Category: Breaking News

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has made five key recommendations pertaining to the Bill on the Commission for Truth, Unity and Reconciliation in Sri Lanka, which was published by way of gazette notification on 29 December 2023.

In a letter addressed to the President, the HRCSL recognized the well-established human right to truth under international law, emphasizing its crucial role in transitional justice.

However, it asserted that the promotion of this right should be aligned with the advancement of other transitional justice pillars, including accountability, reparations, and preventing the recurrence of past injustices.

Accordingly, the HRCSL made the following five key recommendations:

1) Without delay, a high-level committee should be set up under the Presidential Secretariat, comprising pertinent experts and representatives from victim groups and civil society. The primary responsibility of this committee is to oversee the implementation of all positive recommendations from prior truth-seeking mechanisms, including the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

2) Programmes that inform the country as a whole about the findings of previous truth-seeking mechanisms should be carried out.

3) Establish a strong, impartial entity for investigating and prosecuting serious human rights violations and crimes, promptly providing it with essential resources and access to expertise, including international perspectives as needed.

4) Transitional justice in Sri Lanka should address both armed conflicts and civil disturbances, including insurrections, delving into their political and socioeconomic roots for a holistic national reckoning.

5) The Presidential Secretariat should serve as the host for any transitional justice mechanism in Sri Lanka, providing it with the utmost status and significance.

Sri Lanka is to make fresh approaches to counter the UNHRC process during its upcoming session in March, this year by engaging the leaders of the different countries including those from Africa, Daily Mirror learns.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe who is currently in Davos, Switzerland will head to Uganda to attend the Non-Aligned Summit that kicked off last Monday. The leaders from about 120 countries across the world have converged in the Ugandan capital Kampala for the 19th Summit of the NAM.

On the sidelines of the summit, the President is slated to hold bilateral talks with the leaders of a number of African countries for strengthening bilateral ties including cooperation at the UNHRC.

Sri Lanka has been in the UNHRC limelight since 2012 after the civil war ended. Sri Lanka’s case will be taken up once again in the upcoming session.

The government of Sri Lanka consistently rejected the latest Resolution 46/1 and 51/1 that led to the setting up of the so-called ‘Accountability Project’ calling it intrusive.

An informed source said the government will make fresh engagements with the United Kingdom, the country which leads the core-group countries which advocated the resolution on Sri Lanka. The President recently decided to join the operations led by the United States and the UK in the Red Sea to counter attacks by Houthi rebels from Yemen, an act interpreted by some as a move, in part, to engage these countries ahead of the UNHRC process.

The government has taken measures to implement measures envisaged in the latest UNHRC resolution. The government enacted a bill recently to establish a national unity and reconciliation office, in a key step towards post-conflict reconciliation with the Tamil community.

The bill to set up the ‘Office for National Unity and Reconciliation’ was passed with a majority of 48 votes, while 7 Members of Parliament voted against it.

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) has neither decided on a candidate or whether the party will put forward a candidate for the upcoming Presidential Election, the SLPP leader and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said.

The former President said this during an event to discuss party organisational activities at the grassroots level held at Grand Monarch Hotel in Thalawathugoda.

“President Ranil Wickremesinghe is the candidate of the United National Party for the upcoming Presidential election. Our candidate has not been decided yet. We have not yet decided to field a candidate or not. Further discussions are going on in this regard,” he said.

He further said that the current focus was regarding the programme to take the party forward.

He also said that SLPP will pay attention to the people’s wishes at the grassroots when taking a decision regarding the upcoming Presidential Election.

A team of senior IMF officials overseeing Sri Lanka’s bailout programme has toured the Tamil-dominated Northern district of Jaffna for the first time under the current USD 2.9 billion agreement, officials said on Monday.

Led by Peter Brueur, the International Monetary Fund senior mission chief for Sri Lanka, the team last week met with the Governor of the Northern province, PMS Charles, and other senior officials and discussed issues related to economic growth in the province, demining programmes, resettlement of conflict-displaced individuals and compensation for conflict victims.

They also discussed the educational matters related to Jaffna University, post-COVID operations, and the adverse effects of climate change on the northern region, the officials said.

The team, which returned to Colombo on Monday, is scheduled to engage with the finance ministry. Talks are expected with Shehan Semasinghe, the state minister of finance, who leads the local IMF engagement under President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The discussions in Colombo are anticipated to focus on the targets outlined in the current IMF programme, which advocates large scale economic reforms in the island nation.

In a meeting with President Wickremesinghe on Thursday last, Brueur had expressed satisfaction with Sri Lanka’s progress in implementing reforms aimed at revitalising the economy.

The global lender had commended Sri Lanka for its advancements in policy-oriented variables and fiscal consolidation.

Sri Lanka, which declared its first-ever debt default in April 2022, had secured an IMF bailout agreement of USD 2.9 billion over four years by the last quarter of 2022.

The first tranche of USD 1.5 billion was released in March 2023, with the second installment of USD 337 million arriving in December 2023 following the first review.

Source: PTI

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak sent a “huge thank you” to British Tamils in a message released to mark Thai Pongal today, stating the community has made an “amazing contribution” to the country.

“Let me first say a huge thank you to British Tamils for the amazing contribution you make in the NHS, education, science, business, public service,” said Sunak in a video message released this morning.

“And as we look ahead, let me also renew my commitment to building a better, brighter future for everyone.”

British politicians from across the country have released messages to mark Thai Pongal today, including Leader of the Opposition Keir Starmer who said it was “also a time for us to remember the sacrifices made by the Tamil people for self determination, peace and justice in Sri Lanka”.