• Sri Lankan president to address 69th session of UN General Assembly

    Sep 13
    The Sri Lankan president, will address the UN General Assembly and chair two Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meetings at the side-lines of the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly, reports Colombo Page.

    Mahinda Rajapaksa, is due to chair a meeting on reform within CHOGM and address the General assembly on the post-2015 development agenda in New York on September 25.
  • Western forces trying to destabilise Sri Lanka says Minister Weerawansa
    Western forces are trying to destabilise the country using the upcoming presidential election charged Minister Weerawansa, accusing the West of imposing the name "Sri Lanka" on what he described as the "lion blood" nation.

    "We have to be very careful. The Western countries need only a weak President for Sri Lanka. I don’t think that even the government has realized this danger," he told The Nation in an interview published Sunday.

    See here for full interview. Extracts of his responses reproduced below:
    "At the last presidential election, Western countries had a plan and they worked and funded it. It was finding a person who could give a good fight to President Mahinda Rajapaksa there by diverting the support of the parties like the TNA and JVP to that candidate. They found former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka and went according to the plan, but failed as the people had confidence in the President," he added.

  • Tourists resorts required to inform police of all domestic guests
    Tourist resorts on the island are now required to inform their local police station regarding all bookings made by domestic guests, reports Sri Lanka's Sunday Times.

    Details including the names, addresses and dates of arrival and departure of the guests will be passed on to the police.

    The data is passed on to the State Intelligence Service (SIS) at Cambridge Place, Colombo, via the District Intelligence Bureau (DIB), the paper said citing a well-informed source.

    "we don’t like the idea of compromising the privacy of our clients. However, that is a new requirement by the Police and we have to comply. Otherwise they find fault with us," a resort manager told the paper.

  • Non-violent protests if government doesn’t address issues by the end of the year – Sumanthiran

    A non-violent campaign to effect the merger of the Northern and Eastern provinces, and other issues raised at the recent Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi convention, will be conducted if the Sri Lankan government does not address them by the end of the year, said Tamil National Alliance MP MA Sumanthiran in an interview to the Sunday Leader.

    The MP said “deliberate state sponsored colonisation” was ongoing, with a view to “change the ethnic demography of the area”. Sumanthiran said that the northeast is the “historic habitation of Tamil-speaking people, and “systematic state-sponsored colonisation of Sinhalese” has been ongoing in the east.

    “Sinhala settlement growth rate in East was several times higher than the birth rate of Sinhalese in the country,” he said.

    “It is unethical and deliberate alteration of the demography. This has been a historic issue.”

    Sumanthiran said that the TNA will carry out protests if the issues which were addressed at the recent ITAK convention are not addressed by the end of the year.

  • Bangkok conference will do damage to human rights in Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka Campaign

    The exclusion of some NGOs from a human rights conference at the behest of the Sri Lankan government was criticised by the Sri Lanka Campaign, who say the conference, in its current form, will do damage to human rights on the island.

  • Army builds mythical Sinhala statue in Tamil village

  • Armed masked men threaten lawyers who filed case against Buddhist monk

    Lawyers who filed cases against the Sri Lankan government and a controversial Buddhist monk were threatened by armed masked men and warned that they would be killed if they continue their legal action.

  • NGOs uninvited from Sydney Uni conference due to SL military interference
    The Sri Lankan military has made the University of Sydney withdraw invitation to Sri Lankan human rights organisations that were due to participate in an international conference hosted alongside the University of Colombo in Bangkok, reports the Guardian.

    Leaked correspondence revealed that delegates of the Sri Lankan military and police were expected to attend the event and had requested that Sri Lankan NGOs be uninvited.

    Sri Lankan military officials are expected to speak at a number of events in the conference.

    The Asia director of Human Rights Watch expressed concern over the university’s retraction of invitations to Sri Lankan NGOs.

  • Liberation calls for pressure on Sri Lanka to cooperate with UNHRC
    Liberation, a NGO based in the UK, called for the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to exert pressure on Sri Lanka to cooperate with the UN inquiry into mass atrocities, ensure that there was adequate witness protection and cease the genocidal processes dismantling the Tamil homeland in the North-East.

    Speaking in an interactive dialogue on the report of the Special Rapporteur on Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Recurrence, a Liberation Representative Sutharshan Sukumaran, highlighting Sri Lanka’s repeated refusal to co-operate with the UN, said,
    “We urge this council to exert pressure on Sri Lanka to cooperate with the UN inquiry and to ensure the safety of witnesses, as the only means of achieving meaningful accountability and justice for the killing of tens of thousands of Tamils at the end of the armed conflict.”
    Highlighting the ongoing "militarisation, colonisation, and dismantling of the social and economic structure in the North-East," the speaker, went on to call for the end of genocidal processes against Tamils in the North-East for true reconciliation on the island.

  • UNHCR 'gravely concerned' by deportation of asylum seekers
    The United Nations Refugee agency said it is “gravely concerned” by Sri Lanka resuming the arrest and deportation of asylum seekers, to countries where they may face persecution on their return.

    Addressing a press briefing in Geneva on Friday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees spokesperson Babar Baloch said the agency was “gravely concerned” by the latest developments, adding,

    “When UNHCR met with the government earlier this month, assurances were given for the immediate release of all asylum-seekers and refugees arrested and detained since June.”

    The UN previously stated it was “deeply concerned” at Sri Lanka's deportation of asylum seekers, mainly from Pakistan and Afghanistan and accused Sri Lanka of violating international law.

  • IED highlights lack of work towards war crimes prosecution and reconciliation
    Actions in Sri Lanka to work towards prosecution for war crimes and genuine reconciliation with the Tamil population do not exist, the International Educational Development organisation Inc (IED) and association of Humanitarian Lawyers said at the UNHRC on Friday.

    Making a statement at the interactive dialogue on the report of the Special Rapporteur on Truth, Justice, Reparation and Non-Recurrence, Karen Parker said,

    "We note that not a single high authority of the LTTE survived, so there cannot be prosecutions of them for alleged violations. Further, this fact makes the intentional killing of the LTTE captured combatants, a serious war crime, a certainty. Current actions in Sri Lanka to address prosecution for these crimes do not exist, nor do actions for truth and genuine reconciliation with the Tamil population. What does the Special Rapporteur propose in light of the apparent absolute impunity of that government, especially in light of the recurrence of gross violations of human rights directed at the Tamil population?"

  • SLFP to examine NPC resolution calling for OISL access
    The General Secretary of the ruling party, SLFP, has announced the party is to examine the resolution passed by the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) this week calling for UN investigators to be allowed access in order to collect evidence for the OHCHR Investigation into Sri Lanka (OISL).
  • Rajapaksa lauds China's Maritime Silk Road, Colombo Port City development planned
    The Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa praised China's Maritime Silk Road initiative and pledged to join China in working towards it, in an interview with Chinese state media, Xinhua, published Saturday.

    "Since I took office of the president, I have toured China for seven times, during which I have met President Xi Jinping in several occasions," said Rajapaksa.

    "China accounts for the biggest number of my working travel destination and I am looking forward to President Xi's visit."

    "Our cooperation covers many sectors including industry, energy, technology, infrastructure and tourism," he added.

  • Body of Tamil Nadu fisherman found washed up
    The body of a Tamil Nadu fisherman who went missing on August 25 has been found washed up on Valvettithurai coast Saturday.

    The president of the Fishermen's Association T Sesuraja identified the body as that of Isron, who was one of three men who went missing that day, reports PTI.
  • Autonomy needed to protect Tamils says new ITAK leader Mavai
    Tamil autonomy is needed to protect the Tamils said Mavai Senathirajah, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP and newly appointed leader to the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), a constituent party of the TNA coalition. 

    "[We] must establish autonomy, in order to protect Tamils, Tamil lands and the nation from facing another catastrophe," he said addressing an ITAK event in Jaffna on Friday, reported Uthayan.

    "The government's great aim for the past 5 years is to destroy the Tamil homeland's  demography. In these 5 years since the armed conflict ended, a lot of problems by the government have been exacerbated. [The government] is carrying out actions to destroy the Tamils’ land and nation," he added.

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