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SRI LANKA: Plans to Release Tamils ‘Nothing But a Political Ploy’
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO - By January 2010 they will be returning to their homes in war-torn areas.
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SRI LANKA: Hopes High for Fresh Leadership as Election Looms
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO - Political developments are rapidly unfolding as the public eagerly awaits the President’s announcement on Sunday of the date for the next presidential or parliamentary polls—an event widely expected to bring about a new leadership that could bring to fruition the people’s collective yearnings for a return to law and order as well as discipline.
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SRI LANKA: Gov’t, EU in Back-channel Talks Over Fate of Trade Pact
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO - Sri Lanka has reacted strongly to a European Commission (EC) probe on its human rights record, saying it is politically motivated.
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Q&A: EU to Sri Lanka on GSP Plus Probe: ‘No Tit for Tat’
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO - Despite acrimonious exchanges between Sri Lanka and the European Union (EU) over human rights violations on which rests the fate of continued tax-free exports to Europe, development assistance continues unhindered to the Indian Ocean island, according to Europe’s top diplomat here.
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SRI LANKA: U.S. Govt Report Adds to Pressure for War Crimes Probe
By Eli Clifton
WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department released a report Thursday detailing possible violations of the laws of war in Sri Lanka during the first half of 2009, adding to pressure for an independent, international investigation into alleged atrocities committed by government forces and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) separatists.
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POLITICS: LTTE’s End Game in South-east Asia
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - Sri Lanka’s vanquished Tamil Tiger rebels suffered another major blow with the arrest of their new leader on August 5.
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SRI LANKA: As Fighting Stops, Sri Lanka Hopes to Woo Back Tourists
By Amantha Perera
COLOMBO - Hope has once again returned to Sri Lanka’s resplendent beaches. Everyone, including hoteliers, boat operators, and beach boys, are hopeful that the end of a three decade old civil war will herald better fortunes.
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SRI LANKA: Aid Organisations Struggle to Operate in Post-war Sri Lanka
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO - The Sri Lankan government wants the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to scale down its operations in the country, but is sparing other international nongovernmental organisations amid questions over the post-war role for humanitarian workers.
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SRI LANKA: Journalists Laying Aside Pens Once Again
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO - Sri Lankan journalists are laying aside their pens once again and bracing for renewed confrontation with President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government after the revival of the repressive Press Council and fresh attacks on the media.
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POPULATION: The Worst Places to Be a Refugee
By Katie Mattern
WASHINGTON - Gaza, South Africa and Thailand are among the world's worst places to be a refugee, according to the latest annual World Refugee Survey released here Wednesday by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI).
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RIGHTS: Sri Lankan Journalists Face Severe Persecution
By Marina Litvinsky
WASHINGTON - At least 11 Sri Lankan journalists were driven into exile in the past 12 months amid an intensive government crackdown on critical reporters and editors, said a new survey from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released Wednesday.
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SRI LANKA: Will Tamils Have A Say In Reconstruction?
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO - For people in Sri Lanka’s war-torn North, for many years life has meant virtually living out of a suitcase while moving from place to place to escape the rigours of war and bloody combat.
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SRI LANKA: Preparing For a New Chapter of Development
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO - As Sri Lanka prepares for a new chapter of development after ending nearly three decades of conflict, ecologists among other experts here are calling for a ‘green’ revolution against the usual foreign investment, private sector-driven type of progress.
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News in RSS While Sri Lanka celebrates 61 years of independence from British colonial rule, the enthusiasm is not shared by minority Tamils living under the military jackboot in the north of the country. Find out more about the situation with IPS.

Sri Lanka - In Search of Serendip
Asia - Pacific
Human Rights
IPS Special Coverage of Previous Attempts at Peace, Negotiations 2003-2005
United Nations -- Inside the Glass House
News in RSS
IT IS TIME TO RETURN TO THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Irene Khan
Terrorists go on a rampage of senseless killing in Mumbai. Exhausted and terrified refugees pour into Uganda to escape the fighting in eastern Congo. Ten people are executed in Iran. Three hundred thousand civilians are displaced in northern Sri Lanka. Slowing rates of economic growth cast deep gloom around the world. Not a particularly auspicious moment to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, writes Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

Peace in Sri Lanka - official government site
Tamil Eelam site
UNDP Sri Lanka
Amnesty International Report - Sri Lanka
World Food Programme - Sri Lanka
TamilNET
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