The US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour Tom Malinowski will visit Sri Lanka from July 12 to 20, where he will engage with government officials and local civil society representatives. Assistant Secretary Malinowski will focus on Sri Lanka’s continued progress in meeting the commitments made during last September’s UN Human Rights Council session. He will also discuss the work that remains in the areas of justice and reconciliation, and confirm that the United States continues to support Sri Lankan efforts to tackle these issues, according to a State...
The United States as a co-sponsor of the UN Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka last year, has a shared responsibility to see the process through, the US assistant secretary Tom Malinowski said on Tuesday during a visit to Colombo. "The United States was a co-sponsor of that resolution, and as such we feel we have a shared responsibility to help see this process through. So we look forward to supporting Sri Lanka as it puts into place the remaining institutions and reforms that the resolution endorsed. We very strongly commend the government for working closely with United Nations and High Commissioner Zeid to advance that progress,"
A British Tamil man who said he was detained by Sri Lankan authorities and tortured after travelling to the country last month to get married, returned to the UK earier this week, The Guardian reported. "I was arrested at my mother’s house and put inside a van where the men who arrested me started punching and beating me. I was taken to an empty house somewhere in Jaffna that I believe is used for torture. There was dried blood on the walls. I was beaten with wooden sticks and a metal bar on my head and face and leg and I lost consciousness," the 36 year old Velauthapillai Renukaruban told newspaper. The men accused him of involvement in the LTTE. “I kept telling them that I had lived in the UK for many years and have nothing to do with LTTE. But they didn’t listen. I thought I was going to die," he said.
Batticaloa's domestic airport was opened on Sunday following renovation for the past 4 years, reports the Daily Mirror . The airport, which includes a newly constructed passenger terminal building, was constructed partly by the Sri Lankan Air Force which was ordered to do so by the Sri Lankan Cabinet. The airport was formally opened by the Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena. It is not clear when the domestic service will commence.
Sri Lanka's president Maithripala Sirisena has denied that foreign judges will be allowed to prtake in any accountability mechanism, the second time he has done so in two days. The president slammed sections of the Sinhala press for reporting that the accountability mechanism would include foreign participation, Ceylonews reported. Speaking at a Buddhist event in Kandy on Saturday, Mr Sirisena showed his audience the front page of a Sinhala paper, the Sunday Divaina, which ran a story on foreign judges sitting on a war crime court. “I am so sorry that this paper which is full of my friends in...
The Sri Lankan army said there was no reduction in security in Jaffna with the number of troops and army camps remaining the same. "there has not been any reduction in the number of camps or the troops and the Army Camps are maintained in the required locations for the safety of the public," the Colombo Page quoted the Jaffna commander, Major General Mahesh Senanayake as saying. "The recent hand over of lands does not mean giving up camps", Major General Senanayake said. "The camps are there but the lands which are not essential, have been handed over to the people," he said, adding "there is...
The Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena has postponed his visit on Sunday to the opening ceremony of the a hotel in Pasikuda, Batticaloa, after the murder of a Tamil man near the hotel by a Sinhala mob, the Sunday Times reported. Fifty-one year old Thambipillai Thangarasa was attacked in Kalkudah on Thursday as he was returning home from the grocery store. A group of Sinhalese men, reported to be under the influence of alcohol, attacked him after an argument broke out, leaving him with fatal head injuries. According to the Sunday Times , a local police officer said the attack accord...
Sri Lanka’s ‘Joint Opposition’ has announced that they intend to table a motion of no-confidence against the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera, reports Adaderena.lk. The United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) MP Udaya Gammapila said Sri Lanka’s foreign minister was contradicting President Maithripala Sirisena who is clearly stating no foreign judges will be involved in a justice mechanism. Sri Lanka's president reiterates rejection of international judges in presence of prime minister (09 June 2016) Sirisena slams media for false reporting on 'foreign judges' (10 Jul 2016)
The US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Biswal will be visiting Sri Lanka next week. Ms Biswal, who will be accompanied by her deputy Manpreet Anand, will travel to Colombo where she will meet with senior government officials, political leaders, and civil society representatives to discuss bilateral economic cooperation as well as democratic governance and reconciliation, according to the State Department. At the end of last month, the State Department's South and Central Asia bureau tweeted about Sri Lankan tea and its benefits for health and US-Sri Lanka trade...
Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday reiterated that there will be no foreign judges in an accountability mechanism reports Ceylonews. Addressing a Buddhist religious event in Panadura in the presence of Sri Lanka’s prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Mr Sirisena said, “As long as I am President I will not allow foreigners or organisations to interfere in the internal affairs. I will not give room for any foreign organisation to mount pressure on our judiciary or meddle with internal affairs.” Last month, Sri Lanka’s Foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera speaking at the United...