Ukraine crisis: Crimea now part of Russia, local parliament declares

Referendum on union with Russia on 16 March will 'only ratify decision', as Duma works on bill to make it easier for territories to join Russia

Shaun Walker in Simferopol and Ian Traynor in Brussels-Thursday 6 March 2014

A Femen protester against Vladimir Putin's policies concerning Ukraine is detained near the Crimean parliament in Simferopol. Photograph: Maxim Shipenkov/EPA

The de facto authorities in Crimea have announced that they consider the territory to be part of Russia after a swift vote in the local parliament.

The MPs said on Thursday morning that a referendum planned for 30 March – which was due to ask voters if they wanted more autonomy from Kiev – would now take place on 16 March, ask whether they wanted to join Russia, and only be a ratification of a decision that had already been taken.

The parliament also appealed to Moscow to assist its decision to seek union with Russia.

The bombshell announcement coincided with an emergency EU summit in Brussels devoted to Ukraine. Senior EU officials denounced the idea as "completely illegal" while British officials said they would take their cue from the interim Ukrainian government, which deems the referendum anti-constitutional.

The acting Ukrainian prime minister, Arseniy Yatseniuk, roundly dismissed the referendum idea.

"This is an illegitimate decision. This so-called referendum has no legal grounds at all. Crimea was, is and will be an integral part of Ukraine.

"In case of further escalation and military intervention into Ukraininan territory by foreign forces, the Ukrainian government and military will act in accordance with the constitution and laws."

In Moscow, Russian MP Sergei Mironov said the Duma, Russia's parliament, could consider the appeal from Crimea as early as next week. The Duma has already begun work on a bill that would make it easier for new territories to join Russia, clearly penned with one eye on events in Crimea. On Tuesday, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, had said categorically that Russia was "not considering" joining Crimea to Russia.

At a press conference in the Crimean capital Simferopol, the deputy prime minister of the region, Rustam Temirgaliev, said the parliament voted by 78 votes to 0, with eight abstentions, to hold the referendum on 16 March. He said the decision, which also gave the go-ahead to the territory to begin preparations to join Russia, "comes into effect from the current moment". The referendum would be held "only to confirm" the decision.

Temirgaliev said that as of Thursday, the only legal troops on Crimean soil were the Russian army.

"Any troops of a third country will be treated as illegal band formations, with all the consequences that entails," he said.

Shortly after this decision was announced, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe confirmed that an observer mission of more than 30, dispatched to defuse the situation in the peninsula, had been "prevented from entering Crimean territory".

Ukraine has a number of military bases in Crimea that have come under siege from armed local volunteers and the Russian army in recent days. Russia has denied its troops are involved in the region despite widespread evidence to the contrary. Ukrainian soldiers in the bases have come under pressure to defect to Russian or Crimean forces, but have mainly not done so.

With events moving quickly on the ground, the big question is whether the officer class starts to defect en masse, and whether Russia uses force if they do not.

In Kiev, Ukraine's economy minister, Pavlo Sheremeta, said the referendum would be illegitimate, but in Simferopol, politicians said the referendum was now only a formality. Crimea has a large pro-Russian population, though many want more autonomy rather than actual union with Russia.

The Kremlin's final goal in Crimea has been murky, with many analysts suggesting that Putin would be satisfied with more autonomy or de facto independence for the region, but Thursday's events appear to suggest that the decision has been taken to annex the region.

"We have a group of Russian specialists here working on introducing the Russian rouble to the region," said Temirgaliev. He added that all Ukrainian state property in the region would be nationalised.

Outside the parliament building in Simferopol, a group of about 100 people waved Russian flags and chanted as the Russian national anthem was played, as well as a new "Crimean anthem" that begins: "The island of Crimea is fighting for freedom" and continues with scornful words about "fascist bands" in Kiev and their western backers.

The proceedings were interrupted by two topless demonstrators from the protest group Femen, who charged the stage with "Stop Putin's War" written on their torsos. They were beaten and screamed at by a crowd of elderly women before being dragged off by Cossack irregulars and taken away in a police van.

Russia Today presenter Liz Wahl quits live on air - video

THURSDAY 06 MARCH 2014
"I cannot be part of a network funded by the Russian government, that whitewashes the actions of Putin": RT Presenter Liz Wahl quits live on air in protest over her network's coverage.

Presenter Liz Wahl, who worked for the Russian funded RT-America formerly known as Russia Today,has resigned live on air in protest over the network's coverage of the Ukraine crisis.

She said: "I cannot be part of a network funded by the Russian government, that whitewashes the actions of Putin".

The Washington-based reporter made an impassioned speech at the end of her 5pm news bulletin about how her family had come to the US during the Hungarian revolution to escape Soviet forces, before saying that this would be her last report for the station.

Ms Wahl later told The Daily Beast that RT's coverage in general "made me feel sick".

Beijing and Moscow Part Ways Over Ukraine

• BY COLUM LYNCH-MARCH 5, 2014
• Days after Ukraine’s deposed President Viktor Yanukovych fled his Kiev palace, an unassuming, mid-level Chinese diplomat appeared before the United Nations Security Council to highlight Beijing’s support for the new pro-Western government, marking a rare diplomatic split from Moscow.
  "We respect the choice made by the Ukrainian people on the basis of national conditions," Shen Bo, a counselor at China’s U.N. mission said in a Feb. 24 statement that went largely unnoticed by the international press.
  China and U.N. watchers say Beijing’s refusal to blindly follow Moscow’s lead during the Ukrainian crisis reflects a deep-seated anxiety about the path that Russian President Vladimir Putin has chosen to pursue.
  "China has a pathological fear of other countries meddling in its internal affairs, and to witness Russia so blatantly intervening in Ukraine has to be a source of consternation," Elizabeth Economy, a China specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Foreign Policy in an email exchange. "Russia’s actions clearly run up against China’s central foreign policy tenet of non-interference in others’ internal affairs. It is a policy that has guided Chinese policy in North Korea, Sudan, Iran and Syria. If it were to upend this principle, it would reflect a seminal change in Chinese foreign policy and leave China much weaker in defense of its inaction in other crisis situations."
  Still, Shen’s comments about Ukraine reflect a significant shift for Beijing. China and Russia have been among the Security Council’s steadiest of allies, standing shoulder to shoulder as a counterbalance to the West’s big three — the United States, Britain, and France — who have dominated Security Council business for much of the past two decades. Moscow and Beijing share a suspicion that the West’s big powers seek to use the Security Council to promote their own interests in foreign countries under the guise of promoting democracy and human rights.
  Together, Beijing and Moscow have cast their vetoes to quash efforts by George W. Bush’s administration to condemn human rights violations by governments in Myanmar and Zimbabwe. More recently, China risked the ire of the Arab world by joining Russia in vetoing three resolutions aimed at curtailing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal campaign of violence.
  But the Russian intervention in Crimea has not sat well with a country that has significant commercial interests in Ukraine, and which has long been uneasy about Russia’s propensity for using military force to pressure its neighbors. Beijing fears that the use of military force against a sovereign nation sets a precedent that could one day be used against China.
  In earlier eras, China objected to the Brezhnev Doctrine, which was used to justify Russian invasions of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and Afghanistan in 1979, on the grounds that it constituted unwarranted interference in the affairs of a sovereign nation. China also broke with Russia after it intervened in neighboring Georgia in 2008 and stripped the pro-Western government of its provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In June 2009, Moscow vetoed a U.N. resolution authorizing the continued presence of nearly 150 U.N. peacekeepers in Georgia, effectively killing off a U.N. effort to monitor Georgia’s border with the separatist territory. China abstained from the vote.
  On Tuesday, Putin briefed his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping, on events unfolding in Ukraine. Xi spared Putin the kinds of public scolding and threats of repercussions issued in recent weeks by American and European officials. But he didn’t take Putin’s side. On the contrary, Xi urged Putin not to go it alone, hinting that Moscow should look more favorably on international mediation efforts, according to a statement.
  "At present, the situation in Ukraine is highly complicated and sensitive and has regional and global impact," Xi told him, according to a read out of the conversation published by Xinhua, the state-run news agency. "China believes that Russia can coordinate with other parties to push for the political settlement of the issue so as to safeguard regional and world peace and stability. China supports proposals and mediation efforts of the international community that are conducive to reduction of tension."
  Edward Luck, a historian of U.N. affairs who began his scholarly career as a Soviet specialist, said the Ukraine crisis underscores the limits of the partnership between Russia and China. As China emerges as a true global powerhouse, its interests have grown more complex, he said, requiring it to act more nimbly in a world where its allies come into conflict. Russia, meanwhile, remains primarily focused on its stature in its own neighborhood.
  "I don’t think that China sees its position in the world as fundamentally depending on Russian support," Luck told FP. "It’s playing a game on a much higher plane, a really global game. Russia is still stuck very much within its own borders and periphery; and that is what matters first and foremost to Russia. China is a dominant power and Russia is a secondary one, and why should China have to bend over backward again to cover the Russian flank? What do they get from it?"
  Indeed, China has invested heavily in Ukraine, reportedly signing a dealin the fall of 2012 guaranteeing Kiev would export 300 million tons of corn each year to China in exchange for access to more than $3 billion in loans. Another more recent report indicates that two Chinese state-owned companies will operate a massive swath of farmland the size of Belgium in the eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk, planting crops and raising pigs for consumption back home.
  "I think it is easy to exaggerate the importance of the Chinese-Russian alliance; I don’t think they have a relationship that you could describe as strategic," Luck said. "It veers from one case to another. We should remember the Soviet-Chinese competition has some legacy and some hangover."
  
  AFP/ Getty Images

Top Five Countries with Highest Rates of Child Prostitution

Millions of children prostitute themselves worldwide every year
International Business Times UK

By Ludovica Iaccino , Published: February 6, 2014

Child prostitution has been defined by the UN as "the act of engaging or offering the services of a child to perform sexual acts for money or other consideration with that person or any other person".

By 1990, international awareness of the commercial sexual exploitation and the sale of children had grown to such a level that the United Nations Commission on Human Rights decided to appoint a Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.

Here is a list of the five countries with the highest rates of child prostitution.

Sri Lanka

The number of crimes against children in Sri Lanka increased by 64% in 2012 , compared to the previous year, a Unicef report said.

Top Five Countries With Highest Rates of Child Prostitution by nelvely

Venezuela's Worsening Conditions Threaten Legacy of Hugo Chavez

Brian Padden-March 05, 2014

One year ago, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced the death of Hugo Chavez - the socialist leader who had governed the country for 14 years - and vowed to preserve his mentor’s legacy. 
Today, worsening economic conditions, soaring crime and growing protests nationwide have many questioning whether Maduro can keep the Chavista coalition together - absent the late president's charismatic leadership.

Followers of the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez took to the streets Wednesday to mark the anniversary of his death. Among Chavez supporters, affection for the charismatic leader still runs high.  

But there is also growing anger and frustration about the direction the country is heading.

Inflation hit 56 percent last year. There are shortages of basic commodities such as cooking oil and flour and one of the highest murder rates in the world.

Student-led anti-government demonstrations are heading into their second month and have in some cases turned deadly - as protesters clashed with National Guard officers and police.

Ronn Pineo, a Latin America analyst with the Council on Hemispheric Affairs who admired Chavez, says many people are losing faith in his successor President Maduro.

“Maduro is not that man," he said. "And part of what we are seeing now is an individual who just doesn’t have the same level of charisma. He’s not as savvy politically.”

Still, Venezuela's worsening conditions have not changed the country's political dynamics, says analyst Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue.

“A lot of the discontent extends to the people who supported Chavez," he said. "What hasn’t happened is that many of those people have come over to the opposition.”

In the most recent municipal elections in December, the ruling socialist parties bested the opposition.

Support for the social programs that Chavez initiated - that greatly reduced poverty and improved health care - remain popular.

But Pineo says Maduro has been unwilling or unable to make needed reforms to protect the sustainability of these programs, as his mentor had done in the past.  

“Chavez went too soon," he said. "He wasn’t given enough of an opportunity [to] finally cement into place some of the things that he had built.”

While Maduro has called for dialogue to deal with the nation’s problems, observers say his inaction so far has tarnished the legacy of Hugo Chavez.

Archbishop Tutu and 38 activists from around the World demand an international investigation in Sri Lanka

05/03/2014

Today in a statement released in the Mail and Guardian  (South Africa) From Archbishop Desmond Tutu and 38 Human Rights activists and organizations around the world demanded that the UN Human Rights Council set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate crimes and crimes against humanity committed War in Sri Lanka.

Signatories came From South Africa, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Lahore, Ange,
, Cambodia, Southern, Brazil, Japan, Bosnia, Mongolia, Côte d'Ivoire, Abc, Thailand From All over the individuals and organizations representing world.

If you support to the Call Level,  Please sign this petition.  Here is the statement and list of signatories in Full.

We, concerned individuals and organizations from around the world, urge the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to use their March 2014 session to pass a resolution that will include a commitment to an Independent International investigation in the form of a Commission of Inquiry. Only this will help to put the country on the path to justice and reconciliation. 

Although the long-running civil war ended in May 2009, a lasting peace is not in sight and we remain gravely concerned for the future of the people of Sri Lanka. A fear and sense of injustice persists, not just among minorities and political activists, but among ordinary people desperately trying to rebuild their lives. A number of unresolved issues remain, including ongoing human rights violations, credible allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes, and the lack of progress towards longer-term political solutions and reconciliation. Left unaddressed, these issues could lead to renewed conflict. 

Post-conflict processes do take time, but what matters is getting on the right path. Nearly five years after the war ended, the situation appears to be getting worse, not better. 

The biggest issue Sri Lanka faces is a systemic lack of respect for the rights of its citizens, particularly - but not exclusively - its minority citizens. This is rooted in a culture of impunity which is in turn rooted in a failure to hold to account those, on both sides, who committed some of the worst atrocities this century.

Only an independent international investigation of these atrocities will end this culture of impunity and give the people of Sri Lanka a chance to climb out of the cycle of violence towards a lasting peace. For these reasons, there have been numerous calls over the years for such an investigation: from a renowned panel of experts appointed by UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon, from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, from a host of Sri Lankan and international individuals, Non Governmental Organisations, and politicians, and from many thousands of petitioners all over the world. 

We represent organisations and individuals in many countries. The Sri Lankan Government claims that attempts to set up an international inquiry in Sri Lanka come exclusively from the west, and represent a form of imperialism. Not so. Many of us come from countries that have also seen conflict, and attempts at reconciliation after it. We know Sri Lanka is going to need help from the international community to get back on track. Standing in solidarity with the many Sri Lankans who feel their government is making a mistake, we urge the United Nations to establish a Commission of Inquiry. 

1 Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South Africa
2 Yasmin Sooka, Executive Director, Foundation for Human Rights, South Africa
3 Rt Rev Rayappu Joseph, Bishop of Mannar and President of Tamil Civil Society in Sri Lanka
4 Hon. Rajavarothayam sampanthan - Leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Member of Parliament of Sri Lanka
5 Hon. CVWigneswaran - Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council (NPC) and former Supreme Court Judge (Sri Lanka)
6 Danny Sriskandarajah, Secretary General, CIVICUS, the world Alliance for Civilian Participation, South Africa
7 Dr. Irene Fernandez, Right livelihood Award, Southern
8 Bashana Abeywardane, Exiled Sinhalese Journalist, Co-ordinator Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka
9 Maggie Ndagire, Program Director, On behalf of Women And Children's Empowerment Network in Africa (WACENA), Ange
10 Flavia Piovesan , Professor of Human Rights and Constitutional Law, Catholic University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
11 Arul Prakkash, Executive Director, Pusat KOMAS
12 Chibli Mallat. CHAIR, Right to Nonviolence, Lebanon
13 Dr. Nezamuddin Katawazi, Director of Peace and Human Rights Organization (PHRO), Lahore / Afghanistan
14 Dr. Bruce White Director, Organization for Intra-Cultural Development (OICD), Japan
15 Francis Paul Siah, Leader, Movement for Change, Sarawak, Southern (MoCS)
16 James Offuh, President and Founder, Ecole UFPACI, Ivory Coast
17 ​​Jerald Joseph, Human rights activist, Southern
18 Kannan Ramasamy, President of Rare Msia (Respect All Race & Religion of Msia), Secretary of Tamilar Action Force Southern, Southern
19 Lena HENDRY, Programme Co-ordinator, Human Rights organization Pusat Komas, Southern 20 Ng Yap Hwa , Coordinator of Malaysians for Beng Hock movement, Southern 21 Nora Ahmetaj, Executive Director, Centre for Research, Documentation and Publication (CRDP), Kosovo 22 PY Wong, Tindak Southern, Southern 23 Mahendra Osman, Executive Director of Sisters of Islam, Southern 24 Richard Obedi, Executive Director, The populace Foundation International, Ange 25 S. Gobi Krishnan, Founder & Secretary General of Newgen Southern Party 26 Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice, On behalf of 15000 supporters in 66 countries around the world 27 Tan Jo Hann , President of Persatuan Masyarakat Selangor & Wilayah Persekutuan (PERMAS Movement of the Urban Poor. ), Southern 28 Ren Yu Chung, Human Rights activist, Southern 29 As an organization, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, Thailand 30 As an organization, Association for Democratic Initiatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina 31 As an organization, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM),
32 As an organization, Destination Justice, Cambodia 33 As an organization, Globe International Center, Mongolia 34 As an organization, INSEC, Abc 35 As an organization, Life Watch Manipur,
36 As an organization, Against Custodial Torture & Impunity program (PACTI),
37 As an organization, redress, UK (representing Victims From All over the world) 38 As an organization, SDO (Sanayee Development Organization), Afghanistan 39 As an organization, UNA Sweden, Sweden .

සිරකාර මරණය ගැන ජගත් විමසුමක් ඉල්ලයි

අවසාන යාවත්කාලීන කිරීම :  2014 මාර්තු 2 ඉරිදා -Windows player යොදාගෙන වාදනය කරන්න

අත් අඩංගුවේ දී බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය පුරවැසි දෙමළ ජාතිකයකු පසුගිය සතියේ මරු මුවට පත් වීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ජාත්‍යන්තර පරීක්ෂණයක් පවත්වන ලෙස දේශපාලන පක්ෂ සහ මානව හිමිකම් සංවිධාන ද ඉල්ලා සිටිති.

එල්ටීටීඊ සංවිධානයට ආධාර කිරීමේ චෝදනාවට සිරගත කොට සිටිය දී මැගසින් බන්ධනාගාරයේ දී මියගිය විශ්වලිංගම් ගෝපිදාස් ගේ අවසන් කටයුතු පේදුරු තුඩුවේ ඉරිදා සිදු කරනු ලැබුයේ සිය ගණනක් සහභාගි වූ විරෝධතාවක් මධ්‍යයේ බවයි දිනසේන රතුගමගේ වාර්තා කළේ.

ආණ්ඩුවේ පරීක්ෂණ වලින් සෑහීමකට පත් විය නො හැකි බව කී මානව හිමිකම් ක්‍රියාධරයන් මරණය හැඳින්වුයේ දේශපාලන ඝාතනයක් ලෙසින්.

දේශපාලන සිරකරුවන්ට 'නිදහස'

සියලුම දේශපාලන සිරකරුවන් නිදහස් කරන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටි උද්ඝෝෂකයන්, දෙමළ රැඳවියන් අත් අඩංගුවේ දී මියයාම සහ වධ බන්ධනයට ලක්වීම ට එරෙහිව විරෝධය පා තිබේ.

හත් වසකට ආසන්න කාලයක් බන්ධනාගාර ගත කොට සිටි විශ්වලිංගම් ගෝපිදාස් කොළඹ මැගසින් බන්ධනාගාරය තුල ඉකුත් සඳුදා උදෑසන මිය ගොස් ඇත්තේ හෘදයාබාධයකින් බවයි බන්ධනාගාර කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල් වරයා මාධ්‍යවේදීන් අමතා කියා තිබුනේ.

දෙමළ ජාතික ජනතා පෙරමුණ විසින් කැඳවා තිබු විරෝධතාවට දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානය, ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී ජනතා පෙරමුණ හා නව සම සමාජ පක්ෂය සමග අතුරුදහන් වුවන් සහ දේශපාලන සිරකරුවන්ගේ අයිතිවාසිකම් වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටින සංවිධාන ද එක් වී සිටියහ.

On 'Kotiya' Bishop Rayappu Joseph

By  Paul Newman March 5, 2014

Dr. Paul Newman

Bishop Rayappu Joseph is called the Oscar Romeiro of Mannar by the Tamils ​​of Sri Lanka. He is known as 'Kotiya' or the Tiger Bishop by the Sinhalese.

A Doctorate in Canon Law from Rome, he was ordained as the second Bishop of Mannar in 1992. Since then he has become the voice of the voiceless Tamil civilians in the north, and the most hated person in the Sinhalese dominated south.

Under his leadership, Mannar diocese is running homes for war orphans, abandoned children and the elderly, health care centers, dispensaries, girls' hostels, vocational training centers, rehabilitation centers for refugees, centers for fishermen, and conducting human rights training programs for the clergy and civilians.

For the work he is doing in the war ravaged Tamil areas, people already feel that he might be in the reckoning for a Nobel Peace Prize soon.

Bishop Rayappu has fostered the spirit of humanism and human rights, as he says human values ​​and Christian values ​​are one and the same.

Rt. Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, Catholic Bishop of Mannar

In this land where no one dares to talk, he stands tall as a person who is fearless, forthright, morally upright, and most importantly outspoken when it comes to highlighting the problems of his people as he considers them as his prime duty.

He believes that it is the Providence of God that he is the Bishop and takes up the cases of torture, disappearances, land grab, and the issues of women, especially war widows, orphans, and the crippled as a special mission entrusted to him.

He says, "Being a chosen shepherd of Christ I am accountable for the lost sheep".

Mannar is one place where one can see protests against human rights atrocities and they become exceptional as a good number of priests in their cassocks take part in them.

In September 2008, as the civil war was escalating, and Colombo ordered the foreign observers to leave the war zone, the Bishop ventured into Killinochi to assess the situation there.

He made a bold statement to the media later that the Tamils ​​in the war ravaged zone had been reduced to the status of 'walking skeletons.'

He says today their condition has worsened as they have been completely silenced.

"They walk but without the inner life. The government has forced them to live with bitter memories. Those affected by the conflict are denied access to psycho social counseling, "he says.   Read More

Urgent international Commission of Inquiry needed say Tamil civil society activistsUrgent international Commission of Inquiry needed say Tamil civil society activists

05 March 2014
The Tamil Civil Society Forum, a network of  Tamil Civil society activists including the Reverend Bishop of Mannar, Rayappu Joseph, member States to Pass a resolution that urged the UNHRC Calls for the establishment of " an urgent, Independent International Commission of Inquiry ". Speaking to the Tamil Guardian, Lecturer in Law at the University of Jaffna, K. Guruparan of the

 Tamil Civil Society Forum , said, 

"The current draft resolution Calls On Sri Lanka On the Sri Lankan Government to effectively investigate itself. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is merely entrusted with oversight Responsibilities weak. What is desperately needed is an International Commission of Inquiry to investigate violations All Human rights and International humanitarian Law of International Law including the alleged crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and War crimes . " 

Through a text laying out the Tamil Civil society activists' Desired 'Model' resolution, circulated amongst key drafter amongst member States UNHRC Last month, the  Tamil Civil Society Forum also  Called to be Appointed for a UN Special Rapporteur to monitor the Human rights Situation in the North and East. Highlighting the Government's failure to take a credible Steps towards Reconciliation, the Tamil Civil society activists, Detailing the intensifying repression of the Tamil people in the North and East:

"The Appropriation of land belonging to the Tamil people by the Government of Sri Lanka, the Tamil political prisoners of Continuous Detention Without due process, the use of sexual Violence against Tamil Hold and ex-FEMALE FEMALE LTTE Spencomp Technologies house headed by armed forces attached to the Sri Lankan Government, the denial of psycho-social support for the affected Tamils ​​War , the role of the Military ever increase in the daily Lives of the Tamil people, the Tamil IDPs in Relocation of Their Places OTHER than historical Areas of Habitation , the Continuous contempt of the livelihood of those resettled, the intimidation , forced Long-term use of contraceptives, destruction of non-Buddhist religious Places , Violence perpetrated against Tamil Civil society and political activists and the denial of the right to Collective Memory of the Tamil people . "               

See Full text of the Tamil Civil Society Forum's Desired resolution here . 

Urgent International Commission of Inquiry Needed Say Tamil Civil Society Activists by nelvely

Human Rights Council Meeting March 2014 - Another Farce

By  Brian Senewiratne  - March 5, 2014

Dr. Brian Senewiratne

Here we go again. It is carnival time (or shopping time or sight-seeing time) again in Geneva as the 25th Session of the Human Rights Council kicks off on 3 March 2014.

On 15 March 2012 Two years ago I wrote an article (still On the net [1] ), titled "UN Human Rights Council Meting. Another Farce ".

I started with

" This is not a document for Easy reading, nor is meant to be IT. It is a reasonably comprehensive record of the abysmal record of the UN and the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in addressing human rights violations.  

I am not going to repeat this comprehensive article.

A few days ago I was completing another article:

"Sri Lanka. Rape of Tamil women, men and children by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces and their collaborators ".

It is for release on International Women's Day 2014, March 8.

In the opening pages, I dealt with the various legal and human rights bodies. Here is what I wrote about the UN Human Rights Council:

"The UN Human Rights Council (UN HRC) in Geneva sits at every Three months. IT is just a talk-Shop, a political One at that (not consisting of experts in Human rights), that does nothing, eases Its Outstanding Head, High Commissioner Navanethem Pillay .   

Pillay is only the Head of the HRC [2]  - not the HRC. She has asked for an Independent International Investigation into what happened in the closing stages of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka (18 May 2009) for years. Happened Yet nothing has.                                                                                        Read More

  

5 years in retrospect .........!

 Wednesday, 05 March 2014 

Exactly five years ago to this day, on 05th March 2009, Lanka News Web, began its journey in cyberspace. 2009 was a year marred by the shedding of blood and tear, and a year that had changed the shape as well as the direction of Sri Lankan politics. The wave of killings that began with the murder of Lasantha Wickramatunga in January in that year reached its climax with the massacre of tens of thousands of Tamil brothers and sisters under the Vesak moon. In a single land, one community's wailing became the applause of joy of another community.

At that moment, LNW appeared on behalf of the repressed and massacred Tamil brethren. Although we had serious criticisms against the LTTE over its inhuman, anti-democratic ways, since the beginning we have clearly and fearlessly been appearing on behalf of the true rights of the Tamil people. Rejecting the Sinhala chauvinism outright, LNW never appeared on behalf of the Tamil chauvinism either. We have come to understand completely that the LTTE and the Tamil people are two different phenomena. Up to now, our media policy was decided on that conclusion. Anyhow, we will bring to our readership news and views about the ideologies of all extremist groups too. We consider that to be the first step towards liberating them from their respective extremism.

The LNW editorial does not entertain any hidden political agenda. We unhesitatingly declare that the most corrupt president will be created tomorrow as long as this executive presidential system remains. It is this system which crowns the proponents of the truth and the brave sons of the Ruhuna as kleptomaniacs. Therefore, which needs to be changed is the system, not the persons. The path to that change lies not through the political parties, but through the strengthening of the Sri Lankan civil society, we firmly believe. It is unavoidable that today's politician friends of ours will become our sworn enemies tomorrow. Our friends forever will be the Sri Lankan citizenry. Our journey with them shoulder-to-shoulder is a very difficult one. Wholeheartedly, we have chosen that journey. The guide-rail in journey through darkness was, is and will continue to be, you - our readership which remains true to us always.

We will turn the international red alerts against our companions of the journey to halt us in our path, to a blessing in disguise. We extend our heartiest gratitude to all for giving us endless encouragements. Also, on this special day we remember with appreciation those comrades who had been with us in the past and are today treading silently on their individual paths, in appreciation of their contributions towards making the LNW a reality.

Labour: David Cameron must now deliver on international investigation pledgeLabour: David Cameron must now deliver on international investigation pledge

05 March 2014

Britain's main opposition Labour party Wednesday called on Prime Minister David Cameron to take personal charge of ensuring an independent international investigation into Sri Lanka's mass atrocities is established at the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva and that it makes "swift progress". 

Full text of the Kerry McCarthy MP's opinion is available here . 

David Cameron must now deliver on international investigation pledge

Kerry McCarthy  Tamil Guardian 05 March 2014

Writing in the Tamil Guardian today, Labour's shadow foreign affairs minister, Kerry McCarthy, called on the British government to: (1) Be unequivocal and unwavering in its support for an independent, international inquiry; (2) Make every effort to secure widespread support for a robust resolution; and (3) Ensure an international inquiry commences swiftly.

Labour David Cameron Must Now Deliver on International Investigation PledgeLabour David Cameron Must Now De... by nelvely