January 2015 saw a momentous change in Sri Lanka. After nearly 10 years of increasingly authoritarian rule, a new government promising change was voted into office. The new government immediately set about righting many of the wrongs of the previous Rajapaksa government, including an openness ...
Expand The core group presenting the Sri Lanka Resolution to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland on September 21, 2015. © 2015 Sunanda Deshapriya (Geneva) – The United Nations Human Rights Council should adopt a resolution ensuring a robust international role in Sri Lanka ...
The causeway that links northern Sri Lanka ’s mainland to Mannar Island is lined with vast military barracks. They have a nicely settled air about them, with painted flowerpots out front and T-shirts drying on clotheslines. Between the army camps are red-roofed cottages peeping through coconut ...
(New York) – The Sri Lankan government’s appointment to parliament of the former army chief whose forces were implicated in widespread abuses contradicts pledges to investigate alleged war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today. On February 9, 2016, the United National Party of Prime Minister Ranil ...
Language English Following the outbreak of the third phase of the Sri Lankan civil war on April 19, 1995, the Sri Lankan armed forces and the LTTE engaged in acts of violence that had by July claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians. Asia Sri Lanka International Justice Read the report Following ...
Human Rights Watch welcomes the High Commissioner's update on Sri Lanka. We regret that senior officials in the Sri Lankan government have rejected the 2014 Human Rights Council resolution asking the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to independently investigate ...
We welcome the introductory statement of High Commissioner Prince Zeid and wish him all the best in his new role. One of the key challenges the High Commissioner has highlighted is addressing the root causes of gross human rights violations, including the denial of fundamental economic and social ...
We thank the High Commissioner for her statement and welcome her offices' engagement on the situation in Egypt. The past two months have seen unprecedented human rights abuses in Egypt, with the largest single incident of mass killing by security services on August 14. Human Rights Watch ...
During the UPR process in November 2012, Sri Lanka rejected 100 recommendations – nearly half of those proposed by United Nations member states, including many related to accountability and justice issues. Among the rejected recommendations was one to implement the government’s own Lessons Learnt ...
(New York) – The United Nations secretary-general’s internal review on UN action in Sri Lanka should lead to specific and concrete measures to ensure the UN takes all needed measures to prevent mass atrocities in future conflicts, Human Rights Watch said today. The “ Internal Review Panel on United ...
(New York) – A new Sri Lankan Defense Ministry report concedes for the first time that government forces caused civilian deaths in the final months of the conflict with the Tamil Tigers but takes no responsibility for laws-of-war violations, Human Rights Watch said today. The report, “ Humanitarian ...
(New York)- The Sri Lankan government's announcement that it was ending its special inquiry into conflict-related abuses underscores the need for an international commission to investigate violations of international law by government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Human ...
(New York)- On his trip to Sri Lanka, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should highlight the plight of civilians displaced by the fighting that ended Sri Lanka's war, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Ban. Human Rights Watch urged Ban to use his May 23, 2009, trip to Sri Lanka to ...
Dear Secretary-General, We are writing in advance of your upcoming visit to Sri Lanka on May 23. The Sri Lankan government's victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) signals an end to the devastating 25-year-long war in Sri Lanka. We hope it also marks the end to the numerous ...
(New York)- The Sri Lankan armed forces have repeatedly struck hospitals in the northern Vanni region in indiscriminate artillery and aerial attacks, Human Rights Watch said today. Commanders responsible for ordering or conducting such attacks may be prosecuted for war crimes. Patients, medical ...
(New York)- The Sri Lankan government's admission that it has been using heavy weapons in an area crowded with displaced civilians underscores the need for an international commission of inquiry into violations of the laws of war by government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ...
Human Rights Watch is calling for a United Nations commission of inquiry to investigate violations of international humanitarian law by both Sri Lankan government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during the recent fighting. This Q & A addresses various issues relating to ...
be at particular risk of violence while en route to school. This may include providing transportation to school, ... if children are targeted by gender. For example, if girls are vulnerable to sexual violence en route ...
Summary Major hostilities between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) resumed in mid-2006 and in January 2008 the government formally withdrew from the ceasefire in place since 2002. Since then the fighting has claimed hundreds of civilians lives, and tens of ...
The established democracies are accepting flawed and unfair elections for political expediency, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its World Report 2008. By allowing autocrats to pose as democrats, without demanding they uphold the civil and political rights that make democracy meaningful, ...
