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Q&A: Sri Lanka Remains Defiant of U.N. Chief
Thalif Deen interviews DR. PALITHA KOHONA, Sri Lanka's Permanent U.N. Representative
UNITED NATIONS - The Sri Lankan government continues to challenge U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's right to appoint a panel of experts to advise him on the human rights situation - euphemistically called "accountability issues" – following the end of a protracted conflict against a secessionist group widely considered a terrorist organisation.
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DEVELOPMENT-SRI LANKA: NGOs Brace for Tighter Gov’t Control
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO - Local and foreign non-governmental organisations have had a liberal existence in Sri Lanka, but this may not last for much longer under the government’s plans to amend a 1980 law that would tighten control over them.
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SRI LANKA: Historic Election Results Dash Minority’s Hopes
By IPS Correspondent
COLOMBO - Now that the electorate has given its verdict, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s victory in the just concluded presidential polls sends an ominous signal to the minority people of the island state.
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Q&A: ‘Commissions for Human Rights Violations Have Failed’
Marwaan Macan-Markar interviews KISHALI PINTO-JAYAWARDENA, Sri Lankan human rights advocate
BANGKOK - Sri Lanka’s nearly three decades of civil war may be over, but questions about war crimes and gross human rights violations committed during the final stages of that battle in 2009 continue to haunt the South Asian nation.
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SRI LANKA: Media Face Uncertainties in the Run-up to Elections
Analysis by Adithya Alles
COLOMBO - The string of events involving the Sri Lankan press over the past week has once again brought the embattled Fourth Estate into the limelight. This comes into sharp focus as the country eagerly awaits the upcoming presidential elections.
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SRI LANKA: Country Heads Into Decisive Elections
By Amantha Perera
COLOMBO - Call it a novel election propaganda ploy.
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SRI LANKA: A Nation Struggles to Forget a Tragedy
By Amantha Perera
PERALIYA, Sri Lanka - Waves hitting a train and carriages half submerged in water. Scores of men, women and children leaping above the water, hands outstretched, bodies strewn all over.
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SRI LANKA: The Long Road to Normalcy in War-Ravaged Zones
By Adithya Alles
COLOMBO - Despite the recent accelerated return of tens of thousands of war-displaced civilians to their former villages in northern Sri Lanka and the impending relaxation of further restrictions, aid agencies say far more efforts are needed to help the civilian population regain normalcy lost to decades of conflict.
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SRI LANKA: Plans to Release Tamils ‘Nothing But a Political Ploy’
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO - By January 2010 they will be returning to their homes in war-torn areas.
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SRI LANKA: Hopes High for Fresh Leadership as Election Looms
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO - Political developments are rapidly unfolding as the public eagerly awaits the President’s announcement on Sunday of the date for the next presidential or parliamentary polls—an event widely expected to bring about a new leadership that could bring to fruition the people’s collective yearnings for a return to law and order as well as discipline.
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SRI LANKA: Gov’t, EU in Back-channel Talks Over Fate of Trade Pact
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO - Sri Lanka has reacted strongly to a European Commission (EC) probe on its human rights record, saying it is politically motivated.
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Q&A: EU to Sri Lanka on GSP Plus Probe: ‘No Tit for Tat’
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO - Despite acrimonious exchanges between Sri Lanka and the European Union (EU) over human rights violations on which rests the fate of continued tax-free exports to Europe, development assistance continues unhindered to the Indian Ocean island, according to Europe’s top diplomat here.
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SRI LANKA: U.S. Govt Report Adds to Pressure for War Crimes Probe
By Eli Clifton
WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department released a report Thursday detailing possible violations of the laws of war in Sri Lanka during the first half of 2009, adding to pressure for an independent, international investigation into alleged atrocities committed by government forces and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) separatists.
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News in RSS While Sri Lanka celebrates 61 years of independence from British colonial rule, the enthusiasm is not shared by minority Tamils living under the military jackboot in the north of the country. Find out more about the situation with IPS.

Sri Lanka - In Search of Serendip
Asia - Pacific
Human Rights
IPS Special Coverage of Previous Attempts at Peace, Negotiations 2003-2005
United Nations -- Inside the Glass House
News in RSS
IT IS TIME TO RETURN TO THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Irene Khan
Terrorists go on a rampage of senseless killing in Mumbai. Exhausted and terrified refugees pour into Uganda to escape the fighting in eastern Congo. Ten people are executed in Iran. Three hundred thousand civilians are displaced in northern Sri Lanka. Slowing rates of economic growth cast deep gloom around the world. Not a particularly auspicious moment to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, writes Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Peace in Sri Lanka - official government site
Tamil Eelam site
UNDP Sri Lanka
Amnesty International Report - Sri Lanka
World Food Programme - Sri Lanka
TamilNET
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