Tamil InsightTamil Voice in the Sun
US 2009 Human Rights Report cites Sri Lanka abuses
(US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 11, 2010) - 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Sri Lanka is a constitutional, multiparty republic with a population estimated at 21 million. President Mahinda Rajapaksa, elected in 2005, and the parliament, elected in 2004, both for six-year terms, share constitutional power. The government is dominated by the president’s family; two of his brothers hold key executive branch posts, defense secretary and senior advisor to the president. …
OHCHR’s Damning Silence: It needs a new approach to speak out
(By Suhas Chakma, Director, Asian Centre for Human Rights, 11 03 2010) - The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is facing a crisis of its own making. In its website, the OHCHR states “As the principal United Nations office mandated to promote and protect human rights for all, the OHCHR leads global human rights efforts speaks out objectively in the face of human rights violations worldwide”.[1] Instead of speaking out, it has shown a …
Transparency International calls for protection of civil society organisations in Sri Lanka
(Transparency International, 11 March 2010 ) - Berlin - Transparency International (TI) is alarmed by the intimidation tactics and public allegations threatening civil society organisations in Sri Lanka, and in particular those against the TI chapter, Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) .
TI is gravely concerned about the safety and reputation of TISL Executive Director J.C. Weliamuna and the chapter staff following a negative campaign in the media aimed at undermining the credibility of TISL’s anti-corruption work.
A recent statement by the …
Sri Lanka: End Witch Hunt Against the Media and NGOs - Government Intensifies Campaign to Discredit Civil Society
(Human Rights Watch, March 10, 2010) - New York) - The Sri Lankan government should end its harassment of journalists and activists and take steps against those making threats, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said in a joint statement today.
Since the January 2010 presidential election, the government has engaged in a campaign to silence and discredit journalists and nongovernmental organizations. A recently leaked document, which appears to be a government …
13 groups from seven countries support Merak asylum seekers
(By Grant Morgan, International secretary, Socialist Worker-New Zealand, March 09, 2010) - Here is an international statement supporting the asylum seekers in Merak, Indonesia.
It has been jointly issued by 13 organisations from seven countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
A call for urgent action by the Indonesian and Australian governments
Merak asylum seekers need a just solution
The situation at Merak has dragged on much too long. For over 120 days, the 254 mostly Tamil asylum seekers …
Ban voices concern about lack of progress on key issues in Sri Lanka
(UN News, 9 March 2010) – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today expressed concerns about the lack of progress on political reconciliation, the treatment of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the setting up of an accountability process in Sri Lanka since the United Nations signed a joint statement with the Government last year in the wake of the end of its civil war with separatist Tamil rebels.
Mr. Ban told reporters that he had …
Investigate Sri Lankan Human Rights Defender’s Disappearance
(Amnesty International, 28 02 2010) - Pattani Razeek, a Sri Lankan human rights defender, has been missing since he was apparently abducted on February 11 in the town of Polonnaruwa, in Sri Lanka’s North Central Province.
He may be the victim of an enforced disappearance and could be at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. It is unclear what the authorities are doing to investigate his case.
Since 2006, there have been numerous …
SRI LANKA: A new lie – police training without constitutional reforms
(By Basil Fernando, Asian Human Rights Commission, February 28, 2010) - Peter Mountford who returned from a visit to Sri Lanka writes in an article ‘Sri Lanka’s hr and free speech problems need international attention’ (Seattle Times Editorial 27th February):
At the core of Sri Lanka’s problems is a rotten constitution, which gives the president near dictatorial power. Opposition members in parliament are easily bought through cushy ministerial appointments, and the chief justice of the Supreme Court is appointed by the …
Cognitech Announces Successful Forensic Video Processing and Analysis of a United Nations Requested Sri Lanka Execution Video With Its Video Investigator Software
(GLOBE NEWSWIRE, Feb. 18, 2010) - PASADENA, Calif. — Cognitech Inc., has announced the successful forensic video processing and analysis of the United Nations requested digital video/audio recording of a purported Sri Lanka execution, with the use of their Video Investigator™ software. Before giving the scientifically pre-processed video to a forensic pathologist and terminal ballistics expert, Professor Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, requested forensic multimedia analyst and Cognitech® technical representative Jeff …
Sri Lanka’s Lasantha Wickrematunge Named 53rd IPI World Press Freedom Hero
(International Press Institute - IPI, 18 February 2010) - Lasantha Wickrematunge, a former editor of Sri Lankan daily newspaper The Sunday Leader who was shot dead in January 2009, has been posthumously declared an IPI World Press Freedom Hero. Wickrematunge, one of the most persistent critics of both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tiger (LTTE) militants, was shot by unknown assailants near the Sri Lankan capital Colombo on 8 January 2009 and died a few hours later….
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Videos & photos
at the British Labor Party
conference
"Next time you want to buy underwear from Marks & Spencer, you want to buy a t-shirt from Next, you want to go on a holiday of a lifetime in a beautiful island off the coast off India - Do you really want to spend your money on a government that chooses to lock 300,000 people up behind barbed-wire.
A country that is the most dangerous in the world to be a journalist.
A country where we can see on Channel 4 News, young men, naked and bound shot at close range.
Is that what we want for our money, for our democracy?
I ask you to not only support the emergency resolution on Sri Lanka but to use your money and not prop up that government,"
witnessed the bloody conflict
from a Vanni hospital
Video: The Guardian Video: Channel 4
is this evidence of
'war crimes' in Sri Lanka?
25 August 2009 - Channel 4 News shows footage claimed to show Sri Lankan forces executing Tamils earlier this year. Jonathan Miller reports.