News

At its 91st session from 21st November to 9th December 2016 , UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) will consider the situation of racial discrimination in following 6 countries. Civil society organisations are encouraged to submit information on Argentina, Italy, Portugal, Togo, Turkmenistan and Uruguay.  The Committee will hold a consultation with civil society on 23rd November from 3 pm. If you are an NGO 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: 31st October 2016 Information Note for NGOs  for the submission of reports, accreditation and participation in informal meetings and […]

IMADR delivered the joint oral statement with US Human Rights Network on “Racial discrimination against African Americans” at the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council. Whole text can be read below or downloaded here.  ——— Joint Oral Statement: 33rd session of the Human Rights Council Item 9: Interactive Dialogue with the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent 26 September 2016 Thank you Mr. President,  IMADR and the US Human Rights Network welcome the Working Group’s report on the USA and its recommendations. We reiterate the Working Group’s regret that the U.S. Government failed to facilitate a visit to the Parchman Farm and meetings with various authorities requested by the experts. […]

IMADR joined the oral statement on “Gender integration in UN human rights mechanisms” at the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council. Whole text can be read below or downloaded here.  ——— HRC33 Joint NGO Oral Statement Annual discussion on the integration of a gender perspective throughout the work of the Human Rights Council and that of its mechanisms Monday, 26 September, 2016 Last year this panel discussed gender parity in international human rights bodies, including the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms. States resolutely called for the redoubling of efforts to improve gender balance on UN human rights bodies and mechanisms, courts and tribunals and specialised agencies. Unfortunately, since then, the […]

On Tuesday 20th September, during the 33rd session of the UN Human Rights Council, the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR), jointly with Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances and Franciscans International, hosted a side event titled “Enforced Disappearances in Sri Lanka”. With the moderation by Ms. Mary Aileen Diez-Bacalso from (AFAD), the event invited two wives of the disappeared, Ms. Sandya EKNELYGODA and Ms. Vathana SUNDARARAJ, to share their perspectives on challenges victims are facing. Mr. Freddy GAMAGE, a journalist and human rights defender, spoke the issue of murdered and disappeared journalists to highlight the need for institutional reforms to tackle […]

IMADR delivered the joint oral statement with Franciscans International, Human Rights Now as well as All Okinawa Council for Human Rights on “Freedom of expression in Ryukyu/ Okinawa, Japan” at the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council. Whole text can be read below or downloaded here.  ——— IMADR Oral Statement: 33rd session of the Human Rights Council Item 4: General Debate 19 September 2016 Thank you Mr. President,  Together with the All Okinawa Council for Human Rights, IMADR, Franciscans International and Human Rights Now would like to draw this Council’s attention to the human rights situation in Ryukyu/ Okinawa, Japan. The Okinawa islands host about three quarters of the U.S. military’s exclusive-use […]

IMADR delivered its oral statement on “Enforced and involuntary disappearances in Sri Lanka” at the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council. Whole text can be read below or downloaded here.  ——— IMADR Oral Statement: 33rd session of the Human Rights Council Item 3: Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery 15 September 2016 Thank you Mr. President, We express our appreciation to the country visit report of the Working Group and endorse its recommendations to Sri Lanka. The Government’s constructive cooperation with the Working Group through facilitating visits to requested places including the former secret detention facility and […]

IMADR delivered its oral statement on “Racist hate speech in politics, caste discrimination in India and Nepal, transitional justice in Sri Lanka” at the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council. Whole text can be read below or downloaded here.  ——— IMADR Oral Statement: 33rd session of the Human Rights Council Item 2: General Debate on the oral update by the High Commissioner 14 September 2016 Thank you Mr. President,  We share the High Commissioner’s concern on the widespread racism and xenophobia in the political discourse. Racist hate speech by politicians is not limited in so-called “West”, but in every region of the world. We urge the High Commissioner’s office to monitor this […]

Together with Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) and Franciscans International, IMADR is holding a side event on “Enforced Disappearances in Sri Lanka” at the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council from 1 pm, Tuesday 20th September at Room XXV in Palais des Nations. For further information, click on the flyer below.

IMADR joined a written statement on “Suppression of civilians peacefully protesting US military bases in Okinawa, and violations of the rights of the Ryukyuan/Okinawan indigenous people” submitted by Human Rights Now at the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council. Whole text can be read below or downloaded here. ——— Suppression of civilians peacefully protesting US military bases in Okinawa, and violations of the rights of the Ryukyuan/Okinawan indigenous people1 1. Suppression of peaceful protests against the construction of new US military base facilities In Okinawa prefecture, in the southernmost part of Japan, there are 34 US Armed Forces facilities covering 10% of its area. New US Military facilities are currently being […]

IMADR submitted a written statement on “Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances in Sri Lanka” at the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council. Whole text can be read below or downloaded here. ——— Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka has the second highest records related to disappearances. For decades, enforced disappearances have been employed in a massive and systematic way as a tool to suppress political dissent, fight against “terrorism” or in the context of the internal war[1]. Different turbulent moments in the history have been marked by disappearances: the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) uprising of 1971 and its insurgency in late 80’s; the communal riots of 1983; […]

On 11th August, the Sri Lankan Parliament passed the Office of the Missing Persons (OMP) Act which will be the first among the various transitional justice mechanisms listed in the 2015 Human Rights Council resolution “Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka (A/HRC/30/1)“. The Act is available in English , Sinhala  and Tamil   

On 26th August, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) concluded its 90th session. At the session, the CERD adopted concluding observations of Greece, Lebanon, Pakistan, Paraguay, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. *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 State parties at UN Web TV . _ Greece Although the Committee welcomed the recent efforts of the State party in its fight against racial discrimination, the Committee asked for data, figures and outcome of the policies implemented in […]

Download the press release  We urge the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to fully implement the recommendations from the UN human rights body to combat racial discrimination . On 15th and 16th August, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)[1] met the Government delegation to assess its efforts to eradicate discrimination in line with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). It was 15 years after the last examination which took place during the time Sri Lanka was facing the protracted armed conflict. Today, for the first time after the conclusion of the armed conflict, the CERD issued a series of recommendations […]

Today the IMADR joined the International Disability Alliance, International Disability and Development Consortium and GQUAL to call for action to promote gender parity within the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee), all treaty bodies and international and regional organisations. As an organisation which has closely monitored and cooperated with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), IMADR believes that the gender parity is essential for a treaty body to address diverse racial discrimination issues which often involve multiple discrimination against people on the basis of their gender and race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin. Currently, 7 female members sit in the CERD out of 18 members (39%).  We encourage […]

IMADR presented its oral intervention on “Racial and caste discrimination in Sri Lanka” at the informal meeting with NGOs at the 90th session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). Whole text can be read below or downloaded here.  ——— Racial and caste discrimination in Sri Lanka CERD NGO Briefing, 15 August 2016 Thank you Madam Chair, I am delivering this intervention on behalf of IMADR. To begin with, we regret the absence of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka at this Committee. Although the Commission re-gained its independence by the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in April 2015, the Government should provide them sufficient human and financial resources for […]

Co-Chairperson of IMADR, Nimalka Fernando, was selected as one of the 2014 Women PeaceMakers  of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice (IPJ) of the University of San Diego. Through a Peace Writer, the program documented her work of peace making and the promotion and protection human rights in Sri Lanka. Her story, “Busybody for Peace: The Life and Work of Nimalka Fernando of Sri Lanka”, is now available to learn her personal struggles as well as the recent history in Sri Lanka which is marked by the decades long conflict between the State and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The publication can be downloaded by clicking the image below.