Accountability

Image: Sri Lanka’s new president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, gestures after addressing the nation during his swearing-in ceremony at the Ruwanwelisaya temple in Anuradhapura on Nov. 18. LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES. Gotabaya Rajapaksa of the Sri Lanka People’s Front was sworn in as president of Sri Lanka on Monday, after defeating Sajith Premadasa of the United National Party […]

“Accepting our request and rejecting the call to boycott or to vote for a Tamil candidate and by voting for Mr. Sajith Premadasa the Tamil people have sent a clear message to the leaders of our country and to the international community, that the Tamil people are firm in achieving their rights, within a united […]

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka constitution has to be changed and a 19th amendment should be abolished, Basil Rajapaksa, brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said in a television interview. “It is my view that the 19th amendment should be completely abolished,” Rajapaksa, who formed the Sri Lanka Podujana Party of the new President said in an […]

Sri Lanka’s eighth presidential election held last Sunday has produced an outcome that has surprised the winners, the losers as well as the observers. The most obvious, and arguably disquieting, and utterly unanticipated trend that became immediately visible is the re-sharpening of the majority-minority divide in the citizens’ electoral choices across the country. Mr Gotabhaya […]

Sri Lanka’s newly elected president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his government must demonstrate that they will uphold human rights and rule of law, and ensure that Sri Lanka sustains its international obligations and commitments to justice and accountability, said the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) today. Gotabaya Rajapaksa faces credible allegations of involvement in war crimes […]

(By Jon Lee Anderson ,January 9, 2011/ NewYoker) Gotabaya Rajapaksa received James Clad and me in a sitting room of hishouse, a British-era villa in a large garden compound in Colombo. The room was impersonally furnished with fifties-style blue settees and abstract geometric paintings, all government-issue. The Defense Minister was casually attired in a T-shirt, […]

The people have spoken. President-elect Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been given a mandate by the people to govern the country for the next five years. The Elections Commission, public employees, Police and the voters deserve credit for the conduct of a free and fair Presidential Election where a record number turned out to exercise their franchise. […]

Image: Gotabaya Rajapaksa is one of the nine Rajapaksa brothers who have dominated Sri Lankan politics. Photograph: Eranga Jayawardena/AP. Even his own family nickname him “The Terminator”. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the 70-year-old retired lieutenant colonel who will be Sri Lanka’s next president, has built his reputation on being efficient and ruthless, whether that was in his role in […]

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who spearheaded the brutal crushing of Tamil Tigers a decade ago, stormed to power Sunday but promised to be a president for all Sri Lanka’s races and religions after a divisive election. Seven months after Islamist extremist attacks that killed 269 people, Rajapaksa was elected on Saturday on the back of a nationalist […]

5th November, 2019. Statement Condemning Threats, Harassment and Reprisals against Human Rights Lawyer and Jaffna University Senior Lecturer, Kumaravadivel Guruparanly. We, the undersigned individuals strong condemn the recent threats, harassment and unfair treatment against human rights defender, Kumaravadivel Guruparan, by the Sri Lankan military and University Authorities. Guruparan, is a prominent human rights lawyer and […]

Image: Inmates on the roof of Welikada prison in Sri Lanka display a banner calling for a pardon similar to that granted the murderer of a Swedish teen at the weekend AFP/Lakruwan WANNIARACHCHI. COLOMBO: Hundreds of inmates at Sri Lanka’s biggest high-security prison staged a second day of protests on Tuesday (Nov 12), demanding their freedom […]

“At times media freedom is used to forget what is necessary for the country, what should be done for society… Similarly if we do not get the support of the courts we cannot do this. Every institution must realise this…. ‘Human Rights’, ‘Media Freedom’, various ideas such as these are given to us by The […]

As Sri Lankans head to the polls to elect a new president on 16 November, Gotabaya Rajapaksa stands as the widely acknowledged front runner. As defence secretary during his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa’s decade-long presidency ending in 2015, he was a leading figure in a government that many minority Tamils and Muslims, as well as opposition […]

FILE- In this May 23, 2008 file photo, Sri Lankan journalists shout slogans during a protest demanding the government investigate into abduction and assault of fellow journalist Keith Noyahr in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Forced to flee their country a decade ago to escape allegedly state-sponsored killer squads, Sri Lankan journalists living in exile doubt they’ll […]

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian M.A Sumanthiran has sought a criminal investigation against fake news published in three local newspapers. In a letter to the Acting Inspector General of Police, Sumanthiran says three articles published in three local newspapers had falsely reported that he called on the Tamils to vote for New Democratic Front Presidential […]

‌“We see only Muslim villages have been developed. but not the Tamil villages. The only way for Catholic and Hindu villages to get developed is to vote for Gota.” Namal Rajapaksa in Mannar. “We have to act against Muslims. We Tamil youth have to think and act.” – leaflet by Kiran youth front for SLPP. […]

Image: Sri Lanka’s elections chief Mahinda Deshapriya displays ballot boxes that will be used in the upcoming presidential election in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Thursday, October 31, 2019. The voting is scheduled to be held on November 16.  © 2019 AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena. (New York) – The winner of Sri Lanka’s presidential election on November 16, 2019 will face enormous challenges to […]

I condemn in the strongest possible terms your desperate attempt to drag the Venerable Mahanayake Theras of the Three Nikayas into your fearmongering election campaign. On Wednesday, you publicly appealed to these Venerable Prelates to inject themselves into a political debate on your behalf by manipulating and misrepresenting the letter and spirit of my election […]

Image: Minister Rajitha Senaratne with the ‘White Van’ drivers at the press conference yesterday.Picture by Kelum Liyanage. The Government will begin investigations into the rest of the murders and abductions committed during the Rajapaksa era after its affirmation in power on November 17, Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said yesterday. The […]

Who is winning? This seems to be the question many people these days are keen to find an answer to. Whenever this question is put to me, my usual answer is one that disappoints the interlocutor: “It is difficult to say. But I can tell you a little bit about what I speculate as the […]

Edited image: Gotabaya Rajapaksa, leaving a campaign rally this week, is running for president in the Nov. 16 election. DINUKA LIYANAWATTE/REUTERS. The Rajapaksa family’s prior rule was stained by allegations of human-rights violations and corruption, sparking worries in Western capitals. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka—A controversial political dynasty that made Sri Lanka a centerpiece of China’s efforts to expand its […]

Presidential Election – 16th November 2019. An Election for a President to be democratically elected for Sri Lanka is due to be held on 16th November 2019. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) -The Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) as the party with the third largest number of seats in Parliament desires to state its position, […]

7 November 2019, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) is releasing a letter sent to Mr Senura Abeywardene, the Country Representative for Sri Lanka at Facebook, on 30 September 2019, with specific asks around ads oversight in relation to the 2019 Presidential Election. Download the letter as a PDF here. It is also reproduced […]

Implementation of Committee Recommendations providing relief to Media Persons who were subjected to harassment and persecution during 2005 to 2015 Period. The Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by H. E. the President upon the request of Non-Cabinet Minister of Mass Media to compensate 78 journalists who were subjected to harassment and persecution during […]

Sandya Ekneligoda, wife of the missing journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda, yesterday lodged a complaint with the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) with regard to a statement made by SLPP Presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa on an election campaign stage in Anuradhapura. “Gotabaya Rajapaksa on October 10 said that he will release intelligence […]

Attorney General Dappula de Livera PC has filed indictments in the High Court against seven army intelligence officers in connection with the abduction of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda. The Co-ordinating Officer to the Attorney General, State Counsel Ms. Nishara Jayaratne told news media that the Attorney General has already filed indictments in the Homagama High Court […]

Former MP Sajin Vaas Gunawardena today said he had lodged a police complaint saying that Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa had told another SLPP MP that Sajin and his family will be killed if he continued to support the New Democratic Front (NDF) presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa in the presidential election. Speaking at a media briefing, […]

Many of us were hoping for a new dawn in 2015. The hope for a ‘Yahapalanaya’ Government now leaves ashes in the mouth of many people. It is true they brought us back our freedom and strengthened independent institutions but they failed fundamentally in convincing people that democracy and freedom should be the pillars of […]

Image: UNP Prime Minister (Ranil Wickremesinghe) and his inner coterie had not robbed the Central Bank of Sri Lanka … As Sri Lanka’s Presidential election counts down to a tense culmination in two weeks, let us have the comfort of imagining in a parallel and more hopeful universe, that following the crushing defeat of the Rajapaksas […]

We are presently witnessing a whirlwind of activities in the lead up to Presidential Elections due on 16th November with an unprecedented number of candidates and election hype. It was in this midst that we marked the six months anniversary of the devastating Easter Sunday attacks which claimed over 250 lives, injured many more and resulted […]