• Accountability and political settlement have to go hand in hand' - FFT

    Mar 12

    Accountability for violations of international humanitarian law must go “hand in hand” with a political solution, said Freedom From Torture in response the UN human rights chiefs remarks on Sri Lanka, made earlier this week.

    Ann Hannah, International Advocate and Researcher at Freedom from Torture, said that the UK-based charity welcomed the High Commissioner's statement.

    “Our clients, torture survivors from Sri Lanka, have told us time and again, that that they will only have confidence in a justice process where their evidence can be heard by impartial judges, where the safety and security of witness and their families are secure and they are free from harassment and intimidation,” she said.

    “This can only be achieved by the Sri Lankan government fulfilling the commitments it agreed last October at the Human Rights Council, including the participation of international judges in the process.”

  • Sinhalese students attack Tamils at Eastern Uni
    Nine Tamil students at the Eastern University's Trincomalee campus were attacked by Sinhala students on Friday night they said in to Lankasri.

    The injured Tamil students reported that over 50 Sinhala students entered the building they were inside and attacked them.



  • 28 Indian fishermen arrested by Sri Lankan navy
    The Sri Lankan navy on Saturday arrested twenty-eight Indian fishermen in separate incidents, and three vessels impounded.

    This arrest is the latest in a series of arrests by the Sri Lankan navy, with a total of 31 fishermen arrested already since the beginning of this month.

    Last week the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalithaa had written a further letter to the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, urging him to find a permanent solution to the issue.

  • Sri Lankan police recover 2kg of heroin in Jaffna

    Sri Lankan police reportedly recovered almost 2kg of heroin in Thondamanaru in Jaffna on Saturday.

    The drugs, worth an estimated 12,00,00,000 rupees, was discovered after Valvettithurai police received a tip off.

  • EU wants ‘full implementation’ of UN resolution on Sri Lanka

    The European Union (EU) has called on Sri Lanka to “further increase its cooperation” with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights “in view of the full implementation of its commitments” of a UN resolution passed last year.

    Speaking at the 31st session of the UN Human Rights Council currently underway in Geneva, the EU also thanked human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussain for information provided by his recent visit to the island.

    “We would be interested in your views on how the international community can best support Sri Lanka at this juncture,” added the EU statement.

  • UK ‘firmly committed to full implementation’ of UN resolution on Sri Lanka

    Britain reiterated its commitment to the full implementation of a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on accountability for mass atrocities committed during the final phases of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka, at a statement delivered in Geneva this week.

    In a statement at the UN Human Rights Council’s 31st session, the United Kingdom said:

    “We remain firmly committed to the full implementation of the resolution adopted in September and stand ready to help Sri Lanka”.

    “We encourage the government to continue in its efforts to help bring lasting peace to Sri Lanka, including by establishing credible and consultative reconciliation and accountability mechanism and, by strengthening its engagement with your office.”

  • HRW ‘concerned’ at Sri Lankan government statements on accountability
    Human Rights Watch (HRW) said it was concerned at statements made by the Sri Lankan government, which called into question its commitment to fully implement a UN resolution on accountability.
  • ‘Families of missing are still suffering’ says Pasumai Thayagam
    The families of the “tens of thousands of missing who are unaccounted for are still suffering” despite a change of government in Sri Lanka, said Pasumai Thayagam, in a statement delivered to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva this week.

    “The government of Sri Lanka was elected over a year ago with great hopes for significant improvement in human rights,” said the non-governmental organisation.

    The statement went on to quote the International Truth and Justice Project, which said that “instead, one year after the change of government in Sri Lanka, the security forces continue to detain, torture and sexually violate Tamils in a network of sites across the island”.

    Pasumai Thayagam went on to note that a range of issues remain unsolved including the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and “an all-Sinhalese military for which there is total impunity continues to be station in the Tamil areas”.
  • Sri Lanka needs international expertise at all levels – IMADR

    Sri Lanka needs international involvement “at all levels” in order to implement a UN resolution on accountability for mass atrocities, said the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR).

    In a statement delivered to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, IMADR said that in Sri Lanka “the President and Prime Minister made statements which have created uncertainties and anxieties in the minds of the families of the disappeared and those seeking accountability in the post war context”.

    Sri Lankan Prime Minister said recently that the tens of thousands of missing Tamils across the North-East were “probably dead”, without offering an explanation for their deaths, whilst Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena dismissed the notion of international involvement in an accountability mechanism.

    “It is in our experience that Sri Lanka needs international expertise at all levels in order to effectively implement the resolution,” IMADR added.

  • Jaffna Uni students protest demanding release of Tamil political prisoners
    Placard reads: "Release the political prisoners"

    Students at the University of Jaffna on Friday launched a one day hunger strike to protest at the ongoing imprisonment of Tamil political prisoners.



    Demanding their immediate release, the students sat outside holding placards asking, "Is death the only release for political prisoners?".

  • Tamil IDPs in Mallakam urge resettlement

    In the latest demonstration by Tamil IDPs across the North-East, displaced persons at the Mallakam Neethavaan camp protested demanding resettlement.


    The protesting families, who held a sit down demonstration with placards were observed by Sri Lankan CID officers.

  • Low ranking officers could have been responsible says Fonseka
    Sri Lanka's former army commander and now minister, Sarath Fonseka, called for an investigation into the 'white flag' case stating that as the LTTE had been pushed into a tiny area of land, low ranking officers could have been responsible without senior involvement.

    "The LTTE had been cornered to a small lagoon area during the last month o f the war, and therefore even low ranking military personnel such as corporals could have finished it off without the involvement of the top brass of the military," Mr Fonseka, who was army commander during the final stages of the armed conflict with the LTTE, was quoted by the Daily Mirror as stating in Parliament on Thursday.

    Adding that he had to visit China urgently during the last stages, Mr Fonseka said, "the services of high ranking officers including the Army commander was not necessary as the LTTE was trapped at that time. Low ranking officers could have handed the war easily if they were given a free hand."

    The white flag incident, described in detail within the OHCHR report, refers to the extrajudicial killing by Sri Lankan military soldiers of surrendering LTTE cadres, including senior figures within the LTTE's political leadership.

  • Sri Lanka's progress needs to move forward faster - UN human rights chief

    UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al Hussain said the Sri Lankan government needs to move faster on releasing land held by the military, reviewing cases of Tamil detainees and resolving the issue of disappearances.

    Speaking at the 31st session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Mr Hussain said the national consultations on designing a trasnitional justice mechanism must be held in an environment "free of surveillance and intimidation".

    The high commissioner stressed the importance of accountability and transitional justice. See remarks on Sri Lanka below:

    "If past human rights violations are not adequately addressed, grievances and other issues at the root of the past conflicts will continue to fester, and may even lead to their recurrence.

    "There are important lessons in this respect for Sri Lanka, which is on its own journey toward accountability, reconciliation and durable peace.

  • Chinese 'Port City' project to go ahead

    China will be allowed to go ahead with its plans to construct the long-touted port city in Colombo, despite the controversy surrounding its links with the previous government under Mahinda Rajapaksa.

  • Another ratings agency downgrades Sri Lanka

    Standard & Poor's ratings agency has lowered the outlook on Sri Lanka’s 'B+' long-term sovereign credit rating to negative from stable, citing rising fiscal and external imbalances, Economy Next reported.

    The downgrade comes a week after Fitch also took the step to downgrade outlook to B+.

    Standard & Poor's confirmed the 'B+/B' ratings and the 'B' short-term credit rating and left its transfer and convertibility risk assessment on Sri Lanka unchanged at 'B+'.

    “Sri Lanka's external and fiscal performances have underperformed our expectations,” a statement by the firm said. “A high government debt and interest burden, and gaps in institutional capacity constrain its policy options and responsiveness.

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