Human Rights

Image: Dr. Seigu Siyabdeen Mohammed Shafi . By The Sunday Morning News Desk. Severe shortcomings and irregularities including the submission of fabricated and falsified facts by high-level Police officials in relation to the case filed against Dr. Seigu Siyabdeen Mohammed Shafi attached to the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital, have been unearthed by the Police Criminal Investigation Department […]

Cartoon: Sajith Bandara @tmdsbekanayaka,  Norway and Germany have expressed deep concern regarding the Sri Lankan President’s decision to resume executions in the country for drug offenders. “Norway is deeply concerned that Sri Lanka intends to implement the death penalty, which would put an end to Sri Lanka’s 43-year moratorium on the use of this cruel and […]

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) categorically condemns Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena’s endorsement of death warrants of four people convicted of drug-related offences. Today, the ICJ urged the President to stop the imminent execution of these four  convicts and to respect the de facto moratorium Sri Lanka has observed on capital punishment that over the past 43 […]

Issuing  a statement on President Sirisena’s statement that he has authorized to carry out death penalty for 4 convicted prisoners in the death raw, the European  Union says that it will continue to monitor Sri Lanka’s effective implementation of the 27 international conventions relating to the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) commitment, including the International […]

Image:Fr Ashok Stephen (FA) delivering his speech at HRC 41. Franciscans International, International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) and Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) welcome the Oral update of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. We join her in expressing condolences to survivors, victims’ families and communities […]

The Easter Sunday attacks compelled local Muslims to engage in self – introspection of the unfolding wave of radicalization and Arabization of their community. That is a welcome development in an otherwise heinous carnage. Especially so since, until the serial monstrosity on the Easter Sunday, a vocal group of Muslims were defending the on-going transformation […]

24 June 2019 ¦ GENEVA / KAMPALA. Each year up to 1 billion children experience some form of physical, sexual or psychological violence or neglect. Being a victim of violence in childhood can damage children’s physical and mental health and affect their whole lives. A new resource – School-based violence prevention: a practical handbook – recognizes the […]

Image; Shakthika Sathkumara When protective laws turn offensive -Tharumalee Silva. Even though we cannot declare Ardha a successful short story, Sathkumara’s arrest threatens writers and artists’ right to freedom of expression. Furthermore, if he was in the wrong, he should’ve been tried under the Penal Code rather than under the ICCPR Act – Writers’ Organisation […]

“Muslim people don’t love us… I say don’t go to those shops. Don’t eat or drink from those shops…. It is clear that they are a group who gave poison to our people, who tried to destroy our people… I think that the younger generation who eats (from them) will not have children in the […]

Image: The child’s home, a ramshackle shack. (ST) This week, a small child died of malnutrition in Tissamaharama at the same time that Sri Lanka’s Parliament debated the passing of millions of public funds to purchase luxury vehicles for Ministers as well as former President and current Opposition Leader, Mahinda Rajapaksa. Laid out in her white […]

Image: President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Asgiriya Chapter temple in Kandy, to open a new Pirivena building on the premises in 2009 (File photo) It is generally assumed we have passed the stone age, the bronze age, the iron age, the industrial age and the space age. After a breathtaking dive in to the digital age, […]

In a letter to the Minister of Justice and Prison Reforms, the Free Media Movement has expressed its concern that the given current context the proposed legal amendments related to false news distribution and hate speech could seriously threaten the freedom of expression and media freedom in the country. T The letter follows: June 17, […]

Citra Abbott and Matthias Böhnke. ‘Everyone knows that somewhere out there extremely dangerous people are running around who could attack again at any time’ Many Christians in Sri Lanka are still too scared to go to church – in spite of security put in place following the Easter Day bombings. Returning from a fact-finding and […]

Image: Tamils being attacked in 1958 ethnic violence in Sri Lanka. Since then ethnic violence has been permanent feature in post independent Sri Lanka. The terrorist attacks that took place on the 21st Sunday 2019 caused grave loss and damage to many Sri Lankans. The multiple explosions island wide, including those that followed over the next […]

Rough translation of comments by the Asgiriya Mahanayake: “We got to know some good news. That in the future, Chamal Rajapaksa will become President. This is in fact cause for happiness. We didn’t know this before. I call upon Mayantha Dissanayake as well to join that side to build and protect this country. The Muslims […]

Landmark ruling raps Police over Matara schoolgirl unlawful arrest case. Reacting to the growing abuse of power by law enforcement authorities, the Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling, has issued 20 guidelines to be followed by law enforcement authorities for the secure and advancing the rights of the public. This came as part of the […]

Image; Mazahina, left, pictured with her husband, was arrested over a pattern on one of her dresses which was wrongly believed to resemble the dharmachakra, a Buddhist symbol [Lisa Fuller/Al Jazeera] by Lisa Fuller & Rukshana Rizwie . Hasalaka, Sri Lanka – On May 17, police in central Sri Lanka arrested Abdul Raheem Mazahina, a soft-spoken 47-year-old grandmother, because […]

2019 June 16/ Media Release. The Free Media Movement strongly condemns the attempts to pursue legal action under the provisions of the INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS (ICCPR) ACT No 56. of 2007 and urges all responsible stakeholders to draw their attention to avoid using the law unfairly. Kusal Perera, has been engaged in journalism for a […]

We live in an age when everything is instant. Instant coffee, instant noodles, instant information and most importantly, Instagram. Entertaining content and sensationalized news makes for a more interesting news feed. While gossip goes viral in an instant, unbiased and neutral news items lag far behind. Truth and legitimacy are not fun for a generation […]

Social media has revolutionized society. With creative and improved means of communication, live updates become freely accessible, news is as close to you as the play button on your screen, images and messages circulate between millions of people around the world within seconds, and as a result people are now more instantly up to date, […]

Image: Jaffna public market ( File photo) In a letter to all commissioners of local government authorities the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has requested to submit (by 10th June) all complains received on Muslims being denied public space for commercial activities and actions taken. The letter follows:      

Image: A shop owner in Minuwangoda, Sri Lanka after his shop was set on fire by Sinhalese mobs. Colombo, 12 June 2019 (The Delegation of the European Union (EU) issues the following statement in agreement with the embassies of France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Romania and the UK High Commission, as well as the embassies of […]

Anurangi Singh & Aanya Wipulasena. The emerging but problematic trend of arresting persons, typically belonging to one ethnic group in particular, and then calling for evidence against them, during this ‘volatile’ time is worrying and makes a mockery of the justice process, experts say. Several high profile cases – against Dr. Seigu Shihabdeen Mohamed Shafi,(gynecologist […]

Media activists call for an independent regulator and proper inquiry by Editors’ Guild into news story that took Kurunegala and the country by storm. For advocates of ethical journalism and fact-based reporting, the story of Segu Shihabdeen Mohamed Shafi, a doctor from Kurunegala is a cautionary tale. On May 23, a Sinhala language newspaper published […]

Image: Sampanthan meeting Michele Coninsx . Press Release/10.06.19. Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate(CTED) Ms Michele Coninsx met with the leader of the Tamil National Alliance Mr Sampanthan in Colombo Yesterday (8th June 2019). Highlighting the importance of the implementation of the United Nations Human Rights Council […]

Image: Segu Shihabdeen Mohamed Shafi. Alexandra Ulmer, Omar Rajarathnam. (Reuters) – On May 23 Sri Lankan newspaper Divaina, known for its nationalist stance, published a front page article alleging a Muslim doctor had secretly sterilized 4,000 Sinhala Buddhist women after caesarean deliveries. A general view of a hospital where women wait to make statements and complains […]

The police are doing little to prevent mob attacks. (Jun 6th 2019| COLOMBO/Economists.)  The charges sound silly but the consequences are not. One Muslim lady’s crime was to wear a shirt printed with a ship’s helm. Her accusers said it looked like the wheel of dharma, so she must be mocking Buddhism, the religion of the […]

(JUNE 7, 2019 RISHADENGLSH) In a new turn to Sri Lanka’s ongoing political imbroglio, local Muslim leaders who resigned from their Cabinet portfolios are now preparing to agitate across a wide array of local and international stakeholders. They will shortly be meeting the United Nations (UN) Resident Representative in Sri Lanka and also the powerful Organisation […]

 in the supreme court of the democratic socialist republic of sri lanka In the matter of an application under and in terms of Articles 17, 35 and 126 of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Pujith Jayasundara Inspector General of Police No. 125, WijeramaRoad, Colombo 07. PETITIONER vs. 1A. Hon. Attorney General (in […]

“You really feel like your country has betrayed you.” Sonali Samarasinghe remembers the last words of her husband, Lasantha Wickrematunge, on the day in 2009 when he was killed: “Don’t worry, I got it under control.” Threats weren’t new to Wickrematunge. As the editor of The Sunday Leader, a Sri Lankan newspaper that published articles […]