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| International Bar Association Acts Like a “Kangaroo Court” in the Case of Sri Lanka |
| 2013-04-23 |
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During the new year holidays, the International Bar Association put out a report titled “A Crisis of Legitimacy: The Impeachment of Chief Justice Bandaranayake and the Erosion of the Rule of Law in Sri Lanka”. It is important for bodies purporting to represent the legal profession not to convey the impression of being a kangaroo court lest it undermines the confidence of the people in the legal system.
People expect a certain clinical rigour from bodies made up of the legal fraternity. The International Bar Associa
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| US Human Rights report on Sri Lanka stresses accountability |
| 2013-04-23 |
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These reports send a very clear message that all governments have a responsibility to protect universal human rights and they help to blaze a path forward for places where those rights are either threatened or denied. We stand up for values and speaking out for people who often don’t have any chance whatsoever to speak out for themselves", was what Secretary of State John Kerry noted when he released the Country reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012 in Washington on Friday.
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| Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012 |
| 2013-04-23 |
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Sri Lanka is a constitutional, multiparty republic. President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was reelected to a second six-year term in January 2010, and the parliament, which was elected in April 2010, share constitutional power. The government is dominated by the president’s family; two of the president’s brothers hold key executive branch posts as defense secretary and minister of economic development, while a third brother is the speaker of parliament. A large number of other relatives, including the president’s son, also s
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| President willing to probe allegations |
| 2013-04-23 |
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President Mahinda Rajapaksa says the government will investigate the human rights allegations raised against the island if there is evidence to back those claims.
Speaking to media heads at a breakfast meeting today, the President insisted that the government respects and maintains human rights in Sri Lanka.
He said that fingers are pointed at the government even over normal criminal issues and that is then turned into claims of human rights abuses.
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| Employees of Sri Lanka Railways to launch strike today demanding salary hike |
| 2013-04-23 |
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Employees of Sri Lanka Railways will launch a 48-hour island wide token strike beginning midnight Monday to demand a solution to their salary issues.
Railway trade unions say the employees would go ahead with the strike as the authorities have failed to address their salary anomalies including a pay raise.
The Convener of the Joint Trade Union Alliance (JTUA) of Sri Lanka Railways Employees, Janaka Fernando told media that they have informed the President's Secretary Lalith Weeratunga, Transport Minister Kumara
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| Many head of states will not participate the CHOGM meeting- Kiriella |
| 2013-04-23 |
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It is said that following the request of the Commonwealth Lawyers
fraternity to reconsider holding the CHOGM in Sri Lanka, and suspend
Sri Lanka from the Councils of Commonwealth, countries may reconsider
sending their top decision makers to the Commonwealth event, Senior
Vice Chairman of the UNP, Lakshman Kiriella.said at a meeting in Kandy
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| Attention to be paid to safety of Lankans deprived of their jobs in Saudi |
| 2013-04-23 |
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The Foreign Employment Bureau of Sri Lanka states that it has taken steps to ensure the safe passage of several groups of Sri Lankan migrants who have been deprived of their jobs subsequent to the expiration of their job identification card.
Media Spokesperson of the FEB, Deputy General Manager Mangala Randeniya noted that the Sri Lankan embassy in Saudi had taken measures to convene discussions with the country's government in this regard.
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| Australia defends treatment of Sri Lankans |
| 2013-04-23 |
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The Australian government has defended its “enhanced screening process” that resulted in 38 asylum seekers being sent back to Sri Lanka within nine days of landing in Western Australia, the Australian Associated Press reported.
They were among a group of 66 who arrived by boat in the port of Geraldton, hoping to go on to New Zealand.
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| Sponsor shocked to find maid reporting for duty pregnant |
| 2013-04-23 |
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A Saudi sponsor, who spent SR 20,000 to recruit a servant from Sri Lanka, was shocked to find that his new maid was three months pregnant on arrival in the Kingdom.
Saroja Pushpavalli (not her real name) from Maskeliya in Sri Lanka, came to Riyadh two weeks ago and her sponsor found that she was pregnant when she underwent medical tests in the capital.
The Saudi sponsor handed her to the Sri Lankan Embassy to send her back home since she would not be able to attend to household chores because of her pregnancy.
“How c
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| Post-war scrap metal business goes great guns and then backfires |
| 2013-04-23 |
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Namini Wijedasa visits a Madampe yard and unearths the story behind this week’s detection of a massive haul of weapon parts
The discovery of more than 300 weapon parts at a scrap metal dealership in Madampe has raised suspicions of a growing trade in firearms smuggled out from former war zones.
Weapon parts detected at Madampe. Pic by Augustin Fernando
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