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…
War Crimes
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…
LLRC REPORT: REASON, REFORM, ROADMAP
Photo, courtesy JDS, is of Sri Lanka’s President reading the LLRC report on a ‘‘ at his official residence. Though not without flaws and lacuna, the long awaited LLRC report does not disappoint, and…
The LLRC report and ‘accountability’ in Sri Lanka
Readers will find no big surprises after reading the final report of Sri Lanka’s . It is very much what most people were expecting. A document that looks to the future, exonerates the…
The official report of the LLRC
The official report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission was tabled in Parliament today. The official government site the report is available at is, at the time of writing, charitably put,…
Post-war situation in Northern Sri Lanka & Prospects for Reconciliation
Changes since the end of the war: 30 months after the end of war, more people travel between the once off limits North[i] and the South and many of the travel restrictions…
CHOGM-2011: HOW DIPLOMATIC VICTORIES END IN DISGRACE
[Editors note: As noted by the author below, an example of the distressingly bad propaganda of the Sri Lankan Government, attributed in some websites to the Director General of the President’s Media…
Sri Lanka and the death of Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi was captured alive and killed thereafter. This is a fact that no one contests today. Even the killer himself accepted the responsibility in front of a mobile camera. Once any…
Waiting for the end of the LLRC
Image courtesy LLRC Another session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva has come to an end. Sri Lanka has emerged unscathed, even though considerable pressure is being exerted on the…
Channel 4’s ‘Killing Fields’: Journalism, Advocacy or Propaganda?
Image from Channel 4 Introduction The UK based Channel 4 documentary, “Killing Fields”, possesses an interesting characteristic. It has the power of accentuating the prejudices and biases of viewers. The reaction found…
Human Rights in Sri Lanka: Impunity against Accountability and Justice
Image credit AP, via BBC News “There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth…not going all the way, and not starting.” – Lord Buddha : When I was a…
13th Amendment: Plus? Or Minus?
Introduction Leader of National Freedom Front (NFF) and the Minister of Construction, Engineering Services, Housing & Common Amenities, Hon Wimal Weerawansa delivered a public lecture on the 7th of September 2011 on…
Libya, Sri Lanka and Responsibility to Protect (R2P)
Libya is the model of the new interventionism and is the latest, successful mode of application of the doctrine of R2P says Paddy Ashdown, writing in August 26, 2011). Influential individuals in…
War Crimes Investigations in Sri Lanka: An Unpopular View
“In trying to do good, we have been living beyond our moral resources and have fallen into hypocrisy and self-righteousness” — William V. Cannon, commenting on the Vietnam War, , February 6,…
Thus Spake Gothabaya
[Editors’ note: An edited version of this article appeared in the Daily Mirror today.] “The existing constitution is more than enough for us to live together. I don’t think there…
