Day: 31 January 2021

Govt. sends 20-page response to UNHR HC’s observations  UK and US to closely review UNHRC report on Sri Lanka  Ready to visit some provisions of PTA, Sri Lanka tells EU  Moragoda’s nomination as SL Envoy to India still stands Sri Lanka’s political arena these days is dominated by two topics – the impending United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions and the controversy over the proposed joint venture with India on developing the East Container Terminal (ECT) at the Colombo Port.  Both issues have put to the test Sri Lanka’s…

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In an unprecedented development, the UN Commissioner, in her report, has called on member nations to refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC) while going on to recommend targeted sanctions on individuals, including punitive action such as travel bans and freezing of assets. It is to be noted that the UN Commissioner’s call to refer Sri Lanka to the ICC, which is the court of last resort when all domestic options have been exhausted, points to the fact that the UNHCR has lost faith in domestic mechanisms that…

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By Anuradha Hiripitiyage The government’s promise to increase the daily wage of the plantation workers to Rs. 1,000 would not be fulfilled, Propaganda Secretary of the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) Duminda Nagamuwa told The Island yesterday. Nagamuwa said that in 2020 the government had issued four gazettes announcing price controls, which were ignored by large scale rice mill owners. “This is also not the first time that the government has undertaken to increase the daily wages of estate workers. Last year also the Cabinet approved a proposal to increase daily wages but…

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President Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa (NGR) and his Government’s nonchalance regarding the United Nations Human Rights Council report on Sri Lanka, which was a confidential document but released prematurely by the Foreign Minister to score political points, is typical of a regime trying to put up a brave face before succumbing to the inevitable.  NGR’s appointment of yet another commission to inquire into human rights abuses is simply an exercise to hoodwink the world body. However, odds are stacked against the President and his Government this time. The regime is going…

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In Sri Lanka, this rhetoric of misleading the collective consciousness in order to gain power was going on over decades.  Bandaranaike created a false patriotism by nationalising privately held assets and businesses. This patriotism was reduced to providing employment in these businesses to the political supporters of the successive political parties. Eventually the government budget had to finance these loss-making institutions. Still, this false patriotism is powerful enough to create a public opinion that we should continue with the State ownership of those entities.  It is beneficial to the rulers,…

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By Lalit K Jha    Washington, Jan 29 (PTI) The US has said that it is carefully reviewing a report from the UN on Sri Lanka’s human rights situation which highlights worrying trends such as deepening impunity, increasing militarisation of governmental functions, ethno-nationalist rhetoric and intimidation of the civil society over the past year.     The report urges enhanced monitoring and strong preventive action by the international community, warning that “Sri Lanka’s current trajectory sets the scene for the recurrence of the policies and practices that gave rise to grave human rights violations.”    …

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Disgraced former Chief Justice and Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s envoy to the United Nations in New York Mohan Pieris embarrassed himself and the Government of Sri Lanka in his very first address to the UN General Assembly on Thursday (28), accusing the Human Rights Council in Geneva of being a tool of terrorists. Mohan Pieris With the whole world in the chamber, Pieris also accused UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet of engaging in an “exercise” in regime change in Sri Lanka, in her latest report to the Human Rights Council, which was a…

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