the UNHRC has never requested a list of corporations which will face public scrutiny.
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Northern Irish independence party, Sinn Féin, has seen a recent surge of support, particularly among young rural voters, which has raised its polling numbers 14% support in October to over 25% in the last week.
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India has continued its detention of four Kashmiri independence leaders and a prominent lawyer under India’s Public Safety Act (PSA) which permits detention without trial for up to two years.
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Following talks with Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Catalonian separatist leader Quim Torra announced that he would be pushing for an agreed date for a Catalonian independence referendum.
During his press conference, he stated that the path to Catalonian independence was “irreversible” despite Prime Minister Sanchez’s rejections of any...
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The UN Security Council discussed the recent judgement by the International Court of Justice’s order to Myanmar which maintained that they must protect the Rohingya Muslim but failed to reach an agreed-upon statement.
EU members have insisted that Myanmar has to comply with the ICJ’s judgement. In a joint statement, Germany, France, Belgium, Estonia and Poland stated;
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Following the US-Israel proposal to grant Israel, Jerusalem and territories in the West Bank, Palestinian authorities have responded by rejecting the deal and stating that they will present their case to the UN.
Palestine’s President Mahmoud Abbas was reported to have responded to the proposed deal with “a thousand no’s”.
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Following the announcement of US President’s Middle East plan, which aims to grant Jerusalem to Israel as well as recognising Israeli sovereignty over Palestinian territory in the occupied West Bank, hundreds of Palestinians have taken to the streets in Ramallah and the Gaza strip.
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The International Court of Justice reached a preliminary decision on Thursday as all 17 judges voted to order Myanmar to protect the Rohingya population from genocide.
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UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has rejected Scottish demands for a second independence referendum, nicknamed indyref2, stating that it would simply perpetuate stagnation and that the 2014 referendum was predicated on the idea that it was a “once in a generation” vote.
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Victims of the Nepal Civil War have criticised and voiced their discontent over the government’s decision to revive the transitional justice process, this week.
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A senior government diplomat for China has condemned the election of Taiwan’s President Taiwan pro-independence President Tsai Ing-wen; stating that “those who split the country will be doomed to leave a stink for 10,000 years”.
President Tsai Ing-wen was rejected in a context of growing Chinese aggression and she successfully campaigned on a...
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Just over a year since a dispute over the access to traditional territory in Northern British Columbia (B.C.) arose between Wet'suwet'en people and a pipeline company, tensions between the two parties have re-emerged.
The Wet’suwet’en chiefs have incessantly opposed the $6.6-billion project, which would connect gas fields in North-Eastern B.C. with the planned LNG Canada export plant in Kitimat. Last week they issued eviction notices to Coastal GasLink workers to vacate the premises...
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A UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) investigation into the Dominican Republic of Congo (DRC) has revealed that at least 701 people from the Hema and Lendu communities in the northeast province of Ituri, DRC, from December 2017 to September 2018, raising concerns of “crimes against humanity.
The report details the DRC’s security forces engaged in actions or arbitrary arrests, detentions, executions and sexual violence. The DRC has been actively deployed to this region in February...
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Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch’s executive director has reported that he was denied entry to Hong Kong where he was set to launch HRW’s latest annual report. -
Two days after an attack on Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) university students and staff, Delhi police, who have been criticised for turning a blind eye on the attack, has filed charges against several students for attacking security guards and vandalising a server room.
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The United States has released a statement confirming that they will be imposing sanctions on Taban Teng Gai, South Sudan's first vice president, over allegations that Gai was involved in the killing of opposition politicians and strengthen his political standing.
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Israel has approved the construction of 1,936 illegal settlements on Sunday and Monday, according to activist group Peace Now – adding that such settlement buildings have greatly increased under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has received strong political backing from US President Donald Trump.
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Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned India’s police force following an incident in Delhi in which dozens of masked men and several women, who claimed to be BJP supporters, stormed the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and went on a 3-hour rampage in which over 30 students and teachers were attacked.
This follows an instance on 15 December when police stormed Jamia Millia Islamia campus following protests against the Indian citizenship amendment. HRW reports that the police attacked...
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Four Rohingya children were killed in Rakhine, the northern state of Myanmar, in a landmine explosion on Tuesday.
Neither the state nor the Arakan Army, an ethnic Rakhine armed group fighting for more autonomy in the region, have accepted responsibility for the attack.
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Armed forces in Libya loyal to opposition leader Khalifa Haftar claim to have taken control of Sirte, a key coastal city, as conflict continues to rage in the country.
The capture of Sirte marks an important gain to Haftar, who has been staging a military offensive on the capital, Tripoli since April. Tripoli is home to Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA).
Sirte has been controlled by forces affiliated with GNA since the expulsion of the Islamic State...
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Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, released a statement yesterday, urging the United Nations to support a free and impartial plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir to support their right to self-determination.
In his statement, he stressed the importance of respecting this right to self-determination whilst also casting blame upon India for inaction by the UN Security Council. He further chastised India for human rights abuses and accused the nation of keeping the region under illegal...
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Following the US assassination of Iran’s chief General, Qasem Soleimani, Iraq’s parliament has voted to expel the approximately 5,200 US troops stationed in their country.
The bill was passed through Iraqi parliament on Sunday 170-0 however many of the representatives, particularly Kurdish and Sunni representatives, did not attend the session to vote.
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Spain’s electoral board has ordered that pro-independence Catalan presidency Quim Torra be disqualified from being a member of the region’s parliament, meaning he would lose his presidential post.
The decision came on Friday, after Torra was last month convicted and banned from holding public office for 18 months ...
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The English Football Association (FA) has charged Barnsley Football Club with sectarian abuse of Stoke FC player, James McClean.
The FA has stated that Barnsley FC had not effectively stopped abuse from its supporters. The association saw “abusive and/or insulting words which included a reference, whether express or implied, to nationality and/or religion and/or beliefs" in the match on November 9, 2019.
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Southern Yemen separatists have rejected a peace deal, brokered agreement by Saudi Arabia, known as the Riyadh agreement.
The Riyadh agreement would permit the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) to establish a national cabinet but would place armed forces under the controls of Yemen’s government, which is recognised by the international community.