Human Rights

 The Sri Lankan Special Envoy of the President on Human Rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe, announced on Thursday the Cabinet of Ministers has adopted the National Action Plan for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights. The five-year plan fulfills Sri Lanka’s pledge [BBC report] made in 2008 as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) [official […]

Saman Indrajith UNP MP Karu Jayasuriya yesterday warned, in Parliament, that there was room for a social explosion as the public trust in law and order had eroded due to the heavy politicization of the police service.Addressing Parliament during the debate on establishment of a National Police Academy, Jayasuriya said that if there occurred such […]

URGENT APPEAL – THE OBSERVATORYSri Lanka/October 6, 2011The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation.Brief description of the situation:The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the […]

SRI LANKA: Eighth case of extrajudicial killing of beggars in the Kalaniya Police Division should be investigated October 6, 2011 ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION-URGENT APPEAL PROGRAMME Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-194-20116 October 2011 —————————————————— SRI LANKA: Eighth case of extrajudicial killing of beggars in the Kalaniya Police Division should be investigated ISSUES: Extrajudicial killing; impunity; rule […]

Dianne Silva Sri Lanka, which came under immense pressure over its human rights record at the recently concluded United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions, will send its newly formulated National Action Plan for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights to the UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay. According to the President’s Human Rights […]

A beggar was clubbed to death this morning with a sharp weapon reportedly by an unidentified mob near the seventh mile post in Kelaniya, police said. They said this was the eighth such instance where beggars had been killed in a similar fashion during the past three months.Police spokesman Maxi Proctor said the body with […]

Joseph Stalin Fernando Although the per capita income of the GDP of Sri Lanka is US $ 1400, the income disparity between the higher income earning group and the lower income earning group is very high. The income of the richest 30% has increased rapidly to 65.6% of the GDP whilst the income of the poorest […]

A picture emerges from the WikiLeaks cables of a Sri Lanka where all is not as it seems. Mahinda Rajapaksa, contrary, to his caricature as a Sinhala extremist, emerges as a relative moderate, even in the eyes of an Archbishop. The cables also reveal broad awareness of human rights violations within the government and of […]

Shamindra Ferdinando The Sri Lankan government yesterday (29) alleged that a small but influential section of the Commonwealth was carrying out an anti-Sri Lankan campaign ahead of the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth, Western Australia.President Mahinda Rajapaksa is scheduled to attend CHOGM 2011 in late October 2011. External Affairs Minister Prof. G. […]

Dianne Silva The Sri Lankan government which rejected a move by the Commonwealth Ministerial  Action Group to appoint a Commissioner on Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law said yesterday the push for a “punitive role” by a few commonwealth countries could cause a split in the organisation. Speaking to the diplomatic community yesterday […]

Front Line Defenders – The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights  29 September 2011 Human rights defender Mr Sunanda Deshapriya was the target of a media smear campaign and death threats, following his participation in an event held at the UN headquarters in Geneva on 12 September 2011. State controlled media reportedly published […]

Ranjan KasturiThe Madiwela residence of JVP MP Ajith Kumara, who had joined the JVP dissident group, had been searched by the CID yesterday.  The CID had taken into custody two desktop computers, one laptop and some documents. A source close to Mr. Kumara said that the building was used by the MP as a temporary […]

CAMPBELL CLARK Stephen Harper’s government, which alienated many Tamil-Canadians in the last days of Sri Lanka’s civil war in 2009, is aggressively campaigning to pressure Sri Lanka on human rights and political reconciliation.It’s a dramatic shift in the Conservative approach to Sri Lanka’s fractured politics. For years they vilified the separatist Tamil Tigers as terrorists, […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission is seeking justice over the alleged death after torture by the STF in public of a human rights defender in Puttalam. The AHRC says in a statement that it has received information that human rights defender Perumal Sivakumara (32) of Kalpitiya Road, Norochcholai has died after being tortured in public by […]

 Jonathan MillerA forced removal of failed asylum-seekers to Sri Lanka has been put on hold by a judge after a day of frantic legal appeals. Foreign Affairs correspondent Jonathan Miller reports . Frantic efforts by lawyers in London to prevent an aircraft, chartered by the British government, from forcibly returning failed asylum-seekers to Sri Lanka […]

The Vice President’s Office later refuted reports that Dr Waheed discussed the Sri Lankan human rights situation with Rajapaksa during the meeting, following media reports quoting Sri Lankan officials to the contrary. Haveeru on Tuesday quoted a senior Sri Lankan official as saying that during a meeting between Rajapaksa and the Vice President, Dr Waheed […]

Ian CobainThe government has conceded that it is doing nothing to establish what is happening to scores of Tamils who are being forcibly removed from the UK despite concerns for their safety in Sri Lanka.A flight chartered by the UK Border Agency was due to depart on Wednesday with up to 50 failed asylum applicants […]

”This false reporting has led to a major media campaign against Mr. Sunanda Deshapriya and his close family still residing in Sri Lanka. As IMADR we call for urgent attention of the Human Rights Council on this matter and call for an immediate stop to such misleading reporting. Indeed, Madam Chairperson, it also shows that […]

Nisthar Cassim in New York President Mahinda Rajapaksa described his engagement with the United Nations member countries last week as very successful for him personally and Sri Lanka at large. “I am very happy with the visit as it was very productive and through our discussions we were able to portray the true picture,” President Rajapaksa […]

VIII. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONSIn the absence of members (between June 2009 and until February 2011), the intervening year was an annus horribilis for the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL). The senior staff sought to safeguard the institution, and its day-to-day functioning, to the best of their ability and exercising their own judgement. They […]

”Nevertheless the president would know better than most that giving certain kinds of people an inch leads to their grabbing a mile and Mervyn Silva belongs to that breed. Laughing at their antics and allowing them to preen in the glare of publicity is certainly not the best way of controlling them.” The irrepressible Mervyn […]

”Now, with the current nationalist resurgence, are we going to witness another spate of attacks on places of worship of the religious minorities? A website reported this week of the destruction of a Muslim place of worship in Anuradhapura claiming that the mosque was built on the site where the ashes of Dutugemunu were interred. […]

”The push was sparked by a diplomatic spat at the 18th annual session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which opened in Geneva on Monday, when Navanethem Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, urged Sri Lankan authorities to conduct a full review of its security apparatus. ”Pam JohnsonWASHINGTON, Sep 16, 2011 […]

NfR – Net working for rights in Sri lanka – Exile network for media and human rights in Sri LankaPress release/ 15 September 2011NfR Sri Lanka, a network of Sri Lankan journalists and human rights defenders living outside the country, condemns the falsification of the proceedings of a side event organized by Sri Lankan Mission […]

JC Weliamuna Much has been said about the recent decision of the Government to end the Emergency in Sri Lanka. Some welcomed the move and others are yet to make any pronouncements. This short essay is an attempt to examine the implications of the decision of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) together with the […]

A concerned group of Sri Lankan environmentalists have taken measures to draw the attention of the President regarding several development projects that have been carried out at present which would harm wild animals and the environment. They have written to the President drawing his attention to the destruction of the environment due to the implementation of […]

 A survey conducted by Health Authorities as a prelude to combat the deadly HIV AIDS spread has discovered that there are 40,000 prostitutes, 35,000 Homosexuals and an unaccounted number of Lesbians in the country.Director AIDS Control Unit, Dr. Nimal Ekanayake said these figures were only confined to four districts. In Colombo there are 8,000 prostitutes […]

Doctors in five countries including Sri Lanka are complicit in torture by failing to report torture when they treat torture victims, says the British Medical Journal (BMJ). In a detailed report, the BMJ says medical professionals in UK, US, Italy, Israel and Sri Lanka are complicit in torture by failing to blow the whistle. The […]

Mahinda SamarasingheIt is my privilege to once again address this august body as head of the Sri Lanka delegation. We come here as always, Madam President, to share with the members of this Council and the other representatives of the community of nations, our experiences in overcoming the several challenges we face in the present […]

”Sri Lanka is one such case. For three decades, not only has that country suffered the brutal effects of terrorist acts, but the response of successive governments over the years has undermined independent institutions, human rights and the rule of law. I note the President’s decision to allow some emergency measures to lapse, but strongly […]