British Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander met Friday with a delegation from various UK-based Tamil organisations, including Global Tamil Forum, Tamils Against Genocide, Tamils for Labour, Tamil Information Centre, and the Tamil National Alliance (UK). The Tamil delegates outlined the various aspects of the ongoing genocide of the Tamil nation and stressed the need for the UK to ensure demands for an international investigation included considerations of genocide. Speaking to Tamil Guardian, Jan Jananayagam from Tamils against Genocide (TAG), reflected on the meeting, stating, "TAG welcomes this reiteration of a commitment to an international investigation into crimes against humanity by the Shadow Foreign Secretary" " We were happy to have the opportunity to discuss systemic issues of ethnic cleansing via forced demographic change and the impact of systematic gender-based violence in destroying Tamil communities in Sri Lanka, the militarisation of the economy in the Tamil North and East that is depriving local communities of livelihood, all of these being elements in the state sponsored destruction of the Tamil people on the island." "We have agreed to continue our positive engagement on these issues." Alexander argued that British Premier David Cameron should start calls immediately for an international independent investigation and that he expected no credible progress from the Sri Lankan government before March.
A new hospital, built with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has been inaugurated by a US official in Palai, Jaffna district. USAID Mission Director Sherry Carlin and with Dr. P. Sathiyalingan, Minister of Health and Indigenous Medicine for the Northern Provincial Council, openend the $525,000 facility on Tuesday.
Speaking at a public event in Chennai on Thursday, India's Union Shipping Minister, G.K. Vasan said that India should avoid training Sri Lankan security forces. "The Centre should avoid from taking such policy decision. I think," he said, stating that he had told the Defence Minister A.K. Anthony of his opposition to such joint training ventures. Reiterating India's commitment to exerting pressure on the Sri Lankan government to implement the 13th Amendment, Mr Vasan stressed that it would continue, "so as to ensure that Tamils in Sri Lanka get equal rights on par with local Sinhalese. There...
45 Tamil women that have been enlisted into the Sri Lankan army were taken on tour of ‘key’ places in the south of Sri Lanka. The Defence Ministry described the process of introducing the Tamil women to ‘key places’ as part of reconciliation with the Tamil community. The Sri Lankan army headquarters in Vanni, arranged for the Tamil women to visit sites in the south such as Kathirgamam, Thissamaharama, Mahakampura International Conference Centre, the Manhinda Rajapaksa harbour and the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Airport.
The United States Secretary of State for South Asia, Nisha Biswal, today warned that patience within the international community would wear thin if the Sri Lankan government failed to take credible steps to address the issue of human rights, accountability and reconciliation. Speaking to reporters she said , “The United States and all of our friends across the international community have underscored the need for Sri Lanka to make progress on issues of reconciliation, on issues of accountability and on issues of human rights - ongoing concerns about the political space and human rights in the...
The Sri Lankan government has rejected accusations by Action Contre la Faim (ACF) that the military was responsible for the massacre of 17 aid workers in Muttur. In a statement, released by the army , the government questioned the motives behind ACF’s report, asking why the organisation had withheld evidence from the government. "This is another instance of a pattern which has emerged since the end of the conflict where certain organizations level allegations against the GoSL without providing sufficient details to enable an investigation. These accusations are then repeated in several other documents, by different agencies, thereby contributing to forming an opinion which is then propagated, without substantiation. A report by the US embassy concluded that members of Sri Lanka's Special Task Force, and the Muslim Home Guard, were the likely perpetrators.
The British Foreign Secretary William Hague reiterated at the House of Commons today, that if the Sri Lankan government failed to show credible progress on addressing human rights issues before the Human Rights Council meeting in March, the UK would pursue a credible, thorough, international investigation in to the past and present alleged human rights abuses and atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan military. The Foreign Secretary also expressed discontent at the Sri Lankan government’s failure to sign a declaration to end sexual violence in conflict. Outlining one of the reasons behind the Sri Lankan government’s reluctance to sign the agreement, he said , “For instance because one of the provisions of our declaration is that there will be no amnesty in peace agreements for crimes of sexual violence and that there will be real accountability for what happened in the past. It is easy to see why the Sri Lankan government do not want to embrace those issues, but we will keep on raising them with them. ”
The leader of the TNA, R Sampanthan, categorically disassociating himself and the TNA from the LTTE on Tuesday, criticised the Sri Lankan government for being the LTTE leader's "buddy", weeks after the party won an election with Velupillai Prabhakaran's photograph on the front cover of its election pamphlet . Speaking in Sri Lanka's parliament, Sampanthan said : "I heard many people talk about the TNA today. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to deal with all that. But, you have much more to do with the LTTE than me. I do not know who KP is. I have not seen him. But, he is your buddy...
Photograph Tamilwin The UN Special Rapporteur on Internally Displaced Persons, Dr. Chaloka Beyani, visited Mullaitheevu on Wednesday, meeting with Tamils and the Deputy Speaker of the Northern Province, S. Jekanathan. Pointing out that thousands of Tamil youth were handed over to the Sri Lankan army on the 17th, 18th and 19th May 2009, Mr. Jekanathan told Dr Beyani that they had not been seen since and meanwhile the Sri Lankan government was handing out death certificates to their families.
China now supplies the largest amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Sri Lanka, accounting for 24% of the total inflow of $1.2bn, reported Xinhua . Hong Kong invested 12% and Singapore 10% of the total FDI, with the Netherlands and Malaysia making up the rest of the top 5. "We are very satisfied with the FDI progress this year. Last year FDI was 1.2 billion US dollars. We have already matched this amount and are confident of exceeding it by December. This year FDI created 10,000 additional jobs in Sri Lanka," Investment Promotion Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene told media in Colombo...