Today is the World Day Against the Death Penalty Today, when globally the call for the abolition of the death penalty is renewed and its inhumane and cruel nature is highlighted, we…
In 2018 the former President of Sri Lanka, influenced by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s ‘war on drugs’ policy, attempted to resume executions for people convicted of drug trafficking. The President’s move reignited…
Last year, on October 2, Iran executed a 24-year-old woman, Zeinab Sekaanvand, who was a child at the time of her alleged offense. Under international law, she should have been excluded from…
Featured image courtesy TheDailyJournalist Many Muslims I have spoken to are opposed to the death sentence imposed on the unnamed Sri Lankan housemaid in Saudi Arabia. The death penalty, in my view,…
Picture courtesy Vice News Violent crimes, rape and murder seem to be on the increase. Public outrage is understandable. But the demand – “Impose the death penalty with immediate effect” is equally outrageous. …
As we reflect on Sri Lanka’s 71st Independence Day, many things that have political currency come to mind. Free education and healthcare, a reduced cost of living, and anti-corruption are usually among…
Yesterday we were given a body whose death left me strangely numb. While it was a man whose brutality I condemned, it was not a death that I could celebrate. It was…
Donna E. Chung, Ph.D. International Trade and Labour Compliance Advisor Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A. Washington, D.C. 20 July 2007 On 15 July 2007, just one day before the deadline, a judicial…
Several initiatives have already been taken to implement the recommendations of the final report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into political victimization (the CoI) including the obtaining of Cabinet approval, the…
Abolition is not a delusional cry for social chaos. It goes beyond the momentary, deconstructive approach of eliminating the police. Abolition calls for the active reimagining and recreation of a society in…
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka conducted the first national study on the treatment and conditions of prisoners from February 2018 to January 2020. The findings of the report are very…
The looming presidential election of the first week of November, 2020 draws some resemblances to that which confronted John F. Kennedy in the build up to the November 1960 presidential election. Although…
The Easter Sunday attacks were brutal and unprecedented. It surfaced communal prejudices and certain phobias that Sri Lankan society lives with. There is a paradoxical narrative that may help us understand some…
‘What physicians say about consumptive illness is applicable here: that at the beginning, such an illness is easy to cure but difficult to diagnose; but as time passes, not having been recognised…
Photo courtesy A tumultuous year has ended, and an uncertain future lies ahead. Democratic space is already closing around us, and it is critical for civil society to be clear-eyed about where…
