Image: Fr Jeyabalan Croos has worked to make the conditions of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka known to the outside world. He has not lowered his guard and still claims “the right to freedom” of his people. © s.deshpriya. Pierre Cochez, Jaffna. Fr Jeyabalan Croos is undoubtedly a fighter. The events that he has faced […]

Image: Vigil held  (2008) in the commemoration of for killed journalists in Sri Lanka. President Maithripala Sirisena said today he was not prepared to make any war hero a suspect in the charges leveled against the armed forces and the government on the alleged violations of human rights during the war against terrorism. However, he […]

The Information Department of Sri Lanka has obtained a draft  act in order to establish an independent Media Council as explained in its call for public views for establishing such a mechanism.  The draft act has been named as “Independent Council for News Media Standards Act” . The draft  has been prepared by Wijayananda Jayaweera, […]

Image: Sandya Eknelygoda joins 12 other women from across the world in Washington, D.C. to receive the U.S. Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage award for 2017. The 13 honorees were chosen for their advocacy on issues as diverse as combatting early child marriage, gender-based violence, human smuggling. Each year, the U.S. Department of […]

Image: Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera –  ©Upul Abayasekara/FT. “The Prime Minister has been consulting different experts. They have given us the contours of  Truth seeking mechanism, and one of our priorities will be to get Cabinet approval for the Truth Seeking Commission within the next few months,” says Minister Samaraweera. He was fielding questions from […]

Image: Palais Wilson, OHCHR office in Geneva. ©s.deshapriya. Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) during  the coming two years will send six missions to Colombo of 14 days each of OHCHR Geneva-based staff with expertise in various thematic areas, including transitional justice and rule of law issues, in order to support the […]

Attending the 34th session of the UNHRC, which was concluded on last Friday the 24th March, was  a great excitement because of the participation of so many local and diaspora Sri Lankans, says Dr. Nimalka Fernando.  Fernando has been a regular visitor to to Geneva in order to attend the HRC sessions almost a decade. […]

Image: Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Some 50 years ago, there were no schools of journalism. One learned  the trade in the newsroom, in the print shops, in the local cafe and in Friday-night hangouts. The entire newspaper was a factory where journalists were made and the news was printed without quibbles. We journalists always hung together, […]

When asked by journalists if he considered the U.S. President a model,  Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has said that  “Yes, I am looking at him and studying him.” Ex-Defence Secretary also hints at an entry into politics. Denying the corruption and war-crime allegations against him, Sri Lanka’s former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday hinted at a […]

EIB delegation to make historic visit to Sri Lanka to explore new opportunities for future investment A high-level delegation from the European Investment Bank, the world’s largest international public bank, will make a three day official visit to Sri Lanka later this week at the start of a South Asia regional tour. Andrew McDowell, newly […]

Image: Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Harasha de Silva speaking at UNHRC 34. Sri Lanka Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Harasha de Silva has told state controlled Sunday Observer that UNHRC 30/1 resolution does not call for a hybrid court and the word participation has multiple definitions! This what he has told the Sunday Observer: “I think […]

18 March: A Le Pen campaign rally in Metz, France. Photo by Elyxandro Cegarra/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.18 March: A Le Pen campaign rally in Metz, France. Photo: Getty Images. Matthew Goodwin. A victory for Marine Le Pen, coming after Brexit, would underscore that Europeans have moved from instinctive scepticism about the EU to active rebellion. It […]

TNA while welcoming the adoption of UNHRC resolution 34/L 1 which reaffirms the full implementation of resolution 30/1 of 2015, promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka, says that  as the elected representatives of the Tamil speaking people, it reiterates its commitment to closely engage with and monitor the implementation of the UN […]

Image: Airman of Sri lanka Air Force  filming Keppapilavu civilian protest requesting hand over their land occupied by Military, Feb 217. Photo @shalin. In the wake of Sri Lanka government cosponsoring HRC 34 resolution which calls for full implementation of 2015 human rights council resolution on ‘Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka’ […]

Image: Sirisena with former UN SG (file photo) Introducing the resolution on Sri Lanka at the Human Rights Council 34th session on 23rd March US representative head of delegation and Director of the Office of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs William J. Mozdzierz said that  Sri Lanka’s co-sponsorship of this resolution is a testament to […]

According to the UN, as many as 40,000 Tamil civilians may have died in the last few months of the fighting [AP: File]According to the UN, as many as 40,000 Tamil civilians may have died in the last few months of the fighting [AP: File] UN rights chief suggests Colombo’s persistent failure to investigate atrocities […]

Image: Nimalka Fernando speaking at a side event during the HRC 34. (c)s.deshapriya. By Nimalka FERNANDO. Thank you Mr. President, I speak as a survivor of the former authoritarian regime. The present democratic space for transitional justice was made possible, because civil society actors and human rights defenders worked hard risking their lives together with […]

Image: William J. Mozdzierz  speaking at HRC 34. Statement of the United States of America as delivered by William J. Mozdzierz at the in  interactive Dialogue on the High Commissioner’s Presentation of Sri Lanka Report. Thank you, Mr. High Commissioner, for your comprehensive report. The United States also appreciates the Government of Sri Lanka’s cooperation […]

Image: A Muslim woman walks past a cooking fire along a road during Eid al-Fitr in Colombo, Sri Lanka, August 8, 2013.© 2013 Reuters/HRW. Women’s Action Network (WAN*) is appalled and deeply disappointed by recent statements by Rizwe Mufthi, President of the All Ceylon Jamiyathul Ulama (ACJU) in a recent interview, that the Muslim Marriage […]

Image: A group of Sri Lankan HRDs attending HRC 34 ©s.deshapriya. The Council then held an interactive dialogue on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, presented his report pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 30/1 on Sri Lanka, saying there were […]

Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu. Oral Statement delivered by Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu  at the Interactive Dialogue with High Commissioner on Report on Sri Lanka. I appear before you as a human rights defender who was labeled a traitor and terrorist because of a staunch belief in a citizen’s responsibility to protect and strengthen human rights, justice and […]

Speaking at the 34th Session of the UN Human Rights Council following the presentation of the Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Sri Lanka Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Harsha De Silva said  that no country’s human rights record is perfect. It is  always  work-in-progress.  The  […]

Rita Izsák-Ndiaye at the side event (c)s.deshapriya. Ms. Rita Izsák-Ndiaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues speaking at a side event on 17th March 2017  reiterated that the story of Sri Lanka is not just the story of Sinhalese or Tamils, but of all the religious and ethnic groups including Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Telugus, […]

The team: Speakers and few others posed for a phtograph after the side event. (c) s.deshapriya. On Friday 17th March at the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR), jointly with  Franciscans International and Minority Rights Group International (MRG), held a side event […]

M.A. Sumanthiran is a Sri Lankan lawyer, parliamentarian and member of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), a Tamil political party. The Diplomat‘s Taylor Dibbert spoke with Sumanthiran about Sri Lankan politics, Tamil affairs, and India-Sri Lanka ties. By Taylor Dibbert. The Diplomat: Sustained militarization and land issues pose significant challenges for civilians residing in […]

Colombo (AFP) – Former Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapakse’s brother Gotabhaya directed a top-secret death squad which targeted journalists and dissidents, a court was told Monday. Criminal Investigations Department (CID) told the Mount Lavinia magistrate’s court that Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who was Sri Lanka’s defence secretary during his brother’s rule, directed a secret unit which is […]

Image: Members of a Sri Lankan civil society organisation participate in a candlelight in memory of the slain editor of the Sunday Leader newspaper Lasantha Wickrematunga, in Colombo on January 15, 2009. The editor of Sri Lanka’s Sunday Leader newspaper, Lasantha Wickrematunga, was gunned down just outside the capital on January 8, 2009. AFP PHOTO/Lakruwan […]

Image: Disappeared day  30.08.2016 in Colombo (c) s.deshapriya. By Shiran Illanperuma.  Parliament last year approved the establishment of a Permanent Office for Missing Persons (OMP), in an attempt to address the country’s ugly legacy of enforced disappearances that dates back to the ’70s, with the repression of the first JVP uprising. But for women like […]

Resolution 34/1 on Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka has been submitted to the Human Rights Council and now available at HRC Extra net. Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel, Japan, Montenegro, Norway, Sri Lanka, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America has […]

The choice should not be difficult, looked at superficially But our experience shows that the Choice is not that easy It is quite difficult, why is it not that easy? It is because Human Society is so complex, so diverse as to necessitate that Governance is structured so as to meet such complexity and diversity. […]