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2009 State Department Human Rights Country Report on Sri Lanka Now Available March 12th, 2010
The 2009 US State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices were released on March 11, 2010.
For the report on Sri Lanka, please go to:
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/sca/136093.htm
The Annual Human Rights reports are put out by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the US Department of State.
Sri Lanka cited in Address of UN Human Rights High Commissioner March 5th, 2010
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay highlighted on-going human rights problems in Sri Lanka in a recent address to the UN Himan Rights Council as she presented the UNHCHR 2009 Annual Report.
“In Sri Lanka, I welcome the progress made in returning displaced persons, and hope the review and release of security detainees can similarly be expedited. But the opportunity for peace and reconciliation continues to be marred by the treatment of journalists, human rights defenders and other critics of the Government. I am convinced that Sri Lanka should undertake a full reckoning of the grave violations committed by all sides during the war, and that the international community can be helpful in this regard,” Commissioner Pillay said in her Address to the Human Rights Council.
Commissioner Pillay’s Address to the UN HR Council (Download PDF)
World Bank Projects for Sri Lanka Approved January 8th, 2010
The following World Bank projects for Sri Lanka have been approved:
Sri Lanka: Emergency Northern Recovery Project
$65 million to rapidly return internally displaced people (IDPs), largely ethnic Tamils, to their places of origin in the Northern Province and restore their social and economic lives. The project is expected to reach a total of about 100,000 IDPs. Read more.
Sri Lanka: Provincial Roads Project
$105 million to improve access to socio-economic centers in Eastern, Northern, and Uva Provinces through the sustainable management of improved road infrastructure. The project will rehabilitate provincial roads, develop and implement an effective maintenance strategy, and strengthen the capacity of the Provincial Council Road Development Departments to plan and manage budgets within a framework of fiscal constraint. Read more.
Expert Witnesses Detail IDP Situation in Sri Lanka December 17th, 2009
Three panels of expert witnesses testified on December 10, Humam Rights Day, about current realities facing internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in northern and Eastern Sri Lanka. The government’s recent decision finally to allow the resettlement of displaced Tamil civilians who had been held in internment camps since the end of a brutal war in May was commended. At the same time, concern was expressed about inconsistencies in policies governing the recent releases, continued lack of access by humanitarian organizations (including the UN) to IDPs in resettlement areas and former LTTE cadres in detention centers, the safety of released IDPs and the need for further de-mining of formerly populated areas.
The following Issue experts testified:
- Eric Schwartz, Assistant Secretary for Population, Migration and Refugees, U.S. Department of State (Download PDF of testimony)
- Michel Gabaudan, regional representative for the United States of America and the Caribbean, UNHCR (Download PDF of testimony)
- Miriam Young, US Counsel on Sri Lanka
- Christoph Koettl, Amnesty International (Download PDF of testimony)
- Robert Oberst, Nebraska Wesleyan University
- Jennifer Leonard, International Crisis Group
Human Rights Day Marks 100th Day of Unjust Conviction of Tamil Journalist December 10th, 2009
Today, International Human Rights Day, marks the one hundredth day of the draconian sentence for Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagam. Tissainayagam was given a harsh sentence of twenty years of hard labor for what has widely been seen as trumped up charges and a forced confession. Ms. Navanethem Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement at the 12th session of the Human Rights Council,
“We should all be dismayed by the recent sentence of twenty years’ imprisonment imposed on Sri Lankan journalist J.S. Tissainayagam, who had been critical of the army’s treatment of Tamil civilians. His conviction raises serious concerns about respect for the right to freedom of expression.”
