Sri Lanka’s promises on human rights should no longer be accepted by the international community, Amnesty International said as the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on 1 November highlighted Colombo’s continued denial of the human rights crisis in the country and the need for independent investigations into new alleged human rights violations and past war crimes.
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(Disclaimer: The following brief is intended for use of the information media and is not an official record. The note provides a brief factual summary of the UPR Working Group meeting with the State under review and does not cover all points addressed. An official summary of the meeting can be found in the Working Group report.)
UNP national organizer Daya Gamage and his wife Dr. Anoma Gamage, MP for Ampara, will be visiting Melbourne, Australia.
Geneva, SWITZERLAND – On November 1st, 2012, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will review Sri Lanka’s Human Rights record as part of its Universal Periodic Review. This will be the second cycle of a peer review process of the UNHRC, which was instituted in 2008. A total of 46 Non-Governmental Organizations have submitted reports on all aspects of human rights violations in the country.
The Sri Lankan government must immediately cease its assault on the independence of the judiciary, the International Commission of Jurists said in a new report released today.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has told Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem in a lighter vein that he was appointed to the portfolio in order to satisfy the Chief Justice since he had a good reputation of pleasing women, sources from Temple Trees said.
Main political parties in the opposition are exploring the possibility of forming a Center to fight to safeguard the country’s judiciary.
Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa has told the heads of the state media to deal with the Divi Neguma Bill and the Chief Justice’s issue separately. He has explained that issues related to the Chief Justice’s ethics are sidelined when it is involved with the Divi Neguma Bill. He has said that it would then give an impression that the government was trying to intimidate the judiciary.
(Speech of Ranil Wickremesinghe, Leader of the Opposition at the Business Today TOP TWENTY FIVE awards ceremony)
After a series of attacks on the judiciary the Mahinda Rajapaksa government is now reported to be engaged in preparing papers for the impeachment of the Chief Justice (CJ). While the accusation against the CJ is not known the determination of the government to impeach her has been highly publicised. The state media have been mobilised to make a concerted attack on the judiciary.
The military intelligence unit is reportedly engaged in taking photographs and registering details of families that have resettled in Mullivaikkal West and Ambalavan Pokkanai.
Mannar Bishop, Rev. Rayappu Joseph says that Sri Lanka needs to be changed in a manner where all communities could live with dignity.
The Chief Justice’s husband, former Chairman of the National Savings Bank (NSB), Pradeep Kariyawasam is to reveal many secret when the case filed against him before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court is taken up for hearing, it is learnt.
Senior SLFP minister have expressed their objection to the impeachment motion against the Chief Justice and have refrained from placing their signatures in the blank document that is to carry the impeachment motion.
Former Chief Justice Ashoka de Silva is trying to use Supreme Court Judge Shirani Thilekawardena against Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake saying she would be appointed as the chief justice after Bandaranayake’s removal.
