2018: A Recap
2018 saw ethno-nationalism, the role of technology in moderating hate speech and freedom of expression and the impact of foreign debt, including China’s Belt and Road Initiative remain key topics in global discourse. It also…
Year: 2018
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 70
LONDON – Seven decades after its adoption, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) remains a beacon of hope for the world, sending out an unequivocal message that an injustice anywhere is…
Release Our Land As Promised: Displaced People And Supporters Write to President
Editor’s Note: The following is the text of a letter handed over to the President, Prime Minister and party leaders, asking for the release of land in the North and East to…
Stable Community: A Christmas Reflection
A stable message The birth of Christ ushers a promise of peace for the world. In the fullest teaching of the Bible, peace is the ethos of stable, just and reconciled…
The Crisis and After
The crisis that prevailed in the country over the last two months has been overcome, consequent to the decision of the Supreme Court that was handed down on 13th December. While the…
“Our Request – Rs. 1000” | On the Wage Negotiations For Estate Workers
For five days, estate workers have been holding a hunger strike in front of the Fort railway station, asking for a Rs. 1000 basic wage. Currently, the workers receive Rs. 500 as…
Managing Chaos: Why Sri Lanka Needs To Think Long Term For Disaster Response
In 2017, filed a series of RTI requests to ascertain more about Sri Lanka’s early warning system. (Click here and here to see the original RTI requests filed with the Metereological Department and…
Are We Sri Lankans One People? Where Are Our Leaders?
Politically, it may appear that we are not one people. We have a long history of ethnicity-based politics within a small island with a measure of ethnic diversity unrivalled in countries of…
Judiciary’s Message: Constitution and Democracy First
Photo by LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI / AFP via In two judgments delivered in two consecutive days, Sri Lanka’s supreme court has sent out a firm message to the country’s quarrelling political leaders: constitution…
Resilience in Sri Lanka
The recent political crisis in Sri Lanka has gone largely unnoticed in the international press. Although it is a very serious matter for the 21.4 million Sri Lankans who currently have one,…
A Historic Judgment
On December 13, there was heightened police presence outside the Supreme Court as the public awaited news on petitions challenging the Presidential proclamation on the dissolution of Parliament. Sri Lanka has remained…
Let memory speak: A litany of remembrance
Photography by Frank Augstein/WPA Pool/Getty Images, via Any intelligent discourse must offer memory its rightful place. This is because, memory has present potential, to take us to happenings of the past, so that…
A Loaded Phrase (Video)
“Why are you asking these questions?” a bystander asks. He had been watching me approach the vendors hawking their wares. Although he smiled politely as he asked, his upper lip curled, betraying…
Building An Ethos of Rights
December 10 is Human Rights Day, and marks 70 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted. Since inception, has dedicated itself to discussion on issues pertaining to human rights.…
Breathing Space
This was a young female activist’s reaction to the events of October 26, when President Sirisena illegally appointed Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the post of Prime Minister, a move many are…
