Press Releases

Recent spate of arrests and abductions raise further doubt about Sri Lanka’s reform efforts     (Washington, DC; April 27, 2016) PEARL is deeply concerned by Sri Lanka’s latest arrest and detention under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) of Subramaniyam Sivakaran, a Tamil activist and journalist from the North-East. Sivakaran was arrested in…

(Washington, DC; April 20, 2016) A new report by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) provides details of ongoing militarization and harassment amongst the Tamil population of the North-East of Sri Lanka, over one year after the change in presidency and seven months after the election of the United National Party-led national government.…

(WASHINGTON, DC; December 10, 2015) On the 67th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the 49th anniversary of the adoption of the binding International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR),PEARL notes with serious concern continuing abuses…

(Washington,DC; November 20, 2015) The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UN WGEID) confirmed Wednesday what Tamils in Sri Lanka have known for many years: the Sri Lankan state runs secret detention camps in which it holds and tortures Tamil detainees.   The UN WGEID’s announcement that it had discovered a “secret underground…