An editorial in today’s Washington Post has accused Sri Lanka of “squandering opportunities” to heal the “ethnic rift” on the island.

Detailing the “retrograde” measures Rajapakse has taken, in spite of global condemnation, the editorial argues that threats to boycott or move the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo by the UK, Canada and Australia could send a “clear message” that the country’s policies are unacceptable to other democratic nations.

See extracts below:

"Having acquired a two-thirds parliamentary majority by inducing the defection of opposition representatives, the ruling party rewrote the constitution to eliminate a two-term limit on the president. Government critics in the press, civil society organizations and the judiciary have been threatened and sometimes attacked by pro-government thugs. According to Human Rights Watch, several thousand people are detained without charge, and state security forces have continued to abuse Tamil activists, including through torture and sexual assault.

"The regime has meanwhile brushed off demands by the U.N. Human Rights Council that it conduct a serious investigation into crimes that may have been committed in the final months of the war. Last week the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said that no mechanism had been established to trace people who went missing and that investigations of disappearances had not led to arrests or prosecutions.

"This year Mr. Rajapaksa has taken two more big steps in the wrong direction. Last month he ratified the impeachment of the chief justice of the supreme court and installed a close follower in her place, neutering the judiciary’s independence.

"Mr. Rajapaksa had promised to expand that local autonomy as a way of addressing the legitimate interests of Tamils, who form a majority in parts of the north and east. But this month he celebrated Sri Lanka’s independence day by delivering a speech that reneged on the pledge. The government is now signaling that it may repeal the constitutional provision on local rights.

"The United States and other Western governments have repeatedly and publicly protested Mr. Rajapaksa’s retrograde measures, but their words have fallen on deaf ears. Human Rights Watch points out that the Commonwealth community of nations may have some leverage, because Sri Lanka is due to host the bloc’s summit in November — a high-prestige event for a small country. By threatening to move or boycott the summit and Sri Lanka’s assumption of the Commonwealth chairmanship, governments such as Britain, Canada and Australia could send a clear message to Mr. Rajapaksa that his policies are unacceptable to democratic nations."

The Sri Lankan General Secretary of the Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees’ Union (FTZ & GSEU), Anton Marcus, announced that the loss the European Union’s Generalised System of Preference Plus (GSP+) concessions to Sri Lanka has forced over 186 garment factories to close.

The trade union leader said that the number of factories had reduced from 835 to 500, resulting in the number of employees in the industry falling from 1 million to 283,000.

The European Union suspended the GSP+ tariff  in 2010, due to the Sri Lankan state’s failure to adhere with the fundamental human rights conventions that is expected of all recipients of the concession.

In a statement published on Tuesday, Human Rights Watch urged the UN Human Rights Council to dismiss the "tactics" of the Sri Lankan government and launch an independent, international investigation.

See here.

Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said:

“Over the past year the Sri Lankan government has alternated between threatening activists who seek justice and making small, cynical gestures to keep the international community at bay,”

“The Human Rights Council should dismiss these tactics, end the delays and authorize an independent, international investigation into the estimated 40,000 civilian deaths at the conflict’s end.”

The spokesperson of the US State Department Victoria Nuland has said the US continues to be “deeply concerned” about allegations of human rights violations in Sri Lanka.

Nuland said during the State Department's Daily Press Briefing that the US welcomes the report on Sri Lanka by the UN High Commissioner Navi Pillay and supports “a full accounting for all who are engaged in acts of violated international humanitarian law”.

The spokesperson, responding to a question about the killing of Velupillai Prabhakaran’s son by the Sri Lankan Army, said:

"We continue to be deeply concerned by allegations of violations of international humanitarian law and human rights in Sri Lanka. At the end of this conflict, we support a full accounting for all who are engaged in acts of violated international humanitarian law.

"We also welcome the report by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, noting the strong concern about the Government of Sri Lanka’s lack of action to address these longstanding issues of reconciliation and accountability. And as you know, we plan to introduce our own resolution on this into the Human Rights Council."

Balachandran Prabhakaran (The Independent)

Pictures obtained by documentary makers have shown the 12 year old son of Velupillai Prabhakaran, Balachandran Prabhakaran, alive and apparently in army custody.

Balachandran can be seen sitting with a snack in his hand, sitting on a bench surrounded by sandbags, in what looks like a fortified army position.

Another picture shows him dead, with 5 bullet wounds to his body. Digital analysis of both pictures shows that they were taken by the same camera, only a couple of hours apart, according to Callum Macrae, director of the documentary called “No Fire Zone”.

Pictures of Balachandran, after his execution

“The new photographs are enormously important evidentially because they appear to rule out any suggestion that Balachandran was killed in cross-fire or during a battle. They show he was held, and even given a snack, before being taken and executed in cold blood,” claimed Macrae according to the Independent.

“It is difficult to imagine the psychology of an army in which the calculated execution of a child can be allowed with apparent impunity. That these events were also photographed and kept as war trophies by the perpetrators is even more disturbing.”

Handed a snack, and then executed: the 12-year-old son of a Tamil Tiger - The Independent (18 Feb 2013)

This is proof, beyond reasonable doubt, of the execution of a child – not a battlefield death - Callum Macrae (18 Feb 2013)

The clergy of the North-East have written to the UN Human Rights Council, calling for stronger action against Sri Lanka and also pointing out the systematic destruction of the Tamil nation by the government.

The letter, signed by 133 priests, is the first of its kind to be signed by so many of the clergy.

See here for the full letter.

Extracts reproduced below:

" In the last year, those criticising and challenging the government in peaceful ways including by engagement with the UN, have been assaulted, questioned, arrested, threatened, discredited and intimidated by government ministers, officials, military and police. Victims include some of us and fellow clergy who are not signing this letter due to fear of reprisals."

"We feel that the killing and disappearance of tens of thousands of Tamil people and actions that are supressing the Tamil people and community, our culture, religions, language, land in a systematic way before, during and after the war, appears to be done with an intent to destroy us in whole or part, and thus, it is imperative that the international community addresses this seriously even at this late stage. We fear that at the pace these oppressive methods are carried out after the war, our identity as a people will be destroyed in the near future. Hence there is an exigency to arrive at a political solution which acknowledges the internal self-determination of the Tamil People."

"We are convinced that the root cause of these problems is a lack of political will, than the capacity."

The Sri Lankan government has reached out to Estonia in an attempt to strengthen trade, tourism and investments between the countries, reported ColomboPage.

The announcement comes after a high-level 24-member business delegation from Estonia toured Sri Lanka last week, the first visit of its kind.

Meeting with  Sri Lankan Minister for Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa, Estonia's Foreign Minister said,

"Estonia's strategically favourable location and the modern infrastructure and technology in our ports would allow Sri Lankan entrepreneurs to arrange transit more effectively here than in most other European ports".

Estonia is currently a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council with their membership due to expire in 2015.

The country will vote on the upcoming reolution on Sri Lanka, to be presented at the council's next session.

Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa visited Jaffna earlier this month, to observe how new "permanent structures" were being put in place, according to the Sri Lankan Army website.

The upgrading of the Jaffna army complex will cost 52 million rupees according to the Army, with the website stating that the renovations were so that,

"Battle-fatigued troops serving the Security Force Headquarters - Jaffna (SFHQ-J) would hereafter be able to rest and relax freely".

Some of the facilities offered at the military camp for the soldiers included,

"a state-of-the-art air-conditioned recreation complex, equipped with a 350-seat theatre auditorium cum cinema hall, spacious cafeteria, billiard hall, saloon, tailor shop, etc all under one roof".

The British government sold millions of pounds worth of arms and ammunition to Sri Lanka in just a few months in 2012, revealed the Independent.

According to British government’s own Export Controls Organisation, in the three months between July and September last year  £3.741m of export licenses were approved from the UK to Sri Lanka. Just over £3 million were for military items, including 600 assault rifles, 650 rifles, 100 pistols and 50 combat shotguns, £330,000-worth of ammunition and £655,000 in body armour.

Kaye Stearman, from the Campaign Against Arms Trade, said,

“Given Sri Lanka’s shameful military record and its continuing abuse of human rights, it seems extraordinary that the Government has approved these export licences for small arms and ammunition.

In 2011-12, not a single licence application for these items was refused, even though the Foreign Office lists Sri Lanka as a ‘ country of concern’ for its human rights record."

See the report from the Independent here.

Writing in Independent Voice, journalist Jerome Taylor stated,

"This is why it is not surprising to see that we have granted licences to export weapons – including small arms and ammunition – to Sri Lanka. But it is depressing.

After all, the Sri Lankan army and the Rajapaksa government stand accused of overseeing some of the most horrific war crimes of the 21st century and have repeatedly resisted pressure to allow access to investigators.

Tens of thousands of civilians died in the closing stages of the Sri Lankan civil war, with widespread reports of rape, extrajudicial killing and deliberate targeting of civilians.

At the time, Britain was one of those shouting loudest. Three years on we are selling weaponry to the same regime."

Read his full piece here.

Three BBC media crew, including South Asia correspondent Charles Haviland, came under attack at a Bodu Bala Sena rally on Sunday.

Charles Haviland tweeted:

'Our 3-member BBC team + driver covering #Buddhist #BBS rally #srilanka was seriously threatened with violence by mob after filming...'

'My #srilankan colleagues were verbally abused, accused of having "foreign parents". On the mob's word, police barricaded us & stopped...'

'... stopped our car leaving until police superior came & dispersed mob & let us go without further ado. #srilanka #BBS #buddhist'

'Mob behaviour unsurprising but police conduct extremely disturbing. Luckily the superior officer good-humoured, brooked no nonsense #lka'

'& the mob were very careful to take lots of photographs of us and our car. Not sure for what purpose. #srilanka #lka #bbs #buddhist'

 

Thousands of Sri Lankans have attended a rally launching a campaign calling for the boycott of Halal meat.

The campaign, led by Buddhist fundamentalists of the Bodu Bala Sena, calls for all stores to clear Halal products from their shelves by April.

"More than 90 percent of the population are Buddhists, Hindus and Christian and therefore there is no justification to force them to eat halal products," Buddhist monk Kirama Wimala Jothi said in a statement.

The monk also called on the government to outlaw Muslims from issuing Halal certificates.

Nationalist speeches made by monks were enthusiastically received by the vast crowds.

Bodu Bala Sena’s general secretary Venerable Galaboda Aththe Gnanasara, told the crowds that "only monks can save” the Sinhalese race, reported the BBC.

"Our country is a Sinhalese one and we are its unofficial police," he said.

Another member of the group said that some foreign countries were "funding Christian fundamentalists as well as Muslim fundamentalists" in Sri Lanka.

Rauff Hakeem, justice minister and leader of the SLMC, the largest Muslim party in Sri Lanka, bizzarely claimed last month that anti-Muslim incidents on the island could be due to an "international conspiracy".

The shooting 52-year-old Sunday Leader journalist Faraz Shaukatally in Colombo on Friday evening has drawn “shock and serious concern” from the British Foreign Office, as attacks on journalists continue on the island.

British Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt who recently visited Sri Lanka released a statement stating that British consular staff had visited Shaukatally, who holds British and Sri Lankan citizenship.

The statement went on to say,

“It remains unclear whether this horrific incident was connected to the victim’s work as a journalist. The Sri Lankan authorities must quickly identify who committed this crime and bring them to justice.”

“There has been a range of attacks in Sri Lanka on journalists, civil society organizations and others in recent years. To date, too many incidents have had little investigation and no resolution. The UK and EU have urged the Government of Sri Lanka to do everything possible to investigate such incidences and ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.”

The attack also drew sharp criticism from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, who in an interview with Channel 4 said,

"I'm deeply disturbed by this particular shooting because it's a journalist and he's attached to a newspaper that's known to be critical of the government - particularly on accountability and in justice issues - which are issues that I cover. And I will be reporting to the Human Rights Council my concern over extra judicial killings, abductions and this kind of treatment and suppression of freedom of expression."

She went on to call for a “credible investigation” for this incident and for all others, calling for civil society to be involved, as the government or police does “not enjoy the confidence of the people, they’re not impartial”.

“The government has set up military courts to look into past killings and violations. All this will be debated in the human rights council in March because I have filed a report there once again offering assistance such as investigative expertise and addressing impunity and accountability and we’re also very very willing to ensure civil society is geared to play a role there.”

“So, not setting up military tribunals because they do not enjoy the trust of the people at the moment.”

In an interview with Channel 4 news, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, has reiterated her call for an international independent investigation into allegations of war crimes and stated that Sri Lanka would be reviewed once more at the upcoming UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva.

The High Commissioner also praised Channel 4’s documentary “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”, commenting,

"Let me say how much Channel 4's information is appreciated because you have brought this to the fore. I myself mandated by the Human Rights Council have been filing reports on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka - we will be reviewing that again in March, but I have consistently called for a credible international investigation particularly of the occurrences in the last few days of the conflict".

Despite Sri Lanka’s refusal to allow any international investigation take place, Pillay went on to say,

“We want to provide them with expert investigative assistance, we are ready to provide this kind of assistance and I'm really disappointed it has not been taken up."

"It's particularly bad because this was government forces firing on civilians indiscriminately - they were shelled and the normal responsibility of governments is to protect people - not to kill them."

Talking on the UN’s own actions at the time she went on to say,

"I think that is deeply disturbing because it's a repetition of the criticism that was levelled against the United Nations during the Rwandan genocide and there was a report done after that with recommendations."

"Now, to the credit of the secretary general he set up the Petrie Commission to look at the UN's failures in handling the Sri Lankan conflict and I very much encouraged that, I've read the report and I'm urging now the United Nations to take steps to come up with action plans to implement those recommendations so that the United Nations doesn't repeat these kind of failures."

Sri Lanka’s police have said that they have “run into a blank wall” and haven’t made any progress in identifying the gunmen or a motive behind the shooting of Sunday Leader journalist Faraz Shauketaly.

"Investigators have still not been able to make any headway. We are probing all aspects of the case", police spokesman, SSP Prishantha Jayakody said.

President Rajapakse has ordered police chief N. K. Illangakoon to launch an immediate investigation of the shooting of Shauketaly, who holds dual, British and Sri Lankan citizenship.