Monthly Archives: February 2012

The Powers of the National Police Commission

Politics are now nothing more than a means of rising in the world – Samuel Johnson Boswells Life of Johnson.
The National Police Commission, was inaugurated in November 2002 on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council. under the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. It became defunct due to the failure to appoint new
Commission members after the terms […]

By Lakshman Indranath Keerthisinghe | Published on February 29, 2012 at 2:14 pm

US Judge dismisses case against Rajapakse but warns no way a reflection on the merits

A U.S. judge dismissed a lawsuit Wednesday February 29) against Sri Lanka’s president over killings allegedly carried out by his forces during the country’s ethnic civil war.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that she must dismiss the suit against President Mahinda Rajapaksa because the Obama administration says he is immune from the litigation as a […]

By | Published on February 29, 2012 at 1:37 pm

Sri Lanka’s dead and missing: the need for an accounting

Nearly three years since the end of the war, there’s a growing need for an accounting of – and for – those killed and missing in the final months of fighting in northern Sri Lanka in 2009. Members of the UN Human Rights
Council, opening its 19th session in Geneva today, should be ready to press […]

By International Crisis Group | Published on February 27, 2012 at 1:24 pm

‘We have evolved a mechanism to look into accountability issues raised in the LLRC report’ – Samarasinghe

Statement by the Hon Mahinda Samarasinghe M.P.Minister of Plantation Industries and Special Envoy of the President on Human Rights Leader of the Sri Lanka Delegation to the 19th Session of the UNHRC High Level Segment 27th February 2012, Geneva
I am honoured and privileged to be able to once again share with this august body, Sri […]

By Statement | Published on February 27, 2012 at 1:19 pm

Journey to World’s End in Sri Lanka

The track to Baker’s Falls, in Sri Lanka’s hill country, was an “undulating” walk, according to our guide Thushara. I reminded him of that adjective as I hauled myself up an almost vertical and very muddy hillside.
“If this is undulating,” I muttered, pausing to grab another tree branch for support, “I’d hate to see what you […]

By | Published on February 27, 2012 at 9:57 am

Our duty to Sri Lanka, and human rights

This week the UN Human Rights Council has an opportunity and a duty to help Sri Lanka advance its own efforts on accountability and reconciliation. Both are essential if a lasting peace is to be achieved. In doing so, the
council will not only be serving Sri Lanka, but those worldwide who believe there are universal […]

By Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson | Published on February 26, 2012 at 12:45 pm

US prepares for bitter showdown with Sri Lanka over war crimes

Britain and the US are preparing for a bitter showdown with Sri Lanka as they attempt to pass an international resolution rebuking Colombo over alleged war crimes said to have been committed
during military operations against ethnic rebels.
A resolution calling upon Sri Lanka to investigate fully who was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Tamil […]

By Andrew Buncombe | Published on February 26, 2012 at 10:41 am

When a Prophet speaks: Stephane Hessel on Sri Lanka

A prophet spoke at the UNESCO in Paris this week, though he joked that having lived for 90 years, he had written thirty pages and found he had been turned into ‘a rock star’.
Stephane Hessel, born in Germany in the year of the Russian revolution, is 95 years old. Anti-Nazi Resistance fighter, concentration camp survivor, […]

By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka | Published on February 26, 2012 at 9:07 am

Colombo expects 10% drop in its Iran crude buys

Sri Lanka expects crude imports from Iran to drop by at least 10% this year due to a range of inflation-fighting policies that should cool demand, potentially helping it find a way around US sanctions, a government official said yesterday.
The Indian Ocean island nation is facing one of the biggest squeezes from the impending sanctions, […]

By Gulf Times | Published on February 25, 2012 at 8:59 am

A Tribute to Marie Colvin

In May, 2003, I travelled around Iraq reporting on its oil industry. Before reaching Baghdad, I got in touch with Marie Colvin, who was there covering the war and its aftermath for the Sunday Times, where I worked from 1986 to
1993. She wrote back to say that she was staying at a hunt club in […]

By John Cassidy | Published on February 25, 2012 at 8:34 am