Features

From February 3 to April 14 this year, across Sri Lanka, there has been some sort of disruption against a Christian worship service every Sunday – on 11 successive Sundays to be specific. Christians in Sri Lanka suffer violations of their right to religion and belief regularly, but most incidents do not make it to […]

During the past few weeks, I have been watching the many headlines, debates, misinformation, misrepresentation of facts as well as self-congratulatory statements by some members of the delegation that went to Geneva to participate in the 40th session of the Human Rights Council where the High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet presented the Report […]

Image: A protester during the Oct 2018 constitutional coup. In democracies, elections usually are significant political turning points. In democratic theory, an election marks two key opportunities to the people as well as the rulers. For the people, it marks the periodic occasion to elect their rulers and grant them authority to rule over them for […]

New Delhi: India’s desire to give some breathing space to Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe found a sympathetic ear in the international community. His government is to be granted a further extension of two years to carry out key pledges on transitional justice and accountability. Just before the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) session ends […]

It is now three months since the interpretation of our constitution by the Supreme Court of the country was respected by the President and the relevant political leaders, and the constitutional crisis he created was resolved. Yet the country continues to be trapped in problems of critical concern for all of us. The President The […]

Last week men on social media celebrated Women Police Constables (WPCs) being the barrier between student protesters. This was apparently an achievement for gender equality. It is commonplace for Male Police Constables (MPCs) to get all the ‘action’ of being in the frontlines, while WPCs are often restricted to the offices taking on roles as […]

Conclusions and recommendations. 61. In 2015, by co-sponsoring Human Rights Council resolution 30/1, the Government of Sri Lanka recognized the need to address the past in order to build a brighter future, grounded in accountability, respect for human rights and the rule of law. The lack of decisive steps to that end, and of appropriate […]

Kishali Pinto Jayewardena. (Sunday Times/03.3.19) Verbal gymnastics indulged in by Sri Lankan politicians in respect of the draft Counter Terrorism Act (CTA), now before Parliament awaiting amendments from the sectoral oversight committee, are vastly entertaining in truth. The ‘political hot potato’ Unlikely champions of constitutional rights are emerging from the Rajapaksa-led opposition. This week, the […]

Image: Samantha Power speaking at the event to mark 30 years of Parliamentary Politics of Minister Mangala Samaraweera. (@MangalaLK) Full text of the speech delivered by Ambassador Samantha J Power at the event to mark 30 years of Parliamentary Politics of Minister Mangala Samaraweera. Ambassador Samantha Power. Celebration of Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference […]

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Read the full report as a PDF:Sri Lanka Briefing Note No 14 Feb. 2019 In the last two months of 2018, Sri Lanka witnessed a political coup led by its President. The coup was short lived. The attempt to overthrow the democratically elected Government and bring back the authoritarian ruler, who was rejected […]

“If they harm me, it is the country they harm.” Gotabhaya Rajapaksa (Hard Talk – Daily Mirror – October 2011)[i] The beautification of Gotabaya Rajapaksa is on full throttle. The names of his front organisations are indicative of the guise he intends to adopt as a presidential contender: The Light (Eliya) and The Intellectual Path (Viyath […]

Sri Lanka today faces another constitutional crisis. At the centre of the crisis is the dynamic between the Constitutional Council, a creation of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, and the executive presidency, itself a creation of the 1978 Constitution. Both the executive powers of the President and the powers of the Constitutional Council are […]

It is no matter for jest when the President of a country publicly singles out national oversight institutions for ferocious censure. And without a doubt, it is even worse when that institution happens to be a national human rights institution. By the very nature of the work that it does and the statutory mandate on […]

Image: Remains of two UN peacekeepers killed in Mali arrive in Sri Lanka. His Excellency Maithripala Sirisena President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Presidential Residence Paget Road Colombo 07 Your Excellency, Re: His Excellency the President’s Statement in the Parliament about the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. We have been made aware of […]

Mahinda Rajapaksa speaks to the media on November 11, 2018 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Paula Bronstein / Getty. “In the name of God, go!” Rarely have these words of Oliver Cromwell been recycled with such farce and frequency as during Sri Lanka’s recent political crisis, not least by parliamentarians addressing rivals. As far as crises […]

BY MANJULA FERNANDO. In an interview with the Sunday Observer Dr.Suren Raghawan, the first ever Northern Province Tamil Governor, spells out his aims and objectives to serve the people in the region and build bridges not only to send the farming produce from the North over to the South, but bring together the youth of […]

In a letter to Ms. Hanaa Singer, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations, Sri Lanka, media organistations says that ” We do not want the assurances of the United Nations. We want it to take and compel action. The undersigned believe it is essential for the UN to persist in pressuring the Sri Lankan government to take accountability […]

From Colombo to Giritale to Akkaraipattu, CID sleuths have pieced together the abduction of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda on January 24, 2010 and linked it to a shadowy military intelligence unit operating out of the Giritale Army camp. But four years after the investigation began, the case has hit a wall, with the military refusing to […]

Cartoon by Avantha Artigala. White vans and ‘black media’ aside (which I will return to later), Sri Lanka has seen politicians insulting judges in Parliament under cover of parliamentary privilege in the past. Staggering and scurrilous abuse Each time, these attacks have been discomfiting, indicating the extent to which the ancient law of privilege can […]

Sri Lanka is not the only country that has seen a gradual decline in the quality of education over time; but this is one of the few such places which pride that deterioration as ‘progress’. Half-baked and insular scholarship that was produced over the decades actually tend to believe in this fallacy. The political class, […]

Any day is important, and some days are extra- special. However, the events that unfold on that special day would be fermented for over the years. Some years are extra-special too. The year 2019 is one such year. As the presidency enters into its fifth year, this would be the election year. This is also […]

Image: Left groups wants Sirisena to be prosecuted for political coup he staged. (c)S.Deshapriya.. As a year of political upheaval and economic stagnation is winding down, Sri Lanka is entering into an uncertain 2019. Politics is as toxic as it has ever been in recent times. The illwill between President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister […]

Image: Staff dig up skeletons at a site of a former war zone in Mannar, Sri Lanka ( REUTERS ) Excavators in Sri Lanka have found the skeletal remains of 21 children as well as signs of possible torture of the dead in the biggest mass grave in  the country’s former civil war zone, Mannar, putting a spotlight on the […]

Image: 24 day peaceful protest against Sirisena’s constitutional coup came to an end with the news of Rajapaksa’s resignation.(c)S.Deshapriya. But Sri Lanka’s biggest worry is a fresh eruption of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe power struggle. New space has emerged for de-escalating Sri Lanka’s political crisis with the timely and judicious intervention by the Sri Lankan Supreme Court. […]

Image: Civil society groups and activists hold placards during a protest demanding that democracy be restored in the country as they gather at the Independence Square in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Nov. 19, 2018. | Photo Credit: AP. Meera Srinivasan DECEMBER 15, 2018 . Civil society groups and activists hold placards during a protest demanding […]

Image: A protester at the on Sathyagrahaya against the dissolution preparing fire crackers just before the SC decision on 13 Dec 18. (c) S.Deshapriya. Meera Srinivasan COLOMBO, DECEMBER 13. For over a month now, the country has been left without a legitimate government or cabinet. In a landmark case of the Sri Lankan judiciary ruling […]

Human skeletons of 269 people have been unearthed within 115 days of excavation of Mannar Mass Grave , the countries biggest mass grave which was discovered in May 2018 in Mannar city of Northern Sri-Lanka,  and this situation has raised serious concerns among human rights defenders and war affected communities on justice, future protection and non recurrence. Also the […]

Cartoon:  Courtesy of The Morning. President Maithripala Sirisena’s implied criticism of the Sri Lankan judiciary when speaking at the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) convention this Tuesday, referencing himself as the Mahanayake (seniormost prelate) of a Nikaya (chapter) being educated by the head monk of a village temple invokes strong and unequivocal condemnation in no […]

Image: A civil society initiative, Rise Up has mobilized citizens against the #CoupLK. Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena was hailed as Sri Lanka’s Mandela by his supporters in January 2015. He is now being called Sri Lanka’s Mugabe after his recent actions plunged the country into a chaotic constitutional crisis of unprecedented gravity. On Friday […]

In the case at hand before this Court, the 122 Petitioner members of the 225 member Parliament state that a no-confidence motion was passed by a majority in the said Parliament. The Petitioners allege that the Respondents have usurped the public office namely the respective positions in the office of Prime Minister, Cabinet of Ministers […]