The former commander of the Sri Lankan army, retired general Sarath Fonseka is today under military detention in much the same way that tens of thousands of Sri Lankans from the south, north and east in detention facilities in the recent decades. More than ever, the inability of the courts to intervene effectively to protect the citizens from arbitrary detention is a common phenomenon in Sri Lanka.

The Temporary Care Project for refugees at Chettikulam has taken in 232 lone children to date and we have successfully reunified 56 children with their families. At present there are 176 children left living with us on the project. We are doing our very best to provide these children with some sort of normality and we are giving school stationary, dry rations, clothing and foot supplies to those children whom we reunite.

The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) and its sister-organisation, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), document hundreds of cases of torture each year in the Asian region. The eradication of torture must be at the heart of any realistic attempts to improve human rights in any given country, yet, the Special Rapporteur on torture, Manfred Nowak, has noted the Council's failure to act in his study on torture and report to the 13th session of the Council.[1]

Despite efforts to restore schooling, children at the Manik Farm and other newly resettled areas face many difficulties. Chandani Kirinde reports from Vavuniyaa. It's been a long time since eight-year-old Selvi slept on a bed. It's been an equally long time since she played in the garden of her house in tranquillity and peace like children her age love to do where-ever they may live. But she and many others like her wake up each morning in their makeshift homes and head to their makeshift schools set up in the welfare centres in Manik Farm in Vavuniya to attend classes trying to live as normal a life a possible in extremely trying conditions.

Amnesty International has called on Sri Lankan political leaders to investigate attacks on activists during one of the most violent presidential elections in the last 20 years. The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) said that more than 600 violent incidents had been reported until Thursday, including five murders and five attempted murders of political activists.

“Candidates should commit to restoring respect for basic rights, like life and liberty, ending arbitrary arrests and detention, enforced disappearances and torture, and to restoring respect for freedom of expression, said Yolanda Foster, Amnesty International’s Sri Lanka specialist. “In the longer run, what’s needed is to rebuild Sri Lanka’s institutions so that they can protect efficiently and without discrimination. That’s the only way to restore public faith in the justice system.”

The groups engaged in monitoring the election have reported flagrant violations of election laws, the illegal use of state assets and the use of violence. They have noted that in Sri Lanka today the collapse of the electoral system on an unprecedented scale is taking place. The election commissioner own comments about the absence of cooperation between him and the government have also been very widely reported.

The presidential election will take place on the 26th of January. The campaign leading to the election took a bloody turn yesterday (13th of January 2010) with the killing of Kusumawahi Kurupuarachi at Hungama in Tangalle in Hambanthota district, and another very violent conflict being led by some senior politicians of the government at Polonaruwa town centre. The two locations were far apart: one in the deep south, and the other in the north central provinces, suggesting a deliberately designed pogrom being carried out in different parts of the country.

I write as a Christian, albeit a non-church going one (for reasons too complicated and probably irrelevant to go into here). Those interested in this can go to tamilcanadian.com, sangam.org, or tamilnation.com, type my name in the 'search box' and scroll down the 50 + articles I have written. Find the two letters I wrote to the Head of my Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and you will know why I stand where I do. You will also find my letter to the Roman Catholic Bishop in Colombo.

Around him are the markers of his new life; the modest home in Melbourne's west is well maintained but has few personal touches, except for a couple of unwashed teacups in the kitchen. Mr Sarpatheepan, 25, and his intellectually impaired housemate, Kanapathippillai Thajaparan, 24, are no ordinary new arrivals: they are the only Sri Lankans off the customs ship Oceanic Viking to have been resettled in Australia after the October stand-off involving 78 asylum seekers.

The isolated location of Christmas Island makes it impossible to implement a humane immigration policy, and is leading to extreme detention conditions that are inappropriate and out of step with the Government’s stated ‘new detention values’, Amnesty International Australia has said, following a research trip to the remote Australian territory.

There are a million questions one could ask of the woman sitting on the edge of a hospital bed in southern Sri Lanka, but for now only one of them matters: is she Padma Wawlanbokke? Five years ago, the 42-year-old's family mourned after she, her husband and the couple's young children disappeared and were presumed dead after the train in which they were travelling was struck by the deadly Asian tsunami.

Amnesty International’s expert on Sri Lanka, Yolanda Foster, in a press statement issued from Washington said Tuesday that the Amnesty had received information about possible restrictions on families choosing to leave the camps in Vavuniyaa. Ms. Yolanda Foster referred to reports, which indicated that the IDPs could be asked to return to the camps after only 15 days.

The eyewitness of an alleged police brutality in Colombo says she feared for her life after testifying before courts against police officers. Renu Gunathilake has witnessed the brutal killing of a psychological impaired person allegedly by police officers off the Bambalapitiya beach in Colombo a month ago.