As a draft resolution on accountability in Sri Lanka does the rounds preparatory to being tabled by the United States in the current session of the Human Rights Council, the outcome that India may be hoping for most is that it will be adopted as a consensus document and no voting will be required.

That way, India will not need to take a position for or against the resolution. But it all depends on Sri Lanka. Though not in the 47-member HRC, Sri Lanka can lobby member countries for a vote, as it did in 2012.

This yea

Even as the anti-Sri Lanka mood in Tamil Nadu is getting more belligerent, the Centre has increased its annual grant to the island nation in the Union Budget. The allocation has gone up to Rs 500 crore for 2013-2014 from Rs year. It was Rs 181.94 crore in 2011-2012. The Budget has allocated Rs 5,550 crore as aid for foreign governments and organizations.

The grants for Sri Lanka are meant for rehabilitation of internally displaced Tamils, but parties in Tamil Nadu have accused the government there of diverting t

On Thursday, February 28, the Sri Lanka Embassy in Rome was visited by the Carabinieri (Italian Military Intelligence Police). Their intention was to obtain a statement from Ambassador Asitha Perera on allegations he had made regarding a People smuggling racket, sources in Rome said.

Asitha Perera had shocked everyone, including the two high ranking Intelligence officers, when he accused the embassy staff and the two senior most Diplomats, who had completed their terms and returned to Sri Lanka, of being in partnership, with t

A documentary purporting to show the execution of civilians and other war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan army had its first public screening on Friday but was swiftly rejected by the government as part of an "orchestrated campaign" against it.
The documentary "No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka" is the third by British journalist and director Callum Macrae about the final stages of the nearly 30-year civil war.

"We see it as a film of record, but also a call to action," Macrae

Ambassador Shavendra Silva with James Amos, Marine Corps Commandant at last week’s annual presentation of Semper Fidelis award at the Crystal Gateway Marriott, Arlington, Virginia. The prestigious award is given to a person who has demonstrated high principles and dedicated service to the US. This year’s recipient was Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court.

Sri Lanka's Deputy Permanent Representative in New York Maj. Gen. Shavendra Silva recently told a gathering at the US Marine Corps Univ

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, speaking at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) 1st march after submitting her annual report for 2012, said she welcomed the release of the report of the internal review panel on the United Nations actions in Sri Lanka during the last phase of the conflict. Pillay said that the report released last year concluded that there was a systematic failure on the part of the United Nations.
“It is a powerful reminder that the United Nations, wherever we are, has a duty to live up

In an amazing turn of events the LSSP has prioritised its toadying to Mahinda Rajapakse above its relationship with the Tamil people. Let me explain. The Global Tamil Forum (GTF), a diaspora organisation little known in Sri Lanka, but not connected to the LTTE-rump, and whose programme is to win the rights of the Tamil people in a democratic Lanka, is organising its annual conference at the House of Commons in London at the end of this month. The theme is challenges to democracy in Lanka, since this has a grave bearing on the future of t

The police says the bodies that were found in a residence in Gunaratne Mawatha in Panadura are yet to be identified by the relatives.

Police Media Spokesperson SSP Buddhika Siriwardena said the postmortem examination on the bodies is due to be held Friday.

The United States says that the Sri Lankan Government has not initiated a full, credible or independent investigation into longstanding allegations of human rights violations.

Acting Deputy Spokesperson of the US State Department Patrick Ventrell addressing the daily press briefing in Washington said that the US Government is currently reviewing a report compiled by Human Rights Watch in this regard.

Ventrell also said that the United States Government remains committed regarding the human rights issues in Sri Lan

Meanwhile, Speaking at an event in Colombo yesterday, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Chandima Weerakkody reiterated that the past and present situations should be taken into consideration when speaking of human rights.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Chandima Weerakkody expressed these views

“Protecting democracy and the violation of human rights are the topics that being discussed in Geneva. There were obstacles relating to human rights in the past. We lived in an environment where there was anguish about whet