Presenting her report to the annual session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay criticised Sri Lanka for failing to examine abuses committed during the civil war last year between the government forces and Tamil Tigers.
Violent clashes between opposition supporters and government supporters backed by the police have followed the arrest of the main opposition candidate at the last presidential polls.
Sri Lanka could overshoot its 2009 budget deficit target set by the IMF for a $2.6 billion loan, due to high post-war reconstruction costs, a central bank official said on Monday.
Writing just before the Sri Lankan Presidential polls, the author, who served on the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons, argues that the chances for true investigation into war crimes allegations in the country is remote.
The Sri Lanka government is guilty of crimes against humanity, was the conclusion of a war-crimes tribunal, conducted by Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) based in Milan, which held hearings from 14 to 16 January in Dublin, Ireland.
The member states of the European Union decided on Tuesday, February 16, to suspend trade concessions under the Generalised System of Preferences Plus (GSP +) for Sri Lanka because of violations of human-rights agreements.
The arrest of the main opposition candidate at the recent presidential elections, General (retd) Sarath Fonseka, has drawn protests and condemnation from opposition parties in Sri Lanka, while the government claims it is now a natter for the courts.
A YEAR ago, as Sri Lanka’s long and agonising civil war entered its endgame phase, there was little indication that the bloody denouement would make way for the healing and reconciliation that the island-nation so desperately needs.
British Tamils made a united democratic call for the independence of Tamil Eelam in a nationwide referendum held over the weekend of January 30 and 31.
Following the end of decades of armed struggle in May last year, western states, led by the United States of America and the European Union, are reviewing their policy on Sri Lanka.
Tamils from across Europe gathered in Geneva Saturday to commemorate the life Murugathasan Varnakulasingham, who died in February last year to draw attention to the plight of hundreds of thousands of Tamils being starved and killed in the Vanni, Sri Lanka.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and key international actors should take steps to bring accountability for Sri Lanka's grave human rights violations so that the thousands of victims will not continue to be denied justice during President Mahinda Rajapaksa's second term, Human Rights Watch said, after the President succeeded in winning his second term in office in late January
