pearlaction

After Fighting, Sri Lanka Needs Devolution – India

By pearlaction | March 12, 2009 |

[AFP] Sri Lanka needs true devolution of power to minority Tamils if it wants to permanently end its long-running ethnic war, Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said Wednesday. Menon, who was in Washington for talks, said the U.S. and the Sri Lankan government itself both agreed with regional power India on the need to quickly…

In Sri Lanka, UN Still Withholds Casualty Numbers, Funds Detention Camps

By pearlaction | March 10, 2009 |

[Inner City Press] For two weeks, Inner City Press has asked at the UN whether international aid funds will be used for detention camps in which those fleeing the conflict zone in Sri Lanka will be detained, until the end of 2009 or longer. Holmes on Monday confirmed that the UN has “offered to assist…

Sri Lanka: “Don’t Abuse the Displaced”

By pearlaction | March 9, 2009 |

[Human Rights Watch] “It is time for concerned governments like Japan, India, and the US to ensure that President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government and the Tamil Tigers allow the victims of this conflict to live with justice and dignity. Both sides should agree to a humanitarian corridor and otherwise respect the laws of war.” Our latest…

Tissainayagam and colleagues in Sri Lankan jail for one year

By pearlaction | March 7, 2009 |

[Committee to Protect Journalists] The Sri Lankan government should release a journalist and his two colleagues who have spent a year behind bars on terrorism charges for publishing magazine articles, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Terrorist Investigation Division forces arrested Vettivel Jasikaran, manager of the news Web site OutreachSL, and his companion, Vadivel…

Sri Lankan conflict due to ‘repressive’ govts: Canada

By pearlaction | March 6, 2009 |

[AFP] The 37-year conflict raging in Sri Lanka was borne out of “repressive” governments in Colombo, Canadian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs said Thursday. “I am sure all Canadians share the government’s revulsion at the continuing humanitarian catastrophe in Sri Lanka, a civil conflict born of a succession of repressive Sri Lankan governments, which…