The US congressional Caucus on Ethnic and Religious Freedom in Sri Lanka convened on Wednesday to discuss the current human rights situation in Sri Lanka under the new Sirisena regime.
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A packed room of congressman and senate representatives, was briefed by representatives from the International Crisis Group (ICG), Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Freedom From Torture.
Sri Lanka must not be rewarded for reforms it hasn't made say NGOs (22 May 2015)
Welcoming the panel, US senate representative BIll Johnson stressed the need to see accountabiltiy for war crimes to see real progress in Sri Lanka.
US Senate representative Danny Davis, urging the international community to stay engaged in seeing change and progress in Sri Lanka, condemned previous attacks by Sri Lanka's air-force on Tamil orphanages during the US caucus meeting on Wednesday.
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Speaking at the US Congressional Caucus on Ethnic and Religious Freedom in Sri Lanka, congressman Davis, urged the US to and the international community to stay engaged in the processes occurring in Sir Lanka to see a lasting change and progress.
Congressman Davis went on to speak about his visit to Sri Lanka and the de-facto state controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Vanni. Speaking on his visit to the Sencholai Orphanage, which was eventually bombed by Sri Lanka’s Air-force, he said that the Orphanage has been wrongly portrayed as a terrorist camp by the Sri Lankan government.
Discussing assassinations of Tamil parliamentarians in Sri Lanka and attacks on Tamil orphanages, Congressman Davis expressed sympathy with the cause of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, stating,
“I take the right side, the side of the Tigers. As part of an oppressed minority in the US, I think I understand what the Tigers felt.”
See also:
Sri Lanka must not be rewarded for reforms it hasn't made say NGOs (22 May 2015)
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