Shattering Glass Ceilings in the Tea Plantation Industry
Women working as tea pickers form the single largest segment of the plantation workforce in Sri Lanka, with little room to progress in their careers. Over the years women occupied in manual…
Year: 2024
The Fight for Women’s Empowerment During Conflict and Crises
This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate progress. Sri Lanka, like many nations, grapples with a confluence of crises driven by geopolitical conflicts, rising…
Villains and Victims
A recent discussion about “toxic masculinity” has prompted a great deal of comment, particularly as the host and his guest appeared to comment favourably on the media personality Andrew Tate and the academic…
Human Rights Council Updated on Regime’s Abuses
“Sustainable peace and reconciliation will not be achieved in Sri Lanka with regressive laws and authoritarian approaches, which will only serve to perpetuate the human rights concerns of the past,” said Volker…
A Year of Change and Challenges for Sri Lanka
In the backdrop of the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections, pivotal moments are anticipated that will shape Sri Lanka’s future. Amid this evolving landscape, the voices leading change – women, trans, human…
Uda Walawe Is Dying!
On World Wildlife Day, it is important to remember both the triumphs and the tragedies of conservation in Sri Lanka. One of these is the Uda Walawe National Park, which was established…
Donald Lu’s Comeback Story
More than a year after he visited Sri Lanka, US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu went on record calling Sri Lanka the…
Youth Quota for Local Government: Band Aid or Stepping Stone?
Verité Research Local elections in Sri Lanka have been conspicuously absent since 2018, marking a significant hiatus in the democratic process. Initially slated for 2022, the elections faced successive postponements, first to…
Surviving In Wilderness
sprayed blood on flour sacks, on February 29. A Leap Day for a Leap Year, 2024. But 112 dead Palestinians are no longer leaping for flour. They are lying on the…
The Sri Lankan State in a Changing Global Context
The focus of my recent writings has been the state formation of Sri Lanka. The starting point of this work is to see the state as a product of history that is…
A.K. Dissanayake Leads in Presidential Election Voting Preferences
The Institute for Health Policy’s (IHP) Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker Survey (SLOTS) MRP provisional estimates of presidential election voting intent in January 2024 show NPP/JVP leader A.K. Dissanayake with the support of…
Misconceptions About the 1983 Riots
Island A recent statement attributed to Prasanna Ranatunga, the Urban Development and Housing Minister of Sri Lanka, blaming the JVP for the July 1983 riots and posted on the A5 News Facebook…
An Uva Uprising: Farmers Fight for Land and Legacy
Our journey began with a seven hour drive from Colombo. As we travelled, the scenery transformed from verdant mountains to emerald plains bordering the Uva province. We reached the solitary stretch between…
NPP/JVP Maintains Lead in Voting Intentions
The latest estimates from Institute for Health Policy’s (IHP) revised SLOTS MRP model show no substantial change in general election voting intentions in January 2024 compared to the previous month. NPP/JVP continues…
A Story of Pitipana Fishermen and the Quest for Fairness
In the bustling heart of Colombo amid the cacophony of urban life, a group of fishermen from Pitipana, Negombo, have taken a bold stand against what they perceive as injustice. Their protest,…
