• MPs banned from accepting all-expenses paid invitations to Sri Lanka

    Nov 10

    Conservative MPs who received all expenses paid trips to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) have been banned from traveling amidst growing concerns over the regime’s lobbying activities in the UK.

    Investigations by The Daily Telegraph found that many of the MPs that actively uphold Sri Lanka’s rhetoric on reconciliation and human rights progress, had already been on all-expenses paid trips to Sri Lanka.

  • Senior Minister of State of Foreign and Commonwealth Office disappointed with CMAG

    The Senior Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Baroness Warsi, during parliamentary debates on Friday, outlined her discontent at the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group’s  negation of Sri Lanka from its activities.

    Baroness Warsi asked the government whether it intended to call on the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group to formally place Sri Lanka on its agenda.

  • Cameron should not go to Colombo - FT editorial

    In its editorial Monday, the Financial Times newspaper urged British Premier David Cameron not to attend the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka later this week.

    See here (registration required) the full text of the FT's editorial titled 'Cameron should not go to Sri Lanka'.

    Pointing to Sri Lanka’s “appalling human rights record”, including both wartime atrocities - “which would be bad enough” – and abuses since, the editorial said:

    “[Mr. Cameron’s] decision to attend is hard to justify. It seems driven largely by the fact that a boycott would have embarrassed the Commonwealth. This, however, ignores the public relations gift that the presence of a British prime minister – and other leaders – bestows upon a bloodstained regime.

  • Britain should have boycotted CHOGM, must take up Sri Lanka at summit – The Independent editorial

    “Britain should have joined Canada in taking a principled stand” and boycotted the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka this week,” The Independent newspaper said in its editorial Monday.


    Titled “The Commonwealth should not be conferring legitimacy on a regime with blood on its hands,” the editorial (see full text here) urged Mr. Cameron to take up Sri Lanka at the CHOGM summit.

  • Cameron should have boycotted CHOGM – New Statesman editorial

    British Premier David Cameron should have boycotted the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka, the New Statesman magazine said in its editorial Monday, titled 'Sri Lanka is a rogue state'.

  • Channel 4 News team welcomed to SL by 'Movement to Promote National Harmony'

    Photographs DailyMirror.lk

    The Channel 4 News team was met by Sri Lankan protesters demonstrating outside the airport and their hotels, including one notable one by the 'Movement to Promote National Harmony', as they arrived in Sri Lanka ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), today.

  • TYO UK - Cameron should boycott CHOGM immediately
    In a statement released on Monday, the Tamil Youth Organisation UK called on the British Prime Minister to boycott the CHOGM this week.

    See here. Extract published below:
    "Four years on and still the Sri Lankan state has not been held accountable for these war crimes, crimes against humanity and most importantly crimes of genocide. Instead, they are being given time and space to commit more atrocities in the name of ‘reconciliation’, through which the Tamil nation is continuing to face structural genocide."
  • Australian senator urges CHOGM boycott
    Lee Rhiannon, the Australian senator that was detained in Sri Lanka, along with a New Zealand MP, has written in the Guardian recounting her experiences in Sri Lanka and in the Northeast, concluding that Australia should boycott CHOGM.

    See Rhiannon’s full piece on Comment is Free. Extracts reproduced below:
  • Protest organisers in Vali North receive death warnings

    Tamil campaigners and members of the elected body who had been organising protests against land grab in Valikaamam North, found the heads of dead cows on their doorsteps on Monday morning - an act that is considered a death threat.
  • NZ Prime Minister 'definitely going to Sri Lanka'
    The Prime Minister of New Zealad has said he is 'definitely going to Sri Lanka' despite growing oppposition to his visit, and the detention of a New Zealand MP in Colombo last week.

    Prime Minister John Key stated that it "just happens to be that Sri Lanka is the host of the summit in 2013" confirming that he would not boycott the summit.

  • Australian Senator detained after speaking out in Sri Lanka

    Senator Rhiannon being detained by SL officials.
    Photo:Tamil Mirror


    Australian Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon was detained by Sri Lankan authorities after speaking out against sexual abuse and land confiscation by state authorities on the island, on her return to Colombo from the Tamil North-East.
  • Sri Lanka refuses to sign oil storage deal with Indian firm

    The Sri Lankan government has hardened its stance on a lease agreement with the Indian Oil Corporation.

    The Indian company is trying to set up a bitumen plant in the northeast, however Sri Lanka has not signed the 10-year old agreement.

  • Foreign media restricted to report on CHOGM only - Media Ministry

    Foreign media who have arrived in Sri Lanka to cover the Commonwealth summit, will be restricted to reporting on CHOGM related events only, said Media Secretary Charitha Herath.

    “There will be no restrictions on travel within Sri Lanka for foreign media personnel who arrive in the country for CHOGM, but only as tourists,” he said.

    “However, those who come as part of the official delegations of various countries, can carry out media related activities and will get accreditation to cover only CHOGM related events.”

  • Premier Singh not attending CHOGM – Indian press reports

    Indian media reports say Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has will not attend the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka next week.

    India will be represented by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid.

  • Isaipriya's fate was previously unknown to her family
    The family of Tamil journalist Isaipriya had known nothing of her capture and execution until video evidence was broadcast on Channel 4.

    Isaipriya's mother and two sisters, had only recently arrived seeking asylum in the UK. Her mother told Channel 4 that she had always thought that Isaipriya had died a victim of shelling.
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