Monthly Archives: August 2012

MIGRATION: Reaction to Australian policy reforms

BANGKOK, 14 August 2012 (IRIN) – The Australian government’s recent decision to transfer asylum seekers to Pacific islands to process their applications will undermine efforts to find a solution to the region’s asylum seekers and refugees, human right groups and activists warn.
“Policies like offshore processing will see refugees languish on Nauru [Island] for years, and […]

By Staff Correspondent | Published on August 14, 2012 at 11:05 pm

Looking to the parliamentary select committee to break deadlock

In a matter of three to four months the government will be facing scrutiny at the UN Human Rights Council which will be scrutinizing the four year
report of the Sri Lankan government for the period 2008-12 in terms of the UN’s Universal Periodic Review. This will be followed by the UN Human Rights Council meeting […]

By Dr. Jehan Perera | Published on August 13, 2012 at 11:23 pm

Reincarnation/rebirth of the Indo-Lanka accord

Reading this headline, extreme Singhalese may say, ‘another……. paving the way for a separate state’, extreme Tamil nationalists may say, ‘another one going against the independent state’, but the wisest from both communities may say, ‘the right thinking at the right time’.
Twenty five years ago on 29th July 1987, when the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv […]

By S.V. Kirubaharan | Published on August 9, 2012 at 12:17 am

Rajapakse is like a sea pirate – Sarath Fonseka

Sarath Fonseka, the war winning former army commander and the former presidential contender says President Mahinda Rajapaksa is robbing the sovereignty of his people, ‘just like an 18th century sea pirate who looted ships’. “ Such actions are not condoned in any civilized country. If this happens in a country like England — which introduced […]

By Ranga Jayasuriya | Published on August 8, 2012 at 12:41 am

Concessions to human rights pressures and a political solution

Shift in government policy
The government’s decision to respond positively to a request by UN Human Rights Commissioner Navanethem Pillay to have an advisory and technical team visit Sri Lanka represents an important shift in government policy. The government’s previous position was that that the
international human rights community had no role to play in investigating allegations […]

By Dr. Jehan Perera | Published on August 6, 2012 at 3:04 am

US assassination drone strike kills 25 in eastern Somalia

A US assassination drone attack has claimed the lives of at least 25 people in eastern Somalia, Press TV reports.
The attack took place in Somalia’s Garas Balley district near the capital Mogadishu, leaving at least another 40 injured.
The unmanned aircraft also destroyed two al-Shabab bases in the area.
The US has recently stepped up its drone operations in […]

By Staff Correspondent | Published on August 3, 2012 at 3:29 am

SRI LANKA: Milking cattle’s potential

COLOMBO, 3 August 2012 (IRIN) – Dairy farming could boost incomes and the nutritional status of tens of thousands of returnees in Sri Lanka’s former war zone in the north of the island, where wage-paying jobs are still scarce.
“The livestock sector has vast potential for contributing towards economic development, poverty alleviation and nutritional deficiency, and […]

By IRIN | Published on August 3, 2012 at 3:13 am