Sri Lanka

Publié le 26 janvier 2010: L’élection présidentielle d’aujourd’hui va se tenir dans un climat particulièrement tendu, notamment pour la presse qui a été confrontée à de multiples entraves. Les médias d’Etat ont été utilisés pour promouvoir le candidat sortant Mahinda Rajapaksa. Certains médias privés ou d’opposition ont été les cibles d’attaques qui ont culminé avec l’enlèvement, le 24 janvier au soir, du journaliste politique Prageeth Eknaligoda. Reporters sans frontières appelle les deux camps à tout faire pour ne pas créer un "scénario à l’iranienne" où des élections contestées et contestables ont débouché sur un cycle de manifestations et de répression, dont la presse serait évidemment la victime.

26 January 2010: Tension surrounds today’s presidential election, especially for the press, which has had to face many obstacles. Use of the state media to support President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s campaign for another term has been accompanied by harassment and violence against privately-owned opposition media, culminating in the 24 January abduction of political reporter Prageeth Eknaligoda. Reporters Without Borders appeals to both sides to make every effort to avoid an Iran-style scenario in which the challenging of a questionable election result leads to a cycle of demonstrations and repression in which the press would clearly be one of the victims.

Dublin war-crimes tribunal, conducted by Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) based in Milan, which held hearings on Thursday and Friday on war-crime charges on Sri Lanka from eye-witnesses and other material evidence, in the preliminary findings issued Saturday said, Sri Lanka Government is "guilty of War-Crimes" and "guilty of Crimes Against Humanity."

In 1995 a significant set of reforms to the Sri Lanka penal code was enacted. The process was consultative and women’s groups were included in the discussions that led to the reforms. While the 1995 amendments were, by and large, a welcome modernization of the penal code, nineteen years after these amendments, still other laws remain which undermine women’s equality. The demand for further legal reform is about this ‘unfinished business’. At a time of elections Cat’s Eye particularly wants to highlight some laws (which apply to both men and women, and some to women in particular) that require urgent reform so that the public and political parties can take note.

On 22 October 2009, human rights defenders Ms Frederica Jansz and Ms Munza Mushataq received identical death threats by post, both of which had been hand-written in red ink. Frederica Jansz is Editor-in-Chief of the Sunday Leader, and Munza Mushataq is the newspaper's News Editor. The founder and former Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper, Mr Lasantha Wickramatunga, was murdered in January 2009, three weeks after receiving a similar death threat which had also been written in red ink.

The Cabinet has approved a proposal by the Minister of Justice and Law Milinda Moragoda to bring in certain reforms to the Muslim personal law and to uplift the system of Quazi courts and enhances the knowledge of Quazis.
Since 1983, Sri Lanka has experienced a civil ethnic conflict in the Northern and Eastern provinces that has resulted in life-threatening and traumatic experiences for women; loss of life, rape and being searched by armed groups are daily occurrences.
Fears are growing for the safety of the doctors who acted as the eyes and ears of the world during the Sri Lankan army's final assault on the Tamil Tigers's last stronghold in the north-east of the country.
Hundreds of civilians are reported to have been killed when the Sri Lankan army launched a concerted assault on an area it had just designated as a safe zone.
Kumudini Samuel est une activiste connue des droits humains au Sri Lanka. L’AWID l’a rencontrée pour parler de cette crise.
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