Photograph www.sinhalaravaya.com Over 100 Sinhala Buddhist monks demolished a Muslim shrine in Anuradhapura on Saturday according to reports by the BBC . Monks, dressed in their saffron robes, encouraged other monks and Sinhala crowds to tear down the shrine. One photograph of the incident shows a monk burning the flag of Islam by the ruins of the shrine. The destruction was reportedly masterminded by a monk, named Amatha Dhamma Thero, who justified the attack by stating the local Muslims were attempting to convert the shrine into a mosque. According to Thero, despite local government officials attempting to pacify the Sinhala crowds by stating the shrine would be closed within three days, angry crowds proceeded to raze the shrine, shouting "we cannot wait". Thero explained to reporters that the shrine was located on land 'given' to the Sinhalese Buddhists over 2000 years ago - an ideology central to the Sinhala Buddhist text, the Mahavamsa. According to locals, senior members of the Sri Lankan police force witnessed the entire incident, but did nothing to intervene.
The British Medical Journal has published a report which has detailed how doctors in five countries, including Sri Lanka, have been complicit in torture. The report , compiled by global health charity Medact, examined case studies in the UK, US, Israel, Italy and Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka they found cases where doctors not only failed to report torture, but actively refused to treat or even examine victims of torture. Marion Birch, director of Medact said, "The climate of impunity that may have been created, lack of support that may be given, really need to be discussed."
US Assistant Secretary of State, Robert Blake, speaking at a news conference to mark the end of his three day visit to Sri Lanka, urged the Sri Lankan government to ensure accountability, stop paramilitary activity in the North-East and pursue devolution through talks with the TNA. “We are not in the business of making threats to our friends. There is a need for a credible process of accountability for those who have violated international humanitarian law and there will be pressure for some mechanism to ensure that this takes place. However we hope that (such pressure) is not necessary.” "The solution to achieving a just and lasting peace in Sri Lanka is not just about accountability," he added, however. Highlighting the recent mock protest orchestrated by Douglas Devananda's EPDP, Blake condemned the use of paramilitaries in the North to maintain law and order, insisting the government must make progress on disarming such groups. “ I am concerned about human rights . I discussed with relevant officials the importance of disarming paramilitary groups, on which progress is being made. It is important to deploy Tamil policeman in the north so the military no longer needs to perform these functions.” “Paramilitary groups are not allowed to carry weapons in public. While I was in Jaffna I myself, experienced the power of the EPDP who was able to prevent me from meeting with some university students. ”
Officials from the European Union and the United States have welcomed the informal discussions at the Human Rights Council in Geneva and called for a speedy process to bring accountability for crimes committed during the warin Sri Lanka. United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillai used her speech at the opening of the UN Human Rights Council Session (HRC) to criticise Sri Lanka for its human rights record. Whilst talking about the ‘insufficient regard for human rights’ by the anti-terror measures adopted by several member countries, she pointed out Sri Lanka as a prime example of a state which undermines human rights to combat terrorism.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has sent the UN panel of experts’ report on wartime mass killings in Sri Lanka to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday , the Associated Press reports . The report (see here ) concluded that tens of thousands of people were killed in the last five months of Sri Lanka's civil war, primarily by government troops. UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said the Sri Lankan government was informed that the report was sent to the rights council and to UN human rights chief Navi Pillay, but that it declined to respond. Instead Sri Lanka "has produced its own reports on the...
See NDTV ’s report from Vanni (broadcast Sep 10, 2011) which includes: - survivors' accounts of mass killings of Tamil civilians during the final months of the conflict, - victims accounts of torture, rape and persecution by Sri Lanka’s military after the war’s end, - and the Sri Lankan government's denials and excuses .
Human Rights Watch today joined the growing chorus urging the UN Human Rights Council to hold Sri Lanka accountable for war crimes. In a statement released on Tuesday, Brad Adams, Asia director at the group said, “When a UN Panel of Experts report concludes up to 40,000 civilians died amid war crimes, the Human Rights Council should feel compelled to act . The council should order a full international investigation – anything less would be a shameful abdication of responsibility. ” The report commissioned by the UN Secretary-General was sent to the Human Rights Council on the opening day of...
The United States and other governments must move without further delay toward an independent international investigation into mass atrocities during Sri Lanka’s armed conflict, and desist from lending credibility to Sri Lanka’s sham domestic investigation , Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) said in a statement Monday. Pointing out that leading international human rights organisations have comprehensively discredited Sri Lanka’s government-appointed Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Committee (LLRC), TAG said comments by US officials on expectations of the LLRC’s report merely contributed to...
Sri Lankan Major General Jagath Dias has been recalled from his post as Deputy Ambassador to Germany and Switzerland, in response to allegations that he committed war crimes according to swissinfo . The Swiss news platform cited diplomatic sources on Tuesday, who confirmed that Dias had been recalled to Sri Lanka. It follows the Swiss foreign ministry confirming that the case was of “great significance” and that they had talked to Sri Lankan authorities regarding it. The move comes after criminal cases were filed against the Major General, accusing troops under his command of committing war...
In a statement released Tuesday, the TNA, slammed the Sri Lankan government’s failure to make any meaningful progress on accountability or genuine efforts at reconciliation. The statement was issued shortly after reports confirmed the transmittal of the report by the UN Panel of Experts to the UN High Commissioner, by Ban Ki Moon. Slamming the LLRC as 'flawed', with a 'limited mandate' and having only resulted in 'very modest interim recommendations', the statement was severely critical of the government's recurrent failure to deliver. “ The failure of the government to implement even the modest interim recommendations of its own domestic mechanism highlights the importance of a genuine, credible and independent mechanism to advance accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka .” Cataloguing a series of false promises and the Sri Lankan delegation's recent remonstrations to the contrary at the UNHRC, the TNA urged the government to “be more forthright and honest in its representation of the situation in Sri Lanka to the international community”, accusing it of engaging in a “constant flow of misinformation".