It has been almost 12 years since the civil war in Sri Lanka came to an end after the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Since 2009, there has been a concerted effort to hold perpetrators accountable for the mass killings against Tamil citizens, there has also been a governmental committee set [...]
Search Results for: Sri Lanka war crimes
UN rights chief raises alarm over increasing human rights violations in Sri Lanka
UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet raised concern over increasing human rights violations by state and military officials in Sri Lanka in a UN report published on Wednesday. Bachelet also suggested the imposition of sanctions on military officials in Sri Lanka accused of war crimes and several human rights violations. The report highlights the negative impact [...]
Sri Lanka parliament passes constitutional amendment expanding presidential power
The Parliament of Sri Lanka Thursday passed the Twentieth Amendment to the country’s constitution, repealing a past administration’s limitations on presidential powers and expansion of parliamentary powers. The amendment has raised concerns that authoritarian President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s power has become unbounded. The amendment was passed in the Sri Lankan House by a vote of 156-65. [...]
As the armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan, in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of the Caucasus, slug it out over a decades-long dispute about a piece of ground, one is reminded that conflict, once again, has become dirty and lawless at many levels. Civilians have become targets, protective symbols of the Geneva Conventions, such as the [...]
Sri Lanka PM announces withdrawal from UN resolution to investigate war crimes
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa announced Wednesday that his country will withdraw from co-sponsorship of a 2015 UN resolution which sought to investigate war crimes committed on the island during the country’s civil war. It is believed the move is a response to the US imposing a travel ban on Sri Lanka’s army commander [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Sunday called on the government of Sri Lanka to halt plans to resume executions and restore its 43-year moratorium on the use of the death penalty. “Sri Lanka’s plan to resume use of the death penalty is a major setback for human rights. Sri Lanka has been a bulwark against [...]
Mahinda Rajapaksa, appointed Prime Minister of Sri Lanka last month, has been barred from taking office by a Colombo court’s order on Monday. The Appeals Court asked that he reappear by December 12 with justification for his taking office since Parliament voted against him twice and announced that no cabinet could function under him if [...]
Here's the international legal news we covered this week: The UN expressed concern Thursday about human rights abuses in Mali despite the Malian government signing a peace agreement in 2015 with several armed groups. The...
HRW criticizes Sri Lanka for not repealing Prevention of Terrorism Act
Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized the government of Sri Lanka on Monday for not repealing its "Draconian" counterterrorism law. HRW accused the government of using the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to arbitrarily detain...
JURIST Guest Columnist Mohit Gupta of South Asian University discusses the legacy of the ICTY... International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), an ad hoc international criminal tribunal established by mandate from United Nations Security Council officially came to...