Category: Politics

COLOMBO, September 2, 2013 (AFP) – A Catholic-run human rights group working in northeastern Sri Lanka said Monday it had been harassed by security personnel after meeting UN rights chief Navi Pillay last week.Pillay ended her first trip to the formerly war-ravaged country at the weekend with a stinging press conference in which she accused […]

COLOMBO, September 1, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s state-run media Sunday accused UN human rights chief Navi Pillay of being “prejudiced”, a day after she warned that the island was becoming “increasingly authoritarian”.Pillay ended a fact-finding mission to the country to probe allegations of war crimes Saturday by saying Sri Lanka was a place where […]

August 30, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s President Friday suggested UN human rights chief Navi Pillay had pre-judged his Indian Ocean island, according to a statement from his office, as the nation faces allegations of war crimes.President Mahinda Rajapakse, in face-to-face talks with Pillay, told her that Sri Lankans believe that the UN is biased, […]

COLOMBO, August 31, 2013 (AFP) – UN human rights chief Navi Pillay on Saturday accused Sri Lanka of becoming “increasingly authoritarian”, with activists facing growing military harassment four years after the end of a civil war.Rajapakse’s government has since been dogged by claims of indiscriminate killing of ethnic minority Tamils. Pillay charged that military officials […]

COLOMBO, August 29, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka ratcheted up criticism of the UN human rights body on Thursday, accusing it of repeated “vicious and baseless” allegations, as its chief visited the island to probe alleged war crimes.Foreign Minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris told Navi Pillay that Sri Lanka “resents vicious and baseless positions which are […]

COLOMBO, August 28, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president has criticised the UN Human Rights Council as its top official toured the battle-scarred nation to probe alleged war crimes, according to state media Wednesday.President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is on a trip to Belarus, has told his counterpart Alexander Lukashenko that both nations are being targeted […]

Aug 27, 2013 (LBO)- Sri Lanka has signed a series of bilateral deals involving trade, taxation, tourism and defence co-operation following a visit by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to Belarus.Agreements on trade and economic co-operation, avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion, tourism and technical co-operation on military affairs had been signed, the media […]

COLOMBO, August 27, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s cultural affairs ministry has taken strong exception to a mass “wedding” of police dogs, which used symbols of traditional Buddhist nuptials on the Indian Ocean island. Culture Minister T.B. Ekanayake demanded an explanation for Monday’s ceremony in central Sri Lanka, which was intended to promote a programme […]

COLOMBO, August 27, 2013 (AFP) – Families of people who disappeared during Sri Lanka’s ethnic war demonstrated in the former rebel stronghold of Jaffna Tuesday as UN rights chief Navi Pillay visited the area on a fact-finding mission.Demonstrators led by women held photographs of their missing relatives outside the Jaffna library and urged Pillay, the […]

COLOMBO, August 25, 2013 (AFP) – The UN’s top rights official began her visit to Sri Lanka Sunday by brushing aside criticism that she overstepped her brief and vowing to raise human rights concerns with Colombo.Navi Pillay, who has previously called for a war crimes investigation against Sri Lanka, said she was only holding it […]

COLOMBO, August 26, 2013 (AFP) – Buddhist monks led protests in the Sri Lankan capital Monday against the UN’s top rights official, who began a fact-finding mission to the country following concerns about war crimes.Dozens of monks and pro-government activists staged the noisy demonstration outside UN offices, accusing the international community of drumming up false […]