Speaking at a Jaffna press conference at the Jaffna Press Club on Monday, Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam praised the people of the North for demand for self-determination expressed by their votes at the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) elections last month.

Listen to press conference in Tamil here:

Standing by the TNPF’s decision to boycott the election, Gajendrakumar said that the Tamil people of the North were to be praised for rejecting Sri Lankan rule in the Tamil homeland, and for expressing their enduring desire for the right to self-determination, despite all the obstacles and hardships they have faced in the four years since the end of the armed conflict.

"We also view this [election result] as something special. As you well know, our party boycotted this election completely."

"But despite that, we did not ask the Tamil people to boycott the election or to act in a way that we instructed. As you well know we did released a written statement, that only a few media outlets covered. In that way, we left the election to the conscience of the people."

"As far as we are concerned, even today, the [Tamil] people have clearly expressed their aspirations, namely, firstly, they have categorically rejected the Sri Lankan state's conduct and rule within the Tamil homeland. Secondly, with regards to Tamil political aspirations, even today, they have once again, resolutely voted for the right to self-determination, seeking the reaffirmation of our nationhood, and unanimously, for the freedom of a nation; in a vote that has no historic precedence."

"We bow our heads to their [Tamil people's] act"

Gajendrakumar said that his party would work to keep the people actively engaged in politics, outside of election time.

The Sri Lankan military has continued the land grab and colonisation of the North-East reports Tamilnet.

The Mass Media and Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella has said that Sri lanka will follow the same guidelines as employed by the Australian government during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth 2 years ago.

Rambukwella said background checks are currently being performed on foreign journalists who have applied to enter the country to cover CHOGM.

The Indian Minister of Naval affairs G K Vasan, suggested today that 2 aspects would be taken into consideration before the final decision is taken regarding India

The representative of the Queen at the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting in Sri Lanka, Prince Charles, has offered his help to win justice for the murder of Khuram Sheikh, who was killed on the island in 2011.

According to the Observer, Prince Charles has taken a private interest in the case, as pressure on David Cameron grows to pull out of the meeting.

Minister Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York, Waruna Sri Dhanapala, has been elected as the Vice-Chair of the Second Committee for its 68th Session.

"Canada takes its membership in the Commonwealth very seriously. It is for this simple reason that we believe in upholding the basic principles it stands for: freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Without them, what does the Commonwealth stand for?"

"The Commonwealth failed to put any pressure on a regime that has so blatantly ignored international calls for change... As a consequence, we gave this regime a free pass to continue down this path."

"This was not a decision taken in haste. It was carefully considered with one aim in mind: for Canada to send a message about our displeasure with an organization that has failed to stand up for its fundamental principles. How can an organization like the Commonwealth reward a country like Sri Lanka, not just with hosting a summit, but by allowing it to chair the organization for two years? And after no meaningful reconciliation following a brutal and violent struggle?"

In a preview of a report analysing media violence in Sri Lanka, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) has determined that the Sri Lankan “state repression of the media mirrors the state’s wider ethno-chauvinist policies”, placing Tamil journalists at a greater risk of violence than their Sinhalese counterparts.
 
Examining data from, Journalists for Democracy (JDS), TAG found that of all the reported murdered or disappeared journalists listed by JDS since 2004, 37 are media workers of ethnic Tamil origin while 4 are ethnic Sinhalese and 2 Sri Lankan Muslims.

The advocacy group went on to observe that approximately 75 per cent have taken place in the majority Tamil-speaking regions of the island.

Extracts of their piece have been reproduced below. See the full piece here.

"Sri Lanka has gained a reputation as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists alongside Afghanistan, Somalia, Eritrea and North Korea."
 
"Yet considering that much of Sri Lanka’s post-independence period has been entrenched in ethnic violence, the central question of race has been absent in the analysis of media attacks."

"Indeed, often ethnicities of attacked media workers remain unspecified in the reporting of human rights and news organisations. With the erosion of ethnic labels in the reporting of violence against media personnel, some core reasons for the Sri Lankan states repression of media personnel elude us."
 

The Canadian Council for Refugees has called ‘more consistency in Canada’s response to the serious human rights abuses that continue to occur in Sri Lanka’, as evidence of asylum seekers being deported to torture has surfaced.

Applauding Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s recent statement on Sri Lanka, particularly the noting of “absence of accountability for the serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian standards during and after the civil war is unacceptable”, CCR called for this approach to be congruent.

The statement read,

“On the other hand, CCR is shocked by Canada’s treatment of Sri Lankans who fled to Canada to escape those human rights violations, most particularly those on the MV Sun Sea who arrived on the West Coast in August 2010.”

CCR also noted a recently disclosed memo from the Canada Border Services Agency, calling on its officers to “use all legal means to detain the passengers as long as possible, to try to have them declared inadmissible and to argue against them being recognized as refugees”.

See the memo here.

An investigative report by Jaffna based organisation, The Social Architects (TSA),  confirmed that public health officials committed serious violations of women’s rights to informed consent, reproductive autonomy and health.

Following recent news of coercive birth control in the North-East, TSA visited investigated areas and villages where Internally Displaced Persons had been settled to rebuild their lives.

Following research in the regions, whilst under constant surveillance of the military, the organisation reached eight conclusions.

The following conclusions were found in the report:

1.      Women in these villages lack adequate access to primary care.

2.        Women lack adequate access to quality contraceptive services.

3.      Public health workers asked women to come to a government sponsored nutrition clinic under false pretences.

4.      Government health workers coerced women into taking implant.

5.       Government health workers did not provide adequate counselling and women did not give full and informed consent.

6.     Government health workers failed to conduct adequate medical pre-screening and to provide post-implant care instructions.

7.     Public health employees failed to provide information to women who accepted the implant.

8.     Women feel unsafe asking doctors questions. Government employees have told their subordinates to remain silent on the issue-perpetuating a culture of impunity.

The Sri Lankan government has said it will review its diplomatic ties with Canada, after Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that he would boycott the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting over Sri Lanka’s human rights record.