HRW

Image: Why not a single investigation on Tamil journalists killed  launched, ask the leaders of Jaffna Press Club. (c) s.deshapriya. (Geneva, September 14, 2017) – United Nations member countries at the Human Rights Council in Geneva should press Sri Lanka to promptly meet the targets of the council’s October 2015 resolution for transitional justice, Human Rights […]

Image: The screen shot of voting at UNHRC on Sri Lanka resolution, 2012. To Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the UN Human Rights Council. Excellency, We write to seek your support in ensuring that the upcoming consideration of Sri Lanka’s progress toward implementing its commitments under United Nations Human Rights Council resolution […]

Commit to Protect Students, Teachers, Schools, and Universities During War. (Paris) The French and Canadian governments should be congratulated for becoming the latest countries to endorse the international political commitment known as the Safe Schools Declaration, said the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA). The endorsement came during the international conference on the […]

“Human Rights Watch Asia Head is violating my human rights,” “He (Brad Adams of HRW ) must make sure that he ensures the human rights of everybody. If he does not know how to respect the human rights of the Army Commander who is a Field Marshal and also a Parliamentarian as decided by the […]

The causeway that links northern Sri Lanka’s mainland to Mannar Island is lined with vast military barracks. They have a nicely settled air about them, with painted flowerpots out front and T-shirts drying on clotheslines.   Between the army camps are red-roofed cottages peeping through coconut groves and forests. There are no paved walkways—just dust, […]

( Sarath Fonseka in the parliament; original photo by FCA) Fonseka’s Appointment to Parliament Contradicts Accountability Pledge. (New York) – The Sri Lankan government’s appointment to parliament of the former army chief whose forces were implicated in widespread abuses contradicts pledges to investigate alleged war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today. On February 9, 2016, […]

(Colombo) – Sri Lanka’s police forces regularly torture and ill-treat criminal suspects in custody, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The authorities should create an independent oversight authority and adopt concrete steps to end police abuse that has had such corrosive effects across Sri Lankan society. “The Sri Lankan police treat […]

The High Commissioner’s report marks a significant step towards justice and accountability for the victims of international crimes and the family members of Sri Lanka’s dead and disappeared.  The international investigative team has extensively documented alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, including torture, executions and enforced disappearances. Victims of Sri Lanka’s war have campaigned […]

[The Free Media Movement of Sri Lanka presents its proposals for Media Reform to the President] HRW says that ‘we welcome some initiatives your government has already undertaken, such as case-by-case reviews of those detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, the lifting of restrictions on media reporting, the end of Internet censorship, and the […]

[ Sinhala nationalist groups protest in front of UNHRC ] By Easwaran Rutnam- The swearing in of a new Government has not released the pressure on Sri Lanka for a UN led investigation over the war, with human rights groups insisting that it is the only way forward. The Government had last week dispatched Jayantha […]

Assaults on Activists, Resistance to International Investigation in 2014 /World Report 2015: Sri Lanka . (New York) – The Sri Lankan government stepped up pressure in 2014 on human rights activists and journalists, particularly those urging justice for past war crimes, Human Rights Watch said in its World Report 2015 released today. A new government, […]

”Sri Lankan authorities need to do more than arrest those carrying out the anti-Muslim violence. They need to investigate and identify any instigators. That means taking a hard look at the role and relationship between extremist Buddhist groups like the BBS and the Sri Lankan security forces. ”– Brad Adams, Asia director (New York) – […]

Human Rights Watch on Loss of Leading Voice for Rights in Sri Lanka’s Deadly Conflict Sunila Abeysekera;© 2006 Tim Hetherington for Human Rights Watch (New York) – Human Rights Watch mourns the death of Sunila Abeysekera, a prominent and highly respected Sri Lankan activist who spent more than two decades documenting human rights violations in […]

“It’s outrageous for a government that is hosting the UN human rights chief to have their security forces harass the people who met with her. The Sri Lankan government should announce that ‘visits’ or other forms of harassment of those who spoke to the high commissioner will be punished. And the government should make sure […]

member of the French aid group Action Contre La Faim places a wreath in front of the photographs of his 17 slain colleagues at their memorial in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka on August 11, 2006. © 2006 Reuters  The Rajapaksa government is good at throwing bones to the international community, but not at taking serious measures […]

The placard reads “500 days since Prageeth’s disappearance.” © 2011 Reuters Solving the disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda and that of thousands of other Sri Lankans over past decades should be a top priority of the Sri Lankan government and its investigative agencies. After years of no progress in Ekneligoda’s case, any clues about his fate […]

Accountability Failures, Ongoing Abuses Make for an Unworthy Host”The Commonwealth will rightly face international ridicule if it goes ahead with its summit in Sri Lanka. The CMAG meeting should send a message to the Sri Lankan government that the scale and severity of its abuses violate the Commonwealth’s core values and will not be rewarded.” […]

Karuna Amman on the left with LTTE Fighters ”Karuna’s call for war crimes investigations should not allow him to airbrush out his own role in atrocities. His LTTE forces were implicated in some of Sri Lanka’s most horrific abuses, so the government’s long-stalled war crimes investigations might as well begin with him.” – Brad Adams, […]

Julie de Rivero: Govt action plan  ignires 50 percent of the recommendations made by the LLRC. During the UPR process in November 2012, Sri Lanka rejected 100 recommendations – nearly half of those proposed by United Nations member states, including many related to accountability and justice issues.  Among the rejected recommendations was one to implement […]

Ambassador, Prasad Kariyawasam: We cannot fight with the most powerful country in the world and their NGOs   (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s security forces have used rape to torture and extract confessions from suspected Tamil separatists almost four years after the country’s civil war ended, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Tuesday. […]

“The Sri Lankan government’s blatant disregard for the Commonwealth’s principles of human rights and democratic reform makes it a poor host for this important event. Unless the government urgently addresses abuses and ends impunity, the international recognition it will gain by hosting the Commonwealth summit while repressing its key values will be an embarrassment to […]

(Section on Sri Lanka in HRE 2013 world Report) The Sri Lankan government in 2012 continued its assault on democratic space and failed to take any meaningful steps towards providing accountability for war crimes committed by either side during the internal armed conflict that ended in 2009. The government targeted civil society through threats, surveillance, […]

By ANI The Sri Lankan government continued its assault on civil society and failed to take meaningful steps towards accountability for war crimes during the country’s armed conflict that ended in 2009, Human Rights Watch said in its World Report 2013 released today.In its 665-page report, Human Rights Watch assessed progress on human rights during […]