EU asks Lanka to guaratee freedom for functioning of NGOs

Activist burned govr circuler

The European Union today asked Sri Lanka to guarantee the freedom for functioning of NGOs, days after the government imposed restrictions on their activities.  A statement from the EU of Sri Lanka said they were very concerned about the recent efforts to restrict legitimate public activities of civil society and non-governmental organisations in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka: One more restriction on NGOs; No funds without Govt approval

Sri Lanka: NGos protest restrictions

No foreign funds without approval: Ministry

The Finance and Planning Ministry has informed all Non-Governmental Organisations that they should receive prior approval from the Ministry prior to obtaining foreign funds. The notice comes hot on the heels of the Government strongly criticising the foreign aid programme carried out by USAID.  It had planned to provide US$190 million dollars for a programme titled, Election Support Through Voter Education (ESVE)' but later withdrew it following protests.

Sri Lanka: Foreign Ministry Says Ban On NGOs Is A Reiteration Of Existing Laws

The External Affairs Ministry has stated that the ban on NGOs imposed by the government is nothing but a reiteration of existing rules and regulations pertaining to non-governmental organizations.

Explaining the legal background pertaining to NGOs, the External Affairs Ministry said,” all NGOs registered with the NGO Secretariat are liable to submit annual Action Plans containing details of the activities which would be undertaken in the forthcoming year for approval.”

Sri Lanka bans activist groups from contact with media

 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka has banned activist groups and NGOs from holding press conferences and issuing press releases, a Defence Ministry circular says, raising new concerns over freedom of expression in the island nation. The circular, dated July 1, also outlaws NGOs and civil society organizations holding workshops for journalists. "This is a continuation of threats on civil society," J.C. Weliamuna, head of Transparency International in Sri Lanka and a human rights lawyer, told reporters.

Sri Lanka: UN is to study MOD warning to NGOs

Farhan Haq

Farhan Haq The United Nations (UN) says it will study a warning issued by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) not to go beyond their mandate. Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban ki-moon, said that the UN will need to evaluate the warning and then make a statement. An MOD letter sent to NGOs notes that some of them conduct press conferences, workshops, training for journalists, and dissemination of press releases which is beyond their mandate. “We reiterate that all Non Governmental Organizations should prevent from such unauthorized activities with immediate effect,” the letter said.Some NGOs have raised concerns over the letter issued by the Ministry of Defence. (Colombo Gazette)

Repression of Dissent in Sri Lanka - January - March 2014, INFORM report

A key focus of the human rights discourse in Sri Lanka during this period was the UN Human Rights Council sessions in March 2014, where a resolution on Sri Lanka was passed, condemning the ongoing human rights violations, impunity for past violations and asking the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to undertake an international investigation and monitor domestic accountability processes. The government of Sri Lanka had strongly opposed the resolution and engaged in public campaigns to discredit and portray all those promoting and supporting the resolution as traitors and supporters of terrorism. Tamil politicians, human rights defenders and Tamil Christian clergy inside Sri Lanka bore the brunt of such attacks,.... Read the full report below or as a PDF here

Sri Lanka: New laws against NGOs should not be a witch-hunt

Editorial - Ceylon Today

The government is mooting new laws to monitor funds received by local Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). At his regular breakfast meeting with newspaper editors on Thursday, responding to a question by a newspaper editor, the President revealed plans to formulate the new law. He said under the laws that existed before 1977, NGOs were obliged to reveal the origins of their funds and how they were spent. The pre-1977 era, however, does not deserve glorification. It was a period that the once promising economy of this country lost its mettle under the grip of the misguided Statist policies of the United Front Government.

Sri Lanka, Right to Association: SF to HRC over Balapitiya incident

Army Commander Sarath Fonseka says he will lodge a complaint with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka over the incident in Balapitiya yesterday.
The police disrupted a public meeting at Balapitiya yesterday organised by the Democratic Party led by Fonseka saying permission had not been obtained to use loudspeakers.

SL military threatens Tamil Catholic priests in Jaffna, Mannaar

TamilNet
The intelligence operatives of the occupying Sri Lankan military have threatened Tamil Catholic priests in Mannaar and Jaffna, who have been active in exposing the genocide of Eezham Tamils by the Sri Lankan State. The threats against the priests in escalated following the visit by UN Human Rights Commissioner for Human Rights and have topped after British PM visited North on 15 November. The Catholic priests were active in exposing the recent genocidal experiment of birth control carried out by the Sri Lankan authorities and the priests joined the peaceful march by the kith and kin of the missing persons when they wanted to berate their plight to the visiting British PM and the foreign journalists who accompanied him to Jaffna.

GoSL blocked seminar on 'Commonwealth Values and the Role of the Legal Profession' by revoking visas

BASL

Only Immigration Controller can grant visas
 
President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), Upul Jayasuriya, yesterday blamed the government for not granting visas to the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) delegation.
Jayasuriya said in a statement: "The BASL, in collaboration with the International Bar Association (IBL), of which the BASL is a member was organizing a seminar on 'Commonwealth Values and the Role of the Legal Profession' to be held on 13 November 2013 at the 'Grand Monarch' at Thalawathugoda.

Sri lanka : Joint Civil Society Memorandum to Commonwealth Heads of States (CHOGM)

Civil society  convention

7th November 2013 – Colombo, New Town Hall

We the undersigned civil society organizations who made joint submissions to the Universal Periodic Review on Sri Lanka in the UN Human Rights Council in November 2012, will not be participating in the November 2013 Peoples’ Forum at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Sri Lanka. We are firmly of the opinion that the November 2013 CHOGM should not be held in Sri Lanka and that the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) should not hold the chair of the Commonwealth for the next two years, as per precedent.

UGC mulls stern action against lecturers attending ‘pro-Eelam’ event; Professor Sanmugadas clarifies to media on London conference

The University Grants Commission says it will take stern action against four Sri Lankan university lecturers who are reported to have participated in an alleged pro-Eelam conference in London organized by the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE).

Violent disruption of educational programme demonstrates threat to pluralism - NPC

 As part of its post-war peace building initiatives the National Peace Council (NPC) has been conducting an educational programme on the LRRC report in different parts of the country, including Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Colombo, Matara, Galle, Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar, Puttalam, Ampara, Kurunegala, Batticaloa and Trincomalee.

Batti peace seminar disrupted by mob

A seminar on national reconciliation organiseed by a non-governmental organisation in Batticaloa was disrupted by a group led by a Buddhist monk in the area on the grounds that an invitation had not been extended to him for the event, Police said.

Student leader Sanjeewa Bandara banned from entering Universities

The Convenor of the Inter University Student’s Federation (IUSF) Sanjeewa Bandara has been granted bail and has also been banned from entering the premises of any Universities in the country by the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court today.

FUTA calls for release of student leader

The Federation of University Teachers Association President Dr Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri today called for the immediate release of  student union leader  Sanjeeva bandara and Rev. Kimbullewwe Chandananda thero who are now in custody.

CHOGM - 2013 in Sri Lanka: Where are the core values of the Commonwealth Charter?

Samaraveera (UNP) challenges Sharma

H.E. Kamalesh Sharma, Secretary-General, The Commonwealth, 

Your Excellency,
I am writing to you with reference to a news item published in the Sri Lanka Daily Mirror of 29th June 2013. The story, captioned 'Commonwealth wants to make practical difference in Sri Lanka' quotes a letter you have reportedly sent to an unspecified recipient . In the absence of any contradiction or clarification from your organisation, I assume that the remarks are accurate. You are quoted as saying:

Germany protests arrest of its NGO chief here

Germany has strongly protested over the arrest of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation’s Sri Lanka branch chief, Nora Langanbacher.  The German-Government-funded NGO has been functioning in Sri Lanka for more than 30 years. A statement of protest from the Foreign Office in Berlin follows a meeting between German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and External Affairs Minister G. L. Peiris in Berlin on June 13 — the same day the NGO head was arrested and taken into fiscal custody.

Committee appointed to probe NGOs

The government has appointed a special Board of Intellectuals to probe charges and allegations being made against NGOs and their operations. Subsequent to this it has been made compulsory for all NGOs operating in the country to register themselves with the Office for the Registration of Non Governmental Organizations.
This step is being taken to ‘thwart certain NGOs from hatching conspiracies to effect regime change by engaging in politics in the guise of doing social work in the country.

Shower of stones at Opposition Leader's convoy during Balapitiya visit .

 Police today prevented a pro-government mob setting upon Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as he toured the Balapitiya area visiting families whose members had been killed in Saturday’s stormy weather conditions at sea.
 So far over 50 persons have killed with about 22 of them from Balapitiya.
Mr Wickremesinghe who visited some of the families had been advised to avoid certain areas of Balapitiya as a UPFA Member of Parliament had warned that the opposition leader will not be allowed to visit the area.