• Army rejects ‘baseless’ allegations of rise in crimes committed by soldiers

    Jun 10

    A report by Al Jazeera, saying that crime amongst members of Sri Lankan security forces has risen, has been rejected by the Sri Lankan military.

    Spokesperson Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that parties “with vested interest” are trying to discredit the military by making these allegations.

  • STF road block in North-East

    The Special Task Force, a feared special forces unit of the Sri Lankan police, conducted a ‘snap road block’ in the country’s Northeast, reported Ceylon Today.

    Police Media Spokesman, SSP Ajith Rohana said that 200 STF personnel were deployed in Jaffna and Vavuniya to “nab criminals”.

  • International protocol launched to increase prosecutions of sexual violence in conflict

    The UK Foreign Secretary, William Hague, launched the 'International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict’, at the second day of the global summit aimed at combatting the crime.

    The protocol, the first of its kind, “aims to set an international standard for how to investigate and document sexual violence, as a way of increasing the number of prosecutions for these crimes worldwide”, said the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in a statement released today. “We hope it will play a vital role in shattering the culture of impunity for sexual violence in conflict,” Mr Hague said, launching the report together with Special Envoy Angelina Jolie. “Perpetrators have to know that even during conflict, evidence is being collected that will be used against them,” said Ms Jolie, stressing that amnesties were unacceptable. “They have to know that when peace agreements are made, there will be no amnesty for rape and that if they commit these crimes, they will bear the stigma and punishment - no matter how long it takes,” she added.
  • Farmers in the North-East protest against military banning of agricultural work
    A collection of agricultural organisations in the North-East of Sri Lanka participated in demonstration and hunger strikes in protest of army actions to stop farmers from working in the Vaddamadu region, reports the Uthayan.
  • Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict begins today
    Updated 12:20 BST

     
    Photograph Tamil Guardian

    The Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict opened in London today, co-hosted by the UK's Foreign Secretary, William Hague and the Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie. 

    Follow our Twitter account for live updates throughout the day - @TamilGuardian

  • UK, US urge Sri Lanka to cooperate with international inquiry at opening of 26th UNHRC session
    The US and UK urged Sri Lanka to cooperate with the upcoming international inquiry led by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as the UN Human Rights Council's 26th session opened today.

    Addressing the Council, the US Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Keith Harper thanked the Office of the High Commissioner for leading on the inquiry.
  • Protesters in Colombo condemn Modi-Jaya for 'Indian interference'
    Photograph Tamilwin
  • Time to shatter culture of impunity'
    Updated 13:20 BST


    Photograph: Tamil Guardian


    The time has come to 'shatter the culture of impunity' over sexual violence in conflict stated the British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Angelina Jolie earlier today.

    Speaking at the opening of the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, currently underway in London, the Foreign Secretary stated that “ending sexual violence was a moral issue for our generation” adding,
    “We know how few of these crimes have ever been punished and because of impunity they continue today, in Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic to name just a few examples... We want the summit to shatter the culture of impunity for sexual violence, to increase support for the survivors and change the situation on the ground for the most affected countries."

    See his full address here.

    He was joined by the Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Angelina Jolie, who reiterated that the end of an armed conflict does not mean violence does not occur. Jolie stated,
    “Other survivors live in countries where war is over, but the peace has brought no justice and as an international community we are responsible for that. We need to shatter that culture of impunity and make justice the norm not the exception for these crimes."
  • Eelam Tamil refugee camp torched in India

    A petrol bomb attack on a refugee camp occupied by Tamil refugees has left over 35 houses destroyed.

  • SL will not endorse British-led ‘Declaration of Prevention of Sexual Violence in Conflict’

    The Sri Lankan government will not attend the high-profile summit on sexual violence in London, nor will it sign the “Declaration of Prevention of Sexual Violence in Conflict” as it could be used against the country, said External Affairs Minister GL Peiris, reported

  • SL rejects appointment of OHCHR probe team

    Sri Lanka has “vehemently rejected” the appointment of the OHCHR team to conduct the probe into war crimes, reported Colombo Page.

    The Ministry of External Affairs is reported to have said that permission for the team to enter the island would not be granted.

  • British Minister 'disappointed' with Sri Lankan absence at summit

  • Sexual violence against Tamils ‘systematic’, ‘part of policy framework’ - Yasmin Sooka
    Photograph SL Campaign

    Yasmin Sooka, co-author of the UN Panel of Experts report into mass atrocities in Sri Lanka and the     'An Unfinished War: Torture and Sexual Violence in Sri Lanka 2009—2014' report, called on Tuesday for international action to stop ongoing sexual violence by the security security forces against Tamils, which she stressed was "not random" but "systematic".

    In an interview with the Tamil Guardian during the global summit on 'End Sexual Violence in Conflict' taking place in London this week, Ms Sooka stressed that five years after the war, sexual violence "is still happening in Sri Lanka and we have to draw attention to it so we can put a stop to it".

    "I was shocked by the witness statements and the testimonies, because the kind of things that were done, were so depraved," Ms Sooka said of her experience of collecting evidence for the 'An Unfinished War' report, published earlier this year.

    “There was no distinction that was drawn between men and women,” she added.

    The report included 40 testimonies of rape and torture in Sri Lanka since the end of the armed conflict in 2009, some of which are to be read out by celebrities including M.I.A. and Bianca Jagger at an event on Wednesday aimed at raising international awareness about sexual violence against Tamils in Sri Lanka.

    Pointing to the lack of prosecutions of military personnel in Sri Lanka and the background of systematic acts of sexual violence against Tamils, she said, "one cannot but then draw the inference that it's actually being encouraged and that it's part of a policy framework."

    Acknowledging the clear ethnic division between perpetrators of sexual violence, Sinhala military personnel, and the victims, who were almost invariably Tamil, Ms Sooka said there was an obvious power imbalance in Sri Lanka.

    "There is a power dynamic structurally. The military is in control and you will remember in the report we wrote as the [UN] Panel of Experts, we talked about the [Sinhala] triumphalism,” she said. “Obviously annihilating the Tigers has created that sense of triumphalism and clearly it finds expression in the fact that Tamils in Sri Lanka are a vanquished group."


    UN must probe charge of genocide

    Commenting on whether the abuses amount to a genocide of the Tamil people, Ms Sooka said,
    "I do think that when the [forthcoming OHCHR] inquiry takes place they will need to probe this question because many Tamils have often spoken about the fact that this is a genocide, and that it has genocidal tendencies - the way in which this war prosecuted.”
    "I think all of us in the Panel that were confronted with this question have always raised that there is a real need for a proper investigation when it happens to test this issue [genocide]."
  • Hague to investigate Tamil asylum seeker torture reports

    British Foreign Secretary William Hague has stated the UK government will investigate claims that Tamil rape victims are being deported to Sri Lanka were they face torture by security forces, in an interview to the Guardian on Tuesday.

    His pledge comes after the Guardian reported that a Tamil asylum seeker faces deportation from the UK for a second time, despite being "beaten, branded, suffocated and rape" on his first deportation. See here for more.

    Hague was joined by the Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Angelina Jolie, who also said she was to meet female Tamil refugees in Britain and discuss the issue with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees during the course of the four-day summit.

  • Why is systemic rape of Tamils in Sri Lanka not on the Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict agenda asks Bianca Jagger
    ‘Why has the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict forgotten survivors in Sri Lanka,' asked a well-known human rights activist , Bianca Jagger.

    Writing in the Huffington Post today, the founder of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, expressed regret at the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague’s and UN Special Envoy Angelina Jolie's omission of Sri Lanka from the conference agenda.
    “The team is working on both ongoing (DR Congo, Syria) and historic (Libiya, Bosnia, Rwanda) cases of sexual violence in conflict—and has recently expanded its remit to cover more countries including Burma..Yet Sri Lanka, where rape has been a weapon of war for many years of brutal civil conflict, is not being examined,” she wrote.
    See further extracts from her statement below.
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