Geneva resolution

In a discussion with Mr Fergus Auld, Head of South Asia Department , UK and India Coordinator TNA has insisted that  the process outlined by the United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution in Geneva should be kept alive, and tall  necessary action  should be taken to ensure its implementation within a given time frame. Full statement issued […]

(01 July 2918/ST)The newly gazetted Office for Reparations Bill will provide for “individual reparations” as well as “collective reparations”, which will include monetary payment or material benefits to aggrieved persons, while recognising means of remembrance of deceased persons, including memorials. The Bill to replace the Rehabilitation of Persons, Properties & Industries Authority Act 1987 has […]

 Statement on United States Relations with Sri Lanka. June 21, 2018:  Secretary Pompeo has announced that the United States  withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council effective June 19, 2018.  Ambassador Keshap met with senior Sri Lankan officials to convey the assurance of the United States Government that we will remain fully engaged with […]

(Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera speaking at yesterday’s press conference. Picture by Wimal Karunathilake) Talks progressing on type of mechanism; Of the type all stakeholders can agree;Truth Seeking Process first. Consultations are taking place to determine the type of Mechanism for Accountability, the architecture of which can be finalised by the end of the year, […]

( Sri Lanka Delegation to the HRC 32) A number of countries voiced their support for the High Commissioner’s oral update today and re-asserted their commitment to ensuring full implementation of Resolution 30/1. While welcoming the positive steps taken by the Sri Lankan government, several countries expressed concern with ongoing human rights violations and the […]

Speech by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera at the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs (NUPI), Oslo, 21 June 2016. Ladies and Gentlemen, in fact all of you are aware, that on the 08th of January last year in a historic election, in fact what the world calls the rainbow election of 2015, the people of Sri […]

( War zone, May 2009, Sri Lanka) Minister of Regional Development, Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka  has said that he  welcomes for international involvement on war crimes allegations during the final stages of the conflict, provided they come in on an advisory level. Fonseka speaking to Nation has said that  having international advisers as supervisors would […]

Joint Statement From the U.S. Department of State and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka on the Inaugural U.S. – Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue. Sharing a commitment to democracy, rule of law, and shared prosperity, the United States and Sri Lanka convened the inaugural Partnership Dialogue on February 26, 2016 in Washington, DC. […]

by Zachary Edward Walko The South Asian Centre for Legal Studies (SACLS) held a panel discussion to present their recommendations for a roadmap for implementation of HRC Resolution 30/1, adopted on October 1, 2015. Panelists included Attorney-at-Law A.M. Faaiz, Bhavani Fonseka Senior Researcher and attorney from the Centre for Policy Alternatives and TNA Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran. SACLS’s […]

( U.N. resolution calls for all alleged war crimes to be investigated and tried in special courts by international judges) By Idrees Ali. WASHINGTON –  Sri Lanka’s foreign minister said on Thursday he is willing to consider international participation in investigating possible war crimes during the 26-year Tamil insurgency. “I think it is only fair […]

by Mahinda Rajapaksa. The President and Prime Minister have given the UN Human Rights Commissioner an assurance that last year’s UN Human Rights Council resolution against Sri Lanka will be implemented. This UNHRC resolution was accepted and co-sponsored by the Sri Lankan government and passed by the UNHRC without a vote. The UNP led government […]

[Dr. Pakiasothy Saravanamuthu (Secretary) & Manouri Muttetuwegama (Chairperson) ] UN Special Rapporteur coming here to help in the consultation process. Two-phase action plan shown to Western countries and India. An eleven-member Consultation Task Force will enforce provisions of the US-backed resolution which was jointly sponsored by Sri Lanka at the Human Rights Council in Geneva […]

The president of Sri Lanka has said foreign judges and prosecutors should not be involved in an investigation into allegations of war crimes. In a BBC interview, President Maithripala Sirisena said the country did not need to “import” specialists. Both the army and the Tamil Tiger rebels are accused of atrocities in the civil war […]

The Sri Lankan government will next week begin consultations on the design of domestic mechanism that will look into the allegations of human rights violations, said Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera on Thursday. Mr. Samaraweera, who had earlier met his Norwegian counterpart Børge Brende, told reporters that the mechanism “through which we are trying to address […]

By  T. Ramakrishnan. The Sri Lankan government would not act “in haste” on the issue of setting up a special court on allegations of violations of human rights in the last stages of the civil war, President Maithiripala Sirisena said on Sunday. Answering questions on the status of implementation of a resolution adopted by the […]

by Easwaran Rutnam. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has urged the government to review all cases of detainees held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) Moves to repeal draconian anti-terrorism laws are gathering pace as Sri Lanka prepares to provide an update to the UN Human Rights Council on the […]

By Australian Advocacy for Good Governance in Sri Lanka. A hard-hitting UN Human Rights Council report in September this year contained details of numerous allegations of what it said could amount to war crimes committed during the last phase of Sri Lanka’s civil war that ended in May 2009. Presenting the report to the Council, […]

AFP/ Former president Chandrika Kumaratunga, who heads the office of national unity and reconciliation, said her work cannot be done without justice for victims of the 37-year conflict that ended in May 2009. “We have ended the war nearly seven years ago, but we have not won the peace,” Kumaratunga told reporters. “No reconciliation is […]

( President Maithripala Sirisena and Justice C.G. Weeramantry lighting the traditional oil lamp at the felicitation ceremony) President Maithripala Sirisena has said that with judges of the calibre of one of the world’s most eminent jurists, C.G. Weeramantry, among us, he saw no reason for Sri Lanka to import judges — an apparent reference to […]

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) yesterday took a non-committal stand on the issue of foreign judges sitting on war crimes tribunals expected to be set up soon. It stated that these must inspire the confidence of “stakeholders” and be within the country’s Constitution, a position the Government has also taken. A statement issued […]

(Mangala Samaraweera speaking at the APC, round 2) All Party Conference (APC) on the implementation of Geneva resolution has not been able to come to any agreement on core issues, reports published by Colombo media indicates. According to Daily Mirror common grounds has been found for ‘matters such as the implementation of the recommendations by […]

(A thorough implementation of the UNHRC resolution will not only take us forward in the journey towards a just peace but also reinvigorate our judicial and law enforcement institutions) By Kopalasingam Sritharan and Rajan Hoole, UTHR (Jaffna). The government’s strategy of marketing the UNHRC resolution to the Sinhalese as a ‘victory’ by placing a spin […]

A committee has been appointed with the patronage of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to implement the proposals of the Geneva resolution, Minster Mano Ganeshan has said. Minister of National Dialogue Mano Ganeshan told Hiru News  that  this committee was appointed during the meeting that was held at Temple Trees on 09th Nov. The committee includes […]

Photo courtesy New Europe by Niran Anketell The recent Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka is a remarkable document. Crafted in the immediate aftermath of the devastating OISL Report on Sri Lanka whose central recommendation was that a ‘special hybrid court’ be established in Sri Lanka, and despite some hiccups during negotiations, a resolution […]