ALTERNATIVE REPORT TO THE COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE IN CONNECTION WITH THE 5TH PERIODIC REPORT OF SRI LANKA. The necessity for a new approach for Elimination of Torture,in developing countries. This report is submitted by Asian Legal Resource Centre, Hong Kong; Janasansadaya, Sri Lanka; Human Rights Office, Sri Lanka; Right to Life, Sri Lanka; Gampaha Citizen’s […]

GENEVA — A top United Nations official joined the criticism of Donald J. Trump on Wednesday, warning that his election would threaten international stability. While much of the recent furor against Mr. Trump has focused on a 2005 recording in which he made exceptionally vulgar remarks about women, the United Nations high commissioner for human […]

(Yoshitha Rajapaksa at FCID) by Nirmala Kannangara. Investigations carried out by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) have unearthed how the grand aunt of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa offspring – Daisy Forest – had paid millions of rupees to nine individuals to acquire a land to extend a family property at Dehiwela – Mt. Lavinia. […]

Sri Lanka’s President Wednesday signalled that his honeymoon with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s administration was wearing thin and he would not hesitate to take “stern action.” In his most hard-hitting remarks since coming to power, Sirisena lambasted the three main anti-graft organisations, including the independent bribery commission, for what he called politically motivated prosecutions. In […]

Threatens to act against Commission, FCID and CID if they pursue political agendas. Says he is not being kept in the loop about high profile arrests and prosecutions. Demands ‘release or prosecution’ of military intel officials in police custody. By Dharisha Bastians. President Maithripala Sirisena slammed the Bribery Commission and two Police divisions for what […]

(A military color guard lowers the national flag on Galle Face Green, a popular park in Colombo. The country’s largest city shows few signs of the strife that divided the Sinhalese and Tamils for 26 years.) Seven years after a brutal civil war, the South Asian nation faces the aftermath: the tens of thousands homeless […]

(Perpetual Treasuries owner Arjun Aloysius; image from Sri Lanka Morror) Deputy Governor of Sri Lanka Central Bank Dr. W.A. Wijewardene says that the profit earned by the Perpetual Treasuries was not 5200 million but 10,000 million. He has said this in an interview with  Mr. Faraz Aly  on the News First channel. Dr. W.A. Wijewardene […]

The Clique Club in Colombo denied that a VIP’s son was involved in the attack on the club in the early hours on Saturday. Venue Manager Christopher Kern released a video statement in which he acknowledged that an incident occurred at around 2.00  2.30 a.m. on Saturday, but denied the involvement of any VIP’s son. […]

( Activist has been campaigning for decades for the repeal of PTA; Photo by AsiaNews) By P.K.Balachandran. COLOMBO: The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the premier Tamil political group in Sri Lanka, fears that the proposed new law to replace the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) may well be old wine in a new bottle […]

( Screen shot from the ‘Usaviya Nihandai’ (Silence in the Courts trailer) The temporary ban on Prasanna Vithanage’s film ‘Usaviya Nihandai’ (Silence in the Courts), at a time when it is necessary to have a productive dialogue in the society regarding the political environment of our country and more and more artistic creations should be […]

(In July this year, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had warned private media institutions who are critical of his government) by Easwaran Rutnam @easwaranrutnam. It came as a bit of a surprise last Friday when State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene accused a private newspaper of misreporting the facts over a document he tabled in parliament. […]

( Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil, Jaffna, Sri Lanka ©s.deshapriya) Canada yesterday officially declared that it will celebrate the culture of its Tamil population each January. Passing Motion M-24, the Canadian Parliament voted to designate January as Tamil Heritage Month, to “recognize the contributions that Tamil-Canadians have made to Canadian society, the richness of Tamil language and […]

( Assaulting opposition members in the parliament under Rajapaksa rule) Several sitting MPs and some former MPs have had bills presented to the legislature to incorporate as Acts of Parliament foundations,  set up in their names reports the Sunday Times. These foundations are non other than NGOs which may have charity organizations.  Once they obtain […]

( Minister Jayasekara was considered  as a politician who stood by media freedom) The conduct of the National Sports festival this year was historic. This was the first time in 42 years that it was held in Jaffna. On the penultimate day of the event, media personnel were invited to dinner at a popular hotel […]

(Daham Sirisena (on the left) has even accompanied his father to UN General Assembly) The president’s son Daham Sirisena and his PSD bodyguards assaulted security guards of ‘Clique’ nightclub, situated in the upper floor of United Motors at Town Hall, Colombo around 2.00 am today (08), following an argument over their not being allowed to […]

( Estate workers wages remain lowest in the country; (c)s.deshapriya) By Meera Srinivasan. Talks held under government mediation failed to end the strike that started 10 days ago Thousands of workers employed in Sri Lanka’s tea estates continued protesting on Friday, apparently rejecting the marginal wage hike that the government negotiated with employers and trade […]

(Kadireshan Ravishankar, AHRC photo) by Basil Fernando. Kadireshan Ravishankar, 34 was severely tortured by the HQI and other officers of the Hatton police station merely for failing to provide a haircut immediately on his order a couple of days ago. The case exposes the dangers of not allowing lawyers from representing their clients at police […]

( Commission on Missing Persons had 80% of its sitting in the North and East and recorded Statements from 6,400 complainants) In an interview with Daily Mirror Retired High Court Judge, Maxwel Paranagama, Chairman of the Presidential ‘Commission on Missing Persons has said that ” the group of eminent persons was of great assistance to […]

by Erika Piñeros . Days after Colombia voted ‘no’ to the terms of a peace deal between the government and the FARC rebel group, the country is still struggling to come to terms with the unexpected result and what it means for the nation’s long and elusive search for peace. A ‘yes’ vote would have […]

Former President Chandrika Kumarathunga and nine other ministers had availed themselves of unpaid air travel by helicopters and planes from the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) from 10 January 2015 to 30 April 2016. This has been stated by State Minister for Defence Ruwan Wijewardene in Parliament yesterday. According to the State Minister’s statement others […]

(Internally displaced woman in a Welfare Centre in the Jaffna area, Northern Sri Lanka, January 2016.) On 16 August 2016, the Sri Lankan Cabinet approved a “National Policy on Durable Solutions for Conflict-affected Displacement”. Guest bloggers Laurie Wiseberg and Mirak Raheem discuss the new policy and its implementation. The Context The drafting process, which took […]

How did the sitar-playing, sage-like Chief Minister of the Northern Province fall within the grasp and influence of Tamil nationalists and bankrupt politicians in only three years? And can the TNA bring him back into the fold? When Canagasabapathy Visuvalingam Wigneswaran took over as the country’s first democratically elected Chief Minister of the war-torn Northern […]

(Saudi Arabia and Iraq believe the conventional law of sovereign immunity has been compromised by the US Getty Images) by Gabriel Samuels Families of victims of the US-led inasion of Iraq should be allowed to seek compensation for damages suffered during the conflict, a group of activists has told their country’s parliament. The ‘Arab Project […]

(A Tamil Tiger flag flies in the northern city of Jaffna during Sri Lanka’s civil war. Photograph: In Pictures/Getty Images) In an extract from his memoir, A Long Watch: War, Captivity and Return in Sri Lanka, Commodore Ajith Boyagoda recalls senseless destruction by soldiers. One moment stands out for me as the most formative of […]

Defence attorneys appearing on behalf of the accused in the alleged murder of former TNA Jaffna District MP Nadaraja Raviraj, yesterday requested for a special jury trial consisting of Sinhala speaking members into the murder of the former MP. However, the Counsel who appeared on behalf of the aggrieved party, raised objections against the request […]

( The proposed amendment could increase the risk of suspects being subject to torture, cruel and inhuman treatment as well as illegal arrest and detention) 10th October 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) is deeply concerned by a statement made by the Minister of Justice reported in the print media on […]

( Ex- LTTE cadres during the  rehabilitation) Medical examinations conducted on former LTTE cadre were negative for any traces of poison, the Northern Province Health Ministry said yesterday. A total of 146 rehabilitated former LTTE members have undergone the test conducted by the provincial health authorities. So far none of the medical tests conducted detected […]

(The agreement being signed between the Federal Councillor Simonetta Sommaruga, and the interior minister of the Asian country Seneviratne Bandara Nawinne, Photo:lematin.ch) BERNE / COLOMBO – Ensuring the repatriation of people who can no longer stay in Switzerland in respect of human rights. This is what provides the immigration agreement signed today between the Federal […]

Issuing a a special statement All Ceylon Hindu Congress (ACHC) says that it considers it as an act of sin to insult the Chief Minister as a racist. The full text of the statement followed: ‘No communal hatred propaganda’ issued by ACHC: “Citing the speech made by. Justice C.V. Wigneswaran at ‘Rise Thamil’ meeting on […]

( Plucking tea leaves is mainly done by women workers manually in Sri Lanka ©s.deshapriya) Upcountry plantation workers are up in arms for the past one week demanding a thousand rupee increase to their basic salary. In the past one week unlike in the previous agitations staged by the Upcountry plantation workers, almost all the […]