28 March, 2024

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Navi Pillay Warns Sri Lanka Against Harassing Activists

By Frances Harrison

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, says her office is on the look out for further reprisals by the Sri Lankan government against human rights activists and journalists who attend next month’s human rights council meeting in Geneva.  This follows intimidation and death threats against Sri Lankan human rights defenders who travelled to Geneva last year. One government minister even threatened to break the legs of any journalist or activist who went to the Human Rights Council. Ms Pillay was responding to questions after giving a lecture entitled, “Freedom of Expression and Hate Speech: What International Human Rights Law Says”, at the London School of Economics.

Navi Pillay - United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

The UN Commissioner for Human Rights said Sri Lanka had been reprimanded by the President of the Council last year for its behavior and added that she’d even written to the country’s Foreign Minister at the time to protest that some of the threats against civil society groups were carried on his own website. She said she hoped the reprisals that took place last March would not happen again, but added “we are on the watch out for this”.

Ms Pillay also said in response to a question that she welcomed the internal inquiry (known as the Petrie report) into the UN’s failures in protecting human rights in Sri Lanka at the climax of the civil war in 2009. She compared the Petrie report to that on Rwanda but added, “Rwanda’s lessons were not implemented in Sri Lanka by the UN”. Ms. Pillay pointed out that she’d referred to the Petrie report in her own report on Sri Lanka this week which examined at post-war accountability measures. She added that she was very pleased that the deputy Secretary General of the UN has set up a task force to look at policy and actions that could address the situation described by the Petrie report.

Courtesy http://www.stillcountingthedead.com

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Latest comments

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    It is not necessary to harass activists who are under Western payroll…….
    Why don’t you visit Sri Lanka as we Sri Lankans would love to harass you.
    Don’t mistake us for Uvindu Kurukulasuriya as we shall not stoop that low inorder to take peak at your underneath.
    Of course with Uvindu, you need to have your underwear on.

  • 0
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    Pillay… shove that finger of your ” you know where”?
    We hate these finger pointing B’ches………

    • 0
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      These Rajapaksian-type comments only rubs salt into the already festering
      wounds in the post-war situation, that Sri Lanka has to overcome even
      at this late stage.
      Sri Lankans can very well be termed Modayas even now?

    • 0
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      DICK ,you dick:

      very shame; very shame on you.

      they pay you to defend, not to insult.
      so do your job properly.
      otherwise, you will loose your pay check $$$$$$$$$$$$????????????????.

      you canot be km closer to Her.

      in everything.

      Another brave clan [HIWAL JARAWANSA.] as lucian R said ABOUT

    • 0
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      dicky Bird

      The same fingers can catch MR, GR, ….by their b..ls, their hearts will follow her.

      Nirubama Rao once did that to MR and he and his armyman GR are very quiet since then.

      You should understand this if you have a partner.

  • 0
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    Guys, little point in shooting the messenger – or even trying. The
    focus should be on the message. That is where you are missing the
    plot on the prejudice she carries a Tamil name – and, therefore, has to be congenitally anti-Sinhalese (i.e. anti-Rajapakse) UNHRC will do what it must – with the evidence accumulated and within the law – in all transparence. It is not merely
    the Sinhalese who are out for Ms Pillay’s blood – but a whole lot of
    Syrians, Libyans and what have you? She’s merely carrying out her
    unenviable task – and, from what we gather from where they matter – well too. It is said she is a credible candidate for the next or future UNSG.

    Senguttuvan

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      Hi Senguttuvan,

      The point is not about Navi Pillay’s Tamil name. The evidence points towards a classical divide and rule strategy by the Brits (assisted by the ANZACS and ANZUS) to pit the Singhalese against the Tamils, and the Tamils against the Singhalese, portraying yet another neocolonial war as an “ethnic conflict”. Lots of people in the West have fallen for the propaganda that disguised the unseen hands behind the war. Please have a look at my most recent YouTube contribution and you will find evidence of this – including the involvement of various Western NGOs and bodies within the UN itself.

      • 0
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        Oh! So, we are mistaken in believing that the division is caused by the Sinhala and tamil politicians! You do actually mean that Rajapaksa is doing an excellent job of promoting ethnic harmony and the white foreigners are causing the ethnic strife. So, Bodu Bala Sena, JHU and the JVP also are saints and ardent promoters of ethic harmony in Sri Lanka, you also mean.

        Trying to shift the blame to the foreigners, eh? Won’t work this time Dr Senewirathe.

  • 0
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    dicky Bird,

    Hay dicky, beware! You will have to plug in your own dick in your own asshole because Pillai is very powerful these days!!! We are 100% sure she is going to butt-fuck you all this March including your Diyasena Kumaraya!!! Any plans to defend you pathetics instead of bullshit?

  • 0
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    madam, harassment comes in various shapes and sizes. in sri lanka of course it takes all forms. you have physical intimidation and harassment. then you have sexual harassment by people like the famous hunger striker , wimal weerawansa. this black man has been accused of groping but police never investigated because of political influence. all in all madam, pariah state of sri lanka has got all of it. there is only one way to solve the problem that is by dropping a nuclear bomb.

  • 0
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    Why Pillai chose London for this thing, was it funded by the BTF/GTF ?

  • 0
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    Chamara – Did’nt realise you have a 1st class degree on Kama Sutra, which, too sadly for the JHU, BBS and the Yellow brigade Mobs – is also Indian. Count on the Patalipura lad to change the origin here as well – with the deranged “educated” historians in his killer gangs.

    Senguttuvan

  • 0
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    The speech and all the comments were confirmed when Uvindu got a chance to tell the audience about the message on his mobile phone – about the shooting of a journalist

  • 0
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    Did Ms Navai Pillay ,the the great protector and defender of the Human Rights of the LTTE supporters and their followers, say anything about the two Muslim Liberation fighters , Mohammed Guru and Mohammed Assab who were executed by hanging in Delhi recently?.

    Didn’t the UNHCR and the affiliates such as the AHRC conduct a massive HR campaign to save the killers of ex Indian PM Rajiv Gandi from the gallows?.

    Has Ms Pillai attached different values on the lives of the Tamil Terrorist Liberators and Muslim Terrorist Liberators?.

  • 0
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    Sumane,

    Muhamed Ajmal Amir Ksab, who carried out the Mumbai massacre against
    unarmed civilians was the deranged religious zealot and zombie who machine-gunned an entire children’s nursery, including the husband-wife teachers only because they were Jews. He told the interrogators his handler in Pakistan told him – only a few seconds before he carried out this mindless carnage – “there are only children there” and the handler said “Insha Allah, open your automatic on them, use some grenades. I will keep the line upon to hear the noise of the shooting. They are waiting to receive you in Paradise” Do I take it from you this animal should be pardoned? Friend, to the credit of the Indians, the man was given the full process and protection of the law.
    Something that was not available to the white-flag carrying Nadesan, the LTTE Policeman and his Sinhala wife.

    Senguttuvan

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      Mr Seng,

      Wonder what Pottu Aman & his Boss said to the naive Hindu Woman and her handlers just before they blasted Rajiv Gandhi and several fellow Hindus into mince meat ?.

  • 0
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    Pillay says “Rwanda’s lessons were not implemented in Sri Lanka by the UN”.

    How can she compare Sri Lanka’s situation with what happened in Rwanda for the UN to apply the lessons learnt in that African state?

    In Rwanda there was pure and simple ethnic cleansing. That was not the case in Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka a state army of a duly elected government was fighting a non-state party that rounded up innocent civilians and kept them as human shield. What happened in Sri Lanka happened in the context of a war between the state army and a non-state force. No doubt excesses were committed. These excesses should be seen as breaches of humanitarian law not as ethnic cleansing. To the contrary it was LTTE that was involved in ethnic cleansing driving away Sinhalese and Muslims from North East by sheer violence and murder. How many Muslims and Sinhalese did the LTTE kill for the only reason that they happened to be Muslims or Sinhalese. The indiscriminate shooting and killing of Muslim and Buddhist worshippers in places of worship are clear examples of ethnic cleansing on the part of LTTE.

    UN officials withdrew from Vanni at the height of war despite plea by the Tamil civilians not to leave. They had to withdraw because the SL government advised against their continued stay in a war situation when it could not guarantee their safety. These were civilian officials and were not members of an armed UN peace keeping force. Even UN Peace Keeping Force withdraws in situations where they cannot enforce their mandate. As a former UN official who worked in a peace keeping operation I can say with authority that UN’s first concern is the safety of its personnel. If it cannot guarantee the safety of its civilian officials it will always withdraw them to ensure their safety.

    The problem for UN in an armed conflict is that armed intervention by or on behalf of UN will have to be sanctioned by the Security Council which often gets deadlocked with the big powers exercising their veto powers. All past UN interventions in conflict situations had been belated and came too late to save human lives. Rwanda is one such example. There is a need for overhaul of the UN system and how the world body reacts to crisis situations. No country is giving serious thoughts to this question.

  • 0
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    navi pillai madam who is v kirubakaran is he is a humanright man check rcmp report he is no,11 os tiger network

  • 0
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    Whether one likes it or not Sri Lanka is a ‘failed state’. There is no rule of law in this country any more. Even the Judges in the highest courts (Court of Appeal and Supreme Court) who had declared the decision and the process that govt adopted to remove the CJ Bandaranayake unlawful, are now forced to accept Mohan Peiris,as CJ, probably the worst candidate for the CJ’s office with dubious character. Surely, under the ‘executive control’ executive-judiciary no one in this country should expect justice from the court system any more. In plain language this is the truth.

  • 0
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    My friend Mr Sumanasekera:

    You bring new impetus to the “koida yanne malle pol” story.

    The human-bomb Dhanu is said to have an axe to grind on GoI, as apparently her sister or someone close to her was raped by some IPKF men. So the whole story, given a new dressing by D.R. Karthikeyan, is to save the “integrity” of the Indian Establishment and the 4th largest army in the world – who hated the idea of being made to look like fools by some shoeless rag-tag “militants” As some of my friends in India – historians/academics and who know DRK say, the book is not worth the paper it is written in. It will be such a shame for DRK, whom many refer to in mendacious terms, and the huge Indian defence establishment, if the conspirators of Rajiv G’s killers remain un-identified. That is to join a long list that includes the mystery of killing and/or conspiracy that snuffed out Netaji, Gandhiji, Sanjay G, Indira G and others. In Gandhiji’s case Nathuram Godse had the decency and courage to accept he pulled the gun. He, therefore, remains a hero in Pune even today when a large gathering gets together to honour him annually – not for the gruesome murder but the purpose for which he sacrificed his life. But who is behind the conspiracy remains blank even today – and so the Rajiv G subject.

    Senguttuvan

    • 0
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      Nice try to cover up your favorite “Boys”.

  • 0
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    In addition to his chairing political meetings on the Lankan issue in Delhi, the lettered reader Naga is also, one notes, a former UN official in peace-keeping operations as well. His sharp intellect, valuable experiences and participation in these pages surely adds lustre and depth to the debates.

    “..It was LTTE that was involved in ethnic cleansing driving away Sinhalese and Muslims from North East by sheer violence and murder” says he. We do not dispute him here. But soon Tamils will like to hear him speak for those Tamils of a history of many generations who were chased out and “ethnically cleansed” in the Inginiyagala/Gal Oya areas in the mid-1950s, the beginning, arguably, of this whole tragic episode.

    Senguttuvan

  • 0
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    Aiyo………. Pillay’s ” finger pointing ” has got the whole direction of the writers messed up.
    Julampitiyas, Chamaras has taken a 360 degree turns to protect Pillayge………
    Chamara… the job you have suggested there is a degree of difficulty..

    Pillay chose London to get Last Rites from S.J.Emmanuel or could it be a blessing in terms of Green or UNP notes ????????

  • 0
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    Welcome back, Romesh. Surely you have more savvy than the gullible in the hoi-polloi not to blame others for our own self-imposed feuds. Did not the Tamils live in relative harmony at least from the beginning of the 20th century till about 1956. The Sinhala Only nonsense was the first major fissure in our relationship. Who began that?
    Certainly not the Brits.

    I certainly don’t deny the divide-and-rule of the imperialists that they practise wherever they rule. But don’t we have brains of our own to keep away from the machinations? Isn’t MR doing the same thing with the Sinhala people these days?

    Senguttuvan

  • 0
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    ” Nice try to cover up your favorite Boys – Sumanasekera” You know
    something. That include you too, pal. You write well – effectively, briefly, in good prose and, I suspect, your service to your handlers far in excess to the value you get paid for carrying this unenviable task of cheer leader. Won’t be surprised if you are chosen for the Kala Kirti (Pohora) award later this year.

    Senguttuvan

  • 0
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    Navi Pillay has to act fast before next Kangetta rob the CB Gold and currency reserve.

    After stealing and selling all the valuable land……only thing remain is the CB 6.5 Billion Dollar Gold and 7 Billion Dollar currency reserve.

    Selling always breakdown Norochcholai power plant to China won’t bring in any money.

    Also new Mattala Airport is the biggest white elephant in Sri Lanka’s history ever where each Sri Lankan Air and Mihin Air each land cost the Airline minimum two million rupees in foreign exchange as fuel cost alone (4000 Gallons used for each land and take off)…….while daily operation of airport will run into 15 million rupees per day.

    Mattala also will discourage travellers using Sri Lankan and Mihin due to added three hours for journey and added passenger inconvenience.

    British Airways coming in May with direct flights to Europe and Middle East.

    Mattala will be the second China shop purchase very soon due to non payment of loan payment.

    Yes Navi Pillay……Eva Balava…….Grand opening of Mahinda Chinthana Comedy show part Four about to begin 18th March 2013.

  • 0
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    Prabhakaran in a skirt. Now we can believe he is alive as claimed by Tamil Nadu psycho Vaikos. Obviously there is a serious conflict of interest. This is a war crime. Look carefully, the eyes and the nose are the same. Please do the right thing: RESIGN

  • 0
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    Judging by the strength of their reasoning and the language used in parts of this discussion, Neanderthals haven’t really evolved and apes have learned how to type.

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