Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

A delegation of Labor MPs in Australia have approached Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr and urged him to take a tougher line on alleged human rights abuses in Sri Lanka, The Australian newspaper reported.

The delegation of between 6-12 Labor MPs petitioned Senator Carr after last Tuesday`s caucus meeting.

A spokesman for Senator Carr confirmed the approach.

The group urged a tougher line on Sri Lanka, amid concerns Canberra`s diplomacy towards Colombo is being influenced by the need for Sri Lanka`s cooperation in cracking down on the asylum trade.

The Tamil political parties which were involved in formulating a draft political solution for the Tamil issue have failed to reach a consensus.

A committee comprising Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M. A. Sumanthiran, Tamil National People`s Front leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, senior lawyer Puvindran and law faculty lecturer Kumara Guruparan, had been formed last weekend to formulate the draft proposal.

However Sumanthiran said that the committee had failed to reach a consensus after Ponnambalam had put forward a pre-condition.

LONDON, May 15 (Reuters) - Britain said on Wednesday there would be `consequences` for Sri Lanka if its leaders did not address international concerns over human rights abuses, ahead of a Commonwealth summit scheduled to be held in Colombo in November.

http://www.trust.org/item/20130515161547-ny61m/

China Radio International`s Tamil service is all set to launch its FM station in India as part of its 50th anniversary in 2013. CRI Tamil, which broadcasts on shortwave in Tamil Nadu, is in talks with some FM stations in Chennai, Cai Jun aka Vani, deputy director of the Tamil department of CRI, told PTI in Beijing.

`We have already been broadcasting on shortwave in Tamil Nadu. We are in talks with local FM stations in Tamil Nadu for distribution. This will establish our footing in the FM area there,` she says.

The US government announced today that it will fund NGO activities targeting Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu, India.

The US Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration anticipates providing approximately $1.5 million to fund NGO programs supporting Sri Lankan refugees in South Asia.

A US State Department release said that the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration will look at NGOs that address prevention of and/or response to gender-based violence (GBV) among Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu, including trafficking, children at risk of dropping out of school, out-of-school children, women and children`s empowerment, and/or mental health and psychosocial support.

head line alone self explanatory....


the meeting without the head of the commonwealth...

Cameron under fire over decision to attend Sri Lanka summit..

The Prime Minister`s decision comes amid growing alarm over Sri Lanka`s dismal and worsening human rights record and fears that permitting Colombo to host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) will enable the regime to whitewash allegations of war crimes.

The United Nations says at least 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed by Sri Lankan government forces in the final stages of the civil war which ended four years ago amid evidence of war crimes. Continued and persistent human rights abuse has been widely documented since then by the increasingly authoritarian regime.

The Sri Lankan government have opted for a $2.5bn ( 1.6bn) contract for Airbus aircraft supply, which will be fitted with Rolls-Royce engines. Photograph: Pa/Rolls Royce

Rolls-Royce is expected to provide the engines for a multi-billion dollar refitting of SriLankan Airlines planes but this must not influence the UK`s diplomatic position over human rights in the south Asian country, campaigners say.

The deal has emerged at a time of mounting controversy over Sri Lanka`s hosting of the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in November, despite allegations that it is intensifying a crackdown on critics and increasing human rights abuses.

David Cameron is facing mounting calls to boycott an important Commonwealth meeting in Colombo amid continuing allegations that the Sri Lankan government is failing to end human rights abuses.


Mr Cameron is scheduled to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka in November. At the start of the three-day meeting, the presidency of the group is to he handed to Sri Lanka`s president, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Queen, or else another member of the royal family, is also due to take part in the biennial event.

Canadian government attacks Sri Lanka`s accountability record

John Baird, Canada`s foreign minister, said he was stunned that Colombo was not facing censure for its behaviour.

`Canada didn`t get involved in the Commonwealth to accommodate evil we came to combat it. We are deeply disappointed that Sri Lanka appears poised to take on this leadership role.`

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/26/canada-government-sri-lanka-commonwealth

Australia`s ex-PM calls for boycott of summit in Sri Lanka

Several prominent Australians, including former prime minister Malcolm Fraser, have asked the federal government to consider boycotting a major Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka later this year.

Fraser has signed a petition calling on Australia to join hands with Canada in avoiding the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka in November this year, `The Australian` newspaper reported. Organized by the Australian Tamil Congress, the petition calls on the government to insist on a new host country `unless there is significant progress on Sri Lanka`s human rights record`, the report said.

The Law Society of SA (LSSA) says it supports the call made last week by the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA) for the suspension of Sri Lanka from the Councils of the Commonwealth due to its breaches of the rule of law and of the independence of the judiciary, as well as the gross harassment of members of the legal profession.

The LSSA says it supports the CLA resolution passed unanimously by some 900 judges and lawyers from across the Commonwealth who attended the 18th Commonwealth Law Conference held in Cape Town last week. The LSSA expressed its grave concern in January this year at the politically motivated impeachment of the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, Shirani Bandaranayake, and other rule of law violations, and urged the South African Government not to remain silent in the face these violations, while at the same time increasing its bilateral and trade relations with Sri Lanka.

London: A British student raped at a hotel in Sri Lanka in 2011 has spoken for the first time of the attack that also killed her British boyfriend, media reported on Sunday.

British woman raped in Sri Lanka speaks out

Waiving her anonymity as a rape victim, the 24-year-old has said she is afraid that the perpetrators of the crime will go unpunished on account of their political connections, the Sunday Times reported.

The report alleges that one of the suspects is a local politican whose family has close ties to the Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka Three legal associations of the Commonwealth have called for Sri Lanka`s suspension from the body of former British colonies and to reconsider holding a heads of government meeting in the country later this year citing an erosion of judicial independence and repression.

Commonwealth Lawyers` Association, Commonwealth Legal Education Association and Commonwealth Magistrates ` and Judges` Association have in a resolution said Sri Lanka`s continued presence in the Commonwealth and allowing its President Mahinda Rajapaksa to chair the Commonwealth would be seen as condoning governments violating its principles, the groups said in a statement Wednesday.

Apr 17, Colombo: A resolution on Sri Lanka has been ratified at the 18th Commonwealth Law Conference in Cape Town, South Africa today.

The Law Society of England and Wales Wednesday called for the suspension of Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth.

It has announced its support for the high-level international resolution which was ratified at the conference calling for resolute action against Sri Lanka following `repressive actions`.

The resolution was ratified at the conference by the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA), the Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA), and the Commonwealth Magistrates` and Judges` Association (CMJA).