Mission & Justice

20/7/08

Sri Lanka’s army claims to have killed more than 5,000 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters in battles this year. The defence ministry said on Sunday that 5,036 deaths had occurred in ground and sea clashes. The army says it has lost 446 of its own soldiers, but continues to advance on LTTE strongholds in the north of the island. However, the figures are impossible to independently verify as the government refuses journalists and NGOs access to the main areas of fighting in the north. The figures would mean that 25 LTTE fighters have died every day in 2008.

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Md. Rasooldeen; 3/7/08

A Sri Lankan maid committed suicide here six days after her arrival in the Saudi capital, her country’s embassy said yesterday. The woman of the house found Fathima Fazmila, 24, hanging from a noose made by her sari tied to a ceiling fan, according to the embassy. “Ever since she came the maid looked sick and we were trying to make her feel at home since this was the first time she left home,” said Abdulaziz Al-Khereiji, her sponsor. Fazmila, who arrived in the Kingdom on June 14, reportedly told her sponsor that she was recently divorced.

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Hassna’a Mokhtar; 26/5/08

Court bureaucracy has further impeded the case of five Pakistani mechanics, who for five years have not been paid their salaries and are living destitute in a rundown defunct factory in south Jeddah. In order to get their case moving, the five men need a Power of Attorney (POA) to enable their lawyer to act on their behalf. However, of-ficials at the Jeddah Court refused to issue a POA, as some of the men do not have iqamas.

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22/3/08

A team of international legal experts have stepped up criticism of Sri Lanka, saying that repeated calls to improve its human rights record have been ignored. The International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) said on Tuesday Colombo lacks the political will to probe alleged human rights abuses during its war with Tamil separatists. Last month, the IIGEP, which was monitoring the government’s commission of inquiry, announced it was quitting in frustration. The IIGEP includes experts from the European Union, United Nations, Australia, Canada, India, France and the United States.

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Melani Manel Perera; 12/4/08

Dozens of families are “forgotten” by the government, which is holding in camps refugees with water and electricity problems - 5 toilets for 52 families. It is not giving them new homes, nor work or schooling. A gift package of a few euro will make the celebration of the new year more serene, on April 13. A gift package for the poorest victims of the tsunami of 2004, to allow them to celebrate Suriya Mangallaya (Feast of the sun), the new year of the Sinhala and Tamils, which falls between April 13 and 14. In the Sunanda Upananda camp in Moratuwa, a district of Colombo, 52 families, “forgotten” by the state, will receive 5 kilogrammes of rice, two coconuts, some clothing, dry food and handmade traditional sweets, at a value of about 1,500 rupees (9.10 euro). Sugala Kumarie, coordinator of the People’s planning commission, explains to AsiaNews that the situation in the camp is the worst in the district of Colombo.

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1/1/08
For recent articles on Sri Lanka go to http://www.article2.org/countrydisplay.php;

insert: Sri Lanka; then: submit

- Torture is a political product; Posted on: 2007-09-18 - Vol. 06 - No. 04 August 2007 - Focus: human rights at UPI Asia Online
- Comprehensive torture prevention in Sri Lanka; Posted on: 2007-06-04 - Vol. 06 - No. 02 April 2007 - Focus: dysfuntional policing & subverted justice in Sri Lanka
- Can a dysfunctional policing system be reformed?; Posted on: 2007-04-04 - Vol. 06 - No. 02 April 2007 - Focus: dysfuntional policing & subverted justice in Sri Lanka
- Subverted justice and the breakdown of the rule of law in Sri Lanka; Posted on: 2007-04-04 - Vol. 06 - No. 02 April 2007 - Focus: dysfuntional policing & subverted justice in Sri Lanka
- Contempt of the constitution: Reaching the zenith of disregard for the rule of law in Sri Lanka; Posted on: 2006-06-06 - Vol. 05 - No. 02 April 2006 - Focus: Impunity vs the Rule of Law in Indonesia
- New book: The other Lanka; Posted on: 2006-06-06 - Vol. 05 - No. 02 April 2006 - Focus: Impunity vs the Rule of Law in Indonesia
- An x-ray of the Sri Lankan policing system and torture of the poor; Posted on: 2005-11-14 - Vol. 04 - No. 05 October 2005 - Focus: An x-ray of the Sri Lankan Policing System & Torture of the Poor
- The superior probability of guilt and its application by the Sri Lankan police; Posted on: 2005-11-14 - Vol. 04 - No. 05 October 2005 - Focus: An x-ray of the Sri Lankan Policing System & Torture of the Poor
See: http://www.article2.org/