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Human Rights Watch 20 May 2013 Respect for basic rights and liberties has declined in Sri Lanka in the four years since the government defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). This week marks the fourth anniversary of the brutal civil war’s end. Since the end of the 26-year-long civil war, the Sri Lankan [...]

Amnesty International 30 April 2013 The Sri Lankan government is intensifying its crackdown on critics through threats, harassment, imprisonment and violent attacks, Amnesty International said in a report released today. The document, “Assault on Dissent”, reveals how the government led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa is promoting an official attitude that equates criticism with “treason” in a [...]

United States Department of State 19 April 2013 Summary Sri Lanka is a constitutional, multiparty republic. President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was reelected to a second six-year term in January 2010, and the parliament, which was elected in April 2010, share constitutional power. The government is dominated by the president’s family; two of the president’s brothers [...]

Human Rights Watch 6 April 2013 United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities should not deport 19 Tamil refugees to Sri Lanka because they would be at serious risk of torture and persecution upon return. The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has recognized all 19 as refugees, but the UAE authorities have told the group they must leave the country [...]

Reporters Without Borders 5 April 2013 Reacting to April 3 armed attack on the Tamil newspaper Uthayan in the northern city of Kilinochchi, Reporters Without Borders and its partner organization, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), call on the authorities to do whatever is necessary to prevent journalists from being harassed and physically attacked. [...]

The Guardian Haroon Siddique 28th February 2013 The UK Border Agency has been ordered to completely halt the removal of Tamils who have been refused asylum, pending an assessment of the risk such individuals face on return to Sri Lanka.  The high court decision came on Wednesday, 24 hours before 65 people – mostly Tamil and [...]

Human Rights Watch 26 February 2013 Politically Motivated Sexual Assaults in Custody Continue Since Conflict Sri Lankan security forces have been using rape and other forms of sexual violence to torture suspected members or supporters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. While widespread rape [...]

Human Rights Watch 26 February 2013 (BBC coverage of HRW report here) Summary There have long been reports that the Sri Lankan military and police forces rape and sexually abuse ethnic Tamils detained for alleged links to the secessionist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), among other forms of torture and ill-treatment. During the 26-year-long [...]

Human Rights Watch World Report 2013 – Sri Lanka Published 31st January 2013 Introduction The Sri Lankan government in 2012 continued its assault on democratic space and failed to take any meaningful steps towards providing accountability for war crimes committed by either side during the internal armed conflict that ended in 2009. The government targeted [...]

UN News Centre 18 January 2013 The United Nations human rights chief today spoke out against the impeachment and removal of Sri Lanka’s Chief Justice, saying it is a “calamitous setback” for rule of law in the South Asian nation, as well as for accountability and reconciliation. Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake was served notice of [...]