IMF approves $2.6 billion loan to Sri Lanka despite human rights concerns

September 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - The World Bank on Tuesday approved a 4.3 billion dollars loan for India to finance infrastructure projects, to help maintain credit growth levels, employment growth, support social banking and help strengthen the economic recovery from the global financial crisis. The loan includes a 2 billion dollar loan, which is designed for Banking Sector Support Loan, which would to boost the capital of state banks and maintain credit growth.

September 21st, 2009 Rights groups want UN Iran envoyNEW YORK — Human rights groups are urging the United Nations to appoint a special envoy to investigate continuing abuses in Iran following the disputed presidential elections there. Human Rights Watch and the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran say that at least 72 people have died in the crackdown that followed opposition protests against the ballot, in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won re-election.

September 15th, 2009 LONDON - Exports of Sri Lankan clothes and sportswear to Europe face being banned over allegations of human rights abuses, a diplomat from the country confirmed Tuesday. Although the European Union has asked the Sri Lankan government to respond to the allegations of human rights abuses during the civil war this year, a London-based Sri Lankan diplomat said, Their minds seem to be made up".

August 19th, 2009 LONDON - A report prepared by the Commons Committee on Arms Export Controls has revealed that British weapons may have been used against Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka, and now, this is prompting calls for a review of the arms trade. According to The Times, the committee has argued that all existing licenses to Sri Lanka should be investigated.

August 18th, 2009 Rights group urges Sri Lanka to open flooded campsCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A human rights group on Tuesday urged Sri Lanka to release hundreds of thousands of war refugees from camps hit by flooding over the weekend saying their lives were in danger from disease. The floods have renewed fears that disease could break out among minority Tamils who have been living for months behind barbed wire, in tents and in makeshift shelters, while the military hunts down the last of the Tamil Tiger rebels it defeated in May.

August 12th, 2009 KARACHI - Pakistan has received $1.2 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the third tranche of an emergency loan agreed to last year, the central bank said. "We have received $1.2 billion from the IMF," State Bank of Pakistan spokesperson Syed Wasimuddin told The News.

August 10th, 2009 Obama says drug cartels violate human rightsGUADALAJARA, Mexico —President Barack Obama says drug cartels are the largest violators of human rights in Mexico and he has confidence Mexican President Felipe Calderon is cracking down without violating human rights. Obama on Monday, however, did not say whether his State Department would certify that Mexico is protecting human rights in its efforts to fight the drug traders.

August 6th, 2009 CHENNAI - Tamil Nadu Government on Thursday sent the fourth installment of relief material worth Rs 15 crores for Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka, who are confined to displacement camps. More than 2,80,000 civilians are held in sprawling camps in the north since May, when government troops crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to end a 25-year-old war.

July 25th, 2009 COLOMBO - The Sri Lankan government said Saturday that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a $2.6 billion loan to Sri Lanka to support the country's reform programme. As per the agreement, $322.2 million would be immediately made available, while the remaining amount will be released based on the quarterly reviews, the government information department said in a statement.

July 23rd, 2009 Rights group urges Sri Lanka aid rethinkCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka's government should be forced to rectify serious human rights abuses before it receives an emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund, a human rights group said Thursday. The IMF has given initial approval for a $2.5 billion loan to help Sri Lanka with reconstruction after the end of its 25-year civil war with ethnic Tamil rebels.

July 21st, 2009 Plan to pay off King Papers wins council approvalATLANTA — The Atlanta City Council has cleared the way for a civil and human rights museum to pay off $11.5 million on a loan so it can acquire display rights to thousands of documents of the late Martin Luther King Jr. Private fundraising had slowed efforts in a bad economy to pay off the original $32 million loan taken out in 2006 to buy the historic trove of 10,000 documents.

June 5th, 2009 EU approves loans to VolvoBRUSSELS — The European Union has approved loan guarantees to Ford Motor Co.'s Volvo unit to help it build cleaner cars. The European Commission says Volvo is planning to use euro500 million ($708 million) from the European Investment Bank for its euro1.9 billion ($2.7 billion) project to develop more fuel-efficient low-emissions vehicles.

May 27th, 2009 GENEVA - The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted Wednesday a resolution which praised the government of Sri Lanka for its commitment to human rights, while condemning the Tamil Tiger rebels. The resolution, tabled by Sri Lanka itself and other nations, including China, Cuba and Egypt, also allows the government to let aid agencies' have access to camps for the internally displaced "as may be appropriate".

May 5th, 2009 IMF urged to link Sri Lanka loan to rightsCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The International Monetary Fund must insist that Sri Lanka's government respect media rights and the rule of law before granting any new lending, a press freedom group said Tuesday. The Sri Lankan military's recent successes against separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in the north have been accompanied by a "ruthless campaign" against the media and dissidents, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders wrote in a letter to the IMF.

March 22nd, 2009 COLOMBO - An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team is to hold talks with Sri Lanka Sunday and finalise its request for a $1.9 billion standby loan to prop up the country's dwindling foreign exchange reserves, media reports here said. Responding to reports that conditions may be attached to the IMF loan, a Central Bank official said that there had 'so far been no talks on conditions'.