Human Rights

A news story that said that “CCD pressured me to frame Shani Abeysekara – arrested fmr CID officer tells Magistrate”  appeared on Daily Mirror newspaper on 04 th August was deleted within hours.Senior Journalist Ranga Jayasuriya tweeted at 1.55PM Sri Lanka time thus: Dauly Mirror has first published at 10.34 AM a news story on […]

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 […]

Image: Agrarian distress: Farmers in Sri Lanka’s Polonnaruwa district are trying to make their voices heard.   | Photo Credit: Meera Srinivasan Disillusioned farmers in Polonnaruwa district ask why they must vote when their suffering persists amid unkept electoral promises. A week ahead of Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections R.A. Karunavathi, a farmer in Chandana Pokuna village in Polonnaruwa, […]

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. […]

Atheist, rationalist and social media activist Indika Rathnayake has been questioned by Organized Crimes Prevention Division (OCPD) for three hours today (29 July 2020). He has been questioned by Police consequent to a hate complaint lodged by a chief monk affiliated to the Buddhist extremist and racist organization, Buddhist Information Center(BIC). Police had questioned Rathnayake […]

Lawyers, Human Rights Defenders and Journalists Arrested, Threatened, Intimidated 29 July 2020: The Sri Lankan government should end the targeted arrests, intimidation and threats against the lives and physical security of lawyers, activists, human rights defenders and journalists, 10 international human rights organizations said today. A campaign of fear has intensified since the 2019 presidential […]

Devotees will be required to present proof of identity to enter the Nallur Kandasamy temple in Jaffna, the Sri Lankan police announced as the temple’s annual festival – thiruvizha – begins. “All arrangements for the festival have been completed. All devotees visiting the temple will only be authorised to enter the temple by showing a piece of […]

Image: Due to the increased involvement of the Ministry of Defence in the prison system, the approach to ‘reform’ is rooted in a military mindset and ethos –  by Ruwan Walpola. The dysfunctional prison system discussed in the preceding section requires to be fundamentally changed. Yet, the root causes of the dysfunctionality are not being […]

Image from the protests against October 2018 constitutional coup in, Sri Lanka. Media Release – Appeal – Sri Lanka General Elections 2020. For any country to be truly successful it must adopt a system of governance that generates sustainable well-being for all. In Sri Lanka, our political landscape has got to change in such a […]

Image courtesy Daily FT/ by Ruwan Walpola. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa placed ‘prison reform’ on the government’s public policy agenda following an unannounced visit to the Welikada prison complex in February 2020. While this might appear progressive, particularly given the dysfunctional prison system in Sri Lanka, the government’s understanding of prison ‘reform’ and the strategies the […]

If Tamils demanded devolution then “a river of blood will flow in the North and East,” warned a group of extremist Sinhala Buddhist monks as they reacted to the release of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) manifesto. “Devolution means secession,” said the monks, in remarks reported by Kalaikathir. “It means a separate state. A solution […]

The 18  investigations that have been commenced against the Petitioner [SSP Sharni Abeysekara]  to find materials to justify the transfer and the interdiction of the Petitioner cannot be sustained against the Petitioner whereas the said complaints are based on the fabricated and/or false complaint tainted with malice, argues the Fundamental Rights petition filed by SSP […]

In the last few months, human rights lawyers and journalists have faced arrests, threats and harassment. A report by the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association published in May 2020 shows that civil society faced challenges to register and operate while there have been various barriers to protests. […]

Image courtesy of NYT: GR surrounded by military & political bodyguards  (Eranga Jayawardena/AFP) Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been winner on four counts out of five in the public relations domain. He has come off champ in the fight against Corona, he is applauded for cracking drug trafficking and clobbering cartels, people approve of his intervention to […]

Sri Lankan police officers assaulted two Tamil youths despite them insisting “they did not commit any crimes”. The head of the Vavuniya Echchankulam police station attacked the youths today evening in Vavuniya which sparked fear and unrest across the village. Youths and villagers congregated and blocked the main road in front of the Echchankulam Pillaiyar Temple and […]

Tamil political prisoners – some of whom have been held for up to 24 years – have been infected with coronavirus and face “imminent danger of spreading it further among them,” warned Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) leader Mavai Senathirajah, in a letter to Sri Lanka’s president this week. “In foreign countries such persons under […]

Image: Hejaaz Hizbullah. By Thyagi Ruwanpathirana, Researcher at Amnesty International. As much of the island was celebrating the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, senior lawyer and minority and civic rights activist Hejaaz Hizbullah got an unusual call from the Ministry of Health. They said they were worried he may have contracted COVID-19 and advised him to […]

“There is an evening coming in across the fields, one never seen before, that lights no lamps.” Phillip Larkin (Going) “I want to reveal this. CID officers tried to show pictures. I had to order them to leave the chamber.”  That was Fort magistrate Ranga Dissanayake speaking in open court, on June 24th 2020. The pictures the CID […]

I visited Sri Lanka from 18 to 26 July 2019 at the invitation of the Government. My visit took place at a crucial moment when the country was heading towards Presidential elections. At the time, I hoped that my visit would be an opportunity to strengthen democratic gains made by the country, ensuring that these […]

Mandates of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; ; the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence REFERENCE: AL LKA 1/2020 11 May 2020 Excellency, We have […]

The Power of One Vote After lengthy debate, confrontations and legal challenges, Sri Lanka’s 16th parliamentary election is set for August 5, 2020. Many are waiting with excitement to exercise their democratic right to elect the legislature that will decide the destiny of the country for the next 5 years. All the same, those who […]

BACKGROUND Sri Lanka is slowly emerging from the lockdown imposed to contain the COVID-19 outbreak and heading towards the General Elections that is scheduled to be held on the 2nd August. At this moment, three factors dominate Sri Lanka’s social and political landscape. The first is the militarization of government and governance. The second is […]

Last month (May 2020) a Magistrate in Jaffna had withdrawn quarantine orders against the organizers of end of war commemorations, based on appeals by lawyers.[1] At least three lawyers have faced reprisals in the days afterwards. Attorney-at-Law Mr. Roy Dilaksan’s house was reported to have been attacked by unknown persons.[2]  Another lawyer who had appeared for the […]

Image: Gota checking rice price. All good things must come to an end. Gota’s victory over LTTE and limited victory over COVID-19 are fast turning into just sweet but distant memories. A new enemy and one about whom Gota and his power cartel has very limited knowledge, and with no effective weapons to fight with, […]

People’s Rights Group (PRG) Calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to Investigate and Prosecute Mr.Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan a.k.a Karuna Amman for war crimes and other Human Rights Abuses People’s Rights Group (PRG), a rights based advocacy and lobbying group, focusing on human rights violations in Sri Lanka, calls on the Government of Sri Lanka(GoSL) to seriously […]

During the last few weeks, the media has paid a great deal of attention to fundamental rights cases filed in our Supreme Court. The electronic media, typically expressed half-truths or incorrect information on what these cases were about. Sadly, but perhaps not unexpectedly, opposition parties who should have been concerned with the matter, failed to contradict the […]

They are not only crimes punishable under Penal Code of this country but also universal crimes against humanity. Murders of monks and surrendered policemen are not collateral damages but outright murders. It is incumbent and imperative duty of the law enforcement agencies to investigate and take action. Crimes of this nature do not get prescribed. […]

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 […]

Fort Magistrate Ranga Dissanayaka said in open court that officers of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) had attempted to show photographs of Hejaaz Hizbullah at his chambers prior to the recording of statements from two children. When the matter was taken up before Dissanayake on 24 June, he told Hizbullah’s lawyers that prior to the […]

In an open letter the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, the Liberation Movement calls on Government authorities to uphold detained social media activist Ramzy Razeek’s fundamental rights to freedom of speech, expression and publication, guaranteed under Article 14(1)(a) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka, and to release him unconditionally. Razeek was arrested on April 09  […]