Geneva 2012: The signs missed, lessons unlearnt
Photo courtesy JDS Let’s learn the right lessons from the Geneva outcome, not the wrong ones. It is not the case that a small country such as Sri Lanka cannot fight a…
War Crimes
WHOSE MOVE IS IT ANYWAY?
The passage of the United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution on Sri Lanka raises a fundamental question: what next? When the dust settles and tempers calm, all parties concerned will be…
After the UNHRC Resolution Vote: Don’t Hold Your Breath for Truth, Justice or Reconciliation
Photo courtesy JDS/Guy Calaf, Agence France-Presse By the time this article is published, the votes on the hotly-contested UN Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka will have been cast and counted….
Counter-productive propaganda and human rights in Sri Lanka
As the three Sri Lankan human rights defenders who have come most under attack by the state media in Sri Lanka in the past week, because of our active involvement with the…
Choosing What to Believe
Photo courtesy of Reuters/Dinuka Liyanawatte [Editors’ note: The article below was sent to us by a regular contributor to the site whose name we have redacted due to security considerations.] With the…
India’s Volte-Face: Winners and Losers
India’s hasty decision to support the United States of America led Resolution on Sri Lanka came as a big surprise. While a few rumours flagged the possibility of an India “for”…
Sri Lanka and the UNHRC: Implications for India and for Human Rights
Image courtesy India Ink blog by New York Times/Rajanish Kakade, Associated Press As the 19th session of the Human Rights Council progresses, the discourse on Sri Lanka with reference to Human Rights…
What is the bigger lie? US resolution in Geneva or number of people in Vanni in 2009?
Image from Wikimedia Commons “One of the rankest untruths in the public domain today is that the US resolution is innocuous and unobjectionable…” said Amb. Dayan Jayatilleka in his article THE BIG…
A Realistic Look at the Draft Resolution by the US on Sri Lanka at the UN HRC
Placard in Sinhala reads ‘Barack, you’re a burden for us’. Photo courtesy Priyantha Wickremarachchi/Ceylon Today The US recently tabled a draft resolution against Sri Lanka is so incredibly weak that President Mahinda…
THE BIG LIE ABOUT THE US RESOLUTION
Image from The Nation It is almost a crime to lie to the people and mislead them on a matter of vital national interest. When it is committed by politicians it is…
Post 9/11 world: Compromises with war crimes and accountability
The President looking at war crimes in Vietnam. Courtesy Defence.lk A mapping of differences amongst and alliances within member States of the UN Human Rights Council, reduced to 46 with Libya not…
Some thoughts on Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished
Like so many diasporic Sri Lankans I watched it, even staying up late (by my currently low standards that is). Did I think that the first programme was a good thing? Yes….
Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished: Unofficial video now online
Channel 4’s new documentary on Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished aired for the first time in the UK last night. Before it is even available on Channel 4’s…
Sri Lanka and its ‘Geneva-problem’
The year 2009 was when the Western group of States at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) made a serious diplomatic blunder, by attempting to pass a resolution against Sri Lanka. The…
Why Sri Lanka must ‘win’ at UNHRC
The following is an excerpt from a statement recently made by Ambassador Eileen Chambarlain Donahoe JD PhD, top US diplomat to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC): The case of Sri…
