News

On 12th May, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) concluded its 92nd session. At the session, the CERD adopted concluding observations of Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Kenya and Moldova. *Recommendations with asterisks [*] are one-year follow-up recommendations Concluding observations, reports of the State parties and other stakeholders are available at the OHCHR website . You can also watch the video archives of the public meetings with the States parties at UN Web TV . _ Armenia While welcoming the country’s ratification to almost all international human rights instruments, the Committee encouraged the State party to allow the individual communications procedure under Article 14 of the ICERD and sign the ILO Convention No.189 on domestic workers. In regard to asylum […]

In June 2017, the Sri Lankan government’s implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights will be reviewed at the 61st session of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) .  The last review took place in 2010, a year after the conclusion of the internal conflict. In order to reflect the current situation of minorities in Sri Lanka, IMADR, Minority Rights Group International (MRG) and Women Development Innovators (WDI) made a joint submission to the Committee. The joint submission illustrates the impacts of land and sea grabbing on minority fishing communities, ranging from forced displacement and militarisation, the loss of livelihoods, poverty and to the lack of compensations from the […]

IMADR delivered its oral statement on “Racial discrimination in migration” at the 1st Informal Thematic Discussion of the Global Compact on Migration on “Human rights of all migrants, social inclusion, cohesion, and all forms of discrimination, including racism, xenophobia and intolerence” . Whole text can be read below or downloaded here.  ——— Oral Statement: First Informal Thematic Discussion of the Global Compact on Migration PANEL 3: All forms of discrimination, including racism, xenophobia and intolerance        9 May 2017 Speaker: Taisuke KOMATSU Thank you Mr. Moderator, We welcome the decision to make the first GCM thematic discussion to address discrimination, in particular racial discrimination. As an international human rights NGO working on this area […]

IMADR joined the GQUAL Campaign and other civil society organisations around the world in encouraging the 2017 Consultative Group of the Human Rights Council to adopt “Guidelines on Gender Parity” for the selection process of special mandate holders. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported that, as of December 2016, women represented 41 percent of mandate holders. Yet, according to the GQUAL campaign, 20 out of the 56 current thematic and country mandates have never been held by a woman as of April 2017, including those on torture, freedom of expression, racial discrimination, and the right to health. Read the full text of the joint letter […]

In response to the recent reprisals against two Sri Lankan human rights defenders, Ms. Nimalka Fernando (IMADR Co-Chairperson) and Mr. Sunanda Deshapriya, who participated in the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council in March, 9 human rights organisations submitted a joint letter to the Government of Sri Lanka. Read the letter below or download here .    ——— TO: H.E. Mr. Maithripala Sirisena, President of Sri Lanka H.E. Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka CC: H.E. Mr. Mangala Samaraweera, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka H.E. Mr. Ravinatha Aryasinha, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN, Geneva H.E. Mr. Joaquín Alexander Maza Martelli, President of the Human Rights […]

For the 28th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), IMADR prepared civil society submissions with national and international partners on the human rights issues in Japan and Sri Lanka. Reports can be downloaded below. Single submission: Racial Discrimination in Japan: Braku People and Minority Women  Joint submissions: Human Rights Situation in Japan: With specific focus on human rights in Okinawa  Human Rights Situation in Japan: with specific focus on the right to self-determination of indigenous people of Ryukyu/Okinawa  Discrimination against minority children in Japan in the provision of educational opportunities – focusing on children attending Korean schools in Japan Joint Civil Society Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review (Sri Lanka) 

On 3 April, we have issued our new issue of E-CONNECT. If you have not subscribed to our newsletter, you ca do it from here! Back number is also available. Feature story “Minority women’s voices should be heard for transitional justice”, joint message to Sri Lanka At the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council, IMADR held a joint side event which invited three Sri Lankan women from different ethnic and religious communities, and Ms. Anastasia Crickley from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and Ms. Rita Izsák-Ndiaye, the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues. From the perspectives of minority women’s human rights, the event identified key challenges […]

IMADR delivered its oral statement on “Sri Lanka’s transitional justice and reconciliation at a crossroads” at the 34th session of the Human Rights Council. Whole text can be read below or downloaded here.  ——— IMADR Oral Statement: 34th session of the Human Rights Council Item 2: Interactive Dialogue on the High Commissioner’s Report on Sri Lanka 22 March 2017 Speaker: Nimalka FERNANDO Thank you Mr. President, I speak as a survivor of the former authoritarian regime. The present democratic space for transitional justice was made possible, because civil society actors and human rights defenders worked hard risking their lives together with this Council and the international community to bring the resolution 30/1 in […]

21 March is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Regrettably, the phenomenon of racial discrimination is widespread in the world which can be seen from increasing hate speech and hate crimes to new discriminatory measures adopted by government. To express your commitment to fight racism and solidarity with victims, we encourage you to tweet the phrase below and tell people about this important day.  It’s international day against #racialdiscrimination today. I stand in solidarity with victims of #racism.  We also prepared some templates for twitter. You can use them to ask your country’s leader how he or she tackles racial discrimination.  It’s int’ day against #racialdiscrimination today. […]

IMADR delivered its oral statement on “Racial profiling and incitement to hatred in migration” at the 34th session of the Human Rights Council. Whole text can be read below or downloaded here.  ——— IMADR Oral Statement: 34th session of the Human Rights Council Debate on racial profiling and incitement to hatred, including in the context of migration 17 March 2017 Speaker: Ayumi AKIYAMA Thank you Mr. President, IMADR welcomes this timely discussion to address today’s challenges in combatting racial discrimination. In this dialogue, we would like to point out the lack of measures against racist hate speech in the political discourse. Across the world, we have been witnessing the rise of populism which […]

IMADR statement on “Minorities in Sri Lanka’s transitional justice” at the 34th session of the Human Rights Council. Whole text can be read below or downloaded here.  *The statement could not be delivered due to the time limit. ——— IMADR Oral Statement: 34th session of the Human Rights Council Item 3: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on minority issues 15 March 2017 Speaker: Taisuke KOMATSU Thank you Mr. President, We welcome the Special Rapporteur’s in-depth report on Sri Lanka. We commend the Government’s engagement in facilitating her access to key stakeholders. We fully endorse her recommendations. We reiterate that immediate and substantial measures must be taken to demonstrate the Government’s commitment to […]

Together with Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Human Rights Watch, Franciscans International and Minority Rights Group International, IMADR is holding a side event on “Report of Consultation Task Force and Human Rights Challenges in Sri Lanka” at the 34th session of the Human Rights Council from 3 pm, Monday 20th March at Room XXIV in Palais des Nations. For further information, click on the flyer below.  

IMADR delivered the joint oral statement with the Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and Franciscans International on “Arbitrary arrests and detention of human rights defender of Ryukyu/ Okinawa, Japan” at the 34th session of the Human Rights Council. Whole text can be read below or downloaded here.  *Some parts were not read out due to the reduced speaking time. ——— Joint Oral Statement: 34th session of the Human Rights Council Item 4: General Debate 15 March 2017 Speaker: Taisuke KOMATSU (IMADR) Thank you Mr. President, Together with the All Okinawa Council for Human Rights, we would like to draw this Council’s attention to the arbitrary arrests and detention of […]

Together with Franciscans International and Minority Rights Group International, IMADR is holding a side event on “Women’s and Minority Rights in Sri Lanka’s Transitional Justice Process” at the 34th session of the Human Rights Council from 4:30 pm, Friday 17th March at Room XXIII in Palais des Nations. For further information, click on the flyer below.

IMADR submitted a written statement on “Sri Lanka’s slow progress in transitional justice” at the 34th session of the Human Rights Council. Whole text can be read below or downloaded here. ——— Sri Lanka’s slow progress in transitional justice Until May 2009, Sri Lanka went through a 27-year internal conflict that was between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The conflict was ended with a grave number of casualties including 40,000 civilians estimated to have been killed. Since the end of the conflict, the country went through a difficult time and civilians, even till this day, continue to face various challenges including […]

At its 92nd session from 24th April to 12th May 2017, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) will consider the situation of racial discrimination in following 6 countries. Civil society organisations (CSOs) are encouraged to submit information on Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Kenya and Republic of Moldova.  During the session, the Committee will hold an informal meeting with States parties on 28th April from 3 pm. If you are a CSO participating in the forthcoming session and wishes to receive practical advice on advocacy at the CERD, contact us at: geneva[@]imadr.org (remove “[]” when you send e-mail)  Practical Information Deadline for submission of NGO reports: 3rd April 2017 Information Note for NGOs  for the submission of reports, accreditation […]