Remarks on Sri Lanka by US Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Samantha Power, who spoke at the Open Government Partnership Global Summit in Mexico City:

In January 2015, the people of Sri Lanka went to the polls to elect a new president. The incumbent Rajapaksa administration had governed largely through divisiveness and fear, and it had persecuted critics. Meanwhile, the challenger Sirisena ran on a platform of open government, anti-corruption and reconciliation. As you all know, the Sri Lankan people chose President Sirisena.

The new government moved swiftly to show it was serious about living up to its commitments, from stopping harassment of human rights defenders and journalists, to exposing rampant corruption. The impact was immediate. A labor organizer who had gone into hiding during the Rajapaksa administration's rule resumed his work, saying he no longer feared being targeted for what he was doing. A journalist who had been routinely harassed for his reporting said, "the fear has gone."

The Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) called for the Sri Lankan government to be “honest and truthful” about the aims of a accountability process in a meeting between civil society organisations and the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister in Colombo on Thursday.

TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran called for the Sri Lankan government to take ownership of the UN Human Rights Council resolution and implement it in full, stating that the “people must see action”.

In a speech delivered to parliament, Mr Sumanthiran said,

“People must see action. People must see it being implemented. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating "; they say. They must actually see it happening. So, I want to repeat what we said on the 14th of September again in this House, not from a sense of superiority or anything like that, but as fellow citizens we appeal to you and say, let the people actually see it; feel it and experience it.”

Mr Sumanthiran highlighted the fact the Sri Lanka chose to co-sponsor the UN resolution, stating "this is your resolution". “Your words today are most welcome,” he added. “But, please remember they remain only words up to now. This Resolution must be implemented in full.”

“Stop being a Government of denial,” urged the MP. “Accept that these horrific things did happen.”

Calling for a hybrid court to deal with mass atrocities committed on the island, Mr Sumanthiran noted “this Government is also a hybrid Government - this is a season for hybrids”.

The president of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) Fr. S. J. Emmanuel has reportedly ccepted an invitiation from Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Foreign Minister Managala Samaraweera to visit the island.

Ceylon Today reports the GTF chief as having told Dr Wickramabahu Karunaratne,

"Although I have accepted the personal invitation of the President and of the FM to come home and work for reconciliation, I depend very much on the cooperation of the progressive forces of the South to explain the whole truth to the Sinhala masses and I hope we have at least made a start in liberating the masses from the falsehoods of politicians."

Fr. Emmanuel has confirmed in an interview with the Sri Lanka Guardian earlier this week that he had accepted the invitation “but it will take time to see how the country is developing now”.

The GTF is one of 16 Tamil diaspora organisations that are currently banned in Sri Lanka (see here). The government pledged to review the proscription in March, but no action has been taken yet to remove any of the bans.

“The majority in Sri Lanka think: We are Buddhist Sinhalese, we are the owners of the country, and all the rest are minorities and thus second class citizens,” added Fr Emmanuel in his interview. “In order to change this perception and to understand the country as a multi-ethnic and a multi-religious country we will take a lot of time and courage. Whether the current government has this perseverance, we do not know.”

Thousands of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in the Kilinochchi district are affected by heavy rains.

Speech delivered by Father Elil Rajendran at the BMICH, on October 27, 2015

Members of the families of those forcibly disappeared, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

I would like to thank the organising committee for the invitation to deliver this speech on Enforced Disappearance from a Tamil perspective.

I will start with the story of a Tamil mother - Chandra. Her life changed forever just before midnight on 11th of September 2008. Armed men broke into the house where her 24 year old son Jasinthan was sleeping and took him away in white van. There is only one road leading to the area where she lives and there is no way armed men could have taken away her son without the security forces knowing.

But for the last 7 years Chandra’s life has been spent searching for her son. This may sound futile after so many years but she has good reason to believe that his son is still alive. Three years ago she saw a video of him in hospital with his front teeth smashed . In January this year she recognised him among several men in a photograph showing detainees at Welikada Jail. And yet she still cannot locate him. She lives in limbo and says if he had died it would have been easier to accept than this.

The Sri Lankan government has pledged to release 120 arrested Indian fishermen, according to a foreign ministry official on Wednesday.

“The process to release the detained Indian fishermen began today,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mahishini Colonne, adding that all of them "will be released in the next few days".