Search Results for: sri lanka civil war

Sri Lankan Prison Commissioner Gamini Dissanayake announced earlier this week that President Ranil Wickremesinghe pardoned over 1,000 prisoners because of the Christmas holiday. The exact number released was 1,004, comprising 989 men and 15 women. A majority of those who were pardoned by the president Sunday were those accused of being unable to pay outstanding [...]

The Sri Lankan government announced Friday the establishment an independent Commission for Truth, Unity and Reconciliation through an act introduced in Sri Lanka’s Parliament. The government stated that the commission is intended to “ensure an inclusive process in developing legislation that strengthens and safeguards national unity through truth, transitional justice, reconciliation, reparation and social cohesion.” The [...]

Stephen Rapp, an American lawyer and diplomat, has been a leading figure in international criminal law and human rights. He was appointed as the US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues in 2009, overseeing investigations and prosecutions of war criminals worldwide. Rapp’s commitment to justice and ending impunity was evident during his tenure, supporting [...]

This weekend marks the 75th anniversary of one of the world’s most groundbreaking global pledges: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). On December 9 we see the anniversary of the Genocide Convention, signed on the December 9, 1948, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights signed 75 years ago. It represents an an important occasion that aims to raise [...]

Last week, Tamils in Sri Lanka and across the globe observed Maveerar Naal, an annual commemoration honoring fallen Tamil separatist soldiers of the Sri Lankan Civil War. In the aftermath of their observance, the Sri Lankan government conducted widespread arrests against Tamils who had participated. By November 30, the government had arrested at least 10 [...]

Germany’s civic space was rated as “narrow” in a new report from global rights watchdog CIVICUS Monitor. Germany was one of seven countries downgraded in the People Under Attack 2023 report, which analysed how governments protect citizens’ freedom of expression in 198 countries. The report found that over 30 percent of the world’s population now [...]

In this first-of-its-kind JURIST “global dispatch” on a single topic, 15 law students and young lawyers from around the world, all of them JURIST correspondents from outside of Israel and Palestine, join together to offer a  panoramic view of how the current Gaza conflict is unfolding in their countries and regions. Beyond the headlines, they [...]

Amnesty International on Monday accused Meta, the parent company of Facebook, of contributing to human rights abuses against the Tigrayan community in Ethiopia, stemming from an armed conflict between forces aligned with Ethiopia’s federal government and forces affiliated with Tigray’s regional government. Amnesty International says the abuses escalated to war crimes and crimes against humanity, [...]

Editors’ note: On Oct. 7, Hamas militants staged a surprise attack on Israel, as a result of which at least 1,400 Israelis were killed and hundreds were taken hostage. In the days since, Israeli forces have launched a counter-offensive in Gaza that has taken thousands of Palestinian lives, according to local reports. As tensions continue [...]

In the summer of 1983, ethnic violence swept the island nation of Sri Lanka. Known as Black July, the outbreak of communal violence between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority communities left thousands dead and hundreds missing. Four decades later, the legacy of the violence lives on, searing Sri Lanka‘s social and political landscape. This [...]