A survey by the UNHRC in parts of Sri Lanka’s Northeast found nearly 40% of women feel they are not safe at home, with militarisation being a key reason, press reports quoted the UN Population Fund’s representative in Sri Lanka, Alain Sibenale, as saying.

Sibenale was speaking Wednesday at an event at the British High Commission in Colombo to mark the ‘End Sexual Violence in Conflict’ conference being held in London.

See reports by Daily Mirror and Colombo Telegraph.

 

“This [sexual violence] is an issue that has affected every part of Sri Lanka but at the same time, we need to recognize that the North and East have specific degree variations of vulnerability that do differ from the rest of the country,” he said.

 

Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, hailed Buddhism as the "foundation for the culture and way of life of our people" and central to the building of the country, in a message marking the Buddhist festival of Poson today, the Daily Mirror reported.

"Even today we are on the correct path as we earnestly believe that there is no other path to build the country other than the teachings of the Buddha brought to us by Arahath Mahinda," President Rajapaksa said.

Sandra Beidas, a senior official previously with the UN mission in South Sudan, has been appointed by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to coordinate the investigative team examining mass atrocities in Sri Lanka, reports Al Jazeera.

According to the news agency, the team will comprise 12 members, including two experts in forensics as well as a legal analyst and a gender specialist. The investigation is intended to commence later this month and last for ten months.

Condemning the on-going militarisation of the North, the Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council, C.V. Wigneswaran, said in an interview with The Hindu today, the province was "overwhelmed by an occupying military force" and said there was "an urgent need" to prevent military's on-going encroachment on civilian life.

A dead body was found in Kilinochchi this morning, near Selvanagar Utha Temple Street, the Uthayan reports.

The body has been identified as that of a 65 year old man, called Vaithilingam Wigneswaran.

Kilinochchi police are reported to be investigating the incident.

Condemning the lack of accountability for war crimes in Sri Lanka, the Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird reiterated Canada's commitment to ensuring the Sri Lankan government takes a different path, when speaking at a press conference today during the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict.

The opposition party, UNP explained its rationale for why the government should cooperate with the UN Human Rights Council mandated international inquiry into mass atrocities in Sri Lanka, in a communique released today, reported Colombo Page.

“It would not only be an injustice to the valiant soldiers who sacrificed so much for this country but a betrayal of all our people who will have to suffer the consequences of international action,” the UNP said.

Continued international pressure on states and institutions that allow sexual violence is needed to end impunity said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees speaking at the End Sexual Violence in Conflict global summit in London.