Sri Lanka's Request to Screen "Lies Agreed To" at UN Granted by Kohona's Ex-Landlord

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 21 -- At the UN some countries and state-funded media try to use access and even "ethics" as a club, with Sri Lanka the most recent example.

  Earlier this month a Sri Lankan government video was shown inside the UN in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium, described as a rebuttal the UK Channel 4 documentary "Killing Fields," which despite a request was not shown inside the UN.   Full Story>>>
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A Kunanayakam by any other name?

 *groundviewsjournalism Forcitizens

Mercenaries with misplaced consciences appear to be leading Sri Lanka’s latest band of apologists. Seldom does a hired hand leave such a damning trail as does Tamara Kunanayakam, Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other International Organizations in Switzerland.

During the General Debate under Item 2 at the 18^th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on 12 September 2011, H.E. Kunanayakam criticized the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay for her apparent ‘partiality’.[1] One is at a loss to comprehend what ‘partiality’ the Ambassador alludes to, except perhaps the fervency in which the High Commissioner has thus far discharged her mandate. In any event, there is no doubt that the High Commissioner will wear this curious brand like a badge of honour. The Ambassador goes on to state:

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Tamil Canadian Walk for Human Rights Draws Hundreds of Walkers; Raises $ 50,400

It was a sea of yellow as hundreds of Tamil Canadians enthusiastically gathered at Thomson Memorial Park on September 18th, 2011 for the 3rd Annual Tamil Canadian Walk. This year, Tamil Canadians walked for human rights in support of Amnesty International. Several community organizations and businesses participated in the event, which featured a 5-kilometer walk, BBQ, games and activities.

After the official launch of the campaign earlier this summer in June, community members canvassed their neighbourhoods, friends and families to collect donations for a worthy cause. With just twelve before the walk, fundraisers had raised just over $15,000.00. By the end of the day however, with the generous support of community members, sponsors, partners, media outlets, and businesses, the campaign completed the finish line with an impressive $50,000.00.

Courtesy: CTC
Published on: Sep 20, 2011 10:42:09 GMT

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President visits NY holding tight the ‘charmed ball’ : Mega delegation so mega waste begins!

MR hires 90 luxury limousines when Japan hires only 8 !
(Lanka-e-News -20.Sep.2011, 2.00P.M.) The Head of State President Rajapakse of Sri Lanka (SL) , and his jumbo delegation reached New York this early morning (20) according to SL time. The SL permanent representative for UN , Dr. Palitha Kohona and UN Ambassador Shavendra Silva who is these days at the center of a storm of controversy were present at the welcome ceremony. The soured relationship between Kohona and Shavendra was very evident on the occasion as they stood aloof and had little conversation between them, reports say.
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Don’t be intimidated, Prof Neelson tells Tamil diaspora

Professor John P Neelson[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 September 2011, 05:41 GMT]
“When I see the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam or the Global Tamil Forum, you associate and put your faith in the West, I beg to differ,” said Professor John P. Neelson, while addressing Eezham Tamils rallying at Geneva on Monday. Talking on the past experience of Tamils trusting Western Establishments, Neelson said that instead of siding with the victims of State Terrorism, they [the West] sided with the perpetrators. Criminalisation of your struggle in favour of Sri Lanka was to intimidate you. Don’t be intimidated, Neelson said besides warning Tamils against trusting the ruling elites of the West too much. He emphasized on seeing more white people of Europe associated with the Eezham struggle and stressed on the point that India “remains the most important power that will determine what happens in Sri Lanka.” 

Professor Neelson, a sociologist, in his address was pinpointing the universal as well as specific issues associated with the struggle of Eezham Tamils.

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Sri Lanka - vacancy for hangman

By Charles Haviland
Sri Lanka BBC correspondent

	Gallows in Bogambara being inspected by Ministers Chandrasiri Gajadheera and Dullas Alahapperuma

The authorities in Sri Lanka say they will shortly be advertising to recruit a hangman.

No death sentence has been carried out on the island since 1976.

Legal option

But execution remains a legal option and there are 357 prisoners on death row.

Neither the current outgoing hangman nor his predecessor actually hanged anyone.

The post of hangman is based in the capital’s best known prison, Welikada.

It is not an especially senior one, and is falling vacant because its current incumbent has been promoted to the post of prison guard.

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Pressure mounts for international investigation

 20 September, 2011

Australian Senator Lee Rhiannon Australia's Green Party has called upon the Australian government to suspend Sri Lanka from the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Perth next month. A resolution was passed by the party on Tuesday at a meeting held at parliament house. The Green Party calling for suspension says that Sri Lanka has defiantly refused to hold an independent international investigation into the alleged war crimes committed during the final stages of the civil war in 2009. It also accuses Sri Lanka of breaching its commitment to the Commonwealth's values and principles. Sri Lanka has been endorsed as the host for the CHOGM meeting to be held in 2013 and the Green Party calls upon the Australian government to boycott it as well. Canada boycott Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has already warned that he will not attend CHOGM 2013 unless Sri Lanka improved its commitment to human rights, democratic values and political reconciliation. "The ball is with the Australian Government to stand up for human rights to ensure the process of restoration can commence and the war crime tribunal is held," Greens Senator for New South Wales Lee Rhiannon told the meeting. John Dowd AO QC from the International Commission of Jurists Australia, Dr Sam Pari from the Australian Tamil Congress, Associate Professor Jake Lynch from the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Peter Arndt from the Catholic Justice & Peace Commission of Brisbane were among those present. Unsubstantiated propaganda Sri Lanka's High Commissioner in Canberra, Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe talking to Australian media has dismissed the war crimes allegations as "unsubstantiated propaganda". "This whole process is being orchestrated by the defeated terrorist front organisations," he has said.

Sri Lanka High Commissioner for Australia

Douglas' status saved him from arrest: Centre

THE TIMES OF INDIAA Subramani, TNN | Sep 21, 2011

CHENNAI: The Centre has informed the Madras high court that Sri Lankan minister Douglas Devananda, wanted by the Chennai police in a1986 murder case, was not arrested during his visit to India as part of a presidential delegation in June 2010 because he enjoyed diplomatic immunity. 

A counter-affidavit to this effect was filed in the court by an under secretary (Sri Lanka) in the ministry of external affairs in response to a public interest writ petition of advocate P Pugalenthi, who has sought Devananda's arrest in connection with a pending murder case.

The counter said that though India did not have any extradition treaty with Sri Lanka, the countries had an extradition arrangement under Section 3 of the Extradition Act 1962. It wanted the PIL to be dismissed. A division bench comprising Justice C Nagappan and Justice M Sathyanarayanan has adjourned the matter by four weeks.

The case against Devananda is that he, along with a group of Sri Lankan youths staying in Choolaimedu in Chennai, had opened fire on local residents on Deepavali day in 1986, killing one man. Ten persons of Sri Lankan origin were arrested by the city police and a chargesheet too was filed in the case. After obtaining bail, however, all of them fled the country and the case is still pending in the files of IV additional sessions court here.

In 1994, the court declared Devananda a proclaimed offender and issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him. The latest controversy erupted after Devananda visited India and met the President, Prime Minister and others as a member of Lankan President Rajapaksa's delegation. He later approached the high court to quash the declaration, claiming he was under the belief that the criminal case against him had lapsed after the signing of the India-Sri Lanka accord in 1987.

In his petition, Pugalenthi said that while a proclaimed offender was being allowed to go scot-free and enjoy state honours, other ordinary offenders are expected to face trial.

Requesting the court to intervene in the matter, he said it should ask the Centre as to what action was taken on his representations and the Chennai police commissioner's fax message to his counterpart in Delhi.

Genocide proceeds inside Geneva, within diaspora: Viraj Mendis

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 September 2011, 22:31
 GMT]
“We all know that the process of Genocide is continuing. In Eelam the colonization process and the enslavement process in continuing, as the power of the LTTE is not there to stop it. The process of Genocide is continuing here too. It is happening inside these buildings here in Geneva,” said Mr. Viraj Medis, a progressive Sinhala rights activist and a long-term supporter of the struggle of Eezham Tamils, while addressing the Pongku Tamil rally held in front of the UN office in Geneva on Monday. The real external architects of the genocidal war are now trying their ultimate spin. The US/British political offensive which is a crucial part the genocidal process is taking place right now within the Diaspora, cautioned Mr. Mendis of the International Human Rights Association, Bremen, Germany.
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As the HR sessions in Geneva end so the brutality of armed unidentified gangs in Jaffna begin

((Lanka-e-News -19.Sep.2011, 11.55P.M.) No sooner the International human rights sessions ended in Geneva than the unidentified armed gangs resumed their brutality and violence in Jaffna . A resident of Punthalai Katuwan district , Jaffna had been abducted by an armed unidentified group and killed.

The deceased is 32 year old Dharmalingam Jeyendran who had been abducted on 17th , last Saturday night . The armed group had entered his house when he was there and abducted him. On the following day , Sunday ,his mutilated dead body following cutting and chopping had been found abandoned in a plantain cultivation land.
In Jaffna where the Army security is extremely strong , the only armed group operating other than the Army is the Minister Devananda’s EPDP group.

The family of the deceased say that the latter had no personal enemies whatsoever. His body is now in the Jaffna Hospital , and Chunnakam police are conducting investigations. 

Posted by Thavam

27 Tamil journalists locked out -NFR

(Lanka-e-News -20.Sep.2011, 6.00P.M.) NfR Sri Lanka, a network of Sri Lankan journalists and human rights defenders living in exile expresses serious concern that 27 permanent cadres of the Tamil language daily newspaper Thinakkural have been locked out due to industrial dispute by the new owners of the newspaper. Senior journalists of the newspaper, Editor-in- Chief of the Sunday Thinakkural, News Editor, Deputy News Editor, and Senior Editorial Assistants are among the locked out staff. President of the Tamil Media Association Barathi Rajanayakam is also among them.   
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Naval exercises with Sri Lanka “improper”

CHENNAI, September 21, 2011

The Pattali Makkal Katchi has criticised the Navy's plan to hold joint exercises with its Sri Lankan counterpart.

In a statement, PMK leader S. Ramadoss said it was learnt that after these exercises, it India planned to extend quite a lot of assistance to Sri Lankan Navy.

“India, which has been renovating the Kankesanturai port in Sri Lanka at a huge cost, is about to extend training and other assistance to the Sri Lankan Navy. When the whole of Tamil Nadu is demanding that India have no relations whatsoever with Sri Lanka, it is improper for the Indian Navy to engage itself in joint naval exercises with the same country”.

He pleaded that the Indian government respect the sentiments of Tamilians and cancel the joint naval exercises. Besides, it should sever military ties with Sri Lanka and initiate measures to treat the country as one that had committed war crimes.

 

S. Ramadoss. File Photo

Commonwealth Leaders Must Call For Justice in Sri Lanka

Target: The Commonwealth Heads of Government

• Sponsored by: The Global Tamil Forum

The Government of Sri Lanka has consistently refused to acknowledge the grievances of minorities and has acted with impunity to block every attempt to establish an independent and credible investigation into allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

This October the Commonwealth Heads of Government will meet in Perth, Australia, to discuss issues of worldwide importance, including human rights. We believe the Heads of Government present should send a strong message to the Government of Sri Lanka that it must fulfil the obligations it has to its people, and ensure that justice and accountability are achieved.

Please sign our petition and add your voice to the calls for justice in Sri Lanka.    

Full Story>>>

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Sri Lanka and Fiji: Ghost Human Rights Commissions

by Vanessa Spencer

Strategic Initiatives Programme

The Commission’s unwillingness to investigate numerous cases of torture, detention and the killing of human rights defenders and other government critics by the military continues to this day. In January and February 2011, trade unionists Pramod Rae and Attar Singh were threatened and intimidated by army officers.

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative

(September 20, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) A National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) is a body created and funded by the state with a mandate to protect and promote human rights. In order for an NHRI to provide human rights education to the public, advise the government on human rights issues and monitor state actors – who may be perpetrators of human rights violations – it must be independent and impartial. Indeed, independence from the state, together with active engagement with non-government organisations and other civil society actors, are key components of an effective NHRI. The Human Rights Commissions (HRC) of Sri Lanka and Fiji, countries marred by civil conflict, lack both. 

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COMMONWEALTH HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVE

2 | CHRI | 2011 | Volume 18, No: 2

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI)

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Accountability in Sri Lanka – Joint NGO Letter to President of the UN Human Rights Council

FORUM-ASIAFriday, 16 September 2011
Thematics: Human Rights Council

H.E. Laura Dupuy Lasserre

President of the United Nations Human Rights Council

Email: hrcpresidency@ohchr.org

Fax: +41-(0)22-917-0490

CC: Member States of the Human Rights Council

Geneva, 16 September 2011

Your Excellency,

The undersigned non-governmental human rights organisations write this letter to you in your capacity as President of the Human Rights Council to appeal for your leadership in enabling the Council to fulfill its responsibilities towards ensuring accountability for the alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law committed by both sides during the final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka.

[ Read more ]
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Sri Lankan envoy hits back at Greens

Sep 20 2011    Adam Gartrell, AAP Diplomatic Correspondent

Sri Lanka's top diplomat in Canberra has hit back angrily at an Australian Greens-led group demanding a war crimes investigation of his government.

Greens senator Lee Rhiannon on Tuesday hosted a roundtable meeting of academics and activists who want Prime Minister Julia Gillard to throw her weight behind international calls for an independent war crimes tribunal to investigate Sri Lanka.        Full Story>>>