Tamil Internally Displaced Perons are preparing to march with white flags towards lands that have been occupied by Sri Lanka’s military under the guise of a High Security Zone in Jaffna. The President of the Valikamam North Rehabilitation Society, A Gunabalasingam, on Friday said, the people had stopped protesting for their resettlement after the new president promised in December that the Valikamam North people would be resettled within six months. Speaking at a press conference in Jaffna, he added that the displaced have now realised that they have been deceived by President Maithripala...
Domestic violence and suicides have increased in Jaffna following the end of the armed conflict on the island more than seven years ago according to a counsellor based in the North-East, reports the New Indian Express . Speaking on condition of anonymity, the counsellor said that “domestic violence, mainly in the form of wife beating, is increasing in Jaffna making it a significant social evil here”. The incidence is particularly increasing amongst men who were themselves victims of torture at the hands of Sri Lankan security forces and was having widespread effects on women and children in the area, report the Express. Women have since seen higher rates of suicides, whilst “the new culture of social impunity” has also seen an increase an anti-social behaviour from children, the paper reported.
Britain’s Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva said implementation of a UN resolution calling for international participation in an accountability mechanism is “key”, in an interview with Ceylonews this week. Ambassador Julian Braithwaite told reporters that implementation of the resolution was key, as he emphasised the importance of the ongoing UN Human Rights Council session. “It’s all about implementation on the ground,” said the ambassador.” We know how difficult that is and we know politically it remain difficult. But we are delighted that this issue is coming back here."
The governor of Tamil Nadu, K Rosaiah in his inaugural address to the Tamil Nadu assembly on Thursday reiterated calls for those responsible for the genocide of Eelam Tamils in Sri Lanka to face justice, reported The Indian Express . Pledging that the state government "would continue to seek accountability of those who perpetrated genocide on Tamils in Sri Lanka during the civil war", Mr Rosaiah also said “the government will continue to urge the Centre to prevail upon Sri Lanka to work out a lasting solution to the problem." On Tuesday the chief minister, J Jayalalitha had submitted a...
Further reforms are necessary “before Sri Lanka can be considered on a path to sustainable democratisation governed by the rule of law,” said the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers Monica Pinto during an oral update at the 32nd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The rapporteur went stress the need to address the independence of prosecutors and investigators in the accountability process Sri Lanka had internationally committed to, adding ”In this context, considerations around the independence, impartiality and competence of judges, but also...
China's Ambassador to Sri Lankan Yi Xianliang called on the Chief Minister of the Northern Province on Tuesday with the two discussing prospects for reconciliation and harmony on the island. Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran told the ambassador that harmony could only be achieved “when the rulers of Sri Lanka honour the rights of Tamil people and accordingly make the constitutional amendments”. The two also discussed the deep seated connections between the Tamil and Chinese people, as the Chinese ambassador toured the North-East this week.
Indonesian police fired a warning shot into the air to stop Tamil asylum seekers from disembarking from the boat which is currently stranded off Aceh's coast, The Age reported. The group of 44 men, women and children have been stranded there since June 11. Amnesty International earlier this week called on the Indonesian authorities to allow the asylum seekers to disembark and meet with UN Refugee Agency officials, highlighting the ongoing discrimination faced by Tamils in the North-East. The international director of the Geutanyoe Foundation, Lilianne Fan told Fairfax Media: "If they are from...
The chief minister of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalithaa this week called on the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi ensure those responsible for genocide against Tamils to be brought to justice. Meeting with Mr Modi in New Delhi on Tuesday, Ms Jayalalitha made these demands in a memorandum which she submitted to him, the Financial Express reported. She also called for Eelam Tamil refugees in India to be granted dual citizenship. “Tamil Nadu government urges the Government of India to permit such refugees to hold dual citizenship of both India and Sri Lanka so that they could take up employment and...
The leader of the Tamil National Alliance condemned the new Sir Lankan government’s failure to release all Tamil lands and called for the immediate release of lands held by military in the North-East in parliament on Monday. Highlighting that the Tamil victim community were yet to see tangible change, despite voting in the new government, Mr R Sampanthan said , “The most affected people, the people most affected by injustice, inequality and violent conflict, the Tamil people of the North and the East, not merely made a very substantial and significant contribution towards the achievement of this change, but did so with certain definite expectations. They expected justice, equality, restoration of their lives and contentment. They expected conditions to be created for genuine reconciliation. But seven years after the conflict came to an end, seventeen months after a new President was elected, nine months after a new Government was elected, they remain a discontented people. In that context, reconciliation in the proper sense is not yet visible.”
The US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Biswal said the US stood ‘very firmly’ on the need for progress on accountability in Sri Lanka. Addressing the Sri Lanka Policy Forum at The Program on Peace-building and Human Rights at Colombia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights, Ms Biswal noted that a lot more needed to be done, reports Colombo Gazette. The Assistant Secretary of state went on to add that some progress had been made and welcomed Sri Lanka’s engagement with the UN Special Rapporteurs as well as Sri Lanka’s attempts to return appropriated...