Accountability

Sri Lanka’s unilateral withdrawal from Resolution 30/1 is a clear rejection of human rights and accountability and displays total disregard for UN Member States Sri Lanka is unwilling & unable to hold state officials accountable for heinous violations of int’l human rights & humanitarian laws. Reason-it is the state itself that committed these heinous crimes”— […]

43RD SESSION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL – HIGH LEVEL SEGMENT STATEMENT BY HON. DINESH GUNAWARDENA, MINISTER OF FOREIGN RELATIONS OF SRI LANKA 26 FEBRUARY 2020 Media Releases , Minister’s Statements | Wed, 26 Feb 2020   43rd Session of the Human Rights Council – High Level Segment  Statement by Hon. Dinesh Gunawardena, Minister of Foreign Relations of Sri […]

Image: Sri Lanka FM Dinesh Gunawardana’s speech at HRC is based on statement made by him on 20 Feb 2020. In May 2009, following the end of the 30 year-long internal armed conflict with the defeat of the LTTE, a terrorist organization proscribed by 32 countries, the government led by the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa, […]

For the third successive year, Families of the Disappeared (FoD) celebrated the “Missing Lovers Day” On 14th February in Colombo at the Vihara Maha Devi Park. Nearly 1000 attended from 9 districts in South and Batticoloa from East. They gathered at the park around noon and started the campaign meeting at 130 pm. President of the […]

The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and its Executive Director, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu filed a Fundamental Rights application challenging some powers granted to the Commission of Inquiry to Investigate Allegations of Political Victimization During the Period Commencing 08th January 2015 and Ending 16th November 2019 (The CoI), appointed by Gazette (Extraordinary) No. 2157/44 of 9th January 2020. […]

Cartoon by Namal Amarasinghe. In a joint letter to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the President of Sri Lanka, Julie Verhaar Acting Secretary General, Amnesty International in a joint letter with RSF and CPJ, says that  they are  concerned by reports that journalists and other media workers in Sri Lanka are being subject to harassment, intimidation and surveillance […]

Image: At the Independence day ceremony former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda was sitting close to AG Livera. For the fourth time, Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar today ordered to re-issue summons on former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda in connection with the indictments filed over the abduction of eleven persons in 2008 and 2009. Wasantha Karannagoda is […]

Ahisma Wickrematunge has filed a complaint against Senior Superintendent of Police W.Thilakaratna for attempting to aid Udayanga Weerathunga to escape arrest, at the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption (CIABOC). The complaint has been filed on 21 Feb 2020. In her complaint, she says that 0n 07 February 2018 acting under case number […]

The Defence Ministry has established a Task Force (TF) to monitor the progress to speed up the on-going investigation by the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) into last year’s Easter Sunday serial terrorist attacks in the country, which had claimed more than 250 lives, reports defence.lk. The six-member TF, which includes top officials from various intelligence […]

Image: On 19th at a public meeting in Galaha, President Rakapaksa has said that ” Do not consider the independence given to judiciary as our weakness.” (Lankanesweb) When Sri Lanka’s President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa reportedly articulates that, ‘unnecessary judicial interventions are harmful to democracy’ (The Island, February 21st, 2020), one is intrigued. Pray, what would a […]

Image: Kapila Chandrasena & Nishantha Wickramasinghe. The Board of Inquiry on Sri Lankan Airlines. The Board of Inquiry was appointed on 16th February 2015 . Its members were J.C.Weliamina, Chair Person (President’s Counsel and social activist), U.H. Palihakkara (Chartered Accountant, former Chairman of Finance Commission), BAW Aberywardana (f Accountant, an expert in procurement and public […]

Image: how countries vote on Sri Lanka resolution in 2012. Sri Lanka government has decided to inform UNHRC 43 session it’s commitment to achieve sustainable peace through an inclusive, domestically designed and executed reconciliation and accountability process, including through the appropriate adaptation of existing mechanisms, in line with the Government’s policy framework. This would comprise […]

Image: The best chance of a political settlement is while Tamil leader R. Sampanthan is alive and active. He is the only one with the moral authority to persuade the Tamils and the international community. After him, no one will have that stature. The ‘diplomatic drone strike’, the dramatic US strictures against the Army Commander, […]

Collective travel ban imposed on the Army Commander and his family by the USA. The United States of America has prohibited the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva or members of his family from entering that country. Even though we are now in the 21st Century, even members of his family […]

Image from berkeleyhighjacket.com. Issuing a statement National Peace Council of Sri Lanka says that “the appropriate path for Sri Lanka to take at the present time would be that of restorative justice where the state would acknowledge the human rights violations and crimes of the past that occurred on all sides and focus its priority […]

Summary: Pursuant to resolution 40/1 of the Human Rights Council, the present update assesses the progress made in implementing Human Rights Council resolution 30/1 on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka, particularly during 2019. While some progress has been made since 2015 in promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in line with […]

Just two days after the meeting with  Rep. Ami Bera assured that the United States in Colombo, TNA has met with visiting United Kingdom Parliament Member, the Rt. Hon the Lord Malcolm Bruce PC and emphasised that need for finding a political solution to the ethnic conflict of the country. In response Lord Malcolm Bruce  […]

Colombo, February 18 (newsin.asia): On the grounds that the Sri Lankan government’s 2015 decision to co-sponsor the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution No: 30/1 on it was gravely flawed, the incumbent Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime has decided to withdraw the co-sponsorship. A top official in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office told newsin.asia that the decision to […]

Say, who will be the happiest over the US ‘travel ban’ on army chief, Lt-Gen Shavendra Silva – and more so, when it comes to the timing of the American announcement? Not, not even the Sri Lankan Tamil community or the TNA. It’s not even the SLT Diaspora, which has persisted with their anti-Rajapaksa since […]

Image:A Sri Lankan policeman keeps watch at a demonstration in the capital, Colombo, on August 14, 2014.   © 2014 Getty Images  C/O HRW. Reprimanding several CID officials, Colombo Fort Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake today repeatedly emphasized that the CID’s behavior in arresting and producing suspect Udayanga Weeratunga over the alleged MIG 27 deal was unusual and […]

In a meeting with the Tamil National Alliance today in Colombo, Rep. Ami Bera assured that the United States will do all things possible to ensure that the Government of Sri Lanka delivers on its commitments to the International Community. Rep. Ami Bera  is a Member of Congress and Chairman, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on […]

Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena today (16 February 2020) formally conveyed to the US Ambassador Alaina Teplitz Sri Lanka’s strong objections on the imposition of travel restrictions by the Government of the United States of America on Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva, Commander of the Army and Actg. Chief of Defence Staff, as well as his […]

Image: The 19th Amendment had nothing to do with the removal of an IGP. The escalating clash of words (hopefully, not arms) between the Attorney General (AG) and the acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) over the failure to ‘immediately’ file charges against an interdicted High Court judge on the basis of allegedly attempting to […]

United States Ambassador Allaina B. Teplitz has been summoned to the Foreign Relations Ministry today to be told of the government’s displeasure over the travel ban on Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Shavendra de Silva, considered a ‘war hero’ in Sri Lanka, and his family. Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, who will meet her at noon today, […]

Image: During the final stages of Sri Lanka’s civil war, Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva, center, commanded an army division the United Nations accuses of rights violations.Credit…Ishara S. Kodikara/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images. By Maria Abi-Habib and Dharisha Bastians/Feb. 15, 2020. NEW DELHI — The United States has imposed an entry bar on Sri Lanka’s army chief, Lt. Gen. […]

SRI LANKA TAKES STRONG OBJECTION TO THE IMPOSITION OF TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS ON LT. GEN. SILVA AND HIS IMMEDIATE FAMILY BY THE US Media Releases | Fri, 14 Feb 2020 It was announced a short while ago that the US Department of State has designated Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, current Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and Acting […]

Public Designation, Due to Gross Violations of Human Rights, of Shavendra Silva of Sri Lanka Under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act. PRESS STATEMENT by MICHAEL R. POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE The Department of State has designated Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, current Commander of the Sri Lanka Army […]

Issuing a statement after the meeting with visiting EU delegation. the TNA says that “The EU delegation assured that their concerns on the justice for missing persons and ascertain the truth will be reflected soon in their decisions.” Full statement fellows: The European Union delegation led by Ms. Paola Pampaloni Director, Deputy Managing Director, Asia […]

Image: A father has written his disappeared son’s name on a remembrance wall, Malidu Liyanage David and the day of the disappearance.  © sunanda deshapriya The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) has commenced issuing Interim Reports to families of the missing and disappeared in order to obtain a Certificate of Absence (CoA), Saliya Pieris P.C. […]

An insightful writer I follow had written that the corruption revealed in the Airbus case, technically described as a deferred prosecution agreement, is intrinsic to capitalism or to the market system. The implication is that it may not be intrinsic to not-capitalism, usually described as socialism. But all one has to do is to read […]