Reconciliation

Image: Sri Lanka flag at UNHRC., Geneva. Making a statement at the 44th session of UNHRC  UK’s International Ambassador for Human Rights, Rita French, delivered this statement on behalf of Canada, Germany, North Macedonia, Montenegro and the UK, the Core Group on Sri Lanka and expressed their profound disappointment over Sri Lanka’s withdrawal from the […]

Image: On the memorial wall,  International day for the disappeared 2019, Colombo, Sri Lanka. In a televised statement issued on 28 June 2020 Prime Minister Rajapaksa called for a strong mandate to defeat domestic and foreign conspirators and to overturn the Office for Missing Persons and national laws related to international Convention Against Enforced Disappearances. […]

When globalisation was the dominant concept for looking at the world, pandemics were discussed as a global security issue. The objective was to see how pandemics have an impact on global security, and how to prepare for them. Now that one is happening, it is interesting to look at the response. It is clear that […]

A. Conclusions 90. While Sri Lanka has made valuable democratic strides in the last five years, a prevailing apprehension exists among civil society, who fear there could be rollbacks on these gains in the future. Sri Lankans fear the dismantling or undermining of fragile yet important institutions that safeguard their democratic rights, and a shift […]

“From now until the elections, we will not know when, and where, and how the fireball will fall on us, and what the nature of that fireball will be.” Arundathi Roy (Election Season in a Dangerous Democracy – The New York Review of Books – 3.9.2018) The Eastern province is the most ethno-religiously pluralist slice of […]

Image: Families of Sri Lanka’s missing thousands fear the government is aiming to curb investigations into unsolved civil war disappearances. (COLOMBO/thenewhumanitarian) Rights groups are warning of a crackdown on dissent and rising authoritarianism in Sri Lanka, raising fears for the future of long-stalled civil war reconciliation efforts. Since President Gotabaya Rajapaksa took office after November elections, […]

The events of 39 years ago set the stage for Sri Lanka’s civil war – and still echo today. By Thamil Venthan Ananthavinayagan. It was May 31, 1981 when early signs of the looming civil war broke out on the Jaffna peninsula of northern Sri Lanka. An organized Sinhala mob carried out an arson attack on […]

Executive Summary. This report [by INFORM, Colombo,Sri Lanka] records 95 incidents that had been reported during the 90 days period. The average number of incidents per day reported prior to the covid-19 curfew is slightly higher than the number of incidents reported during the curfew. There were a high number of incidents related to legal, […]

Most of the victims of horrific Easter Sunday bombings were Christian, majority killed inside three churches, and the bombers were Muslims. Immediately after the attacks, many Muslims unreservedly condemned the attacks and offered support and solidarity to mostly Christian survivors and families of victims. As churches across the country closed in the aftermath of the […]

PARL Statement on recent developments in Pottuvil Muhudu Maha Viharaya: Misuse of land acquisition laws and the military. The People’s Alliance for Right to Land (PARL) is deeply disturbed by the military intervention in civilian land administration in the Pottuvil Muhudu Maha Viharaya area in Ampara, and the reported moves to attempt legal acquisition of […]

  Image: An indefinite, nationwide curfew has been imposed in Sri Lanka, where over 200 people have tested positive for coronavirus (AFP Photo/Ishara S. KODIKARA). (AFP•April 12, 2020) Sri Lanka made cremations compulsory for coronavirus victims on Sunday, ignoring protests from the country’s minority Muslims who say it goes against Islamic tradition. Of the seven […]

Image: None of Ismail’s household could attend the funeral. He was buried at Kemnal Park Cemetery in Chislehurst, south east London.  ( photo courtesy of news.sky.com/) “When we face such a grave public health crisis there is a need to ensure that the mental health of our population is also given due attention. In this […]

H.E. Gotabaya Rajapaksa President of the Republic of Sri Lanka Presidential Secretariat Colombo 1 Your Excellency, Granting of a Presidential Pardon to Former Army Corporal Sunil Ratnayake The Human Rights Commissions of Sri Lanka expresses it deep concern on the reported grant of a Presidential Pardon to Corporal Sunil Ratnayake who was convicted of eight […]

Condemning the pardoning former army Sergeant Sunil Rathnayake by president Rajapaksa, the Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research says that   “the pardon of Ratnayake in the context of  highly militarised environment combined with the unconditional respect and admiration that the military enjoys from the majority Sinhala Buddhist community in Sri Lanka is simply President Rajapaksa consolidating […]

Image courtesy of Amnesty International. On March 26, 2020, President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa granted a presidential pardon and released convicted death row prisoner and mass murderer, former Army Staff Sergeant R. M. Sunil Rathnayake. While the country is on lockdown due to COVID-19, the President has seized this opportunity to deal a lethal blow to the […]

Image: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, second from left, has been accused of war crimes from his time as defense secretary, when he oversaw the last bloody years of the country’s civil war.Credit…Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters. By Maria Abi-Habib and Dharisha Bastians. Rights groups accused President Gotabaya Rajapaksa of taking advantage of the global chaos to free a soldier convicted of killing […]

The ICJ today condemned the Presidential pardon granted to murder convict Sunil Ratnayake, Former Staff Sergeant of the Sri Lankan Army. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa pardoned Former Staff Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake who was convicted in 2015 for the murder of eight Tamil civilians, including three children, in Mirusuvil in December 2000. The conviction and […]

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Spokesperson and former MP, M.A.Sumanthiran, has reacted sharply to the Presidential pardon given on Thursday to Sri Lankan Army Sergeant R M Sunil Rathnayake, who was sentenced to death for killing in cold blood, eight Tamil captives including a child at Mirusuvil in Tamil-speaking North Lanka in 2000. Sumanthiran pointed out […]

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs UNP MP Mangala Samaraweera asserted that Sri Lanka’s withdrawal from the co-sponsorship of the UN Human Right Council (UNHRC) Resolution had no impact on the Resolution itself and the other countries that co-sponsored it would take it forward even more “vigorously and vehemently”. Below are excerpts of his interview with […]

Ahmed Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief of the United Nations Human Rights Council, presented a report1 to the Human Rights Council on 24 February, based on his visit to Sri Lanka at the invitation of the Government of Sri Lanka from 15 to 26 August 2019. The report was a detailed […]

“A journalist asked the President how the government would face the consequences of withdrawing from co-sponsoring the UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka. The Geneva resolution is a challenge to the nation’s independence and dignity. This is the only time in the history a country that has acknowledged that their own security forces have committed war […]

Last week, Sri Lanka’s new government formally withdrew its support for UN Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution 30/1 – thereby pulling the plug on its long-standing pledge to establish a domestic accountability mechanism capable of investigating atrocity crimes committed during the country’s civil war. Although the resolution does not expire until March next year, and the Office […]

In its statement to UN Human Rights Council on the High Commissioner’s Report,  Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka emphasises that the weakening of the relevant provisions of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in strengthening independent institutions will seriously hamper checks and balances and protection of people’s rights under the Rule of Law. Sri […]

In a meeting with the Netherlands Ambassador Ms. Gonggrijp, Mr. Sampanthan Leader of the Tamil National Alliance has pointed out that “The UNHRC resolution was based on promoting reconciliation accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka. If we are to achieve lasting peace in this country, all three aspects must be addressed”. The Ambassador has […]

There is a dreadfully fractured logic in what the Government of Sri Lanka articulated before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) as it withdrew from UNHRC Resolution 30/1 this week. This is playing to the nationalist gallery with an eye to the impending General Elections. It has disastrous consequences for the country, make no […]

Former Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera has said that the decision to co-sponsor Geneva Resolution 30/1 was taken by the yahapalana government under the leadership of then President Maithripala Sirisena. Samaraweera, in a statement issued on withdrawal from Resolution 30/1 and subsequent resolutions extending its mandate in the UN Human Rights Council, has said: “At a […]

Image: Thierry Mathou in Colombo. A senior visiting French diplomat said yesterday said that despite Sri Lanka’s withdrawal from co-sponsorship of the UNHCR Resolution on Promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka, the resolution remains legally binding. “Sri Lanka’s decision to withdraw from co-sponsorship of the UNHCR resolution doesn’t mean the resolution has […]

Delivering the joint statement of the Core Group on Sri Lanka, International Ambassador for Human Rights of the United Kindom, Rita French told the ongoing 43rd session of the HRC that   “we are deeply disappointed and concerned that the government has changed its approach to the resolution. We remain profoundly committed to resolution 30/1 and […]

Sri Lanka today told the ongoing 43rd session of UNHRC that “with regard to the issues on missing persons, steps would be taken, after necessary investigations, to issue death certificates or certificates of absence, while also providing livelihood and other assistance to affected families.” The statement read by Sri LankaMinister of Foreign Relations makes no […]

Image:  ” Do not make Geneva promises disappear!” a placard at the “Missing Lovers Day” held by the Families of the Disappeared on 14.02.2020 in Colombo. Following Sri Lanka’s decision to withdraw from its commitments to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva this week, Amnesty International calls on the Council to establish an international […]