International

Universal suffrage is a democratic right that we must all respect and uphold. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all Sri Lankan voters who exercised their voting right in this election. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the inaugural session of 9th parliament of Sri Lanka. Now that the euphoria over the victories […]

The undersigned civil society organisations congratulate and welcome Irene Khan to her new role as Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. We take this opportunity to express our strong support for the vital work of the mandate. We stand ready to support the new mandate […]

GENEVA (26 June 2020) – UN independent experts have repeatedly communicated with the Government of the People’s Republic of China their alarm regarding the repression of fundamental freedoms in China. They have denounced the repression of protest and democracy advocacy in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), impunity for excessive use of force by police, the alleged use […]

Image: U.S. President Donald Trump announces his strategy for the war in Afghanistan during an address from Fort Myer, Virginia, U.S., August 21, 2017. © 2017 Reuter (Washington) – United States president Donald Trump’s public threat to attack Iranian sites of cultural importance would be war crimes if carried out, Human Rights Watch said today. The US government should immediately clarify that […]

Speaking at the press conference today held in New Delhi on the visit of Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime minster of India has said that ” I am confident that the Government of Sri Lanka will carry forward the process of reconciliation, to fulfill the aspirations of the Tamils for equality, justice, peace and […]

Image: In March 2017 Ai Weiwei launched  a massive sculpture featuring 70 metre long boat with 258 refugees (www.creativeboom.com) An overview of the definition of refugee status under the Refugee Convention, 1951. The language of a legislation or convention is significant since it is the basis for claiming rights and making significant decisions. Notably, the definition […]

Image: A group of Muslim women from Hambantota: “We have lived here for generations”. The much anticipated, debated, and controversial presidential election is now just around the corner. The candidate for the SLPP was confirmed and announced; and while there maybe a comforting confidence among the party about securing the majority Sinhala Buddhist vote, winning […]

This is another historic victory, not only for communities of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, but for humanity as a whole: In a defining vote, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution to renew the mandate of the Independent Expert focusing on the protection against violence and discrimination on the basis of […]

Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz. Sri Lanka was the last country in South Asia to adopt the Right to Information Act (RTI) in 2017. For many of us who were involved in discussions with our Sri Lankan counterparts before adoption of the law, it is gratifying to note the progress it has made in these […]

Image: Sudanese celebrate after officials said the military had forced longtime autocratic President Omar al-Bashir to step down after 30 years in power in Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, April 11, 2019. © 2019 AP Images. (Nairobi) – The end of Omar al-Bashir’s 30-year rule provides a momentous opportunity for Sudan to put respect for human rights […]

Image : (c) S.Deshapriya. REMARKS BY THE SECRETARY-GENERAL ON THE OCCASION OF THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GENEVA ASSOCIATION OF UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENTS. (25 February 2019/ Geneva) Your excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen, Dear journalists, It is an honour and pleasure to be back here with you today to mark the 70th anniversary of the Geneva Association […]

(The Independent) Teenager Greta Thunberg’s grassroots environmentalist activism is sweeping across the world, igniting a movement led by young people urging their governments to combat climate change – and she could soon surpass the Green Party’s Twitter followers count. The 16-year-old Swede started protesting last summer – by herself – outside the Swedish government until the […]

13 Nov 2018/ BY INDEX ON CENSORSHIP Dear Mark Zuckerberg: What do the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a Danish member of parliament, and a news anchor from the Philippines have in common? They have all been subject to a misapplication of Facebook’s Community Standards. But unlike the average user, each of these individuals and entities received media attention, were […]

Recently concluded 39th session of the UNHRC adopted the resolution A_HRC_39_L.22 on Myanmar which calls decides to  prepare files in order to facilitate and expedite fair and independent criminal proceedings, in accordance with international law standards, in national, regional or international courts or tribunals that have or may in the future have jurisdiction over these crimes, in […]

Since 2012, several landmark resolutions have been approved by various UN bodies on the issue of the safety of journalists. IFEX’s 5-minute guide explains what they are, and how civil society can use them to keep governments accountable. This is one in a series of IFEX explainers aimed at strengthening the ability of civil society […]

Image: Navy base, Trincomalee. The progress of ongoing criminal investigations into the grisly killing of several Tamil youths following a racket of abduction for ransom, spearheaded ‘allegedly’ (here, I use the term quite deliberately) by a Naval officer and others during 2008-2009 will be the crucible on which this Government and this Presidency’s commitment to […]

Cartoon by @awanthaartigala. (24 June 2018 The Island) It is the time for withdrawals in Trump’s America. It is the time of recusals in Sri Lanka. It is also the time when spiritual pontiffs commend Adolf Hitler as a role model to an aspiring presidential candidate. Left to themselves each one of the three distractions can […]

UNHRC in session by UNWATHC. Human Rights Council decides to dispatch a commission of inquiry to investigate violations in the occupied Palestinian territory in the context of large-scale civilian protests. GENEVA (18 May 2018) – The Human Rights Council this afternoon concluded its special session on the deteriorating human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian […]

The slew of #MeToo sexual abuse scandals that has jolted the humanitarian sector has prompted calls for proper oversight and vetting of aid agencies and workers, and for the introduction of mandatory professional standards. Donors have demanded new measures and reporting from grantees, and investigations have been launched by the British regulator. Critics say aid […]

Image: Children stricken with dengue fever jam-pack a ward in Quirino Memorial Medical Hospital in Manila, Philippines, during an outbreak in 2010. Credit: JAY DIRECTO/AFP/Getty Images. Heidi Larson, with Will Schulz and Clarissa Simas. Dengvaxia, the first promising vaccine to protect against dengue fever, was a step forward in fighting a disease that afflicts millions of […]

By Ryan Grenoble. Across China, a network of 176 million surveillance cameras, expected to grow to 626 million by 2020, keeps watch on the country’s over 1.3 billion citizens. Loaded with facial recognition technology and artificial intelligence that can keep tabs on people and their activities, the cameras represent a blessing for the security state and a […]

Image:  © UNICEF/UNI172848/Singh; Village Kuniya, Mainpat Block, Dist, Surguja, Chhattisgarh, India. 2013. UNICEF urges immediate action to reduce air pollution amid emerging evidence on how toxic air can affect brain development in young children. NEW YORK, 6 December 2017 – Almost 17 million babies under the age of one live in areas where air pollution is at […]

Photo by Christian Frei Switzerland via Flickr CC. TIM ELFRINK | OCTOBER 27, 2017. Donald Trump’s bold promises earlier this week to finally blow the lid off the JFK assassination mystery by declassifying reams of secret documents turned out to be a gigantic tease. The National Archives ended up making public only a fraction of the JFK […]

Image:The UN Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred de Zayas. GENEVA (25 October 2017) – The UN Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred de Zayas, is calling on Spanish authorities to enter into negotiations in good faith with leaders in Catalonia following […]

Image:Vice President Leni Robredo. The  administration’s new source of financing for its ambitious infrastructure projects, China, could lead the Philippines into a “debt trap” as it did other countries that had borrowed heavily from the Asian giant, according to Vice President Leni Robredo. Robredo cited the project to build a new Bicol Express, a rail […]

Image: Members of the Youth Wing of the Indonesian Communist Party (Pemuda Rakjat) are watched by soldiers as they are taken to prison in Jakarta following a crackdown on communists after an abortive coup against President Sukarno’s government earlier in the month AP. Declassified files have revealed new details of US government knowledge and support of an […]

Image: The body of Argentine-born guerrilla leader Ernesto “Che” Guevara is displayed in the village of Vallegrande, Bolivia, on Oct. 10, 1967. Guevara was executed a day after being captured near the town of La Higuera. (Marc Hutten/AFP/Getty Images) By Kristine Phillips. His leg riddled with bullets, his gun knocked out of his hand, Ernesto “Che” Guevara surrendered. “Do not shoot! […]

By KEVIN RUDD. ( NYT) The news coverage of Myanmar over the past several months has led many people to conclude that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of the country, has abandoned her responsibility to protect human rights. Hundreds of thousands of people from the Rohingya ethnic minority are being expelled […]

Image: Safety in peril: Amal Clooney and former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed in London in January 2016.   | Photo Credit: AP. In a recent interview to a local television channel in Male, Mohamed Hussain Shareef, Male’s Ambassador-designate to Colombo, has said: “If a Maldivian authority requests me to detain and return Mohamed Nasheed back to Maldives, I […]

‘In India, Another Government Critic Is Silenced by Bullets’, is how the New York Times reported the murder of Gauri Lankesh, a gutsy journalist known for her fierce opposition of the religious right wing regime currently in power in India. The heading that the New York Times chose says it all. Yes, Lankesh is ‘another’ victim of […]