Condemning the disruption of the Tamil journalists’ media seminar last week by a Sinhala mob that included military personnel, Transparency International’s Sri Lanka branch said that the “journalists were labelled as LTTE agents because they are Tamils and since they work in the Tamil language”.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the rights group said it was “not an isolated event”. “Such acts are an obstacle to the reconciliation process and at a time when we speak of national unity, the violation of rights of the Tamil journalists cannot be approved. We firmly believe that Tamil journalists should also have the right to receive training like the Sinhala journalists did,” the rights groups said in a statement on Wednesday.

A report by Al Jazeera, saying that crime amongst members of Sri Lankan security forces has risen, has been rejected by the Sri Lankan military.

Spokesperson Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that parties “with vested interest” are trying to discredit the military by making these allegations.

The Special Task Force, a feared special forces unit of the Sri Lankan police, conducted a ‘snap road block’ in the country’s Northeast, reported Ceylon Today.

Police Media Spokesman, SSP Ajith Rohana said that 200 STF personnel were deployed in Jaffna and Vavuniya to “nab criminals”.

The STF is accused of committing sever human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings and disappearances.

The UK Foreign Secretary, William Hague, launched the 'International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict’, at the second day of the global summit aimed at combatting the crime.

The protocol, the first of its kind, “aims to set an international standard for how to investigate and document sexual violence, as a way of increasing the number of prosecutions for these crimes worldwide”, said the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in a statement released today. “We hope it will play a vital role in shattering the culture of impunity for sexual violence in conflict,” Mr Hague said, launching the report together with Special Envoy Angelina Jolie. “Perpetrators have to know that even during conflict, evidence is being collected that will be used against them,” said Ms Jolie, stressing that amnesties were unacceptable. “They have to know that when peace agreements are made, there will be no amnesty for rape and that if they commit these crimes, they will bear the stigma and punishment - no matter how long it takes,” she added.

A collection of agricultural organisations in the North-East of Sri Lanka participated in demonstration and hunger strikes in protest of army actions to stop farmers from working in the Vaddamadu region, reports the Uthayan.

“Sri Lankan defence forces warned us against farming our lands when we tried to farm the land in the manner in which we had done in previous years,” said a farmer to the Uthayan.

Photograph Tamil Guardian

The Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict opened in London today, co-hosted by the UK's Foreign Secretary, William Hague and the Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie. 

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The US and UK urged Sri Lanka to cooperate with the upcoming international inquiry led by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as the UN Human Rights Council's 26th session opened today.

Addressing the Council, the US Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Keith Harper thanked the Office of the High Commissioner for leading on the inquiry.

“We urge the Sri Lankan government to cooperate fully with the investigation, including granting access to investigators, and preventing retaliation against those who provide information to the High Commissioner’s office,” Harper said.

Photograph Tamilwin

Photograph: Tamil Guardian

The time has come to 'shatter the culture of impunity' over sexual violence in conflict stated the British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Angelina Jolie earlier today.

Speaking at the opening of the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, currently underway in London, the Foreign Secretary stated that “ending sexual violence was a moral issue for our generation” adding,

“We know how few of these crimes have ever been punished and because of impunity they continue today, in Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic to name just a few examples... We want the summit to shatter the culture of impunity for sexual violence, to increase support for the survivors and change the situation on the ground for the most affected countries."

See his full address here.

He was joined by the Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Angelina Jolie, who reiterated that the end of an armed conflict does not mean violence does not occur. Jolie stated,

“Other survivors live in countries where war is over, but the peace has brought no justice and as an international community we are responsible for that. We need to shatter that culture of impunity and make justice the norm not the exception for these crimes."

A petrol bomb attack on a refugee camp occupied by Tamil refugees has left over 35 houses destroyed.

The attack on Sunday in Thiruvarangulam, Pudukottai district, came after local villagers started claiming the land and threatened the refugees to leave the camp, the Times of India reported.

No one was injured in the attack.