Human Rights

Image: 27 prisoners were shot to death on that day. On last Wednesday, the testimony of prosecution witness, Former Assistant Superintendent P.W. Kudabandara before the Special Trial at Bar set up to probe into the Welikada prison massacre stunned the packed courthouse. Appearing before the court at its second hearing, the Former Assistant Superintendent of the […]

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: The Sword of Damocles. With the presidential election campaign now well underway, it appears that the contest is between the two main candidates, Sajith Premadasa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa. In the absence of scientific polling in Sri Lanka, no credible voter sentiment analysis is available. Therefore we are all compelled to rely on speculation. Outside the […]

Image: The police had been present during the entire incident and did nothing to prevent Gnanasara Thera from violating the court order, says the petitioner. Fresh contempt of court papers have been filed against controversial Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Galagodaththe Gnanasara Thera, over his actions in violation of an order by the Mullaitivu Magistrate’s […]

Playwright Malaka Devapriya, who was summoned to the Organised Crimes Prevention Division (OCPD) of the Police this morning over a radio drama he had written directed, was released on the same day. His lawyer Wilson Jayasekara told RepublicNext that Devapriya was let go as the OCPD was satisfied with his statement. The award-winning dramatist, radio playwright, […]

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Presidential candidate, former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa today dismissed allegations on LTTE cadres who surrendered to the military during the war. Rajapaksa also said that if he becomes President his Government will not recognize the UN Resolution on Sri Lanka which was passed by the UN Human Rights Council in […]

The victory of the SLPP at the long-postponed Pradeshiya sabha election in Elpitiya did not come as a surprise.  This had been an area that has consistently supported the SLFP from which the SLPP has taken the larger part.  Virtually all local authorities in the Southern Province went to the SLPP at the last local […]

Three retired service commanders, Air Chief Marshal Roshan Goonetileke), Admiral Tisara Samarasinghe and General Daya Ratnayake, has  alleged that the war winning military was being penalised in terms of the Geneva Resolution co-sponsored by the government, in Oct 2015. They were speaking at a special press conference organised for the same purpose on 13 Oct […]

On May 21, 2009 Rajiv Naganathan had made one final call to his mother Sarojini. The 19 -year old Naganathan was abducted on September 17, 2008, one of 11 young boy victims at the centre of an abduction for ransom racket allegedly run by Sri Lanka Navy personnel and busted by the Criminal Investigation Department […]

Cartoon by @Nikshazz . Sri Lanka’s floating voters, struggling to find their feet in the unpromising pandemonium of November’s Presidential elections, can only flinch from ‘Pohottuwa’ Presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s promise at his inaugural campaign rally following nominations in Anuradhapura on Wednesday, that he would free all ‘war heroes’ held in custody on ‘bogus charges’ the day after he […]

Image: A slew of pro-democracy civil society organisations  has declared their support for New Democratic Front candidate and UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa at the forthcoming presidential elections. The National Movement for Social Justice and the Puravesi Balaya, the two best known pro-democracy social activist movements, announced to the news media yesterday that they wanted […]

By Meera Srinivasan. “For three years now, Sri Lanka’s tea estate workers have been agitating for a daily basic wage of LKR 1,000.” A tea estate worker in the Dambatenne tea plantation in Haputale, Uva Province. Often described as the backbone of the economy, close to 1.5 lakh tea estate workers have been agitating for fair […]

Basil Rajapaksa told the country that their presidential candidate for the upcoming presidential election “will change himself”. Basil Rajapaksa also told us that “Gotabaya will be a terminator”- an apt description, in view of the connotations of danger attached to the word “terminator”. M.P. Vasudeva Nanayakkara, an unwavering Mahinda Rajapaksa loyalist, accepted that white van […]

TO THE ATTENTION OF HIS EXCELLENCY ANTONIO GUTERRES, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS. UN’s Participation is Vital to Establish Rule of Law and to Protect the Rights of Minorities in Sri-Lanka. Since 1948, we the minority people of Sri-Lanka have continuously been subjected to oppressions by the discriminatory ethnic policies of the governments that […]

Image: Sri Lankan Muslim women walk past a roadside shop selling metal plaque engraved with phrases from the Holy Quran in Colombo [File: Eranga Jayawardena/AP] A “harsh and dangerous” crackdown on Sri Lankan Muslims following deadly bombings on Easter Sunday poses a major threat to the Indian Ocean nation’s peace and security, a think-tank has warned. The assailants […]

Image; Tamil residents of Mullaitivu protest against BBS head Gnanasara, who led the illegal cremation . Northern Province Governor Dr. Suren Raghavan yesterday insisted that politicians should not create communal and religious tensions ahead of the presidential election, targeting the Northern voters and hindering their democratic rights. “As the Northern Province governor, I urge politicians not […]

Image: Policeman watching from afar at the illegal cremation of  a Buddhist monk in  Chemmalai, Mullaitivu , violating a court order. Perhaps the most important election, with the only competition for this title coming from the parliamentary elections, is just around the corner. How well the result reflects the people’s will depends on the free exercise […]

Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka Hon. Dappula De Livera pC Attorney- General Attorney General’s Department Hulftsdorp Street Colombo. Hon. Attorney General, The Human Rishts Commission of Sri Lanka’s (HRCSL) analysis of the scope of section 3 of the ICCPR Act. No.55 of 2007 and attendant guidelines. The HRCSL is pleased to present herewith the Commission’s legal […]

A group of journalists attached to news websites Sri Lanka Mirror and Sri Lanka X News were released by the Colombo Magistrate’s Court on Friday (20) due to insufficient evidence to prosecute them. Eight journalists, namely Kelum Shivantha, Subhash Jayawardena, Ajith Seneviratne, Himashi Karunaratne, Tharindu Rajapaksa, Shiranthani Manawadu, Asanka Nivantha and Siddique Kariyappar, were released […]

Image: Writer Shasthika Sathkumara was arrested and kept in detention for more than 100 days for writing a short story. Case against him is pending.  Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission has issued guidelines on application of Hate Speech Law (s.3 of ICCPR Act) in a letter addressed to the Acting IGP, Sri Lanka. The HRCSL […]

MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake was announced as the Presidential Candidate of the political coalition, National People’s Power- NPP (ජාතික ජන බලවේගය) on 18th August 2019. As the presidential candidate for the coalition, his speech included a general vision for the future of the country that took a liberal position in terms of state policy, governance […]

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 […]

Image: The placard asks by implication: When will you start issuing ‘Certificate of Absence’ (CoA) ©Sunanda Deshapriya. The Government has extended, by two more years, legal provisions that enable issuance of a ‘Certificate of Absence’ (CoA) to families of war-time missing and disappeared persons. The Registrar-General’s Department issued a Gazette Extraordinary last Wednesday to extend the effective […]

Gotabaya Rajapaksa has unveiled his national strategy or vision as a presidential candidate with an authoritarian zeal. This is clear from his Viyathmaga speech. He should be commended however for his fairly clear expression of views and objectives. His definition of objective of government was the following at the outset: “The objective of any government […]

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sri Lanka is going into another presidential election in a few weeks with unresolved human rights issues and undelivered promises in hand. The Executive Presidency continues unabolished despite repeated promises of the presidential candidates who came to power in the last 25 years. Though the 19th Amendment to the Constitution trimmed the powers […]

Democracy will not come Today, this year Not ever Through compromise and fear. I tire so of hearing people say, Let things take their course. Tomorrow is another day. I do not need my freedom when I’m dead. I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread. ‘Democracy’ Langston Hughes (1902 – 1967) ‘Actioning the Blueprint’ was the […]

Image: Sri Lanka has failed to implement many of the recommendations from the WGEID. © Sunanda Deshapriya. 2019. We thank the Working Group for its follow-up report on Sri Lanka. This month marks the two years anniversary of the legislative establishment of the Office on Missing Persons (OMP). While we welcome the independent work carried out by […]

Image: Waiting for the justice for disappeared relatives © Sunanda Deshapriya. Follow-up to the recommendations made by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in the report of its visit to Sri Lanka from 9 to 18 November 2015 (A/HRC/33/51/Add.2) 4. On 29 November 2018, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances requested the Government of Sri […]

Image; Mauri Inoka has been waiting six years for justice held a solo protest on 2nd September 2019 at the GalleFace Green, Colombo. © Sunanda Deshapriya. Quintus Colombage,Colombo. Mauri Inoka Jayasinghe sits silently under the hot sun by the side of a main road in Colombo. It is Sept. 2 and this painful experience in […]

Introduction On the late evening of 20 February 2009, two diminutive aircrafts swiftly approached Sri Lanka’s capital with the intention of launching an attack against the military’s defense base in Colombo. The Zlin Z-143 airplanes were flown by ferocious Air Tigers; the air-wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), fueled with determination to […]