Dear Mr. Evans,
We write to you to express our deep concerns that changes to Australia’s asylum processing system announced on April 8, 2010 violate Australia’s obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol not to discriminate in the treatment of refugees. As Article 3 of the Refugee Convention states: “The Contracting Parties shall apply the provisions of this Convention to refugees without discrimination as to race, religion or country of origin.” More
Human Rights Watch -Sri Lanka: End Indefinite Detention of Tamil Tiger Suspects
The Sri Lankan government should end its indefinite arbitrary detention of more than 11,000 people held in so-called rehabilitation centers and release those not being prosecuted, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The 30-page report, “Legal Limbo: The Uncertain Fate of Detained LTTE Suspects in Sri Lanka,” is based on interviews with the detainees’ relatives, humanitarian workers, and human rights advocates, among others. The Sri Lankan government has routinely violated the fundamental rights of the detainees, Human Rights Watch found. The government contends that the 11,000 detainees are former fighters or supporters of the defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). More
Click here to read ‘LegalLimbo-The Uncertain Fate of Detained LTTE Suspects in Sri Lanka’
News 24 – S Lanka violating human rights
Sri Lanka’s government is violating the rights of some of the 11 000 Tamil Tiger suspects currently in its custody, a leading rights group said on Tuesday.
Human Rights Watch (29/01) – Sri Lanka: End Harassment, Attacks on Journalists
The Sri Lankan government should immediately end its post-election harassment of media outlets and ensure protection of journalists from attack, Human Rights Watch said today.
SMH – Sri Lanka ‘expels Swiss reporter’
Swiss Info – Swiss journalist told to leave Sri Lank
The Straits Times – Sri Lanka expels Swiss reporter
SRI Lankan authorities have withdrawn the visa granted to a Swiss reporter covering the island’s fiercely fought presidential vote and asked her to leave the country within 48 hours.
Sify – Anti-government newspaper shuttered in Sri Lanka
Times of India – Police seal office of ‘Lanka‘ newspaper
The Guardian - ‘Cruel, illegal, immoral’: Human Rights Watch condemns UK’s role in torture
The attorney general was under intense pressure tonight to order a wider series of police investigations into British complicity in torture after one of the world’s leading human rights organisations said there was clear evidence of the UK government’s involvement in the torture of its own citizens.
After an investigation spanning more than a year, Human Rights Watch (HRW) today condemned Britain’s role in the torture of terror suspects detained in Pakistan as cruel, counter-productive and in clear breach of international law.
Critically, a report published today by HRW – entitled Cruel Britannia: British Complicity in the Torture and Ill-treatment of Terror Suspects – draws upon corroborative evidence received from the Pakistani torturers themselves. More
Al Jazeera – US-India commit to nuclear deal
The US president and Indian prime minister have pledged to fully implement a nuclear accord after talks in Washington, in addition to reaching agreements on issues as diverse as international security, job creation and climate change.
In a White House news conference on Tuesday, Barack Obama said that he and Manmohan Singh had reaffirmed both their administrations’ desire to push ahead with the civilian nuclear deal.
The deal allows Washington to authorise selling advanced nuclear related technology to India, reversing more than 30 years of US policy banning the export of nuclear material.
“My administration is committed to fully implementing the US-India civil nuclear agreement which increases American exports and creates jobs in both countries,” Obama said.
Singh said he was also confident Obama would “operationalise the nuclear deal as early as possible”.
“There are a few ‘i’s and ‘t’s that have to be crossed, but I am confident and I have the assurance that that process can be completed without much further loss of time.” More
Human Rights Watch : Sri Lanka: World Leaders Should Demand End to Detention Camps
World leaders in New York for the United Nations General Assembly and the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh should call on the Sri Lankan government to immediately release more than 260,000 displaced persons illegally confined in detention camps, Human Rights Watch said today.
Read full report here.
Human Rights Watch : Sri Lanka: Execution Video Shows Need for International Inquiry
No Action on Government Promises of Investigations to United Nations
The blood, blindfolds, and mud of this apparent atrocity makes nonsense of President Rajapaksa’s claims of a clean war against the Tamil Tigers. An international inquiry needs to get to the bottom of this and other war crimes committed during the past year’s fighting.
AFP – Rains flood 2,000 shelters at Sri Lanka camp: UN
Heavy rains flooded nearly 2,000 makeshift shelters housing Sri Lankan Tamil war refugees detained by the government, the United Nations said Tuesday, raising concerns about their health.
The strong rains last weekend lashed the northern Vavuniya district where over 250,000 people displaced during the final stages of the ethnic conflict live in military-run camps under tight security.
The UN said 1,925 shelters had been “damaged or completely destroyed” in the biggest of a series of displaced persons camps known as the Manik Farm area.
People affected had been moved to schools inside the camps temporarily, the UN statement said.
The rains washed away wooden toilets and damaged sewer lines and water treatment plants, government officials said.
Sri Lanka’s Resettlement Minister Rishard Bathurdeen has blamed UN agencies for what he calls a poorly constructed drainage system that collapsed during the floods.
But Human Rights Watch said Tuesday the government must take “full responsibility” for the squalid conditions.
The New York-based group urged Colombo to release inmates to live with their families and friends, a demand consistently rejected by authorities.
“Locking families up in squalid conditions and then blaming aid agencies for their plight is downright shameful,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“This is illegal, dangerous, and inhumane,” he said, adding the floods had “heightened the risk of outbreak of disease”.
The government has severely restricted access to the camps and does not allow journalists to visit the area on their own.
In late June, camp residents held at least two protests which were defused by the security forces. Since then, the military has divided the management of the camps into smaller, more manageable sections, HRW said.
The government has promised to resettle around 80 percent of the displaced people by year end. Colombo says people will have to remain inside the camps until the military screens out remaining Tamil Tiger fighters.
Sri Lanka’s former premier and main opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday said the camps threatened to sully Sri Lanka’s international image.
Government forces crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebel group in May, ending the guerrillas’ four-decade struggle for an independent Tamil homeland that was one of Asia’s longest-running ethnic conflicts.
Reuters – Monsoon onset raising fears for Sri Lanka war-displaced
AFP : Sri Lanka govt berated over aid workers’ deaths
COLOMBO — The New York-based group Human Rights Watch on Tuesday pressed for an international probe into the killings in Sri Lanka of 17 local employees of a French charity three years ago.
BBC : Sri Lanka deaths probe demanded
Sri Lanka: Adopt International Inquiry for Aid Worker Killings
Third Anniversary of ACF Murders Marked by Government Inaction, Intimidation
Relatives of the slain French aid group Action Contre La Faim’s local staff mourn during their funeral procession near Trincomalee, Sri Lanka.
Relatives of the slain French aid group Action Contre La Faim’s local staff mourn during their funeral procession near Trincomalee, Sri Lanka.
