The UK government has approved more than 3,000 export licences for military sales to countries which it believes have questionable records on human rights including Sri Lanka.

A BC report quoted the House of Commons Committees on Arms Export Controls as saying the value of the existing export licences to the 27 countries in question exceeds £12bn.

The chairman, Conservative MP Sir John Stanley, said he was astonished at the scale and value of the licences.

The Indian government says its ties with Sri Lanka are strong and it has no reason to be concerned over reports that Sri Lanka is having talks with Pakistan over a nuclear pact.

India External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid noted that India is actively involved in the rehabilitation of Tamils in Sri Lanka, the Press Trust of India reported.

“I cannot speak for the Sri Lankan government but we have many areas of cooperation with them. We are actively involved in the rehabilitatio

Callum Macrae’s documentary “No Fire Zone” is not a story, rather several stories strung together, of people like you and me, of families and children like yours and mine, who were rendered homeless during a 26-year-long civilian war. And what you see on screen are real, gory, bloody scenes.

Macrae’s earlier film, “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”, broadcast in June 2011 by the United Kingdom’s Channel 4, opened with the UN team leaving the island country in 2008, after the government ex

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) says that it is working towards improving the country's human rights record and a national inquiry is being planned in this regard.

A Commissioner of the HRCSL Dr. Prathiba Mahanamahewa has said that the Commission is preparing to hold a National Inquiry on the practice of Human Rights in the island.

The National Inquiry aims to obtain the opinions of the general public on the human rights issues and earlier this month more than 50 st

The powerful Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, said yesterday that foreign media personnel would be free to come to Sri Lanka to cover the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and there would be no 'obstacles' nor 'barriers' against visa issuance to them. Rajapaksa said reporters from London, in an indirect reference to former BBC correspondent Frances Harrison and Callum Macrae of the No Fire Zone fame, are also free to come to Sri Lanka to cover the CHOGM. Rajapaksa's remarks indicate an about face o

Saudi Arabia has passed a law to protect the rights of domestic workers, including provisions that favour employers.

The new piece of legislation attempts to reconcile the rights of around two million domestic workers and their employers. Workers—including maids and drivers—are now legally entitled to nine hours of free time daily, a salary at the end of every month, sick leave, and a one-month paid vacation every two years.

The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) has planned to stage a protest against the Registrar of the Colombo University, for allegedly violating the agreement between university teachers and Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

FUTA President Dr. Ranjith Dewasiri told The Island that the Colombo University Registrar had not allowed the teachers to hold a media conference at the Faculty Club of the university last week by directing marshals to prevent journalists from entering the