Freedom of expression

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 […]

Executive Summary. This report [by INFORM, Colombo,Sri Lanka] records 95 incidents that had been reported during the 90 days period. The average number of incidents per day reported prior to the covid-19 curfew is slightly higher than the number of incidents reported during the curfew. There were a high number of incidents related to legal, […]

1. President Rajapaksa dissolved the Parliament on 2nd March 2020– six months before the due date, amidst the growing danger of COVID-19 pandemic. By this time, the uncertainty relating to the possibility of holding elections during the outbreak had already surfaced. However, the President chose to disregard the looming threat and called an election without […]

Obstructing and Intimidating the work of regional journalist Bimal Shyaman is a violation of media freedom – Free Media Movement Media reported an incident where Bimal Shyaman, the regional journalist of Hiru, Derana, and Swarnavahini Television channels, was intimated and harassed on May 24, 2020 while reporting the Ramazan celebrations of the Atulugama area, which […]

Washington, D.C. – The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has issued an opinion finding the Government of Sri Lanka to be in contravention of its international human rights obligations for the four month pre-trial detention of author Shakthika Sathkumara. Responding to a petition filed by Freedom Now, the UN concluded that Sathkumara was detained for […]

Image: Memorial stones for the Tamil victims of the war and dead LTTE career. July 2017, Mullivaikal.© sunanda deshapriya සුනන්ද දේශප්‍රිය Today we commemorate all those lives that we lost during the war, especially the tens of thousands of Tamil lives that were taken by horrific atrocities perpetrated during the final phase of the war […]

R.Sampanthan. My attention has been drawn to the interview said to have been given to the media by Mr. M. A. Sumanthiran, President’s Counsel, former Member of Parliament Jaffna District, and Spokesman for the Tamil National Alliance. Mr. Sumanthiran has been frank and forthright in his answers to questions that have been asked with the […]

Ramzy Razik was arrested on April 9, 2020 at his home off Katugasota in Kandy by the CID. The next day, he was produced before the Colombo Magistrate where the CID claimed that he had violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Cyber Crimes legislation. After a month, he remains remanded. […]

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 […]

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 […]

Damith Chandimal & Ruki Fernando. Today, 3rd May, is World Press Freedom Day. It is a good day to assess state of Freedom of Expression, and we will focus on importance of ensuring freedom of expression while addressing hate speech, fake and misleading news, especially in context of COVID19. The arrest of Ramzy Razeek Ramzy was […]

The year 2019 was marred by the Easter Sunday Attacks.On April 21, the jihadist group National Thowheeth Jama’ath set off suicide bombs in three churches as well as hotels in Sri Lanka killing over 240 Christian worshippers. Following these bombings, large-scale retaliatory violence was unleashed against the Muslim communities in Sri Lanka.Organised violent mobs destroyed […]

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 […]

The International Network of Democracy for Sri Lanka (INSD), based in Germany with its membership world-wide, salutes the health services of Sri Lanka for their leading role in the fight against the Corona virus in the country. We also thank the government agencies and personnel who are providing essential services to the public at this […]

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka observes a spate of recent arrests by the police on the basis of statements made over social media, especially in the context of the spread of Covid 19 virus in the country. We have observed an increasing number of such arrests since the issuing of a letter dated […]

(Image courtesy of www.dw.com) It is no coincidence that the increasingly not-so-insidious growth of Sri Lanka’s anti-democracy virus, first reflected on in these column spaces last month, has kept apace with the exponential rise of coronavirus infected individuals in the last ten days. As transparency diminishes, so does accountability. This is so in relation to […]

Former Minister and leader of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress Rishad Bathiudeen’s sister-in-law Mohamed Nisar Fathima Israth has complained to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka over “malicious” article published in mainstream newspapers on her husband Riyaj Bathiudeen. In her complain she says that ” the ‘Aruna’ and ‘Lankadeepa’ newspapers had published a malicious article […]

The efforts to restrict the spread of the Covid virus continues in Sri Lanka with the state agencies that are at the forefront of this work giving of their best at great risk to themselves. However, the prolonged 24 hour non-stop curfew and accompanying lockdown are also becoming more difficult for the general population to […]

Sri Lanka has been under an unofficial health emergency, since mid March 2020. State of emergency if declared it needs to be endorsed by the parliament within a month. As the parliament stands dissolved and parliamentary elections postponed, the government has declared the “Police Curfew” to impose Covid-19 related restrictions. Read as a PDF: SLB […]

Image:Journalist Dayanna Monroy covers the COVID-19 pandemic in Ecuador. (Courtesy of Dayanna Monroy/CPJ) 15 April 2020. In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the undersigned chairs and members of the Groups of Friends on the Safety/Protection of Journalists are calling on all states to protect journalists’ and media workers’ safety, safeguard a free and independent […]

Damith Chandimal and Ruki Fernando. On 2nd April, Ramzy Razeek wrote a post on his Facebook wall about the need for ideological jihad or ideological struggle (චින්තන ජිහාදයකට / මතවාදී අරගලය)[5]. Jihad is a controversial and often misunderstood word. According to multiple scholars, “jihad” means “struggle”, though it’s often misunderstood to mean armed warfare or terrorism. In his post, Ramzy […]

Four Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations have recommended Sri Lanka government to give attention to the existing cultural and religious sensitivity or traditions in the country in the MoH Guideline on burial of the Covid-19 dead. “Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) protects everyone’s right to freedom of […]

COVID-19 pandemic – Informal briefing to the Human Rights Council. Statement by Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 9 April 2020 Indeed this is an important meeting, at a time that none of us may ever forget. The COVID-19 pandemic is generating suffering and damage in every region. It poses a far-reaching threat to […]

Parliamentary Election 2020 and date of summoning new Parliament. I refer to the Daily Mirror article, of today’s date, on the date for summoning the new Parliament after elections, and The Island’s two pieces yesterday on the same topic. I am in “Lockdown” in Jaffna and write on my own as a Member of the Election Commission in […]

Image of the poster courtesy of IFEX. “We call upon you to revoke the said directive and use existing legal provisions to deal with any action that would constitute an offence, such as threatening state officials. In particular, we urge you to take action to the fullest extent of the law against those engaging in […]

Image: Bandarawela wholesale market on 5th April 2020. ( Photo Rajith Keerthi FB) When Sri Lanka’s acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) instructed all police officers to ‘take legal action against those who publish posts on social media criticising government officials and obstructing their duties’ as reported on 1st April 2020, one might have been […]

(Image courtesy of SL Army) Health Response The professional health service in Sri Lanka has managed to overcome the initial pandemic challenges, posed by the Covid-19 coronavirus. The public support for the health response of the government is immense. All political parties extended their support to the measures taken by the Government. However, regular clashes […]