Issues
US will support resolution on Sri Lanka at HRC sessions in Geneva

There are indications that the US Government will support a resolution at the forthcoming March session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that, among other things, will call on the Sri Lankan government to implement the recommendations of its Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton is reported to have […]
Independence is only meaningful if all people able to live free of fear and suspicion

“Freedom of expression and the right to information is extremely restricted as increasingly there are controls on dissent and information channels are blocked. Providing authentic information regarding the dead and those who have disappeared, to their relatives, continues to be an urgent humanitarian need. There is a misrepresentation of such action, as not taken in […]
Read MoreNew film tells story of Sri Lankan journalists forced into exile

“I believe a journalist can change the world,” says exiled Sri Lankan journalist Sonali Samarasinghe, “if not why are we here then”. Sonali is one of three exiled
journalists, from the minority Tamil and majority Sinhalese communities, whose stories are told in a new Norwegian film, Silenced Voices, by Beate Arnestadpreviewed last night at the Fritt […]
Time for a reality check on the Sri Lankan civil war

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) are expected to consider a motion tabled by the United States over Sri Lankan accountability for war crimes later
this month, nearly three years after the end of the island nation’s bloody civil war between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a rebelsecessionist militia.
The government […]
Humility-The Hallmark of a Great Human Being

Gandhi dressed to be accepted by the poorest person in India, advocating the use of homespun cloth (khadi). He and his followers adopted the practice of weaving their own cloth. President of the United States Barack Obama in an address to a Joint Session of the Parliament of India said that:”I am mindful that I […]
Read MoreCan Sri Lanka’s government implement the LLRC recommendations?

Can the LLRC recommendations be implemented? This is the question of the day. This is raised nationally and internationally and answers contrast for different reasons. In this article, I endeavor to briefly answer this question from a governance perspective, keeping in mind the present socio-political realities in Sri Lanka.
Bloody ethnic conflict
The President appointed the Commission […]
Mr. Minister, my name is Sunanda Deshapriya, I am not a terrorist.

An Open Letter to Minister Keheliya Rambukwella
Mr. Minister, I don’t know whether you have seen the film called ‘my name is Khan. In it, the main character played by popular actor Shah Rukh Khan repeats the
lines ‘My name is Khan. I am not a terrorist’ at different points in the film, in order to affirm […]
Plaintiffs file opposition to suggestion of immunity in war crimes case against Rajapakse

WASHINGTON DC: Plaintiffs in the War crimes case against Sri Lanka’s President Rajapakse on Friday (February 3) filed a memorandum of opposition to the suggestion of immunity by the United States of America and requested for oral argument on the matter.
The Plaintiffs through their attorney Bruce Fein submitted that the Torture Victims Protection Act is […]
Where was Tamil Civil Society when TNA was divided by narrow minded politicians

“Secondly a public memo by Tamil Civil Society to the TNA appears to be “closing the stable door after the horse has bolted”. We should acknowledge that the memo to the TNA is well written, but where was this Tamil Civil Society when TNA was intentionally divided by narrow minded politicians. Do they realise how […]
Read MoreWhat does the US know about alleged Sri Lankan war crimes?

The extrajudicial killing of civilians, surrendering soldiers and dissident journalists under the direction of the Sri Lankan government has been alleged by a former general in the Army who was extremely well-placed to comment on military activity during the island nation’s bloody civil war.
The source, whose name is withheld for reasons of safety, had high-level […]