Up-country Tamil Plantation Community (Estate sector) FACTS Estate sector workers are predominately Tamil, of Indian origin and Sri Lankan citizens. They have been working in Tea plantations for 150 years now. They are among the most disadvantaged and disempowered groups, with average life expectancy and literacy below the national average, and an infant mortality […]

M.A. Sumanthiran. Thank you, Sir. Prior to that brief interruption, I was saying that this is the first time, even though it is only at a proposal stage, a party that is largely representative of the Tamil people of this country is agreeing with. I am saying because in the position paper that we have […]

  Militarisation of the North in Sri Lanka FACTS Government has not implemented any promised security sector reforms in order to pave the way for de-militarisation of the former war zone. Military presence in the Northern Province is hugely disproportionate. Large areas of land are being occupied for these camps. Military is still engaged in […]

Image:Tamil National Alliance’s M A Sumanthiran . Colombo, Oct 30 Tamil political representatives’ acceptance of proposals in the interim report of the Constitutional Assembly represents a “historic” moment for Sri Lanka, a senior TNA legislator told parliament here today. The Tamil National Alliance’s M A Sumanthiran was addressing the House when it met as the […]

    Freedom of Expression. FACTS. Only a few investigations in to killings, abductions and assaults of journalists during the decade ending in 2015 have been initiated. No indictments served on any suspect so far. No investigation has been initiated on killings, abductions and assaults of Tamil journalists and media workers. No investigation has been […]

‘On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century’ by Timothy Snyder, the Levin Professor of History at Yale University, is a timely read to understand, in particular, the rise in popularity of Viyathmaga as a political idea, independent of however we appreciate its chief proponent and custodian, Gotabaya Rajapaksa. A brief but engaging read published earlier this […]

Photo by Christian Frei Switzerland via Flickr CC. TIM ELFRINK | OCTOBER 27, 2017. Donald Trump’s bold promises earlier this week to finally blow the lid off the JFK assassination mystery by declassifying reams of secret documents turned out to be a gigantic tease. The National Archives ended up making public only a fraction of the JFK […]

Image: Vanni no fire zone at the end of  the war. On Monday 23rd October, the UN Special Rapporteur on Transitional Justice, Pablo de Greiff, issued his concluding observations and recommendations following a two-week official visit to Sri Lanka – in essence, a review of the government of Sri Lanka’s progress in addressing the country’s legacy of […]

(28  October 2017/LfD)It was reported that the Bar Council of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, at a special meeting, held on 23rd October 2017 resolved to express its grave concern about the proposed amendments to Articles 1 and 2 of the present Constitution. The Statement of the Bar Council also alleges that proposed amendments […]

Image:The UN Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred de Zayas. GENEVA (25 October 2017) – The UN Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred de Zayas, is calling on Spanish authorities to enter into negotiations in good faith with leaders in Catalonia following […]

(Roar) Sri Lanka is home to 21 million people, 19 ethnicities, and four officially recognized religions. For the longest time, however, there were no official records of most of the island’s ethno-religious minorities. The ones we know about are the Sinhalese, Tamils, and Moors, given that they are taught in school. Everyone else—who make up two percent […]

Image: The absence of a policy and strategy of political communication aimed at sustaining public knowledge, engagement, and support for reform has led to the danger of  anti reform politics staging  a come back. It is silly in the extreme to think that having the words ‘unitary state’ in a piece of paper called the constitution magically […]

Writing in The Island (27 Oct 2017) , Dayan Jayatilleka, former Sri Lanka ambassadress to Geneva and a ardent supporter of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa argues that former president Chandrika Kumaratunga is the person behind  “toxic, corrosive and highly inflammable” proposed  non- unitary new constitution draft” . He writes thus: [Today] We have the Sirimavo Bandaranaike-Felix Dias Bandaranaike-Colvin […]

(AHRC) Five senior students of the Deniyaya Central College in Matara District, were tortured by the Principal of the school in his office on 17 October 2017. On 16 October, students started getting out of the school bus. At a stop near the school, one unknown student in the bus murmured the word ‘Pina’. Then […]

By Basil Fernando This article is a response to an article titled “International Convention on Enforced Disappearances violates the Constitution” published in a reputed newspaper The Island of 22nd October 2017, written by Neville Ladduwahetty. The crux of the argument in that article is that the definition of enforced disappearances as contained in the International Convention on […]

GENEVA / COLOMBO (23 October 2017) – The Government of Sri Lanka has not made sufficient progress in fulfilling its commitments on transitional justice and related reform processes, a UN human rights expert has concluded after an official visit to the country. Pablo de Greiff, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and […]

Image:Vice President Leni Robredo. The  administration’s new source of financing for its ambitious infrastructure projects, China, could lead the Philippines into a “debt trap” as it did other countries that had borrowed heavily from the Asian giant, according to Vice President Leni Robredo. Robredo cited the project to build a new Bicol Express, a rail […]

Image: Mothers of the disappeared  want justice! Vavuniya July 2017. ©s.deshapriya. Yolanda Foster shares the experiences of women change-makers and the challenges they face as they continue to seek truth, justice and reparations for themselves and for their families in Sri Lanka. This week Pablo de Grieff, the Special Rapporteur on Truth, Justice, Reparations and Guarantees of […]

Public protests have been continuing in the North against a decision by the Attorney General’s department to transfer three Prevention of Terrorism (PTA) cases from Vavuniya High Court to Anuradhapura. Students at the University of Jaffna have launched a university-wide boycott of classes until further notice as student leaders are scheduled to discuss future course […]

Image: Sampanthan meets  Pablo DE GREIFF  in Colombo. ( TNA photo) A meeting was held today between the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence Mr. Pablo DE GREIFF and the Leader of the Opposition and the Tamil National Alliance Hon. Sampanthan in Colombo. Mr. Sampanthan highlighted the […]

(AHRC) 14-year-old Kahingala Waduge Kanidu Minsara Silva, who was illegally arrested, detained and tortured by the Moratuwa Police Station on 10 October 2017. Minsara is a student at Uyana Kanishta Vidyalaya. On October 8, he had a non-violent dispute with a senior student, after which, Minsara was called to the police station and tortured. After […]

Image: The black flag protest was held on 14th Oct calling for the release of Tamil political prisoners. ( Tamil Diplomat) (PMD 19 Oct)A group of people, including a member of Northern Provincial Council K. Sivajilingam who recently protested in Jaffna hoisting black flags, met with President Maithripala Sirisena at the Presidential Secretariat, yesterday (19th […]

(AHRC) The table given below sets down 09 extrajudicial killings, 01 attempted killing – 09 of which are at the hands of the police at various police stations and the other, in a prison. These 10 incidents are the ones reported to the Asian Human Rights Commission based in Hong Kong during this year. However, […]

Image:Police tackle Tamil demonstrators showing black flags to Sirisena in Jaffna, Photo: Tamil Guardian. P K Balachandran. Elections to the Sri Lankan local bodies and Provincial Councils are due in 2018. But President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe heading the Yahapalanaya or Good Governance regime in Colombo, not prepared for it. The lack […]

Image: Activists protest in front of the prison calling for justice for the massacre. (SLB photo) By S.S. Selvanayagam. The Attorney General yesterday assured that the investigation into the alleged killing of 27 inmates of the Welikada Prison in December 2012 would be conducted in a transparent manner, following which a progress report will be […]

Image: Members of the Youth Wing of the Indonesian Communist Party (Pemuda Rakjat) are watched by soldiers as they are taken to prison in Jakarta following a crackdown on communists after an abortive coup against President Sukarno’s government earlier in the month AP. Declassified files have revealed new details of US government knowledge and support of an […]

COLOMBO, 17 October 2017 – Cricketing legends Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara spoke to more than 100 school children about the need to end violence against women and girls at the Ministry of Education. The Minister of Education, the Hon. Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, the European Union Ambassador, H.E. Tung-Lai Margue, and Gender Specialist, Mrs. Sriyani Perera, joined Mahela and […]

In a way of adjournment motion which will be presented tomorrow in Parliament, TNA leader R. Sampanthan  has responded to the state minister of defense Ruwan  Wijewardena, who has reiterated their position  that there are political prisoners in Sri Lanka at present and Tamil detainees  held under the PTA will not be released.  In his adjournment motion […]

Image: Campaign for the release of political prisoners are gathering momentum. ©s .deshapriya. Defence State Minister Ruwan Wijewardene has reiterated that the remanded LTTE suspects, who had allegedly committed serious crimes,will not be freed without a judicial process despite the hartal campaigns in the North, according to state controlled Daily News. Wijewardene, a close relative of […]

By Chandani Kirinde. The deployment of a staggering number of 798 armed STF personnel to conduct a search of two wards of the Welikada Prisons in November 2012, in violation of all laid down procedure to be followed when Prison premises are searched, led to the riot there which resulted in the death of 27 […]