For a country which gave the world the word ‘serendipity’, from an early Arab trader name for the island, Sri Lanka has been subject to extremist violence almost from the outset. Easter Sunday’s coordinated bomb blasts in the capital Colombo, which killed almost 300 and injured hundreds more, were just the latest event in a […]
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Sri Lanka’s constitutional crisis has deepened, with a split between President Maithripala Sirisena and the man he has, allegedly illegally, appointed as Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa. This follows President Sirisena’s decision on Friday to call a snap election for 5 January, which appears to be in breach of the country’s constitution. The new elections are […]
(First published today in Crikey.com) While the world wasn’t watching, Sri Lanka has had a coup, which may or may not be constitutional. On Friday, the president replaced an elected prime minister with one who had been voted out of office on the back of war crimes allegations, human rights abuses and corruption allegations. Following […]
When it comes to asylum seeker policy in Australia, one of its biggest blind spots concerns Sri Lanka and the people, mostly ethnic Tamils, who have been fleeing there in fear of their lives. Sri Lanka continues to marginalize and persecute Tamils, continuing to chase the ghost of the long destroyed Tamil separatist organization the […]
For an island that gave its name to the word ‘serendipity’, Sri Lanka is a troubled and often bloodied country. The latest round of communal violence has pitted majority Sinhalese Buddhists against minority Muslims, causing the government to declare a 10 day state of emergency. Sinhalese make up around two-thirds of the population of Sri […]
The 2004 Boxing Day tsunami that left almost a quarter of a million people dead and led to the worlds largest emergency aid program had a profound impact on two wars being fought in the region. In Aceh, Indonesia, it contributed to the end of three decades of bloody conflict; in Sri Lanka, the tsunami […]
A certain predictability has developed in the public exchange on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. In keeping with this predictability, the UN Human Rights Commission recent report on Sri Lankas continuing serious human rights abuses is yet another expression of deep international concern which, almost certainly, will end up gathering dust. The Human […]
Sri Lankas hosting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting has gotten off to a troubled start, with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh withdrawing his participation over the host countrys human rights record. This follows a decision by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to also boycott the event due to human rights concerns. British Prime […]
In the dog-whistle competition between major political parties against asylum seekers and the war on alleged “terrorism”, the Australian government has jailed legitimate refugees, without charge, for reasons — extraordinarily — we are not allowed to know about. Opposition Senator George Brandis claims refugees who are deemed a “security threat” should be jailed because they […]
The government of Sri Lanka has been embarrassed over its human rights record by a call for a boycott campaign being run by respected Australian sports writer Trevor Grant. Grant has been using the Sri Lanka cricket team’s current tour of Australia to highlight what the UN believes were war crimes committed in Sri Lanka […]