Six months ago in Sri Lanka, as the last bastion of the Tamil Tigers fell, tens of thousands of civilians who had fled the fighting were detained in refugee camps. Now the Sri Lankan army has given them permission to return home. We went to meet these refugees who have lost everything. http://www.france24.com/en/20100204-reporters-sri-lanka-tamil-tigers-civil-war-refugees-civilians-return-army-probation
BEN DOHERTY March 27, 2010 The Age He is a young adult male, a low priority for resettlement by the UN, frustrated by the protracted resettlement process, and running out of options. At 16, in Sri Lanka, he was abducted by a pro-government militia and forced to train to fight against the Tamil Tigers. He escaped, but was recaptured, tied naked to a tree, tortured and threatened with death if he escaped again. He absconded again, and with the help of his widowed mother, fled for Thailand. Now 19, he shares a tiny one-room apartment in an anonymous street in the outskirts of Bangkok, where he has lived for three years. http://www.theage.com.au/national/hiding-away-young-men-wait-on-un-20100326-r37j.html
Reporters Without Borders appeals to President Mahinda Rajapaksa to order the release of the results of the police investigation into leading cartoonist and political reporter Prageeth Eknaligoda’s disappearance two months ago. The police have shown no interest in finding this opposition journalist alive, while government ministers have made contradictory statements that have spread confusion about the circumstances of his disappearance.
http://www.rsf.org/Cartoonist-kidnapped-two-months.html
(AFP) – Sri Lanka said it had refused US rap star Akon entry to the island following protests that a music video he produced was offensive to Buddhists. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100323/ts_alt_afp/srilankamusicusrapentertainment_20100323162950
Concerning Sri Lanka, following the end of the conflict, the ALRC has witnessed a serious clampdown on human rights defenders and on the freedom of expression. We are deeply concerned by recent reports of an alleged hit-list comprising Sri Lankan human rights defenders and journalists. We are also gravely concerned by reported threats of arbitrary arrest of prominent defender J.C. Weliamuna, the Chairperson of Transparency International Sri Lanka. Intervention with the government of Sri Lanka is also vital in order to halt the country's march down the road to autocracy, perpetual impunity and the abandonment of human rights. http://www.alrc.net/doc/mainfile.php/alrc_st2010/606
Responding to Amnesty International's media release that a leaked list in Colombo "reveal[ing] the names of 35 leading journalists and NGO officers of interest to the country’s secret services," was "believed to be compiled by the Sri Lanka Intelligence Unit,
The release quoted Mike Blakemore, Media Director of Amnesty International UK, as saying, “journalists are often at the forefront of protecting and defending individuals’ human rights. It is their bravery that can help expose abuses and bring them to an end.
“Sri Lanka needs to respect media freedom and allow human rights defenders to go about their work freely and without harassment,” the Amnesty press release added.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/sri-lanka-urged-end-witch-hunt-against-media-and-ngos-2010-03-11
A panel of international lawyers says it is alarmed over reports that human rights activists and reporters are being intimidated in Sri Lanka. The International Bar Association (IBA) also voiced concern over the possibility of bringing in criminal charges against activists by Colombo. It says that 35 activists critical of the government have been listed according "to their level of dissent". Sri Lanka maintains there is no intimidation against rights activists. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8566946.stm
Between 1983 and 2009, Sri Lanka was engulfed by the raging civil war between the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The World Health Organisation estimates that there have been more than 215,000 deaths, overwhelmingly affecting the Tamil population, as a result of the civil war. Between 2005 and 2009, more than 1.3 million people were displaced. by James Naish http://www.student-direct.co.uk/2010/03/sri-lanka-a-crises-overlooked/
At the height of the separatist war in April to May 2009, the government began barring independent journalists from covering the battle zones -- creating even more questions about what was going on and leaving untold the stories of civilians caught in the fighting. Months after the conflict ended those war survivors are emerging from the battle zones and government camps they had to live in. "But yet after going through so much, after the fighting for so many years, and after destroying so many things, what use was it? What was it all for? We are back to square one."
By Sara Sidner, CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/sri.lanka.war.survivor/index.html?section=cnn_latest
The Sri Lankan government should end its harassment of journalists and activists and take steps against those making threats, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said in a joint statement today.
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/03/10/sri-lanka-end-witch-hunt-against-media-and-ngos
The reports said only about 83,000 have been settled in their places of origin. Most have been settled with host families.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2010/03/100310_idplanka.shtml
The Australian government was appealed to take drastic action against Sri Lanka for violating human rights in Sri Lanka. The Catholic Law and Peace Commission which is situated at Australia Brisbane had made this request. http://cjpcbrisbane.wordpress.com/2010/03/02/australia-should-challenge-sri-lankan-human-rights-record/
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has warned UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon of the consequences of appointing a panel of experts to advise him (the UN chief) on alleged violations of international humanitarian laws and human rights during Sri Lanka’s military campaign that ended the separatist war by Tiger guerrillas. http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100307/News/nws_01.html http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31310
U.N. High Commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay has again criticised Sri Lanka for failing to examine abuses committed during the civil war last year between the government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels. Pillay presented her 2009 report to the annual session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday. “In Sri Lanka, the opportunity for peace and reconciliation continues to be marred by the treatment of journalists, human rights defenders and other critics of government” the High Commissioner said.
In an earlier interview with the BBC, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said he would not allow any such investigation as “there is no reason.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2010/03/100304_pillai.shtml
Journalism is not typically viewed as a field of work where people have to fear for their lives. But that’s not the case in Sri Lanka, where journalists are not nearly so safe. “No other profession calls on its practitioners to lay down their lives for their art save the armed forces and, in Sri Lanka, journalism,” said Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge in an editorial published by The Sunday Leader, Sri Lanka’s most widely circulated independent weekly newspaper. Sophomore Ruan Pethiyagoda, age 24, previously wrote for The Sunday Leader. http://www.su-spectator.com/news/student-journalist-escapes-sri-lankan-censorship-1.1220104
Seventeen persons had been reported missing till 23rd February, spanning first seven weeks this year, according to complaints made by the relatives to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL). HRCSL spokesperson in Colombo said that HRCSL regional offices had received seventeen complaints of disappearance of persons, majority of them from north and east provinces, media sources said.
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31283
A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission According to reports the nine-year-old girl was returning home in the company of two of her friends when soldiers bathing near a well chased after her and raped her. The girl was admitted to a hospital and the medical reports confirmed that she had been sexually abused. It is also reported that the girl who is still being treated at the hospital is being questioned constantly by commando officers. There have been continuous and ongoing protests about the behaviour of the soldiers of the camp towards the villagers. One of the villagers, Chandrasekaran Sugabalan, a 35-year-old man who participated in the protests has been killed and his body found in a pond near Digiliwatiya. http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2010statements/2438?print=yes/
