April 20, 2024 5:36 am
Results: 36
Sri Lanka could accept international actors in war crimes probe
Sri Lanka’s foreign minister said on Thursday he is willing to consider international participation in investigating possible war crimes during the 26-year Tamil insurgency. MORE...
Govt. mulls bail for Tamils held under terror act: Mano
The Ranil Wickremesinghe government is open to the idea of allowing Tamils held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to get bail, the New India Express quoted the Minister for National Dialogue on Ethnic Issues Mano Ganeshan as saying. MORE...
Accountability process would be purely domestic: FM
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 completely domestic, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera has said rejecting claims that it was a hybrid mechanism. MORE...
UN will continue to press for accountability in Sri Lanka: Farhan
Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says that the United Nations (UN) will continue to press for accountability in Sri Lanka over incidents related to the alleged war crimes. MORE...
Indian govt. urged to move resolution against Lanka
India’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader and former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has urged the Union government to move a private member resolution in the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) seeking an international inquiry into the alleged war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan Army in the last phase of the civil war. MORE...
Tamil Eelam is the solution: Ramadoss
India’s PMK leader S. Ramadoss has said that if Sri Lanka was ready for an international inquiry into the alleged “war crimes and human rights violations,” the United Nations should hold a referendum among the Sri Lankan Tamils across the world for the creation of a separate Tamil Eelam, The Hindu newspaper reported. MORE...
Vaiko slams UN resolution on Sri Lanka
The United Nation’s resolution authorising Sri Lanka to hold a probe into war crimes is bound to turn detrimental to ethnic Tamils, India’s MDMK general secretary Vaiko has said. MORE...
Human Rights Council betrays Tamils: Vaiko
With the United Nations’ report on Sri Lankan war crimes likely to come up for discussion at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday, India’s MDMK general secretary Vaiko has said that it will be a black day for Tamils all over the world, The New Indian Express reports. MORE...
TNA hails U.S.-backed resolution on Sri Lanka
The draft resolution on Sri Lanka tabled at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) by the U.S. and other countries has addressed the main issues of accountability and reconciliation, according to the Tamil National Alliance leader, R. Sampanthan. MORE...
Investigations under domestic mechanism victory for Lanka: Tennakoon
Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) and Centre for Human Rights and Research (CHR) are extremely encouraged by the resolution on Sri Lanka presented to UNHRC, which allows a for more domesticated mechanism to investigate alleged human rights violations. MORE...
Move resolution for probe into Sri Lanka war crimes: PUCL
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The India’s People Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has called upon the Centre, as a member of the UN Human Rights Council, to move a resolution calling for a credible, independent, international investigation into the violations of humanitarian and human rights laws. MORE...
India has to maintain friendly relations with Sri Lanka: Venkaiah Naidu
Reiterating the Narendra Modi government’s stand on relationship with Sri Lanka, India’s Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said on Saturday that India has to maintain friendly relations with its neighbour. MORE...
Aust co-sponsors Sri Lanka resolution
Australia has co-sponsored a reconciliation resolution to the United Nations with the Sri Lankan government. MORE...
Resolution on Sri Lanka tabled at UN Human Rights Council
A resolution calling for a “credible justice process” with “Commonwealth and other foreign judges” in order to prosecute for mass atrocities committed during the final stages of the island’s armed conflict has been tabled at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. MORE...
War crimes in Sri Lanka: Jaya urged to convene all-party meeting
Indian PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss on Thursday urged Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa to convene an all-party meeting to exert pressure on the Centre to bring out a resolution in the UNHRC, seeking international probe into the alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka, the Times of India news agency reported. MORE...
Death toll in final phase was not 40,000, says Justice Paranagama
Justice Maxwell Paranagama, Chairman of the Sri Lankan Commission on missing persons and war crimes, has said that the death toll in the final phase of Eelam War IV was not 40,000, as claimed in the 2011 report of the Panel of Experts appointed by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, but probably a little above 7,000. MORE...
UN members should back hybrid court in Sri Lanka - HRW
The call by the United Nations’ top human rights officer for a domestic-international hybrid court to address allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka should receive strong endorsement by members of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, Human Rights Watch said today. MORE..
UN should probe war crimes in Sri Lanka: Ramasamy
United Nations should probe the alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka, Indian Second Deputy Chief Minister, Penang, Malaysia, P. Ramasamy, has said in Coimbatore. MORE...
Biswal’s visit hastens swearing-in of three key Ministers
The visit of Nisha Biswal, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia on Tuesday to discuss the UN Human Rights Commissioner’s report on war crimes in Sri Lanka, has hastened the swearing-in of Mangala Samaraweera as Foreign Minister; Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe as Justice Minister; and D.M.Swaminathan as Resettlement Minister. MORE...
Court grants bail to Prasanna and wife
The Fort Magistrate on Tuesday (14) granted bail to the Chief Minister of the Western Province, Prasanna Ranatunga, and his wife in connection with a case filed against them over an irregular land deal. MORE...
India extends tsunami warning services to Sri Lanka
India has extended its tsunami early warning system services to Sri Lanka and the Seychelles. MORE..
Ranil wants to create UK-type ‘Serious Frauds’ division
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe today said that the government is currently in the process of “cleaning up” the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and that they intend to establish a ‘Serious Frauds and Financial Crimes Division’ for this purpose. MORE..
New army chief a blow to justice, says HRW
Sri Lanka‘s promotion of a senior officer whose division was implicated in serious human rights abuses casts doubt on government pledges to credibly investigate alleged war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today (17). MORE...
UN group on missing to visit Sri Lanka in August
The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has confirmed that it will visit Sri Lanka from August 3 – 12. MORE...
Sri Lanka sets September date for war crimes probe
Sri Lanka’s new government yesterday said an investigation into allegations of war crimes would begin by September, amid international pressure to account for atrocities committed during the island’s decades-long separatist conflict. MORE...
Sri Lanka has potential to be a role model: UN
“If handled well, the case of Sri Lanka has the potential to constitute an example for the region and for the world of how a sustainable peace ought to be achieved,” says Pablo de Greiff, UN Special Rapporteur on Truth, Justice, Reparations, and Guarantees of Non-recurrence. MORE...
Sri Lanka plans to lift ‘terrorist’ ban on Tamil groups
Sri Lanka’s new government has announced plans to remove 16 groups and hundreds of Tamils from a list of “foreign terrorists” as part of reconciliation with its largest ethnic minority. MORE...
Calls for international war crimes probe insulting - Chandrika
Sri Lanka is united against an international investigation into alleged war crimes during its 26-year-long civil war, according to its former president, Chandrika Kumaratunga. MORE...
Yoshitha questioned by CCD over light aircraft
Yoshitha Rajapaksa, son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, has been summoned by the Colombo Crimes Division(CCD) to record a statement regarding the light aircraft found at the Economic Centre at Narahenpita in January, the CCD said. MORE...
Jeffrey Feltman to visit Sri Lanka this week
One week after the UN Human Rights Council agreed to withhold the already delayed report on war crimes in Sri Lanka, the UN announced that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s highest political official Jeffrey Feltman will visit the country this week. MORE...
Special police unit to probe large-scale financial crime
The police department has decided to establish a special unit to investigate large-scale financial crimes, including money laundering. MORE..
U.N. rights chief backs delay for Sri Lanka war crimes report
Sri Lanka’s bid to postpone publication of a UnitedNations report into alleged war crimes has won the backing of U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Monday. MORE...
President assures domestic mechanism to probe alleged rights violations
President Maithripala Sirisena assured the diplomatic community that his government will not hesitate to punish the offenders of human rights violations said to have taken place during the war after the conduct of a credible domestic inquiry through a judicial process into the allegations. MORE...
Sri Lanka says seeking delay in UN war-crimes report
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said on Wednesday his country was seeking a delay of several months in the release of a U.N. report on alleged war crimes during his country’s civil war until the government had time to establish a mechanism to deal with the issue. MORE...
President Sirisena ushers new chapter of hope for Sri Lanka - NY Times
It was just one month ago that Sri Lanka surprised the world by electing opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena as president, rejecting the authoritarianism, corruption and dynastic politics of the administration of the incumbent, Mahinda Rajapaksa. MORE...
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. MORE...