VOA News 12 August 2010
A leading international human rights group is calling on the United States and other countries to support a United Nations panel investigating alleged rights abuses during Sri Lanka’s civil war.
Archive for the ‘Sri Lanka’ Category
VOANews: Rights Group Urges Support for UN Sri Lanka Investigation
Friday, August 20th, 2010The Jurist: Sri Lanka president rejects proposed UN rights panel
Sunday, March 7th, 2010Saturday, March 06, 2010 |
Jonathan Cohen at 4:05 PM ET
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[JURIST] Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa [official profile] on Saturday rejected [press release] the plan of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official profile] to appoint a panel of experts to look into alleged rights abuses in the island nation’s civil war, saying it “is totally uncalled for and unwarranted.” Rajapaksa said that establishing this panel:
would certainly be perceived as an interference with the current general election campaign being held island wide; where the people of the North and of the East who were not free to participate in such elections earlier were being given the opportunity to do so, respecting the highest standards of democracy.
Xinhua: UN may help Sri Lanka address allegations of human rights abuse
Sunday, January 10th, 2010www.chinaview.cn  2010-01-08 08:58:47 |
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) — The United Nations is considering whether to establish a group of experts to help Sri Lanka address allegations of human rights abuses during the final offensive against the Tamil rebels and its aftermath, UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky told reporters here on Thursday.
“The secretary-general has informed the government of Sri Lanka that he is considering the appointment of a commission of experts to advise him further and to assist the government in taking measures to address possible violations of international human rights and humanitarian law,” Nesirky said. “The establishment of such a commission is receiving detailed consideration in the secretariat.”
NYTimes: Refugees Are Not Bargaining Chips
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010by BILL FRELICK
Published: January 1, 2010
WASHINGTON — A virus is sweeping Asia. The symptoms are heightened xenophobia and amnesia about fundamental refugee rights. Australia and Indonesia succumbed first, in October, when they stopped boats carrying Sri Lankans. Neither country would allow the Sri Lankans to disembark even though they came from a country experiencing massive violence and displacement. Almost three months later, one of the boats, holding more than 250 Sri Lankans, remains moored in the West Javan port of Merak.
Reuters: Doctors Without Borders lists 10 worst humanitarian crises
Monday, December 28th, 2009
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The international humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders on Monday released its annual list of the world’s 10 worst humanitarian crises.
The following is the list, as provided by the group, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres.
1. Violence against civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
2. Violence, civilians cut off from aid in Afghanistan
3. Violence and lack of access to health care in Somalia
4. Violence, lack of aid in northern Yemen
5. Violence, disease, lack of health care in southern Sudan, Darfur
6. Inadequate funding for treatment of childhood malnutrition
7. Civilians trapped in war-torn Sri Lanka
8. Stagnated funding for treatment of AIDS/HIV
9. Violence, civilian neglect in Pakistan
10. Lack of research, treatment of neglected diseases kala azar, sleeping sickness, Chagas disease and Buruli ulcer
TamilNet: Indian parliament expunges remarks on genocide in Sri Lanka
Saturday, December 12th, 2009When Communist Party of India (CPI) member D. Raja in his speech Friday in Rajya Sabha pointed out what happened in the island of Sri Lanka was full-scale war and genocide against Tamils with the assistance of Government of India, the Chair ordered to expunge the word genocide from parliamentary records. The verbatim but lengthy debate Friday questioned the government on IDPs, Kachchatheevu, Tamil Nadu fishermen, and about sending a parliamentary delegation to meet Tamil IDPs. But when it came to the core issue of political solution, the debate had nothing new to offer as from Indian foreign minister S M Krishna to main opposition BJP’s Vekaiah Naidu were still harping on treating the Eezham Tamils not as a nation but as a ‘minority’ and perceiving solutions based on obsolete 13th Amendment. Even Raja was using the word ‘national linguistic minority’.
The Rajya Sabha Chair’s order to expunge the word genocide from parliamentary records has been viewed seriously by Tamil circles which made a comparison of it to the efforts of former foreign minister and present finance minister Pranab Mukarjee putting the number of civilians trapped in the final stages of the war at 70,000 when there were actually more than 350,000.
Bloomberg: Sri Lanka Says 164,000 War Refugees Remain in Northern Camps
Thursday, November 12th, 2009By Paul Tighe
Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) — Sri Lanka said 164,000 civilians displaced by the civil war with Tamil Tiger rebels remain in camps in the north and the government intends to reduce the number to less than 50,000 by the end of January.
“We are now moving with incremental swiftness” to settle people from the camps, Rajiva Wijesinha, the secretary at the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights, said late yesterday, according to the government’s Web site.
More than 280,000 mainly Tamil civilians have been held in the camps since the army defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May, ending the group’s 26-year fight for a separate Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka’s north and east. The U.S. and United Nations are leading international calls for the swift release of the displaced people.
Bloomberg.com: .Sri Lanka Tells U.S. Not to Question Army Chief on Rights Abuse
Saturday, November 7th, 2009By Jay Shankar
Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) — Sri Lanka won’t allow its army chief, Sarath Fonseka, to be questioned in the U.S. over alleged human rights violations committed during the island nation’s war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the government said.
The president and the government “stand firmly” behind the office of the chief of defense staff and “we will not allow that high post to be denigrated or made vulnerable,” Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said, according to a statement on the government’s Web site today
Christian Science Monitor: EU human rights report could cost Sri Lanka $100 million
Sunday, October 25th, 2009Sri Lanka could lose valuable EU trade concessions after an inquiry found severe human rights abuses against Tamils. The US released its own report of allegations of war crimes Thursday.
By Mian Ridge | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the October 22, 2009 edition
New Delhi – Sri Lanka came under fresh pressure to address the plight of its Tamil minority this week after a report from the European Union slammed the island for its recent human rights record.
The report lodges some of the strongest international criticisms since Sri Lanka ended its war against Tamil rebels in May, and could prompt the EU to remove more than $100 million in trade concessions.
Previous criticism from abroad has had little impact on the Sri Lankan government, which remains more popular at home than ever. It said Thursday it would study the EU’s report and respond by a Nov. 6 deadline
INNER CITY PRESS: UN Says Lankan President’s Nephew was Murdered in Tanzania, Genocide Theory Offered
Sunday, August 30th, 2009UNITED NATIONS, August 24 [UN admits error Aug 28] — Following the death in Arusha, Tanzania of the nephew of Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa, Shyamlal Rajapaksa, who served as a prosecutor for the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, allegations have been made in Sri Lanka that the UN is involved in a cover-up of the death.
In New York on August 24, Inner City Press Michele Montas, the Spokesperson for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, to respond to the allegations, including about UN insurance coverage. Ms. Montas answered that “the preliminary finding… is that he has been murdered.” Video here, from Minute 10:03; transcript here and below.