Canadian authorities have deported a Tamil mother to Sri Lanka earlier this week, forcing her to leave her family behind in Canada.
The Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Nisha Biswal, will visit Sri Lanka between January 31 and February 2 to discuss issues including post-conflict reconciliation, justice and accountability issues, the US Department of State announced today. Biswal’s visit will also include a trip to the North-East to meet Northern Provincial Council officials and civil society leaders. The US envoy will also travel to London to speak to British officials, before finally heading to Geneva for meetings regarding a US sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka’s Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga held over 90 meetings in the past week in Geneva, reported the Daily Mirror, as he led attempts to try and thwart a resolution at the upcoming United Nations Human Rights Council Session in March. Weeratunga, who will be leading the Sri Lankan delegation this March, reportedly met with at least 90 permanent country representatives based in Geneva, before flying off to Washington to meet with the US State Department.
The head of the Canadian NDP Party has said MP Rathika Sitsabaiesan was “right to be concerned” after she reported facing political intimidation on a private visit to her place of birth, in the the North-East of Sri Lanka. Responding to accusations by Canada’s Sri Lankan High Commissioner that Sitsabaiesan had tried to embarrass Sri Lanka, NDP leader Tom Mulcair defended the Tamil Canadian MP, adding that Sri Lanka's "human rights record continues to cause significant concern around the world". Sitsabaiesan’s visit at the end of last year saw concern for her safety after media reports emerged...
The Defence Secretary of Sri Lanka, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has accused the US Ambassador in the country, Michelle Sison, of interfering in domestic affairs and overstepping her mandate, after it emerged that the ambassador had met NPC Councillor Ananthi Sasitharan, along with Chief Minister Wigneswaran and TNA MP Sumanthiran. Rajapaksa said that foreigners would only make matters worse, so any solution to the problem would have to be found domestically. “Forming their opinions on the basis of one-sided discussions with the rump of the LTTE and other radicalised sections of the Tamil Diaspora,...
The Sri Lankan Army's interference in schools in Vanni has increased said the Ceylon Teachers' Union to the Education Minister of the Northern Provincial Council, reported the Uthayan . Demanding that action be taken to stop this, the CTU's General Secretary, Joseph Stalin, said that since the re-opening of schools in Vanni, the army's interference is directly disrupting the students' education. Drawing attention to incidents such as the Sri Lankan military hosting events in the school grounds whilst lessons are happening, Stalin said this must be stopped, and students must be able to learn without any interference.
An Australian student in Sri Lanka was raped by a tourist guide in the Southern town of Ambalangoda, reports the Colombo Page . The student was part of a group of 15 taking part in an educational activity. In February 2012 a German tourist was raped in her hotel room in Matara district, following the rape of a Swedish tourist in Negombo the previous month. Two months before that a South African national was raped in a hotel room in Kalpitiya, whilst in December 2011, the Russian partner of the murdered Briton Khuram Sheikh, was sexually assaulted .
The Sri Lankan government spends US $ 66,000 a month hiring Thompson Advisory Group LLC (TAG), a US lobbying firm, reports the Sunday Times . The group are allegedly hired by the Sri Lankan government to create a political climate in the US conducive to enhancing Sri Lanka’s long-term political and economic aspirations as well as to create a platform where US decision makers receive clear and accurate information of Sri Lanka’s current achievements and future plans and create a higher volume of private sector investment in Sri Lanka. Reports also suggest that another lobbying firm, Majority...
The body of a 30 year old Tamil man, who went missing earlier this week, was discovered by local fishermen in Pannai sea by Jaffna yesterday, reported the Uthayan . See Uthayan for more photographs The body was found at 7.30am on Friday morning, and has been identified as that of Kulasingham Arulmathan, a father and electrician. A relative of Mr. Arulmathan said that the victim had called him on January 22nd asking to be protected as a group of unknown people were chasing him. Mr. Arulmathan told the relative that he had received an anonymous phone call warning him that he was going to be...
The Sri Lankan government has announced that almost 60,000 deserters, who left the Sri Lankan Armed Forces after the armed conflict in 2009, are to have warrants issued for their arrest. Some 65,000 deserters were reported to be at large in July 2009 , just months after the brutal conflict had ended. In 2013, that number was said to have swelled to 71,458. Yet, 59,267 military personnel are still reported as deserters from the Army, Navy and Air Force. The Ministry of Defence and Urban Development announced that though most of the deserters had left for personal reasons and that warrants...