Procession at the funeral of the Trinco 5, students killed by Sri Lankan security forces on 2 January 2006 © Private
By Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International
Kasippillai Manoharan listened to the frantic voice on the other end of the phone. His 20 year old son Ragihar said he was surrounded by troops. Then the phone went dead.
Desperately, the Sri Lankan doctor tried to return the call but there was no answer.
Minutes earlier, Ragihar and his friends were sitting on the seafront in the port town of Trincomalee in north eastern Sri Lanka when an auto-rickshaw drove by. Continuar leyendo ‘The Human Rights Council can help bring truth to Sri Lanka’ »
Sri Lanka's civil war killed up to 100,000 people and displaced thousands © Amnesty International
By José Luis Díaz, Head of Amnesty International’s United Nations Office
As we prepared for the screening today of the Channel 4 film, “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields” at Amnesty International’s United Nations office in New York, our main worry was the size of the turnout.
We had already seen the cancellation of a separate screening for the media at UN headquarters because it would have clashed with the UN General Assembly vote – decided only a few days ago – giving Ban Ki-moon a second term as Secretary-General.
The fairly sizeable audience that eventually made it to the screening was surely not expecting to learn much that was new: the events at the end of the war in Sri Lanka in 2009 have been well documented, and the documentary was broadcast in the UK last week before being put on the web.
The UN says that both sides committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the final phase of the war in Sri Lanka © Private
By Steve Crawshaw international advocacy director of Amnesty International
A hard-hitting UN report has found compelling evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the final phase of the war in Sri Lanka in spring 2009.
In the face of repeated government denials, the report’s authors reckon that up to 40,000 died in just a few terrible months in spring 2009 — kept out of the sight of television cameras, and out of the politicians’ minds. The report calls for an international investigation, which could have far-reaching consequences.
Continuar leyendo ‘Sri Lanka: Confronting the Killing Fields’ »
Tamil children in Sundern, Germany performing traditional dances in solidarity with detained children in Sri Lanka.
By Tim Molyneux, a volunteer working in Amnesty International’s Sri Lanka team.
Last week Amnesty International launched a week of action for the “Unlock the Camps” campaign, highlighting the continued detention of thousands of displaced people in Sri Lanka.
Looking back, the week was a great success; local groups all over the world took action and lots of interesting events were held. Amnesty International supporters demonstrated strong grass roots support for the campaign, and members of the public reacted positively to our messages.
Continuar leyendo ‘Looking back at the Sri Lanka week of action’ »
By John Argue, co-ordinator for Sri Lanka, Amnesty International in Canada
Hundreds of Canadians, including many Tamils from Sri Lanka who live in Canada now, rallied in one of Toronto’s main shopping districts on Saturday, creating a personal Circle of Hope around the Sri Lankan consulate in the city.
Continuar leyendo ‘Canadians concerned about Sri Lanka’ »
