The United Nations Secretary General, noted the Sri Lankan government had failed to reply to concerns raise by special mandate holders regarding the intimidation of human rights campaigners, in a report entitled “ Cooperation with the United Nations, its representatives and mechanisms in the field of human rights .” Citing several instances of intimidation of witnesses and human rights campaigners, the report noted that no response had been received from the Sri Lankan government to communications sent by varies UN mandate holders. “At the time of finalisation of the present report, no reply...
The Northern Provincial Council passed a resolution calling on the Sri Lankan government to allow United Nations investigators into the country, in order to carry out a probe into mass atrocities. The resolution, which was adopted on Wednesday, said, “This Council calls upon the Government of Sri Lanka to cooperate with the UN and allow the UN’s OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) team to enter the country to perform its mandate of comprehensively investigating the alleged serious violations and abuses of human rights, and crimes.” Sri Lanka has so far refused to co-operate with the...
The Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi passed a series of resolutions this week, condemning the Sri Lankan government's genocidal actions and calling for the maximum possible devolution of power to a merged North-East province. On the 15th National ITAK Convention held last week, a series of 15 resolutions were passed condemning Sri Lankan government land grabs, the pillaging of natural resources from Tamil areas and the abuse of women and children, amongst others. One of the declarations stated that, “This convention reiterates that this country’s national question can be resolved only through...
Photograph: Uthayan Hundreds of protestors took to the streets of Chennai earlier this week, to rally against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing the United Nations General Assembly later this month. The protest, organised by the MDMK was addressed by party leader Vaiko, who said, "If Rajapaksa is allowed to address the UNGA, it will be an injustice and demean the status of the UN." Vaiko went on to call for India’s central government to allow United Nations investigators, who were denied visas to Sri Lanka to probe reports of war crimes, to hold their inquiry in India. The MDMK...
The Sri Lankan government has introduced another new bill into parliament, looking to restrict land ownership by foreigners, foreign companies and companies registered in Sri Lanka that have foreign owners. The bill entitled “Land (Restrictions on Alienation)” is set to be debated on in Parliament before it is passed. The few exceptions will be those projects that the government declares fall under the “Strategic Development Act” or to Diplomatic Missions reports the Daily Mirror . See our earlier posts: Cabinet approves bill prohibiting land sales to foreign citizens (14 Aug 2014) Sri Lanka...
(Pictures: BattiNews) A commemorative event for Tamils killed in the 1990 Saththurukondan Massacre, committed by Sri Lankan forces in Batticaloa, was stopped by a court order, preventing relatives of those killed and Tamil politicians to observe the anniversary on Tuesday. Tamil National Alliance MPs P Ariyanenthiran, P Selvarasa and C Yogeswaran, along with several family members of those massacred, attempted to proceed to the site of the event in Kokkuvil, however police read out a court order which banned the event to “prevent damage to people and properties”, issued by Batticaloa District Court. At least 184 Tamil men, women and children were hacked to death after being taken to the Sathurukondan army camp, on September 9, 1990. The relatives and the MPs were forced to go to a temple in Saththurukondan, and lit candles there in remembrance of the dead. TNA MP Ariyanenthiran condemned the hypocrisy shown by the authorities in cracking down on Tamil remembrance events, while allowing Sinhala and Muslim events to go ahead. “Muslims and Sinhalese are free to hold events to commemorate their dead, but Tamils are not able to do so,” he said to the Tamil Guardian.
Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure the release of the six fishermen, arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on Tuesday . In a letter to Modi, Jayalalithaa said that it was “inhumane” of Sri Lanka to detain the fishermen, who were in distress, due to a technical issue with their boat. "These boats in distress and Indian fishermen on board are being apprehended and remanded to custody in Sri Lanka. This is a totally inhumane approach and completely against the ethics of maritime search and rescue operations," she said according to PTI . The Sri Lankan strategy of keeping the apprehended fishing boats of the fishermen in its custody had "snatched away" the source of their meagre livelihood and "is also fuelling despondency and great unrest amongst the fishermen," Jayalalithaa said.
UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) minister Hugo Swire stated Britain “will continue to give full support” to the upcoming United Nations investigation into mass atrocities in Sri Lanka. Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, Swire said the UK welcomed the resolution which established an investigation, adding, “The UK was a main co-sponsor of the resolution and will continue to give full support to the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in establishing an international investigation, as mandated by the UN Human Rights Council.” Commenting on Sri Lanka reiterating...
A 15-year-old Tamil school girl has been reported missing in Wattagoda, Madakumpura lower division estate in the island's hill country, reports Uthayan . Sakthivel Niththiya, a student at the Wattagoda Tamil Institution, has been missing since September 5. Despite the girl's family and neighbours searching for her, there have been no signs of her whereabouts. A missing persons complaint has been filed at the Thalavakkalai police station.
The Sri Lankan police have arrested a Spanish woman who was staying in Hikkaduwa for reportedly overstaying her visa. The 30-year-old woman was detained by Sri Lankan police for the alleged breach and was due to be brought before the Galle Magistrate's court on Monday. See more from the Daily Mirror here .