Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="lkdood" data-source="post: 6974247" data-attributes="member: 92282">Sri Lanka violated human rights last  year when it dealt a final blow to Tamil Tiger insurgents and clamped  down on media freedom, the US State Department said yesterday.     But in an annual report, the State Department also reported some signs  of progress since May last year when Sri Lankan forces defeated the  Tigers who had waged a 37-year war for a separate Tamil homeland.     “The government's respect for human rights declined as armed conflict  reached its conclusion,” the State Department said.     It said young Tamil men accounted for an “overwhelming majority” of  victims of human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings,  even though Tamils only make up some 16 per cent of the population.     The State Department said “media freedom deteriorated” in much of Sri  Lanka, with “most journalists” practicing self-censorship after threats  and violence against them.     Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, a member of the Sinhalese  majority who was critical of the war, was gunned down near Colombo in  January last year.     “Senior government officials repeatedly accused outspoken journalists  of treason and often pressured editors and publishers to run stories  that portrayed the government in a positive light,” the State Department  said.     “Statements by government and military officials contributed to an  environment in which journalists who published articles critical of the  government felt they were under threat,” it said.     But the State Department also reported some improvements.     It said that the number of disappearances went down with the end of the  war and found that Sri Lanka made “significant progress” in reducing  the use of child soldiers by the pro-government Tamil Makkal Viduthalai  Pulikal (TMVP).     It said after an international outcry Sri Lanka improved conditions at  detention camps for tens of thousands of Tamil civilians.     In December, Sri Lanka allowed civilians to leave the camps after the  government said it had needed months to weed out Tiger partisans.<a href="http://www.dailymirror.lk/print/index.php/news/front-page-news/5882.html" target="_blank">DM</a></blockquote>

Verification: Hata thunen beduwama keeyada? (60 bedeema thuna)

Top Bottom