Mangala Samaraweera

AFP – Sri Lanka’s police faced censure on Friday over an attempt to “abduct” a student activist, a tactic widely used against dissidents by the previous strongman leader’s regime. Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said he lodged a protest with Police Chief Pujith Jayasundara over an attempt by plain-clothed officers to seize a student known for […]

Political sources in Colombo are buzzing with rumours of a possible cabinet reshuffle within the next two weeks. President Sirisena told media on 20th April that he will change faces as well as systems in two weeks time to make governance more efficient. State media quoted Sirisena saying that “there will be major changes in […]

Image: Sri Lanka FM Samaraweera and Ambassador to UNHRC Ariyasinghe at GoSL side event held on 01 March at UNHRC. ©s.deshapriya. Sri Lanka’s  Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)  says that the Sri Lanka Resolution to be adopted at the UNHRC  will not include taking on any new commitments arising from the High Commissioner’s Report to […]

Statement by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera at the High Level Segment of the 34th Session of the Human Rights Council. Mr. President High Commissioner for Human Rights/ Madam Deputy High Commissioner Excellencies Distinguished Delegates Ladies and Gentlemen It is an honour for me to be here today at the 34th Session of the UN Human […]

Image: Sri Lanka FM Samaraweera will address a side event on ‘Developments in Sri Lanka’ on 1st March.(c) s.deshapriya. There are 13 side events planned  during the 34 session of the Human Rights Council on the situation in Sri Lanka. The 34th session of the HRC will start on 27the February and end on 24th […]

By Mangala Samaraweera. Minister of Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera says that ” Today Sri Lanka has  a choice between impunity, conflict, corruption, extremism and poverty, or the rule of law, accountability, equality, multiculturalism, openness and trade. We have a choice between conflict and poverty, versus peace and prosperity.” He has said that speaking at a  […]

( FM Samaraweera: First step towards implementing HRC 30 resolution) In the wake of the Office of Missing Persons Bill being passed in Parliament, Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the Government would go ahead with the setting up of a judicial mechanism to hear accountability issues. He said the new legislation would provide for […]

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera welcomed Assistant Secretaries of State Nisha Biswal and Tom Malinowski to the island, this evening. Biswal, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs and Malinowski, the Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor are in Sri Lanka on an official visit, and are […]

( Sri Lanka FM Mangala Samaraweera and Swiss Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter) (Bern, 03.03.2016) A meeting between Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Federal Councillor Didier Burkhalter centred on progress in the reform and reconciliation process in Sri Lanka and the expansion of bilateral relations between Switzerland and the island state in the Indian […]

SRI LANKA: HUMAN RIGHTS, RULE OF LAW AND RECONCILIATION PROGRESS January 2015 – February 2016 Prepared by the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Sri Lanka ________________________________________________________________ March 2016 1. The Cabinet of Ministers, on 2 March, approved Sri Lanka’s accession to the Mine Ban Treaty (Ottawa Convention) February 2016 2. Sang the National Anthem in both Sinhala […]

(Recent developments in Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka Foreign Minster Mangala Samaraweera’s speech at the 20th Meeting of the Governing Council of the Community of Democracies held in Geneva on  2 March 2016)   Secretary General, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen. It is an honour to be invited to the Community of Democracies, since my distinguished predecessor […]

(Major General Chagi Gallage: A Rajapaksa loyalist?) Sri Lanka’s government came face-to-face with military insubordination at a very high level when Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera visited Jaffna to launch a website for ethnic reconciliation. The usually unflappable Samaraweera was surprised by the tone of Major General Chagi Gallage when he visited Jaffna soliciting public views […]

Today is International Human Rights Day. And as in the past, Sri Lanka will join the countries of the world in commemorating this important even. But this year, Sri Lanka’s commemorations will not only be symbolic – they will also be substantive. So I am very pleased to announce that Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to […]

Picture courtesy RepublicSquareby Rev. Fr. Elil Rajendram SJ The following is Rev. Fr. Ranjendram’s speech delivered yesterday at the BMICH, commemorating the Day of the Disappeared in Sri Lanka Members of the families of those forcibly disappeared, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to thank the organising committee for the invitation to deliver this […]

Sri Lanka opted for a domestic mechanism despite the UN rights chief Seid Raad Al Hussein called for a hybrid court to carry out prosecutions into the rights abuse cases. The process to fix accountability as mandated by the latest UNHRC resolution for the alleged rights abuses during the conflict with the LTTE will be […]

(Concluding Remarks made by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera on October 23rd 2015 in the Parliamentary debate on the resolution on Sri Lanka passed by the UN Human rights Council in Geneva) The national unity government has committed itself to winning the peace, securing the country from political violence that has haunted it since independence and […]

The Government has postponed the diaspora festival which was to take place in December, the Foreign Ministry said. A Foreign Ministry spokesperson told the Daily Leader that the festival is now likely to take place next year. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera had told Parliament in June that in order to encourage diaspora members to engage […]

Moments after he delivered a ground-breaking speech before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday (14), Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera told the Daily FT in an interview outside the Council chamber that he was “committed to the hilt” to deliver justice to victims in Sri Lanka. Addressing the opening session of the Human […]

By Stephanie Nebehay. GENEVA (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s new government said on Monday it was setting up a South Africa-style truth and reconciliation commission to look into atrocities during its civil war, as it came under renewed pressure to prosecute perpetrators. South Africa, which confronted its own apartheid-era crimes through such a body, would advise […]

Following the Parliamentary election last week and the victory of the United National Front for Good Governance led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the new Parliament as you know will convene on the 1st of September, next Tuesday. The Cabinet, reflective of the formation of what we call a national or unity government, is expected […]

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka is keen to engage all diaspora groups including Tamils in reconciliation efforts, foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera has said stressing the new government does not want the country to return to another bloody conflict. Responding to opposition criticism of the recent talks held in London with the diaspora, Samaraweera said the government considered […]

The government had commenced devising an indigenous mechanism to investigate alleged human rights violations and war crimes said to have taken place during the last phase of the conflict with the LTTE, parliament was told yesterday [11th June]. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the government had begun holding talks with various parties to work out […]

(Tamara Kunanayagam ) Former Sri Lankan permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, Tamara Kunanayagam had acted on the LTTE’s behalf and aided and abetted the LTTE’s interests through her propaganda, it was alleged in parliament yesterday. In a document tabled by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera in response to a question raised by Liberal Party […]

In a letter to Rights Commissioner Zeid Al Hussein  Sri Lanka Government has promised to establish a domestic set up a credible domestic mechanism in collaboration with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: ”Sri Lanka government is committed to set up a credible domestic mechanism, the relevant preambular provisions in resolution 25/1 […]

GENEVA (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s new government won a six-month delay on Monday in the publication of a report on alleged war crimes, after the U.N. human rights chief praised its willingness to open the country up to scrutiny. Sri Lankan government forces have been accused of widespread human rights violations in the final stages […]

Remarks With Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka Mangala Samaraweera Before Their Meeting. SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon, everybody. It’s my great pleasure to welcome Foreign Minister Samaraweera from Sri Lanka. And this is an exciting moment for all of us here because Sri Lanka on January 8th had an historic election in which there has been […]

Samaraweera: Sharma, act now ”We recall that you promised Sri Lanka would put plans in place to change its legislative procedures to remove senior judges within weeks of a key meeting of a Commonwealth Ministers Grouping (CMAG) in April last year. We were further encouraged by your announcement that the Commonwealth Secretariat will assist Sri […]

Press statement by Hon. Mangala Samaraweera All right thinking people of Sri Lanka unequivocally and unreservedly condemn the purported appointment by President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Mr. Mohan Peiris as the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka. This utterly irresponsible act of the President is in defiance of the judgments of the Supreme Court and the Court […]