COVID 19

The apparel industry fears job losses owing to the COVID-19 pandemic-led downturn in business will be far worse than expected, as order books beyond August are bleak. Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) estimates that close to 100,000 people engaged in the industry will be unemployed owing to COVID-19 pandemic impact with multiple waves experienced in […]

Image Courtesy fo  IANS. When globalisation was the dominant concept for looking at the world, pandemics were discussed as a global security issue. The objective was to see how pandemics have an impact on global security, and how to prepare for them. Now that one is happening, it is interesting to look at the response. […]

Forty Sri Lankans who had migrated abroad for employment have died of COVID-19, according to the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE). Chairman of the bureau Kamal Ratwatte mentioned this speaking at a press conference today (16). Among the deceased are 37 males and 3 females, stated the SLBFE. However, their bodies cannot be […]

Doctors should be ‘on the lookout’ for heart complications in patients, BHF says. Jane Kirby More than half of heart scans among hospitalised Covid-19 patients are abnormal, suggesting the virus may have a devastating impact on this vital organ, according to new research. A study from 69 countries, funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), found that 55 percent of 1,261 patients […]

Image:  A woman wearing a face shield gambles at Ocean Casino after it reopened on July 3, 2020 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. (NYT) Apoorva Mandavilli /The New York Times The coronavirus is finding new victims worldwide, in bars and restaurants, offices, markets and casinos, giving rise to frightening clusters of infection that increasingly confirm […]

When globalisation was the dominant concept for looking at the world, pandemics were discussed as a global security issue. The objective was to see how pandemics have an impact on global security, and how to prepare for them. Now that one is happening, it is interesting to look at the response. It is clear that […]

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL, the Commission) observes that a large number of persons have been arrested and vehicles confiscated for violation of curfew imposed from March, 2020 and thereafter in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the Commission fully recognizes the need to restrict freedom of movement in the interests of […]

Sri Lanka Brief Up Date/ 03 June 2020 Rights of the migrant workers in the Middle East during the pandemic 1. The estimated number of overseas Sri Lankan workers is 1.5 million and 1.2 million of these are in the Middle East. The majority of the 1.2 million Sri Lankan workers in the Middle East […]

Image courtesy of “Time” GENEVA (3 June 2020) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet expressed alarm at the clampdown on freedom of expression in parts of the Asia-Pacific during the COVID-19 crisis, saying any actions taken to stop the spread of false information must be proportionate. Many countries in the region already […]

The Sri Lankan government has declared its intention to rule without parliamentary oversight for the first time in the country’s modern history, potentially sparking a serious constitutional crisis. Elected in November and without a majority in parliament, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa seized his earliest opportunity to dissolve the legislature on 2 March and schedule a general […]

Friday Forum: AN APPEAL TO THE PRESIDENT. Mr President, the coronavirus pandemic has been declared a national and global public health emergency by the WHO. It has dramatically changed our personal and working lives, and also governance. In Sri Lanka we face an additional challenge specific to our country. Parliament has been dissolved, and we […]

Image: ‘Our clinics for respiratory disease meant we could look out for community transmission’: KK Shailaja, health minister. by Laura Spinney./The Guardian. On 20 January, KK Shailaja phoned one of her medically trained deputies. She had read online about a dangerous new virus spreading in China. “Will it come to us?” she asked. “Definitely, Madam,” […]

Yamini Perera. “Life doesn’t battle you because you’re weak, it battles you because you’re strong. Growth takes place when you are challenged, not when you are comfortable” – Vex King We all experience difficult situations and unexpected hardships at some point in our lives. In fact, it is an indispensable part of life. Our chosen […]

The COVID-19 Pandemic is a unique global health crisis and requires a response across national boundaries. Throughout the world, Government institutions, the private sector, health care services and civil society organizations have come together and pooled their resources in the fight against COVID – 19. This is also the case in Sri Lanka. It is […]

The tragic circumstances and horrific treatment of the family of the deceased from Modara, [Colombo] who was misdiagnosed for COVID19, and thereafter cremated is important to take note. It also leaves a lot of unanswered questions. As recounted by her family to me, the deceased was a 44 years old Muslim woman (media reported her […]

On 23 March, the Secretary to the Treasury released the Pre-Election Budgetary Position report as required by law. On 30 March, further to preliminary comments, I released a detailed statement on the report. The statement advised the President that this report – signed by the Treasury Secretary and Finance Minister – justified the presentation of […]

It is a modern morality tale about the dangers of misusing the military, of militarising civilian tasks, of expecting generals to handle pandemics. By 9th May, Sri Lanka had 847 officially acknowledged Covid-19 cases. Of these more than half were military personnel. The number of infected naval personnel alone tops 400. When Covid-19 pandemic gripped the […]

The United Nations said in April 2020 that the global economy could shrink by 1% in 2020 and conjectures that a worst-case scenario is more likely than its optimistic best-case scenarios. If the global scene is 2020 growth in the US and the West down to near zero, and 2021 very dicey, Lanka’s predicament is worse. […]

Image courtesy of Al Jazeera) Sri Lanka was ranked 127 of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index 2020. Countries that topped the list included Norway, Finland and Denmark where respective governments have ensured the safety of journalists while promoting a free press. In Denmark for example, when Swedish journalist Kim Wall was murdered […]

Police have arrested two youth who claimed that a group of upcountry Tamils who have sought refuge in a Hindu temple in the capital, unable to return home due to the Covid 19 curfew, were lacking food and drinking water. The two youth who took to social media to publish the information have been arrested […]

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka at the Online Summit level Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement Contact Group in response to COVID-19 on 4 May 2020. Text of his speech follows: Your Excellencies, Ayubowan! Good Evening! At the outset, I congratulate His Excellency Ilam Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, the Chair of the Non Aligned Movement, […]

The entire world is grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic. Although Sri Lanka has had only seven deaths so far, we too are scrambling to contain the outbreak. Social distancing, face masks, curfews for weeks, home-quarantine, detention, cordons and contract tracing constitute the new normal against this dangerous virus. In this uncertain time, it is critical […]

As of April 21, the coronavirus outbreak has infected more than 2·3 million people and taken 162 956 lives—35 884 in the USA, 24 114 in Italy, 20 852 in Spain, 20 233 in France, 16 509 in the UK, 5209 in Iran, 4642 in China—all underestimates most probably. Beyond these numbers are people, families, communities, societies that have been affected […]

“We have decided that we need to attend the meeting with the Hon. Prime Minister, because all these issues outlined [in the letter] need to be addressed and to clearly indicate that we are prepared to extend our co-operation to the resolution of these issues in a reasonable and acceptable manner in the interests of […]

In a letter addressed to the Chairperson and other members of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, former MP M.A. Sumantiran says that although the restricting movement is desirable and necessary at this time in our country in order to meet the challenge presented by COVID-19 such restrictions including curfew must be imposed legally […]

The state intelligence services has taken full control of the Covid 19 outbreak in Sri Lanka says Acting Assistant Director of State Intelligence Service Parakrama de Silva. He was participating in a live TV programme on the 2nd May. “It is the responsibility of the State Intelligence Service to investigate and contribute to all issues […]

Authorities should understand the social responsibility of the media in the present situation – Free Media Movement. (FMM Press Release) The Free Media Movement stresses that the escalation of the covid-19 pandemic has further accentuated the necessity of an impartial and socially responsible media sans any party affiliation. Covid-19 is spreading throughout the world in […]

(Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research (ACPR)- Situation Brief No. 3) As the world struggles to deal with an unprecedented global pandemic, it is imperative that states choose an approach that respects human rights in addressing this crisis. This brief highlights several human rights concerns in relation to Sri Lanka’s militarised approach to responding to the […]

Lawyers for Democracy views with deep concern the failure of the President to summon Parliament under Article 70(7) of the constitution.  Article 70(7) of the constitution clearly sets out that at any time after the dissolution of Parliament the President is satisfied that an emergency has arisen of such a nature that an earlier meeting […]

Former Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera in a letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has urged him to exercise his powers as the Head of State at this critical time and to summon the Parliament as soon as possible with the support of all parties represented in Parliament. He said that this was imperative to have the […]