[Journal of Foreign Relations]

After three decades of war, Sri Lanka is still a mess. President Mahinda Rajapaksa could not care less about national reconciliation. Here is a president who did not hesitate to assert his authority at the end of the war. Yet now, he is afraid to be a strong and thoughtful leader, reluctant to take a stand.

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[The Hindu]

Tamils in the US will hold a demonstration in front of the State Department and the White House here on Friday protesting against the “genocide” against their community in Sri Lanka. ‘Tamils Against Genocide’, a pro-Tamils organisation, will organise a rally and hunger strike to urge US President Mr Barack Obama to bring an end to the “genocide” in northern Sri Lanka, where the Army and LTTE are engaged in a war.

“Tamils have been systematically attacked and brutalised since the government ordered international aid agencies out of the region last September,” the group said in a statement.

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[BBC]

A leading advocacy group called today for US President-elect Barack Obama to put human rights at the centre of US foreign, domestic and security policy. The US-based Human Rights Watch called on Mr Obama to undo “the enormous damage” of the Bush administration. The group’s annual report criticises Israel and Hamas for what it calls a human rights crisis in Gaza. The report said Human Rights Watch had also documented abuses - including attacks on civilians - during conflicts in Afghanistan, Colombia, Congo, Georgia, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Sudan.

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