Sri Lanka

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  • Visa bar to rights abusers

    Jun 20
    WESTERN diplomats in Colombo said yesterday Sri Lankan security forces members may be denied visas if they have human rights abuse charges  against them, after one senior police officer said a European country had rejected him, the AFP reported.
     
    “The checking on any reports of abuses was something that was done even before, but now there is a new urgency to screen more thoroughly,” an official at a Western embassy said.
  • Misery and death stalk Jaffna
    A new fear, more ominous than anything people recall from their grim past: a spate of mysterious abductions usually carried out during curfew, when soldiers and stray dogs rule the streets.
  • And Then They Came For Me...
    Secular Sinhalese hung their heads in shame last week as government storm-troopers rounded up the Tamil citizenry of Colombo and herded them into busses, to be taken to God knows where. Young and old, shy and bold, they were equally affected: no one was spared. Grandmothers separated from their grandchildren, sisters separated from their brothers, diabetics separated from their insulin.
  • Life for ordinary Tamils gets worse
    Every time 16-year-old Suresh Subramanium steps out of his home in Sri Lanka's heavily-guarded capital, his father says a silent prayer for his son's safe return.
     
    The Subramaniums are ethnic Tamils, and run a grocery store in Colombo.
  • ‘Every night now, I am afraid’
    Sri Lankan authorities were rounding up hundreds of ethnic minority Tamils in the capital of Colombo, forcing them onto buses to destinations unknown.
     
    They were allowed to return two days later , after an international uproar , but many Tamils are afraid the expulsions could mark the beginning of a new wave of persecution, and that the next knock on the door might be even more dangerous.
     
    "I'm scared about what will happen," said the
  • Gothabaya blamed for eviction fiasco
    The government of President Mahinda Rajapakse was in quandary following heavy condemnation of the forced expulsion of Tamils from the capital Colombo earlier this month.
     
    Under immense pressure following scathing criticism by international human rights organisations and strong condemnations from foreign governments, the President announced another ‘thorough’ investigation to identify the persons responsible for the eviction fiasco.
     
    He
  • From democracy to farce
    “…there is no room anymore to assist terrorism directly or indirectly, and talk about democracy. This is because they use this democratic space to design the destruction of the entire society. The democracy that creates an opportunity for terrorism is a joke.
  • Japan says human rights not a priority when fighting war on terror
    Japan will continue to give aid to Sri Lanka despite the country’s failure to address the spiralling human rights violations. It says human rights issues takes second place when fighting terrorism.
  • Britain calls for end to Sri Lanka’s military efforts and to resume talks with the LTTE
    War is not an option for a long term solution to Sri Lanka's problems. Without a political solution resentment will build up and there will be more violence, in twenty-five or fifty years says Howells.
  • British briefing notes MEP critical of Sri Lanka
    British government issued a report to the British members of the European Parliament damning Sri Lanka for an array of issues including its continuing human rights violation, inadequate devolution offer put forward by APC and failure to adhere to post tsunami aid conditions.
  • Sri Lanka abuses slammed at EU hearing
    The Sri Lankan government came under severe criticism for human rights and humanitarian abuses at a public hearing in Brussels of the European Parliamentary Development Committee Wednesday. The Tamil Tigers were also criticized.
  • International experts slam Sri Lanka human rights probes
    A panel of international experts tasked with overseeing a Presidential commission looking into a set of human rights violations criticized the inquiry’s progress and performance.
  • ‘Anything is fair’ when fighting LTTE
    Sri Lanka’s hard-line Defence Secretary launched a bitter attack on the international community Tuesday, saying Sri Lanka was being bullied by Western states over human rights.
  • Sri Lanka blocks access to TamilNet
    THE Sri Lanka government came under criticism from local and international media watchdog after it ordered local internet service providers to block access to TamilNet, the web-based news agency covering events in the island's northeast.
  • Rajapakse regime under pressure
    PRESIDENT Mahinda Rajapakse's government is coming under increasing international pressure over its continuing human rights abuses and hardline approach to the island's ethnic question.
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