Minister Weerawansa tells President Rajapaksa to drop International experts at once!

No Intl Experts for probe! - Wimal

Wimal Declares War On International Experts Appointed By President 

The Jathika Nidahas Peramuna led by Minister Wimal Weerawansa has raised objection over the appointments of international experts as consultants to the Sri Lankan Commission inquiring into the cases of missing persons. Writing a letter to the President today, Minister Wimal Weerawansa has said international experts are “puppets” who are serving the international judicial system that is only serving the interests of western imperialists.

Sri Lanka: Rajapaksa's internatioanl experts to study Darusman report

Members of the panel,
including Darusman  with UN SG

◾Experts say Govt. asked them to advise ‘local commission probing alleged war crimes by all parties to conflict’

◾‘Coming in with an open mind’: Ex-UN war crimes prosecutor David Crane

◾Foreign advisors to seek clarification on disputed matters from Govt. and Army

Dharisha Bastians

UNP accuses Government on appointing foreign experts to war crime probe

U turn?

UNPThe main opposition United National Party (UNP) today accused the Government of making a U-turn on investigations over the war by expanding the mandate of the missing persons commission and also appointing three foreign experts to oversee the investigation. The UNP noted that a proclamation issued by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gazetted on July 15, among other matters, calls for an investigation into alleged war crimes.

Sri Lanka: Was It A Genocide? – Analysis

IDPs in Vanni

Dr. Parasaran Rangarajan

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were one of the most advanced militant groups in the world listed as the world’s greatest terrorist threat by the United States (U.S.) Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) ahead of Al-Qaeda¹. A lot has been made out of the destruction of the LTTE and end of the civil war in Sri Lanka ending in a bloody scene for civilians in the early months of 2009. However, the question which lingers in the minds of the international community is was the final stage a “genocide” under the cannons of international law?

Sri Lanka govt. says UN panel’s sittings overseas unjustified

Mass grave, Sri Lanka ( file photo)

The government has strongly opposed the decision by UN panel to initiate investigations into alleged human rights violations and war crimes against the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE, in three separate places overseas, terming it as an unjustifiable move. Foreign media reported that the three member committee panel appointed by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), on this regard, will be holding hearings in New York, Geneva and Bangkok.

UN team on Sri Lanka to have sittings at New York, Geneva and Bangkok

Navi Pillay

The UN team, which has been put together to investigate allegations of human rights violations and war crimes against the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), will be holding hearings in New York, Geneva and Bangkok, Express news service of India said. The team constituted by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), would of course seek permission to hold sittings in Sri Lanka. But it is unlikely to get it as the Lankan government has rejected any international probe.

Sri Lanka: Scepticism Over Latest Probe [on war deaths]

Sir Desmond , Prof Crane and Sir Geoffre

• Analysts fear three experts’ advice may end like IIEGP

By Easwaran Rutnam

The Government announcement last week that the mandate of the Presidential Commission on missing persons had been expanded to investigate civilian deaths during the war and the appointment of three internationally acclaimed experts to advice the commission came as a surprise to many. Some fear if the advice of the three prominent experts are highly critical then they may just end up in the bin like the International Independent Eminent Group of Persons (IIEGP) in 2008.

Sri Lanka: Experts To Seek Fair Probe; OHCHR To Monitor Developments

Mavil Aru 2005 (photo:raedtiger)

 Easwaran Rutnam
The Chairman of the three-member Advisory Council appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa last week to the Commission of Inquiry on Missing Persons, which has now been tasked to investigate alleged war crimes, says he will look to ensure the investigation is conducted in a fair manner. President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed Sir Desmond de Silva as the Chairman of the Commission while Sir Geoffrey Nice and Professor David Crane are the others experts in the Advisory Council.

Sri Lanka: TNA has no faith on Mahinda’s probe

David Crane, Sir Geoffrey Nice, Sir Desmond

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) says it has no faith in the Presidential Commission on missing persons even after the government broadened its mandate to investigate civilian deaths during the war.

TNA MP Suresh Premachandran noted that the mandate of Presidential Commission had been expanded only after the UN Human Rights office launched an investigation on the war.Premachandran also recalled that the government had on previous occasions appointed commissions and named international international experts to overlook the investigations yet those attempts ended in failure.

US should push prosecution of individuals in Sri Lanka - Congressional Caucus hears

The Panel

The US has the opportunity to prosecute Sri Lankan war criminals and place sanctions on Sri Lanka, the Congressional Caucus on Ethnic and Religious Freedom in Sri Lanka heard at a discussion last week.

The caucus held its second such event on Capitol Hill last Wednesday.

Speaking from the discussion panel, Co-Editor-in-Chief of Just Security and Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, Ryan Goodman, urged the US to take concrete actions in working towards prosecutions of individuals and placing sanctions on Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka: Media Minister Keheliya plays down appointments of international experts to war death inquary

Sir Desmond de Silva

The Government has played down the appointment of three experts to advice the Presidential Commission on missing persons, with Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella saying it will be upto the Government to decide if to accept or reject any advice. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has expanded the mandate of the Presidential Commission on mission persons and appointed three international experts to advice the commission. Accordingly the President named Sir Desmond de Silva, QC (Chairman), Sir Geoffrey Nice, QC and Prof. David Crane as the three experts to advice the commission.

Over hundred Vavuniya camp POWs killed on Gota’s order - Army commanding chief gives evidence

(File photo)

The International investigation team appointed by the UN human rights Council to inquire into the alleged crimes committed during the final phase of the war and other grave human rights violations across the country commenced its proceedings officially day before yesterday (15) . A high ranking commanding officer of the army told Lanka e news that he is ready to give evidence before the international human rights commission pertaining to the war crimes.

Sri Lanka Govt appoints international experts to investigate war deaths

''I am of the opinion that it is expendient that the said Commission of Inquiry should have the benefit of the advice of distinguished international experts, whose internationally recognized expertise and experience encompasses legal and other relevant dimensions of the matters set out above. I hereby appoint the following to serve on an Advisory Council to the Commission of Inquiry to which I may appoint other experts as may be required from time to time, to advise the Chairman and Members of the Commission of Inquiry, at their request, on matters pertaining to the work of the Commission''
Read full gazette below:

What More Congress (and the Administration) can to to promote Accountability in Sri Lanka [Road Map I]

Vanni, Sri Lanka 2009

Ryan Goodman

The Obama administration has taken the lead internationally to promote accountability in Sri Lanka. The principal focus is on war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the country’s decades long civil war. But those efforts are also important to addressing the situation of Tamil, Muslim, and Christian minorities in Sri Lanka today.

Britain’s House of Lords told Lanka’s local probe failed

Victims of war ( JDS)

Britain’s House of Lords was informed by the British Government that Sri Lanka’s domestic mechanism to address issues related to the war, had failed to meet expectations. Senior Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in UK, Baroness Warsi, during a debate on Sri Lanka at the House of Lords yesterday (Wednesday) said that UK remains concerned that the Sri Lankan Government’s national plan of action to implement the LLRC recommendations only partially covered the full range of recommendations and that, in turn, action taken by the Sri Lankan Government only partially corresponds to some of those recommendations.

New UN rights probe intensifies pressure on Sri Lanka

Asma Jahangir

MATTHEW PENNINGTON

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new U.N. investigation into allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka will intensify international pressure on its government and could probe the purported responsibility of senior Sri Lankan officials with U.S. ties. As many as 40,000 civilians may have died amid government shelling in the final five months of the conflict in 2009, according to a previous U.N. report. Government forces have also been accused of executing ethnic Tamil rebel leaders who tried to surrender.

Asma Jahangir to assist UN probe in Sri Lanka

''Ms. Jahangir is a previous holder of several Human Rights Council mandates and member of a recent fact-finding body into Israeli settlements. Her experience as a religious freedom activist is also likely to be considered relevant to Sri Lanka, as the Human Rights Council in March expressed its alarm at the significant surge in attacks against members of religious minority groups in Sri Lanka, including Hindus, Muslims and Christians. About a week ago, the coastal town of Aluthgama, south of Colombo, witnessed violent clashes in which four persons died and nearly 80, mostly Muslims, were injured following a rally of Bodu Bala Sena, a hardline Sinhala Buddhist organisation.''

Meera Srinivasan/The Hindu

Sri Lanka says will not cooperate with the OHCHR-driven "comprehensive investigation"

Sri Lanka has reiterated its categorical rejection of the Human Right Council Resolution 25/1, and said it will not cooperate with the OHCHR-driven so called “comprehensive investigation” emanating from it. Sri Lanka has observed that the Government is firmly committed to continuing its ongoing processes of reconciliation, nation building and accountability, and towards this end, will continue to work with countries and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations that are genuinely interested in the welfare of the Sri Lankan people.

My Office has now put in place a staff team for the Sri Lanka Inquiry - Navi Pillay

All set for the SL inquiry

''I note also that last month marked the fifth anniversary of the end of the war in SriLanka, where the scars created by terrorism and conflict have yet to heal.  My Office has now put in place a staff team that will be supported by several experts and Special Procedures mandate holders, to conduct the comprehensive investigation mandated by this Council in order to advance accountability, and thus reconciliation. I encourage the Government to take this opportunity to cooperate with a credible truth-seeking process'' 

Read the full speech: Opening Statement by  Ms. Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Jayalalithaa takes firm stand on Sri Lankan Tamil issue

Jayalalitha: talking tough

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa has taken a firm stand on the Sri Lankan Tamil issue despite conciliatory gestures by the Island nation in recent times, including release of Indian fishermen from the jails in that country.  In a memorandum submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Tuesday, the chief minister reiterated her stand. She demanded the Centre sponsor a resolution in the UN condemning the genocide in Sri Lanka and to hold all those responsible for it accountable. She said the resolution should demand a referendum among the Tamils in Sri Lanka for the formation of a separate Tamil Eelam.