“the continuous outflow of boats carrying Sri Lankans as asylum seekers is no longer to be considered as an activity that has been carried out by human smugglers as a lucrative trade for mere financial gains by smugglers…

Its perpetrators have a sinister political agenda, which is unfolding as with the recent arrests made by Sri Lanka Navy with steps being taken by the government to intensify border security of the sea,”

“They are doing this with the financial support of the well placed pro LTTE elements in other countries,to paint a picture to say that the country is not safe for Tamil people,”

“They have increased the number of Tamils being taken by them to Australia illegally as part of their human smuggling campaign to discredit the government in the background of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review sessions, which the government will participate in November.”

The Chair of the Jaffna University Teachers Union, A. Rasakumaran, has blamed declining education on drug addiction and child abuse which has increased in the absence of the LTTE, reported Uthayan.

Speaking at a press conference of Jaffna University Lecturer’s strike, Rasakumaran said:

“In the absence of the LTTE, student drug abuse and child sexual abuse has increased. This has meant that conditions for learning have taken a turn for the worst as students are distracted in their thoughts and feelings. The motivation of our students to learn has been affected in every way.

“Adequate housing facilities have not been set up in resettlements, so students there do not have a peaceful learning environment.

“Because drug use, drinking, smoking and child sexual abuse have all increased, students’ attention has turned and weakening their academic positions. These issues must be resolved to improve student’s positions and lives.”

"We have received details from the police headquarters in Colombo to tighten security, in order to conduct the election in a free and fair manner. The Election Commissioner has written to the IGP asking him to disarm political groups or individuals carrying weapons. Likewise, we will be conducting an operation to disarm all groups to have a violence free election”.

Speaking at a seminar organised to remember Black July 1983, MPs and activists outlined their support for an international investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka and offered support to the Tamil right to self-determination.

See full article on TamilNet.

MP Metiria Turei, leader of the Parliamentary Group as well as co-leader of the Green Party, said that her party was “determined to mount pressure to expel the Sri Lankan High Commissioner for Australia and New Zealand Commodore Tissara Samarasinghe, formerly of the Sri Lankan Navy.” As they were not prepared to “allow people associated with human rights violations and war crimes to defile the decorum and ethics hitherto maintained in diplomatic practices.”

MP Phil Goff, Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Labour Party, ended his speech outlining the importance of reconciliation, noting that, “No reconciliation can be achieved without justice being meted out fist and the victims adequately compensated. But nothing towards reconciliation has taken place in Sri Lanka except words and more words.”

The seminar was chaired by Dr Siva Vasanthan who called for direct UN monitoring of the processes in the island. Many other Eelam participants presented papers on Genocide, Culture Demolition and emerging trends, the Quest for Justice and A Generation Condemned to Extinction.

"It is well documented that the Sri Lankan government was responsible for mass human rights violations towards the end of the civil war in 2009. The Australian government has not done enough, either at the international level or through our bilateral relations, to ensure that these crimes are independently investigated and that perpetrators are held to account."

"Serious human rights violations did not end in Sri Lanka with the cessation of the civil war. Arbitrary arrest, detention and even torture remain systematic and widespread, particularly against the Tamil minority."

"In recent months, evidence has emerged that asylum-seekers returned to Sri Lanka are at particular risk of rights violations. Human Rights Watch has documented at least eight cases in which people who unsuccessfully sought asylum in Britain were returned to Sri Lanka and endured serious abuses, including torture and rape. There have been similar claims by Tamil asylum-seekers returned by Australia. This corroborates a May 2010 report by the Edmund Rice Centre that claimed asylum-seekers returned to Sri Lanka were detained and assaulted by Sri Lankan police."

"Despite this, Australia works closely with Sri Lanka - including through financial assistance and intelligence co-operation - in preventing people from fleeing the country. The Sri Lankan Department of Immigration and Emigration receives Australian aid, and Australia's last federal budget included almost $11 million to deploy Australian police officers to Sri Lanka and elsewhere to "combat people-smuggling"."

"At best, this undermines the spirit of the Refugee Convention, which gives people the right to flee persecution and seek protection. At worst, it involves Australia, at least indirectly, in exposing people to torture and other serious human rights violations. It is time for Australia to recalibrate its relationship with Sri Lanka to put human rights at the core."

"First, if Australia is serious about reducing boat arrivals from Sri Lanka, we need to substantially increase our offshore refugee intake and support the UN to process and resettle people much more rapidly. A regional approach to asylum-seeker policy, as advocated by a cross-party group of MPs who called for Australia to "work with our neighbours to establish regional architecture for the assessment and resettlement of refugees", is desirable. However, such a framework requires that we co-operate closely with countries that host refugees, such as Indonesia, rather than countries producing refugees."

"Second, we should ensure that human rights concerns and safeguards are paramount in any security, intelligence, and migration co-operation with Sri Lanka. Pursuant to the US Department of State Appropriations Bill for 2012, the provision of military aid and training to Sri Lanka is subject to stringent conditions regarding progress on human rights."

"Third, we should join with countries such as the US in pushing more forcefully for an international investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka and accountability for perpetrators on both sides of the conflict."

"Finally, we should suspend the deportation of any Tamil asylum-seekers to Sri Lanka unless and until there is significant progress in reducing human rights violations in that country."

"Efforts to counter and prevent people-smuggling should seek to protect asylum-seekers, not interfere with their right to seek asylum. They should never expose people to further human rights dangers. If Australia is to take its place as a good international citizen, human rights should always trump short-term, partisan political interests."

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged Sri Lanka to focus on trading with India and China in order to improve its poor exports and economic growth.

The IMF's representative for sri Lanka and Maldives, Koshy Mathai, said,

"We are not going to have economic success if we continue having exports declining relative to the size of economy. It is only with export growth, that the Sri Lankan economy is going to go forward,"

"Failing to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the economic growth by those areas [in China and India] today would be ashamed, would definitely be giving up an opportunity for Sri Lanka to go forward,"

In 2011, Sri Lanka's exports accounted for 17.8% of GDP, compared with 33% in 2001.

The Italian Tamil youth organisation, Giovani Tamil and the Italian Council of Eelam Tamils held a conference entitled "Tamil, the identity denied", with human rights organisation, academics and politicians in attendance, at the historic town hall of Palermo.

A resolution, calling for a “plebiscite among the people of North and East descent in the island of Sri Lanka, in the diaspora and among the refugees in India and elsewhere, to decide on the creation of an independent and sovereign state of Tamil Eelam”, was passed by the organisations.

Several academics form the University of Palermo spoke at the event.

Prof. Giuseppe Burgio spoke about the armed struggle, the de-facto state built by the LTTE and the support they had among the Tamil people.

Prof. Fulvio Vasallo discussed the ban on the LTTE and the effect this has had on the disapora, arguing that the ban on the LTTE became a ban on the demand for Tamil Eelam.

This was followed by an analysis of the genocide on the Tamil nation by Professor Clelila Bartoli and a discussion by anthropologist Fabio Pettiriono on the types of campaigning activities that can be used by organisations.

Stephano Edward, Giovani Tamil Coordinator for Sicily detailed what activities Tamil organisations in Italy have been engaging in.

The event concluded with a discussion by Sergio Cipolla of the CISS, a development NGO and Prof Provenza of Amnesty International, on how the UN failed in their responsibility in preventing the genocide.

The main opposition UNP has criticised the number of Sri Lankan delegates who are attending the Olympic Games in London.

According to The Island, the UNP said that, Sri Lanka has the highest number of Olympic officials compared to the number of athletes.

Only seven athletes were representing the country, but thirty officials had accompanied them, UNP Media Spokesman Gayantha Karunathillaka MP, told a news conference in Colombo.

He accused the officials of following the example set by President Rajapakse and his MPs, who frequently travel on tax payers money.

Read more here.

A total of 11 Tamil diaspora organisations from different countries have vowed to continue to uphold the right for Tamil sovereignty, whilst calling for a referendum on Tamil Eelam among Eelam Tamils, monitored by international observers, TamilNet reported on Tuesday.

The organisations committed to form working teams that would deal with specific human rights issues, which include the release go Tamil prisoners of war, political advocacy, land grabs, sinhalisation and militarisation in the Tamil homeland and the social, political and economic empowerment of Eelam Tamils in their homeland.

In a joint declaration,the organisations outlined their determination to stop the genocidal processes occurring in Sri Lanka.

“The Sinhala racist government which has intensified the process of genocide is currently destroying the traditional homeland of the Tamils, along with land grabs, destruction of economic resources, and assaults on the identity and cultural sites of the Eelam Tamils.

"As a result, the rights of our people in the homeland are trampled upon and their daily life passes under constant duress. Besides working to prevent and put a permanent stop to this process, we shall also endeavour to restore a dignified life and a humane existence to our people in the homeland. “

The 11 organisations that signed the declaration are:

British Tamil Forum – United Kingdom
Danish Tamils Forum - Denmark
Dutch Tamil Forum - Netherlands
Eletto il Consiglio Nazionale dei Tamil - Italy
Maison du Tamoul Eelam - France
National Council of Canadian Tamils - Canada
Norwegian Council of Eelam Tamils - Norway
Swiss Council of Eelam Tamils - Switzerland
Tamil Cultural Organisation – Belgium
Tamil Youth Organisation - New Zealand
Volksrat der Eelam Tamilen Deutschland e.V. - Germany

After bemoaning the lack of time and space earlier this year in Geneva, the government of Sri Lanka has been working overtime it seems.

During Mahinda Rajapaksa's monthly sermon with the island's newspaper editors, the president proclaimed that over 50% of the recommendations made by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) had been implemented.

This has nothing to do with the resolution adopted by the UNHRC earlier this year he insisted.

Preempting the inevitable queries regarding what exactly the Sri Lankan government means by 'implementation' given the on-going militarisation, land grab, detention without charge, abductions, torture, and the list goes on.., the president said to the editors gathered before him: "Unfortunately what we have done is not conveyed to the world."

The annual inflation rate could be upto to a 42-month high in July according to a Reuters poll 13 analysts.

It is expected to have risen to at least 9.4 % in July, the highest point since January 2009. The IMF has predicted an increase to 9.5% this year.

Since November last year, the rupee has depreciated approximately 16%.