Erasing Identities: Tracing Sri Lanka’s Post-war Journey through the Changing Realities of Trincomalee

Trinco by sunset (photo : Asia rooms)

''The experience of minorities in the beautiful eastern district of Trincomalee perfectly encapsulates the dark and depressing reality facing minority communities across Sri Lanka. Trincomalee’s remaking is part of a larger national-level project. The new Trincomalee is a microcosm of the post-war Sri Lanka. At the expense of minorities, the Rajapaksa government is building a Sinhalese-Buddhist nation that is intolerant, illiberal, and regressive. Five years on, any possibility of national reconciliation seems entirely distant and improbable. ''

Elijah Hoole

Sri Lanka ranked 26th in 2014′s Peoples under Threat index and fell five places from 2013′s ranking

The overall measure for each country is based on a basket of 10 indicators. The number in each row is drawn from the source for that particular indicator. The sources of data and calculations used are detailed on   Sri Lanka ranked 26th in 2014′s Peoples under Threat index and fell five places from 2013′s ranking.Visit the interactive map here

Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination ( CERD): Switzerland in the Dock

ANASTACIA CRICKLEY,

Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination considers report of Switzerland

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination today completed its consideration of the combined seventh to ninth periodic reports of Switzerland on its implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Here are the very probing questions raised by the experts which shows their concerns: 

Magistrates Court accepts 13 petitions for Matale mass grave

A mother who gave a affidavit speaking to media

13 petitioners presented affidavits when the hearing regarding the Matale mass grave was heard in Matale magistrates court today (8th). They asked through affidavits to carry out a test regarding the skeletal remains unearthed from Matale mass graves as they suspect the skeletal remains could be their relatives who disappeared during the 88 – 89 period.  

Sri Lanka: Police and Military Block Family Members of Disappeared Heading to UN in Colombo: UN should act - NfR

NfR, a network of Sri Lankan journalists and human rights defenders, expresses its strongest indignation to the Government of Sri Lanka for its dastardly act of blocking Tamil civilians travelling to Colombo to demand justice for the disappeared. Police has used their trucks to block the buses they were travelling with.

Colombo shuns Tamil representation in Delimitation Committee in Trincomalee

Not a single Tamil officer was appointed to the six-member Trincomalee District Local Authorities Delimitation Committee that is headed by the Sri Lankan Government Agent (SLGA) who is a retired Major General of the occupying Sri Lanka Army, civil sources in Trincomalee said. Four members are Sinhalese, including the SLGA, and the remaining two are Muslims.