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Press Release
Amnesty International Urges Sri Lanka to Ensure Safety of the Detained Former Asylum Seekers
Amnesty International Media ReleaseFor Immediate ReleaseFriday, September 3, 2010Amnesty International Urges Sri Lanka to Ensure Safety of the Detained Former Asylum SeekersContact: AIUSA media relations office, 202-509-8194(Washington, D.C.) Amnesty International is today calling on the Sri Lankan government to ensure the safety of three men who have been tortured and jailed following their forced return from Australia in 2009. “This is an appalling situation that calls into question the actions of both the Sri Lankan and Australian governments,” said Madhu Malhotra, Amnesty International’s deputy director for Asia.Two of the men, Sumith Mendis and Lasantha Wijeratne, were transferred to a hospital…
March 27, 2011
Press Release
Sri Lanka urged to end witch hunt against the media and NGOs
The Sri Lankan government should end its harassment of journalists and activists and take steps against those making...
March 27, 2011
Press Release
Sri Lanka: The ACF Case 4 Years On: Sri Lankan Families Still Waiting for Justice
AI Index: ASA 37/012/2010 19 August 2010Sri Lanka: The ACF Case 4 Years On: Sri Lankan Families Still Waiting for Justice On World Humanitarian Day (19August) Amnesty International recalls the many humanitarian workers who have fallen victim to human rights violations in Sri Lanka and the families of victims who have been frustrated in their pursuit of justice. Amnesty International calls on the UN to independently investigate violations of human rights and humanitarian law in Sri Lanka as an essential first step to accountability.In August 2006, 17 Sri Lankan aid workers with the international humanitarian agency Action Contre La Faim…
March 27, 2011
Press Release
Sri Lanka: Amnesty International Urges Sri Lanka to End Post-Election Clampdown on Dissent
Amnesty International today called on the Sri Lankan government to end its crackdown on journalists, political activists and...
March 27, 2011
Press Release
UN must investigate Sri Lanka rights violations
A failure to act has left victims with no access to justice, truth or reparations while hundreds of thousands of Sri...
March 27, 2011
Press Release
Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka’s New Parliament Must Drop Emergency Laws, Says Amnesty International
Sri Lanka's first post-war parliament must get rid of draconian emergency laws that have allowed for decades of widespread...
March 27, 2011
Report
Annual Report: Sri Lanka 2010
Head of state and government Mahinda Rajapaksa Death penalty abolitionist in practice Population 20.2 million Life expectancy 74 years Under-5 mortality (m/f) 21/18 per 1,000 Adult literacy: 90.8 per cent Some 300,000 Tamil civilians were displaced by armed conflict, and subsequently detained in government camps. Those suspected of ties with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) - more than 12,000 - were detained separately. Many were held incommunicado and sometimes in facilities not designed to hold prisoners or in secret places of detention. Civilians were trapped for months prior to the conflict's end in May without adequate food, shelter,…
March 19, 2011
Report
Annual Report: Sri Lanka 2005
Head of state: Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga Head of government: Mahinda Rajapakse (replaced Ranil Wickremasinghe in April) Death penalty: abolitionist in practice International Criminal Court: not signed UN Women’s Convention and its Optional Protocol: ratified Summary The ceasefire between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) remained in place, despite a number of violations and a failure to resume peace talks. The human rights situation in the north-east deteriorated following a violent split within the LTTE in April and a dramatic increase in politically motivated killings. Although a large number of child soldiers were released during the internal…
March 19, 2011