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‘Human rights belong to all’ says Lankan born member of New Zealand Parliament
Sri Lankan born member of the New Zealand Parliament Vanushi Walters during her maiden speech to the house on Wednesday made a brief statements in both Sinhala and Tamil and said that human rights belong to all.
“…I was now not only a Sri Lankan but also a New Zealander, my family having arrived in 1987. I felt the rush waking up the morning after my mother told me Richard de Zoysa’s story,” Ms Walters, who is the first Sri Lankan born MP to be elected to the New Zealand Parliament told the House.
“Richard was my father’s second cousin, a journalist in Sri Lanka, killed in 1990 as a result of his courageous criticism of the then Government. The cloak that morning arrived like a wave of outrage. Surely people weren’t being tortured and killed by their own Government, and if they were, the cloak demanded I do something about it,” she said.
The following are excerpts of the speech delivered by Ms. Walters (Labour—Upper Harbour):
“I felt the rush waking up as a six-year-old in an apartment at the crest of The Terrace, connecting with the fact that I was now not only a Sri Lankan but also a New Zealander, my family having arrived in 1987. I felt the rush waking up the morning after my mother told me Richard de Zoysa’s story.
“Richard was my father’s second cousin, a journalist in Sri Lanka, killed in 1990 as a result of his courageous criticism of the then Government. The cloak that morning arrived like a wave of outrage. Surely people weren’t being tortured and killed by their own Government, and if they were, the cloak demanded I do something about it.
“It was a story and a feeling that began a 27-year journey in human rights advocacy for me. There is still so much to be done for human rights protection in many countries around the world because human rights belong to all.
“The rush of the cloak was there when I first nervously woke up as a qualified lawyer. It was there the morning after my father, Jana Rajanayagam, had several strokes and heart attacks, after being the finance manager of the Upper Hutt City Council and then the North Shore City Council. In an instant, he was physically unable to work, and, thankfully, received Government support through those tough times. I remember when I woke several years later, the morning after he died. The cloak didn’t rush back that morning, but arrived in slow motion with a new kind of inescapable weight.
“The electricity didn’t seem to stop when I stepped on board the majestic Rainbow Warrior II for an interview as a climate campaigner. It was there, buzzing through a pile of hundreds of letters that sat on the floor of a hotel lobby in Mexico, saved by a former prisoner of conscience, sent by strangers to win him his freedom, and they had. It was there with unhelpful giddiness, when I walked in to sit my final exams at Auckland University and then at Oxford. The electricity danced across the room in Johannesburg as young human rights activists talked, cried, and shared visions of hope about the future of human rights.
“It was there, embodying possibility, listening to stories about my great-grandmother Naysum Saravanamuttu, the second woman to be elected to the State Council of Ceylon in 1931. This is a feeling we should all have, in the work we do and in the relationships we hold. This is the great ambition for all New Zealanders: not only to ensure that we look out for each other when times are tough and we must but to support and connect people with the things that will bring that electricity.
“We have an obligation to continue to address racism and discrimination. Where voices aren’t represented at decision-making tables, we have an obligation to shake the tables. We must not only hear the loud and organised but fiercely listen for piercing silences and work to bring the marginalised and disempowered from the periphery to the centre. We have an obligation to protect all human rights, including economic, social, and cultural rights, and, because rights are meaningless without the ability to access them, we have a connected obligation to ensure sound access to advocacy and to the courts.
We have an obligation to do more, and then more again, to address climate change.
“We have an obligation, as we turn the corner towards the 200-year anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti, to fulfil its articles. We have an obligation to examine the edges of policy and law, where education impacts justice, where justice impacts employment, and where employment impacts health, and to design bridging policy solutions that recognise lives aren’t lived in select committee silos; they’re just lived. This is how we really disrupt the churn of poverty.
“I want to make special mention of my early mentors: Lecretia Seales, whose keen intellect was matched by her courage; Margie Taylor; Ced Simpson; and Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, all of whom have had a significant impact on the decisions I’ve made in my journeying”.
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Landslide Early Warnings issued to the districts of Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Kegalle, Nuwara Eliya and Ratnapura
The National Building Research Organisation [NBRO] has issued landslide early warnings to the Districts of Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Kegalle, Nuwara Eliya and Ratnapura valid from 09:00 hrs on 23.05.2026 to 09:00 hrs on 24.05.2026
Accordingly,
LEVEL III [RED] landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Deraniyagala, Ruwanwella and Dehiowita in the Kegalle district and Ratnapura, Ayagama, Kuruwita and Eheliyagoda in the Ratnapura district.
LEVEL II [AMBER] landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Seethawaka and Padukka in the Colombo district, Attanagalla in the Gampaha district, Palindanuwara, Ingiriya, Bulathsinhala and Horana in the Kalutara district, Yatiyanthota in the Kegalle district and Pelmadulla, Kiriella, Kalawana, Nivithigala and Elapatha in the Ratnapura district.
LEVEL I [YELLOW] landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Divulapitiya and Mirigama in the Gampaha district, Mathugama and Agalawatta in the Kalutara district, Bulathkohupitiya in the Kegalle district, and Ambagamuwa in the Nuwara Eliya district.
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The US has announced a new policy that means most immigrants seeking a green card will have to leave the country and apply at an embassy or consulate abroad.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said on Friday that people seeking a change in status must do so through consular processing outside of the country “except in extraordinary circumstances”.
The move – a part of the Trump administration’s effort to curtail illegal immigration – closes a loophole that had allowed visa holders and visitors to apply for a green card while still in the US.
Critics of the policy say the longstanding system allowed families to stay together during the lengthy application process.
The new method could also make it difficult or impossible for some immigrants who leave the country in hopes of gaining a green card to return.
The USCIS policy memo states that people such as students, temporary workers or people on tourist visas need to go through the Department of State from outside of the US.
“When aliens apply from their home country, it reduces the need to find and remove those who decide to slip into the shadows and remain in the US illegally after being denied residency,” USCIS said, making the system “fairer and more efficient”.
On X, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees USCIS, said: “The era of abusing our nation’s immigration system is over.”
“We’re returning to the original intent of the law to ensure aliens navigate our nation’s immigration system properly,” USCIS Spokesman Zach Kahler said.
“From now on, an alien who is in the US temporarily and wants a green card must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances,” he continued.
Kahler said the policy allows the immigration system “to function as the law intended instead of incentivising loopholes” and that visits “should not function as the first step in the green gard process”.
It is unclear whether pending green card applications will be affected.
A spokesperson for the USCIS told the BBC that as the policy is rolled out, “people who present applications that provide an economic benefit or otherwise are in the national interest will likely be able to continue on their current path”.
“Others may be asked to apply abroad depending on individualised circumstances,” it said.
Being a green card holder, or lawful permanent resident, allows a person to live and work permanently in the US. Obtaining one is a multi-step process that can take months to several years.
There are currently more than a million legal immigrants waiting for approval on their adjustment of status green card applications, according to the Cato Institute’s director of immigration studies.
Kahler argued that following the law allows the majority of cases to be handled by the US State Department at consular offices abroad and frees up USCIS resources to focus on processing other cases that fall under its purview – such as visas for victims of violent crime and human trafficking, naturalisation applications, and other priorities.
The move is consistent with longstanding immigration law and immigration court decisions, the agency said. Immigration officers are being directed to “consider all relevant factors and information on a case-by-case basis when determining whether an alien warrants this extraordinary form of relief”.
Michael Valverde, who was a senior official at USCIS under both Republican and Democratic administrations until his departure last year, said to the BBC’s US media partner CBS that Friday’s announcement would “disrupt the plans of hundreds of thousands of families and employers annually”.
“This is a largely unprecedented move that will limit lawful immigration to the US greatly,” Valverde said. “People who followed the rules faithfully now face tremendous uncertainty.”
The Trump administration has instated bans or restrictions on citizens from nearly 40 countries.
Another policy from the administration this year has paused all visa issuances to immigrant visa applicants from 75 countries.
Overstaying a US visa can lead to deportation, ineligibility for future visas and re-entry bans lasting up to 10 years, according to the US State Department.
[BBC]
The warning mentioned in the flood warning message No. 01 issued for the Aththanagalu Oya basin on 22.05.2026 at about 5.30 am will be extended for the next 48 hours.
It is requested that residents in the area and vehicle drivers running through those areas pay high attention in this regard by the . Disaster Management Authorities are requested to take adequate precautions in this regard
Landslide Early Warnings issued to the districts of Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Kegalle, Nuwara Eliya and Ratnapura
Most people seeking green cards must now apply from outside US
Tulsi Gabbard to resign as US director of national intelligence
SpaceX launches massive Starship V3 rocket on test flight
Everest record holder warns of Nepal danger as two Indian mountaineers die
Angkrish Raghuvanshi ruled out of IPL 2026 with concussion, finger fracture
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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