Tamils ​​appeal for Australia to co-sponsor UN human rights vote

 PHOTO:  The UN has estimated that at least 100,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka's Tamil separatist War between 1972 and 2009.  (Anuruddha Lokuhapuarachchi: Reuters)

Asia Editor  Catherine McGrath

Tamil groups have welcomed a US-led resolution calling for an international probe into alleged war crimes in the final stages of the Sri Lankan civil war. 

The draft resolution, posted on the UN Human Rights Council's website on Tuesday, calls for Sri Lanka to investigate allegations of military excesses.

It also asks UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay to report back verbally in September, with a written report by March 2015.

Credible investigations suggest 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed by government forces in the final stages of the war in May 2009.

The Sri Lankan Government has rejected calls for an international probe as an "unwarranted interference".

A prominent Tamil MP has visited Canberra to ask Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to support and possibly co-sponsor the resolution.

MA Sumanthiran, from the Tamil National Alliance, has met Ms Bishop and briefed interested MPs from both major parties.

"There is wide consensus that Sri Lanka hasn't delivered and hasn't made headway in accountability," Mr Sumanthiran told Australia Network after his meetings at Parliament House.

"The United Nations Human Rights Council now has a resolution that calls on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate atrocities said to have taken place in the last days of the civil war.

"We have called consistently for a international commission of inquiry. This present draft that we have seen doesn't call for an independent inquiry to be set up through the resolution.

"We are a bit disappointed, yet we recognise we are making progress with the resolution. We are hopeful that US, Britain and a few other countries will take it forward, acquire the necessary vote then it will be passed and implemented."

The UNHRC is due to vote on the resolution on March 28.

Australian Position

Mr Sumanthiran has asked for support from the Australian Government and local MPs.

"We do realise that Australia has a difficult situation with boatloads of people coming and landing here (from Sri Lanka) but we would like those two issues to be kept separate," he said.

"The deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka calls for decisive action from the world community, particularly from civilised countries and we would like to see Australia on that side rather than others who stand with Sri Lanka now.

"I met with Foreign Minister Bishop this morning and officially requested Australia co-sponsor the resolution.

"She assured me she would look at it and make a decision on that."

In November 2013, human rights groups criticised Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott for his failure to criticise the Sri Lankan Government during his visit to the country for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings.

At the time, Mr Abbott praised the progress made in Sri Lanka since the war ended and thanked the government for its cooperation in combating people smuggling.

In contrast, UK Prime Minister David Cameron visited war-torn areas of Sri Lanka and warned the government it must address concerns of mass killings or face a United Nations investigation.

At least 100,000 people were killed in the 37-year battle for a separate homeland for ethnic minority Tamils ​​before government troops crushed the Tamil Tiger rebels.

ABC / AFP

Sri Lanka under fire at Human Rights Council

Supporters of the Sri Lankan government display pictures of President Mahinda 

Supporters of the Sri Lankan government display pictures of President Mahinda Rajapaksa in March 2013 to denounce last year's UNHRC resolution. Pic: AP.

By Gibson Bateman- By  Asian 

CORRESPONDENT  Mar ​​05, 2014

On March 3, the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) began Its 25 TH   session in Geneva. Since two US-led resolutions have been passed on Sri Lanka in as many years at the HRC - and the possibility of a third resolution being passed highly likely - the human rights and governance record of the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime will garner significant attention.

Sri Lanka Under Fire at Human Rights Council by nelvely

USA Draft resolution on Sri Lanka as received by UN Human Rights Council Members
(Lanka-e-News-04March2014, 400PM) promoting Reconciliation, Accountability, and Human rights in Sri Lanka The Human Rights Council, 

Reaffirming the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,

USA Draft Resolution on Sri Lanka as Received by UN Human Rights Council Members by nelvely

Are Business Leaders Blindfolded Puppets On A String?

By  Chandra Jayaratne  - March 5, 2014

Chandra Jayaratne

Business leaders filled the ballroom of a star class hotel to attend a leading business club's luncheon meeting. This was one of the largest gatherings in the Club's history. It was reported that over thirty participants were left out, from a waiting list as well. However, several of the Chamber big wigs were amongst the conspicuous absentees! Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka was the star Presenter On the theme, "The forthcoming Geneva UNHCR Session-the process to be followed, does not entail such for Legal and Economic Sri Lanka ".  

The speaker was clinical, strategic, analytical and precise in his approach to establish his point of view from a political scientist's perspective. He outlined the past, omissions and commissions and the sketched the likely future political landscape connected to the forthcoming Geneva UNHCR Session. He presented information that the audience had not heard of before and filled in several gaps in the jigsaw puzzle. He did not beat about the bush, when being critical of those who in his opinion were at the base of the current challenges. He laid it thick, to establish his hypothesis, likely events to come and the possible outcomes. He was, however, possibly due to lack of time, quite vague on the likely impact on business and the economy and did not adequately deal with the potential business risks and essential risk mitigation actions.

Business leaders were pleased with the value for money serving from the meeting, appeared to have thoroughly enjoyed the presentation and the hard hitting statements, the jovial expressions and the cleaver pun. However, how many of those present, went out of the meeting, determined to get back to their desks and use the core messages of the presenter for an inward business focused search light, cognizant of potential challenges ahead, and to initiate a business risk analysis and develop risk mitigation plans, is any body's guess.

For instance, how many business leaders would have recognized the possible interpretations of the core messages, by turning the search inwards, that,                          Read More

Sri Lanka questions independence of UN human rights bossSri Lanka questions independence of UN human rights boss

BY  SHIHAR ANEEZ-Wed Mar 5, 2014 

(Reuters) - Sri Lanka questioned the independence of the human rights office of the United Nations on Wednesday, a day after the United States asked the UN to investigate human rights violations by the Sri Lankan government.

The US resolution calls for the UN's Human Rights Council to investigate "past abuses and to examine more recent attacks on journalists, human rights defenders, and religious minorities."

The past violations relate to Sri Lanka's 26-year civil war with Tamil separatists. The resolution also raises concern over continuing violations, including sexual violence, enforced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, torture and threats against human rights defenders and journalists.

But Sri Lanka's foreign minister, GL Peiris, told a Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva that his country doubted the independence of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the office of the UN's human rights chief.

"We remain deeply concerned that the lack of financial independence of the OHCHR leads to the erosion of independence in its overall functioning," Peiris said.

The commission pays disproportionate attention to some countries, he said, and ignores human rights violations in other parts of the world.

The chief human rights officer at the UN, Navi Pillay, is a South African of Tamil ancestry.

The UN, through two US-sponsored resolutions in the last two years, has asked Sri Lanka to implement the recommendations of Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), a local panel appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

But the West and rights groups say Rajapaksa's government has failed to address rights abuses and pursue a lasting political settlement.

Last week, Pillay called for an international inquiry into war crimes committed by both government forces and separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during a 26-year civil war. She said the government had failed to do its own credible investigation.

Sri Lanka has rejected calls for an international investigation and said it will conduct investigations under its local legal framework.

Peiris said recommendations in Pillay's report "are not placed within the ambit of the LLRC, as demonstrated by the call to establish an international inquiry mechanism."

Rajapaksa's administration, backed by China and Russia, has said Pillay has failed to investigate the military interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya and allegations of human rights abuses taking place in those countries.

Rights groups have welcomed Pillay's report, citing Sri Lanka's failure to comply with two successive UNHRC resolutions.

A vote on the resolution is scheduled for the last week of the session, starting on March 24.

Nadesan, Pulidevan executed by Sri Lankan Army in ‘White Flag’ incident

by  Karthiyayini  On March 5, 2014

Mar 5 (TruthDive): Nadesan and Pulidevan, LTTE’s political wing leaders were executed by the genocidal Sri Lankan Army in Cold blood, Reveals new evidence Provided in the 253-page report titled, ‘ Island of Impunity ‘  issued by the Baptist-Based International Crimes Evidence Project (ICEP) early February this year.

The new evidence of Sri Lanka’s genocidal killings staged during the final months of its bloodied civil war against Tamil tiger rebels, LTTE in May 2009 including eye-witness accounts now surface in the run up to the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.

The ICEP report brings to light the killings of the LTTE’s political wing leaders, Balasingham Mahendran (Nadesan) and Seevaratnam Pulidevan (Pulidevan), LTTE military commander Colonel Thambirasa Thurairasingam (Ramesh), LTTE news reader Isaipriya and Balachandran, the young son of LTTE leader Prabhakaran.

In the infamous ‘White Flag’ incident in 2009, senior LTTE political leaders Balasingham Nadesan and Pulidevan had agreed to surrender to the Sri Lankan Army. Prior to surrender, they used satellite phones to send messages to diplomats, journalists and mediators to ensure top Sri Lankan officials, including the country’s President, knew of their idea to lay down their arms. Though they had been assured that their surrender would be accepted if they raised a white flag, they were brutally put down to death by the Sri Lankan Army.

Out of the two eye witnesses who wish to remain anonymous, one witness who worked as a bodyguard to the Tamil tigers was taken to the front by the Sri Lankan Army on the morning of 18 May, 2009 to confirm the identity of surrendering Tamil political leaders in a perfectly set scene of surrender amidst hundreds of soldiers, including senior officers and bodyguards.

The second witness, a government teacher who was pressed into military service in the final months of the war also surrendered in the last phase. From a dilapidated building close to the front line, this eye-witness watched groups of Tamil Tiger leaders and their relatives walk out of the war zone towards the Sri Lankan Army, carrying white flags, among whom Nadesan, his Sinhalese wife and the head of the Tiger Peace Secretariat, Pulidevan were present.

The former bodyguard, after more than an hour, was driven away when along the path he spotted soldiers taking pictures of dead bodies on their mobile phones and he also recognised Pulidevan and Nadesan’s half-naked dead bodies, with bullet wounds and burn marks on their chests.

The ICEP report documents the killing of Ramesh, who was unarmed, surrendered in a different group and in civil clothing. The report states that photograph and video proof indicates the killing of Ramesh in the interrogation site, against the Sri Lankan Army assertions that he was killed in an armed conflict.

The report also details the killing of LTTE chief’s son Balachandran Prabhakaran, whose photographs of the dead body with gunshot marks riddled in the chest were earlier published by the Britain-based Channel 4.

Though 40 other rebel tigers were believed to have negotiated a surrender with the Lankan Army in the ‘White Flag’ incident, none of them survived.

Meantime, UN Human Rights chief Navi Pillay has recommended an international investigation into the alleged war crimes of Sri Lanka. Obama administration has filed an anti-Lanka resolution for the third time at the UNHRC session, urging Sri Lanka to probe into human rights abuses. Twenty-four rights groups in Sri Lanka have urged the United Nations to initiate an international probe into the war crimes and rights abuses committed by Sri Lanka during its civil war. However, Sri Lanka has called the allegations as ‘baseless’ and rejected the call.

International probe into alleged war crimes 

in SL: Who is responsible?

Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, - March 4, 2014

President's Counsel

Member of Parliament

"War crimes and crimes against humanity" is a current topic which is being discussed today as never before in history. One might wonder whether there was a war without crimes. War means nothing else than a heap of crimes. The world renowned historian who was the Head of the History Faculty in London University, Sir Arnold Toynbee says that since human civilisation began the longest period that prevailed without a war in any part of the world was 14 years. That is an adequate proof to understand that man is greedy and in quest for power and wealth than for anything else. Aristotle in his wisdom has said that "every fool in this world thinks that he is born to rule others".

International War crimes in SL Who is Responsible probe into alleged by nelvely

SL government failed to conduct independent and credible probe

Wednesday, 05 March 2014

The United States has said that the Government of Sri Lanka had failed to conduct an independent and credible investigation into the death of thousands of civilians during the war despite two resolutions being passed at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in the past two years.

US Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, Sarah Sewall has said at the 25th session of the UNHRC that the US has now submitted a resolution calling on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to conduct an investigation into human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.

The US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power was earlier scheduled to speak at UNHRC session, but had to attend an urgent UN Security Council meeting.

Sewall has observed that while past incidents need to be investigated, the US draft resolution on Sri Lanka submitted to the UN Human Rights Council at the ongoing session, also calls for investigations to be conducted into recent attacks on journalists, human rights defenders and religious minorities.

“In past years we have learned that rigorous and systematic fact finding can play a critical role in helping countries heal wounds remaining from periods of conflict. Without such a process grievances go unaddressed and impunity is allowed to triumph creating a climate in which new abuses occur,” she has said.

Gota, Please Don't White-Van SunliGota, Please Don't White-Van Sunli

By  Kumar David  -

March 5, 2014 

Prof Kumar David

Neoliberalism Underpins Wanathamulla And Slave Island Evictions: The Informal Economy and its Enemies

Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development

The informal sector of the economy is the bedrock of an open society in third-world countries. When the bulldozers of the UDA roll in with white-vans in tow, flanked by jackboots in helmets, there is no place the poor can run, nowhere to hide. The assault of Rajapakse Raj's corporate-state neoliberalism on the Informal Economy (InfEc) is a paradoxical turning of tables on Karl Popper who preached that the great facilitator of an Open Society was capitalist individualism. The PPP (Popper-popping-paradox) then is that free market capitalism in poor countries is predicated on authoritarianism thus exploding the capitalism-freedom marriage that Popper so artfully brokered. Left to themselves, the poor that is the majority in third world nations, seek self-supporting collective structures, Popper's antihero.

This essay is a book-review of sorts where I Extremis process Generic Local context into the discourse in "The Dilemma of the Informal Economy" by Sriyan de Silva.  The Monograph, Published by the Employers Federation of Ceylon, 214 pages in length, has just Come Hot Off the Press.  I have MsUpload On My purposes in Chapter 5 for the First Part of this essay.  Jaw breaker The chapter has a title of a flimsy but IT is about the travails of the small people who earn property rights and Their Underlying livelihood through InfEc.

InfEc consists of small and very small businesses; itinerant vendors, hawkers Ramakrishna Plywood, small Repair Joints, the ubiquitous 3-Wheeler Walla , small Contractors and GJ Gardner. The littlest fellow could be the wewalkaraya who mends Your rattan CHAIR; at the end More would be the leader of a clique of ambitious Four or Five Bass unahas Balcony Extension who did that for you. Families of the residents and Slave Island and Wanathamulla in the All Insurances are only a proletariat (workers employed by companies or the State); a significant majority are self-employed in the Informal Sector.                   

Sunil Samaradheera   who was abducted in Wanathamulla Last Week after a heated argument with gota , was a fish vendor, a hawker at a Hot hot mallu lalla, typical of an Informal Sector person. Read Tisaranee Gunasekera's Story and Video Watch Sunil's embedded expose Thanks to a Wanathamulla citizen's outcry after his release;    

                                                                                                  Read More 

யாழ் கொழும்பு பஸ் மீது காடையர்கள் கண்மூடித்தனமான தாக்குதல்

04 மார்ச் 2014, செவ்வாய்

கொழும்பில் இருந்து யாழ் நோக்கி பயனித்துக்கொண்டிருந்த தனியார் பயணிகள் பேரூந்து இன்று நள்ளிரவு காடையர்களால் இடை மறித்து தாக்கப்ட்டது.இருப்பினும் தாக்குதல் நிகழ்த்தப்பட்டதற்கான காரணம் இதுவரை தெரிவிக்கப்படவில்லை.

பயணிகளுடன் கொழும்பில் இருந்து யாழ் நோக்கி  பயணித்துக்கொண்டிருந்த அளவெட்டியை சேர்ந்த  தனியார் பேரூந்தே இவ்வாறு காடையர்களால் தாக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

தாக்குதல் தொடர்பில்..

குறித்த பேரூந்து யாழ்ப்பாணம் நோக்கி பயணித்து கொண்டிருக்கையில் இன்று நள்ளிரவு 11 மணியளவில் நீர்கொழும்பு கொச்சிக்கடை பகுதியில் கத்தி மற்றும் தடிகளுடன் வந்த இனம் தெரியாத காடையர்களால் இடை மறித்து தாக்கப்ட்டுள்ளது.காடையர்கள் பயணிகளை அச்சுறுத்தியுள்ளதுடன் அவர்களை பேரூந்தில் இருந்து கீழ் இறக்கி ஓட ஓட கலைக்கப்பட்டதாகவும் சிறிது தூரம் ஓடி சென்று வேறு பேரூந்தில் தாம் ஏறியதாகவும்  குறித்த பேரூந்தில் பயணித்த பயணி ஓருவர் தெரிவித்தார்.

இதேவேளை குறித்த பேரூந்தின் சாரதி மற்றும் நடத்துனர்கள் காடையர்களால் தாக்கப்பட்டு படுகாயமடைந்துள்ளதாகவும் பேரூந்து தற்போது கொச்சிக்கடை பொலிஸ் காவலில் வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளதாகவும் வேறு சாரதி ஒருவர் உதயனுக்கு தெரிவித்தார்.

- See more at: http://onlineuthayan.com/News_More.php?id=490842704405122508#sthash.XOrf43Ur.dpuf

Chinese firms tapping into Sri Lanka market

 2014-03-05

COLOMBO -- Twenty-three companies from Zhongshan, China are seeking business opportunities in Sri Lanka' s private sector with focus on light industries, an official said Tuesday.

The Chinese business delegation was led by Zhongshan Municipal People's Government Deputy Secretary General Cen Hongkai.

The delegation comprises government officials and representatives of 23 private companies to further strengthen links with Sri Lankan companies. Targeted products and services are chemical, lighting, import and export, manufacturing of home appliances, plastic, trade andlogistics, electrical equipment, vacuum engineering, technology and plastics.

The Chinese companies were briefed on the investment climate in Sri Lanka and encouraged to take advantage of Free Trade Agreements with India and Pakistan that allow duty-free exports from the island.

"At present there is $20 million of imports from Zhongshan to Sri Lanka but only about $2 million of exports from Sri Lanka," Cen told the gathering insisting "great potential" exists for trade development between the two countries.

Chinese companies could use Sri Lanka's workforce for manufacturing, ample raw materials for making glass and use cleared land in the former war-torn areas in the north and east for export of plants and flowers.

"The proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China, which is expected to be signed later this year will also provide new opportunities for trade promotion," Sri Lanka-China Business Council President Navindra Abeysekera said.

Zhongshan trade topped $43 billion in 2013, attracting $12 billion in foreign direct investment.

Despite a population of about 3.14 million people, Zhongshan enjoys trade cooperation with about 200 countries and over 30 Fortune 500 companies operate there.

Muslims are Responsible for All Muslims in the World

Article by Harun Yahya-Mar-04-2014

Every Muslim of conscience should find it his responsibility to strive for saving these Muslims who are suffering under torment.

Harun Yahya photo courtesy: Burma Times

(KUALA LAMPUR Burma Times) - As we all know, there is a stirring in the Islamic world in the recent days: Military coups are taking place, there is strife and conflict; in brief, persecution against Muslims is spreading significantly. When we look at world media and review the headlines in newspapers, televisions and social media, everyone is searching for the perpetrators. It is an undeniable truth that the Islamic geography is impaired because of the unjust practices based on “Islamophobia”. Yet, do the Islamic countries have no share in the current turmoil?

Muslims Are Responsible for All Muslims in the World by nelvely

Ukraine’s Leaders Seek National Socialism, Dictatorship

by John Stanton / March 4th, 2014

So the US leadership is supporting the creation of One Nation Under God in Ukraine. As one of the key groups involved in the militant overthrow of an elected government has stated in its party platform, “a system of the dictatorship of the Nation with regard to the socioeconomic interests of the people” needs to be implemented (more below).

Ukraine’s Leaders Seek National Socialism, Dictatorship by nelvely

Malaysian Airlines Must Respect Trade Union and Worker Rights

William Gomes, Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com-Mar-04-2014

MAS had failed to observe international labour and human rights standards. Cease Anti-Union activities against NUFAM and its members

Malaysia Airlines

(Washington, D.C) - We, the 54 undersigned civil society groups, trade unions and organizations are disturbed by the news that Malaysian Airlines (MAS), a government linked company, continues to violate worker and trade union rights. Recently, MAS commenced disciplinary action against Mohd Akram bin Osman, the Secretary General of the National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (NUFAM), and 30 other NUFAM members. The show cause letter dated on or about 14/2/2014 asked why disciplinary action should not be taken against them by reason of their participation in an ‘illegal’ gathering on 27/11/2013 at the Ministry of Human Resources in Putrajaya'

Malaysian Airlines Must Respect Trade Union and Worker Rights by nelvely

Central African Republic: UN Recommends Sending More Troops

Photo: Till Muellenmeister/IRIN

Anti - Balaka fighters at Bangui´s estate PK9, waiting to attack Muslim IDP convoys passing along the road.

3 MARCH 2014

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has recommended deploying roughly 12,000 peacekeepers to the Central African Republic. This follows renewed calls from the nation's leadership to help avert a "humanitarian disaster."

In a report to the members of the United Nations Security Council, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recommended deploying more peacekeeping personnel in order to help return order to the Central African Republic (CAR). The report proposed sending 10,000 soldiers, plus 1,820 police officers.

The primary task of the UN deployment would be for "the protection of civilians," in its initial stages, according to Ban's report.

CAR is already expecting an increase to the international peacekeeping presence soon. The European Union plans to send 1,000 soldiers to work alongside the 6,000 African Union soldiers already deployed as part of Operation Sangaris.

The French parliament recently approved an enlarged French military operation in CAR, bolstering its numbers by 400 to roughly 2,000 troops. Germany, for its part, has declined to deploy soldiers, but has expressed its willingness to provide logistical support to the mission.

While the deployment up until now has shown "progressive effectiveness," Ban said the UN needed to send in personnel "with the full range of capacities that required to address the deep-rooted nature of the complex crisis now unfolding in the Central African Republic."

Ban also said that the new wave of personnel would "be part of a broader, long-term engagement of the international community," as the UN could not address all of the problems facing CAR.

CAR facing 'humanitarian disaster'

The recommendation to the 15 members of the Security Council followed a plea from CAR's interim president, Catherine Samba-Panza, to provide more support to its civilian population as it struggles to contain ethnic violence.

"I inherited a country on the verge of collapse, with rampant insecurity, a lack of state authority across its national territory and facing an unprecedented humanitarian disaster," the interim president told a women's forum in Kinshasa on Monday.

However, CAR's interim president has repeatedly called for more soldiers, a call which she renewed on Monday.

"Without massive support and assistance from the international community... we will not meet our goal of stabilizing the country and restoring constitutional order within the required timeframe."

Fighting broke out in CAR a year ago when the predominantly Muslim Seleka rebel group overthrew the government. It then installed Michel Djotodia as its president.

Violence escalated again several months later as Christian groups began forming what they described as a self-defense militias against Seleka fighters. The crisis prompted a French and African Union military intervention and, finally, President Djotodia's resignation in January.

Ukraine suspects Russia as source of cyber attack on MPs

WEDNESDAY 05 MARCH 2014

A cyber attack on Ukraine from inside the Russian-controlled Crimea region has hit the mobile phones of its members of parliament, the head of the country's security service says.

Ukraine Suspects Russia as Source of Cyber Attack on MPs by nelvely