• Participation in UNHRC government delegation yet to be confirmed – UNP

    Jan 22

    Sri Lanka’s opposition has denied reports from the government that it had assigned two of its MPs to join the government delegation travelling to the UN Human Rights Council session in March.

    UNP MP Kabir Hashim said the decision had not yet been made, but the party is ready to discuss participation if the government extended an invitation, denying that one had been received.

  • US gives $1.5mn to local community programme in North-East

    The US embassy in Colombo announced a new program to revive the fishery community in the Maradankerny Division of Jaffna.

  • SL looks to outline 'progress' ahead of the UNHRC
    President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s secretary, Lalith Weeratunga, will visit the United States today, to hold discussions over progress made by Sri Lanka on recommendations from the highly discredited Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission.
  • Mannar mass grave excavation reveals another skeleton
    Excavations at the site of the Mannar mass grave revealed another skeleton today, reported the Uthayan.

    The latest discovery brings the total number of human remains found at the site in Thirukketheeswaram to 44.
  • UNP to join Govt's team against resolution at UNHRC

    The Sri Lankan government has decided to include two members of the opposition United National Party (UNP) in its delegation to travel to the forthcoming UN Human Rights Council sitting in Geneva, according to ColomboPage.

  • Politician re-arrested for murder of British tourist

    Sri Lankan politician Sampath Vidanapathirana has been re-arrested by police over the murder of British aid worker Khuram Shaikh, after he went into hiding two weeks ago.

  • 3 more remains at Mannar mass grave
    Three more human remains were found at the site of the Mannar mass grave today, as excavations continued, reported the Uthayan. The latest find brings the total number of remains found to 43.
  • SL Navy arrests Indian fishermen

    25 Indian fishermen have been arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy earlier today, for allegedly poaching in its maritime territory.

  • Families coerced into registering disappeared as dead
    Families have been encouraged by the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) to register their disappeared as dead, reports the Uthayan.
  • ‘Little progress on rights’ – HRW

    Human Rights Watch has stated that “little progress” has been made towards accountability in Sri Lanka and called for an independent international investigation into war crimes abuses, in its 2014 World Report.

    Speaking on the launch of the report, Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch stated,

  • We do not need a truth and reconciliation commission
    Writing in the Sunday Times LK, Kishali Pinto Jayawardene, argues "we do not need a truth and reconciliation commission". Full text of her opinion is reproduced below:


    We do not need a truth and reconciliation commission

    Despite Sri Lanka’s most disgraceful history with a plethora of demonstrably useless Commissions and Committees established by successive Presidents, it is a matter for considerable astonishment that the Rajapaksa Presidency’s near desperate proposal of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission at the turn of this year, appears to have found support in some quarters of our society.

  • TNPF outlines Tamil demands for UNHRC

    The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) discussed the systematic genocide that Tamils face in a meeting with a Canadian delegation, including Sarah Gills, the Senior Desk Officer for Sri Lanka, Maldives, and South Asian Relations, last week.

  • Tamil Nadu fishermen protest in Trincomalee
    The 111 Tamil Nadu fishermen who were released following their mass arrest by the Sri Lankan Navy last month, are protesting in Trincomalee that their boats and other fishing equipment be returned to them, reports the Uthayan.
  • Worldwide protests against Australia's detention of 46 refugees
    Updated 23:55 GMT

    Protests in Australia, as well as outside the Australian High Commission in Tamil Nadu and London today, are demanding the release of 46 refugees who have been detained indefinitely by Australia's Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).

    Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
  • We do not trust any mechanism created locally' - Disappearances Committee NE
    In a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, and writing on behalf of the Disappearance Commissions North and East, the Northern Province Councillor Ananthi Sasitharan reiterated the call for an international investigation stating "we do not trust any mechanism created locally, which in the past has not delivered justice to the survivors."

    See full letter here. Extracts reproduced below:
    "Regarding: Seeking UN monitored international independent inquiry into forced disappearances and abductions.

    We the committees of the disappearance from the North and East, write to you as representatives of the collective body, that still seek justice. We do not trust any mechanism created locally which in the past has not delivered justice to the survivors.

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