rule of law

Wrong To Have Withdrawn Military Training Ambassador Blake regretted that after the Sri Lanka-LTTE war ended in May 2009, the US had stopped its military aid and training programs in the island on the plea that there had been human rights violations by the Lankan military. “In the last years of the war in 2008 […]

Image: After the Easter Sunday carnage (c) Ishara K. /AFP. Open Letter to the President, the Prime Minister, members of the Cabinet and Members of Parliament regarding the situation in Sri Lanka. Your Excellencies: We, the undersigned women and men, are members of civil society and are drawn from all religious and ethnic communities. Our […]

Image: The eight men the Islamic State group says carried out the attacks, as shown in this video grab from the group’s propaganda agency Amaq (AFP Photo/HO) On December 26 last year, scores of Buddhist statues in Mawanella were vandalized. A Criminal Investigation Department (CID)investigation led to the arrest of seven suspects, including one who was […]

Image: After Easter Sunday attacks,  Negambo church. (c) Reuters. The carnage on Easter Sunday against three Christian churches, three leading hotels and two other locations have killed more than 300 and injured over 500.  The scale and coordinated nature of the bomb attacks have been shocking.  This brings an end to the ten year period […]

Susutha R. Fernando & Gihan de Chikera. While many Christians, non-Christians, politicians and government leaders in Sri Lanka were gripped by the fire that engulfed the historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris last Monday, little attention was given to a mob attack on a small Christian congregation in the remote hamlet of Kumbichchikulama, near Anuradhapura. […]

During the past few weeks, I have been watching the many headlines, debates, misinformation, misrepresentation of facts as well as self-congratulatory statements by some members of the delegation that went to Geneva to participate in the 40th session of the Human Rights Council where the High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet presented the Report […]

The Hybrid Court could be constituted following the example of the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) under the Chairmanship of Justice Bhagavathy, former Northern Province Chief Minister and former Supreme Court Judge C.V. Wigneswaran said. “Having already granted nearly four years by Resolutions Numbers 30/1 and 34/1, the granting of a further two […]

Sunday Observer cartoon by @wasanthasiri . A well-functioning legal system can be measured by its response to daily crimes and complaints. This is a much better test in fact, rather than a country’s constitution (in Sri Lanka’s case, the 1978 constitution still remains a major barrier to the functioning of a legal system), or statutes, […]

(DM/16.03.19)Lawyers for Democracy yesterday filed a rights petition in the Supreme Court challenging the acting appointment made to the post of Court of Appeal President. Petitioners Lal Wijenayake, G.A. Sunil Jayaratne, Luxman Jothikumar and R.A. Namal Rajapakse allege that the 12th respondent Justice Deepali Wijesundera has been repeatedly and successively appointed as the Acting President […]

It is now three months since the interpretation of our constitution by the Supreme Court of the country was respected by the President and the relevant political leaders, and the constitutional crisis he created was resolved. Yet the country continues to be trapped in problems of critical concern for all of us. The President The […]

Kishali Pinto Jayewardena. (Sunday Times/03.3.19) Verbal gymnastics indulged in by Sri Lankan politicians in respect of the draft Counter Terrorism Act (CTA), now before Parliament awaiting amendments from the sectoral oversight committee, are vastly entertaining in truth. The ‘political hot potato’ Unlikely champions of constitutional rights are emerging from the Rajapaksa-led opposition. This week, the […]

Mr. President, We, Franciscans International, Amnesty International, International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) take note on the mission report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism to Sri Lanka in July 2017. We endorse the recommendation to institute a moratorium on the […]

Image: Special Rapporteur on countering terrorism  Fionnuala Ní Aoláin. In the context of Sri Lanka, as mandate holder I have continued the engagement opened up by the visit of Mr. Emmerson July 2017. The report affirms the important opportunity available to the government to address long-standing and serious human rights concerns, in respect of fair trial, allegations […]

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (UNFPA/1 Mar 2019): “I was travelling in a bus when the man seated next to me started to touch my thigh, while he was pretending to sleep. When I confronted him, I knew he would try to escape, especially since he had already made several such attempts. This is not the first […]

Lawyers for Democracy (LfD) notes, with grave concern that President Maithripala Sirisena plans to execute at least 13 death row prisoners. By lifting a 43-year moratorium on the death penalty, the President will do great damage to Sri Lanka’s human rights leadership in the region, its compliance with its international obligations and reputation. This arbitrary […]

Image: Burned body ( File photo) (The Island/February 20, 2019) Investigations being conducted by the Criminal Investigations Department have revealed that some members of the Southern Province Special Crime Operations Unit killed two businessmen, abducted from the Ratgama police area, recently. Investigations have revealed that the bodies of the victims were destroyed by the policemen. […]

19th February, 2019. Dear President Sirisena, We, the below signed citizens and civil society organizations of Sri Lanka are dismayed and alarmed by your recent statements, including in the Parliament (6th February, 2019), pertaining to the Constitutional Council (CC) and the Human Rights Commission (HRCSL). The Constitutional Council and the Human Rights Commission are among […]

By Jehan Perera. President Maithripala Sirisena has been joined by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa and by other opposition members in denouncing the institution of the Constitutional Council and the independent commissions established under the 19th Amendment. They have attributed many ill effects as flowing from these institutions. These include repeatedly defying the president’s wishes, being […]

Sri Lanka today faces another constitutional crisis. At the centre of the crisis is the dynamic between the Constitutional Council, a creation of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, and the executive presidency, itself a creation of the 1978 Constitution. Both the executive powers of the President and the powers of the Constitutional Council are […]

Image: Two businessmen ( SLM) Two businessmen  Manjula Asanka and Raseen Chinthaka from  from  Boossa, Galle district  has been abducted b the police and they have  tortured and killed Sri Lanka media reports. ;ater their bodies have been burned.  Sinhala weekly Ravaya reports  a group of Southern Province police officers were involved in this murder, according to […]

A group of concerned  citizens have drafted a petition addressed to President Sirisena requesting  to (a) Guarantee that Gnanasara will not be released on 4th of February 2019, and any plans to do so are immediately terminated and (b) Direct all agencies involved to expedite investigations into the crimes committed by Gnanasara including in Aluthgama 2014 and […]

Prof.S.W.R.D. Samarasinghe. Gotabaya Rajapaksa recently announced at a meeting of Viyath Maga, of which he is president that he was ready to contest the next Presidential Election that must be held this year. In his speech to the assembled professionals and business people he asserted that Sri Lanka must have national unity (Jaathikathwaya) and rejected […]

The speech make by R. Sampannthan in the parliament today (25.01.2019 follows. Leader of the Opposition Sri Lankan Parliament Honorable Speaker Parliament Jayewardenepura Kotte Sir, I seek your leave to raise the following question relating to a matter of public importance “The Position of the Leader of the Opposition in the Sri Lankan Parliament” You made […]

By Tharindi Pabasara. The indictments against the seven defendants including former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa pertaining to the D.A. Rajapaksa Museum case have been read out at the Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar today (22). The case was taken up before the Special High Court three-judge bench comprising Judges Sampath Abeykoon, Sampath Wijeratne, and Champa Janaki […]

Image: Weerawansa is a very close associate of Rajapaksa. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka has vehemently condemned MP Wimal Weerawansa for casting aspersions on the judiciary by hiding behind parliamentary privileges, which prevent him from being dealt with for contempt. [ Weerawansa is leading pro Rajapaksa propagandist.) A statement titled ‘deplores statement made by […]

Sri Lanka’s former Ambassador to the United States Jaliya Wickramasuriya is likely to be offered a proffer agreement by US federal prosecutors this week, to spill the beans on the Government run by his cousin Mahinda Rajapaksa between 2005-2015, in exchange for leniency in money laundering and immigration fraud cases filed against him in Washington […]

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) – Members of Sri Lanka’s Parliament on Tuesday questioned whether Mahinda Rajapaksa, who recently quit as prime minister, can hold his seat after earlier relinquishing membership in the political party he represented in the last election. Lakshman Kiriella, a lawmaker from the ruling United National Front coalition, raised the question in […]

Press release/NPC. The restoration of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to his position as Prime Minister by President Maithripala Sirisena has brought to an end seven weeks of political crisis in which the country did not have a functioning government.   As articulated by the Prime Minister himself, most of the people of this country joined together […]

Image: 24 day peaceful protest against Sirisena’s constitutional coup came to an end with the news of Rajapaksa’s resignation.(c)S.Deshapriya. But Sri Lanka’s biggest worry is a fresh eruption of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe power struggle. New space has emerged for de-escalating Sri Lanka’s political crisis with the timely and judicious intervention by the Sri Lankan Supreme Court. […]

Image: The court took exception to the Attorney General claiming that the president had “plenary executive power — a royal prerogative power which is subject to no restriction.” ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court shooting down President Maithripala Sirisena’s premature sacking of parliament will have far reaching consequences for him as well as future leaders, according […]