Citizen Journalism and the Numbers Game
Image courtesy Kath Noble recently published two articles in The Island, which were reproduced on Colombo Telegraph. [i] Bring on the Usual Suspects Some of the reactions to what Ms Noble wrote…
War Crimes
Sri Lanka’s Numbers Game
Image courtesy Hill Post On May 16 a seminar was held at the Marga Institute to launch a publication by the Independent Diaspora Analysis Group – Sri Lanka (IDAG-S) – The Numbers…
Conviction of Efraín Ríos Montt and the need for accountability
Image courtesy On 10 May 2013, former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced to 80 years in prison. It was the first…
The empty findings of Sri Lanka’s Military Court of Inquiry
Image courtesy RNW Colombo’s contempt for the international community seems to be increasing. The recent media release on the findings of the Military Court of Inquiry stretch credibility. While I have not…
Impeachment of Sri Lanka’s Chief Justice and its impact: Poll results
Photo courtesy Euronews From 6 – 21 March 2013, ran an online poll to ascertain opinions on the lasting impact of the unprecedented impeachment of Sri Lanka’s Chief Justice. The online poll…
Another US Resolution on Sri Lanka: The Road to Nowhere?
Photo courtesy JDS So it looks like the US will bring another resolution on Sri Lanka at the next session of the UN’s Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva this March. Quite…
Still Counting the Dead: A welcome first step
“We used to be a very proud people”1 – Uma, I Few years ago, during a very wintery January weekend, at a Copenhagen hotel, I was scrambling to prepare a last minute…
The ICG Report on Tamil Politics and the Quest for a Political Solution: The Blind Spot
Image courtesy ICG Facebook page The recently released report “Sri Lanka: Tamil Politics and the Quest for a Political Solution” by the International Crisis Group [ICG] is a timely contribution to the…
Howling
What shall I do, living in Peru, with this report of systemic failure in U.N. monitoring in Sri Lanka, how bureaucrats drove away from the disaster to come, buried hard- earned stats…
The end of war in Sri Lanka, captured for posterity by Google Earth
When in early 2009, UNOSAT released satellite imagery of what later turned out to be the final weeks of Sri Lanka’s 27-year old war with the LTTE, the images were met with…
LLRC roadmap: An ‘action plan’ to suit the US, not us!
Photo credit: Daily FT The government announced (26 July, 2012) it has drawn up a comprehensive “National Action Plan to Implement the Recommendations of the LLRC” and has released same to the…
Interview with Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga: Governance and politics today, future plans and prospects
On 25th July, met with former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in Colombo to get her views on Sri Lanka’s present state of governance, plus a range of other issues, including – as is…
3rd Anniversary Reflections: Geneva, May 2009
Photo courtesy UN May is the month of the diplomatic success of Sri Lanka and its friends at the Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in 2009. That…
Cluster bombs in Sri Lanka: From denial to discovery
Ravi Nessman from Associated Press has broken what’s perhaps the most important story on the war, since it ended three years ago. In a story published by AP a few hours ago,…
Ask Ass. Sec. Robert Blake a question on Sri Lanka over Twitter
Image courtesy Colombo Page Robert Blake is the Assistant Secretary, South And Central Asian Affairs at the US State Department and former Ambassador to Sri Lanka. The man likes cricket and our…