2021: The Year in Review
2020 flowed into 2021 with a continued air of uncertainty due to the unrelenting spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The third wave saw cases and deaths rise exponentially, taking the country’s healthcare…
2020 flowed into 2021 with a continued air of uncertainty due to the unrelenting spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The third wave saw cases and deaths rise exponentially, taking the country’s healthcare…
Archbishop Desmond Tutu who passed away this week will be counted among the great human beings who contributed to the political transformation of his own country and a person who revolutionised the…
Two prisoners in Sri Lanka were recently released after being detained for many years, a harsh reminder of the ease with which people can be locked up on flimsy grounds. This has…
In December 2008, Human Rights Office Kandy (HROK) had started to present human rights awards during the celebration of International Human Rights Day. I was among those who received an award and…
Ever since they were brought to Sri Lanka from South India by the British colonists to work on the coffee, tea and rubber plantations Malayaha Tamils, more commonly known as Hill Country Tamils, Up…
The recommendation to downgrade Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Commission (HRC) from Grade A to Grade B by the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights,…
The Court of Appeal on December 8, 2021 ordered issuance of notices in a writ application by which several activists sought an order against Sri Lanka Police to prevent discrimination and vilification…
As the world marks Human Rights Day, two years of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency and over one year of his government have seen Sri Lanka slide rapidly down the slippery slope to…
Article 12 (1) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka 1978 recognizes that people are entitled to equal protection of the law. Therefore, the state is under an obligation to ensure through law…
On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women I want to take a look at what progress has been made in raising our awareness as a community about the…
Mala is a survivor of intimate partner violence. She kept it a secret until her husband passed away. After 25 years of daily abuse, she finally found the strength and courage to…
There is a bagful of tricks that Sri Lankan governments have been using when it comes to the issue of revealing the truth and providing justice to the families of the disappeared.…
Boys are often under represented or even ignored in the fight against child sexual exploitation due to the stereotyping of gender traits with males being considered strong and invulnerable and less likely…
In the name of counter-terrorism countries enact repressive laws that restrict human rights. They claim these laws will make us safer. Yet, contrary to claims of increasing national security, the tendency of…
To coincide with the end of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s second year in office, the Centre for Policy Alternatives produced a video timeline detailing some of the defining moments of the President’s past…