Sri Lanka vowed Wednesday to grant greater autonomy to its Tamil minority in a new constitution after an influential Buddhist monk said the clergy opposed the plan. President Maithripala Sirisena has said the new constitution will grant extensive autonomy to Tamils concentrated in the island’s northern and eastern regions. He has said he wants to … Read more
Sri Lanka’s President announced Saturday new investigations into alleged secret detention centres as part of a drive to find tens of thousands of people still missing after the country’s decades-long war. Maithripala Sirisena said he would establish a mechanism to search locations where there are reports that people may still be incarcerated after the war, … Read more
As many as 40,000 Tamil civilians may have died in the last few months of the fighting The United Nations has condemned Sri Lanka’s government for failing to investigate civil war-era atrocities, suggesting the government was afraid of punishing soldiers who committed abuses during the conflict. The world body had previously accused the Sri Lankan … Read more
The UN rights chief on Wednesday condemned Sri Lanka’s persistent failure to probe war-era atrocities, suggesting the government was afraid of punishing soldiers who committed abuses during the conflict. The criticism from Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein is the latest volley in an escalating war of words between the United Nations and Sri Lanka over impunity … Read more
President Maithripala Sirisena came to power in Sri Lanka promising justice for war crimes, breaking from his hawkish predecessor and presenting the island with its first real shot at a lasting peace. But that optimism has been sorely tested as Sirisena, having missed a two-year deadline to investigate war-era abuses, declared he would never prosecute … Read more
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has rejected a fresh appeal from the United Nations to allow international judges to investigate alleged war-era atrocities, vowing to not prosecute soldiers. “I am not going to allow non-governmental organisations to dictate how to run my government. I will not listen to their calls to prosecute my troops,” the … Read more
Attackers opened fire on a prison bus outside Colombo on Monday, killing five prisoners and two armed guards in the worst gang-related violence to hit Sri Lanka in decades. Police said the gunmen sprayed bullets at the bus as it passed through a wooded area near the capital, also wounding four guards. One of the … Read more